The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a)
That California consumers enjoy the economic benefits of a substantial cooperative business sector. An estimated one million people participate in a diversity of consumer cooperatives that includes, but is not limited to, housing, child care, food, insurance and health care, student, rural electric, senior citizen, cable, and funeral cooperatives, as well as employee-owned arts and crafts cooperatives and other small business cooperatives. Credit unions, as financial cooperatives, provide services to over 6.2 million members.
In addition, over 40,000 California farmers belong to agricultural cooperatives which produce and market over six billion dollars ($6,000,000,000) of food and fiber products annually.
(b)
That land grant universities of this nation, including the University of California, have a long tradition of providing research, educational, and extension programs of direct interest to cooperatives.
(c)
That public understanding of the nature and role of cooperatives is minimal. In general, the public does not understand how the cooperative form of business structure is being utilized for their benefit.
(d)
That public understanding about the benefits of the cooperative form of business could be greatly improved through a coordinated effort by the University of California and other institutions of higher education to focus on the role of cooperatives in the California economy.
(e)
That in the fast changing world economic environment it is important to California that its cooperatives remain a dynamic sector within the state’s economy. In order to enhance this sector’s development the state is asked to support the establishment of a Center for Cooperatives.
(f)
That the establishment of a Center for Cooperatives would help to meet the growing need for information, knowledge, and the professional skills necessary to increase the competitiveness of California’s cooperatives in the state, national, and world trade and economy.