The Assembly Budget Subcommittee 3 on Resources and Transportation will hold its first discussion of 2016 on expenditures from Cap-and-Trade funds on Wednesday, April 20, 2016. Of particularly interest to rural counties will be discussions of the Governor’s proposed $140 million allocation to CAL FIRE for forest health and resilience programs, including tree mortality mitigation and wildfire prevention, and a proposed $100 million allocation to CalRecycle for waste diversion programs such as the implementation of Assembly Bill 1826 (Chesbro).
The Legislative Analyst’s Office has been critical of Cap-and-Trade spending proposals on resources programs so far this year, claiming that the responsible agencies need to better spell out exactly which programs and projects will benefit from the funds. However, agencies such as CAL FIRE maintain that until the funds are appropriated and the budget year is closer at hand, it is hard to pinpoint exactly where the need for the funds will be – especially with the worsening tree mortality and resulting wildfire risk due to recent severe drought conditions. There have also been several bills introduces by urban legislators that seek to permanently allocate an even greater portion of the Cap-and-Trade fund to benefit urban interests, which would dramatically shrink the funding available to benefit rural communities.
The Assembly Budget Subcommittee 3 on Resources and Transportation will convene at 9:30 a.m. in State Capitol Room 447.