Private financing for California fairs would shift to state sites

In California, Assemblymember John Harabedian’s AB 1594 would shift the state fair committee’s center of gravity away from local fairs and toward state-designated fairgrounds. For the people and places that depend on that committee’s attention, the bill changes which facilities the state treats as its priority when private money, fund oversight and recommendations are on the table.

The committee at the middle of the bill, the Fairs Allocation and Classification Committee, currently looks outward toward local fairs. AB 1594 would rewrite that assignment so the panel is organized around state-designated fairgrounds instead.

A smaller map for support

Under current law, the committee seeks ways private financing can support all local fairs. The bill would replace that language with a charge to seek private financing for all state-designated fairgrounds instead, narrowing the spotlight from a broad network of local events to a more specific class of fair property.

It would also change the committee’s job when it speaks to lawmakers. Instead of making recommendations about new district agricultural associations or local fairs, it would make recommendations about new state-designated fairgrounds. The bill keeps the committee tied to review of how the Department of Food and Agriculture administers and supervises Fair and Exposition Fund money, but that oversight would now be aimed at state-designated fairgrounds. Available vote records show the bill advanced without recorded no votes.