The Barbed Wire - March 06, 2015

March 6, 2015
RCRC Chair Testifies Before Budget Subcommittee Hearing on PILT
RCRC Officers Participate in SNC Event
Prop 84 IRWM Grant Program Schedule Accelerated
RCRC Co-Sponsors Statewide Water Management Workshop
Medi-Cal Reimbursement Rate Fight Reignites
California Democrats Propose Heritage Area Status for Delta
Congress Agrees to Funding Solution for Homeland Security Programs
FEMA Conducts Listening Sessions on Flood Risk Management Standard
BULLETIN BOARD
KEEPING UP

RCRC Chair Testifies Before Budget Subcommittee Hearing on PILT

Assembly Budget Subcommittee #3 considered the issue of the Department of Fish and Wildlife Payment-in-Lieu-Taxes (PILT) this week.  As outlined in the Governor’s 2015-16 Proposed Budget, the Brown Administration is proposing to fund PILT payments to counties (minus a certain percentage identified as the school district share) for the 2015-2016 fiscal year in the amount of $644,000.  Also proposed by the Administration is a Budget trailer bill what would change existing law to make the requirement for payment of PILT to counties discretionary. 

Subcommittee staff recommended that the Subcommittee “Approve as Budgeted” the funding allocation as well as the Budget Trailer bill proposal.  RCRC Chair and Sierra County Supervisor Lee Adams testified on behalf of California’s rural counties, stating both RCRC’s appreciation for the proposed funding allocation after more than a decade without PILT payments, and RCRC’s opposition to the Budget Trailer bill language.  The Subcommittee did not take action, but instead left the item “open” to be heard again at a later date.

RCRC’s letter to the Subcommittee can be accessed here.

RCRC Officers Participate in SNC Event

The Sierra Nevada Conservancy (SNC) released their Watershed Improvement Program (WIP) this week at a stakeholder summit entitled “Save California: The Urgency to Restore Our Primary Watershed.”  RCRC Chair and Sierra County Supervisor Lee Adams and RCRC Immediate Past Chair and Nevada County Supervisor Nate Beason were asked to participate in the forum regarding the need to increase the pace and scale of forest restoration projects in the Sierra Nevada watersheds.

“We are past the point where continued discussions about collaboration are fruitful,” said Supervisor Adams.  “We now need to find compromises to conflicts and move forward with actual work.”  

The Summit was part of the events held to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the creation of the SNC, and to jumpstart the conversation regarding the connection between forest restoration and watershed health.  RCRC and SNC have long shared a positive working relationship, and SNC participates as a non-voting adjunct member of the California Forest Water Alliance (CAFWA), of which RCRC is a Charter member.

Prop 84 IRWM Grant Program Schedule Accelerated

The Department of Water Resources has updated the schedule for the Proposition 84 Integrated Regional Water Management Implementation Grant Program solicitation, accessed here.  The draft Guidelines and Proposal Solicitation Package (PSP) will be released for public review and comment in the near future.

RCRC Co-Sponsors Statewide Water Management Workshop

The Butte County Department of Public Health and the Butte County Department of Water and Resource Conservation, along with RCRC and several other co-sponsors, are hosting a Water Management Workshop on Thursday, March 26, 2015 at the Gold Country Casino in Oroville.  Presentations and panels for the workshop include: Statewide Approach to Water Resource Management, Implementation Approaches to Water Management, California Water Law and Water Management, Current Local Water Management Approaches, and Stakeholder Perspectives and Roles.

Full details on the workshop can be accessed here.

Medi-Cal Reimbursement Rate Fight Reignites

On Wednesday, the Senate and Assembly Health Committee’s held a joint legislative informational hearing titled, “Do Medi-Cal Rates Ensure Access to Care,” in an effort to address the problems within California’s Medi-Cal system, specifically the issue of Medi-Cal reimbursement rate cuts.  Prior to the hearing, Senate Health Committee Chair Ed Hernandez (D-West Covina) and Assembly Health Committee Chair Rob Bonta (D-Alameda) joined health care providers, patients, and advocates on the steps of the Capitol and announced renewed efforts to restore the Medi-Cal reimbursement rate cuts made to the program in 2011.  Comments focused on access to care issues, including facility closures and the swell of new Medi-Cal and Denti-Cal patients under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that cannot find providers who accept the state’s Medicaid programs.  

Newly introduced legislation, Senate Bill 243, by Senator Ed Hernandez, and Assembly Bill 366, by Assemblymember Rob Bonta, are two identical companion measures that seek to restore the 10 percent cut to Medi-Cal reimbursement rates, and propose that Medi-Cal payments to providers be on par with what Medicare pays for the same services. 

Assembly Bill 97, a 2011-12 State Budget trailer bill, was passed by the Legislature and approved by Governor Brown in 2011.  The measure cut rates to a variety of Medi-Cal providers, including Distinct Part/Skilled Nursing Facilities (DP/SNFs), pharmacies, and other fee-for-service Medi-Cal activities, by 10 percent off of the 2008 reimbursement rates. 

The text of SB 243 can be accessed here.  RCRC’s support letter can be accessed here.  The text of AB 366 can be accessed here.  RCRC’s support letter can be accessed here.

California Democrats Propose Heritage Area Status for Delta

Rep. John Garamendi and Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer introduced legislation on Tuesday that would designate the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta status as a national heritage area.  This legislation (H.R. 1208 and S. 630) would designate the state’s main water delivery hub as the first national heritage site in California.  

Under the heritage designation legislation, the Bay Delta, which encompasses 700 square miles, 60 islands and 400,000 residents, would receive up to $10 million over the next 15 years for historic site preservation and exhibits. This designation would not impose any restrictions on property owners, tribes, or water users.  Identical legislation was introduced in the last Congress but was not passed. 

Congress Agrees to Funding Solution for Homeland Security Programs

After several weeks of partisan wrangling over funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), this week Congress agreed to a bill that will fund DHS for the remainder of the fiscal year.  Several House Republicans had hoped to use this measure to roll back President Obama’s recent executive actions on immigration.  In the end, the bill passed the House with over 2/3 of Republicans voting against the measure, and every Democrat voting for it. 

FEMA Conducts Listening Sessions on Flood Risk Management Standard

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is conducting 4 listening sessions, with at least two more planned, on the proposed implementation guidance for the revised Federal Flood Risk Management Standard.  A session is scheduled for March 11, 2015 in Sacramento.  The Standard allows agencies to use differing methodologies to define the floodplain rather than relying on the 100-year floodplain identified by FEMA.  Each federal agency will be required to adopt more stringent review requirements on any federal action in or affecting a floodplain.  The listening sessions are scheduled to inform the public of the new Standard and an Executive Order that revises previous policy on protecting public investment in floodplains, and to gather information on guidance that the federal agencies will adopt to implement the new Standard.  There is concern that confusions will result from agencies employing differing methods to identify the floodplain, that independent federal actions could conflict with one another, and that state and local government actions must be consistent with federal agencies’ interpretations of the Standard.  The implementation guidelines are open for public comment until April 6, 2015.

BULLETIN BOARD

USFS Begins Next Round of Forest Plan Updates, Announces Listening Sessions

U.S. Forest Service Regions 5 and 6 are joining together to update the forest land management plans in the Northwest Forest Plan amendment area, and have announced three listening sessions to outline their strategy and begin taking public comment.  

The newly announced plan revisions follow the “early adopter” revisions on the Inyo, Sierra, and Sequoia National Forests using the 2012 National Land Management Planning Rule.  In California, plan revisions in the Northwest Forest Plan area will include the Klamath, Lassen, Mendocino, Modoc, Shasta-Trinity, and Six Rivers National Forests.

Full details on the listening sessions can be accessed here

Water Blog on Groundwater Sustainability Plans

The UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences recently posted a blog titled “Creating Effective Sustainable Groundwater Plans,” (accessed here).  Largely authored by academics from the UC system, the blog links to both a suggested table of contents for groundwater sustainability plans (accessed here), and a more detailed appendix (accessed here).  

The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) requires that Groundwater Sustainability Plans (GSPs) be completed for basins in a critical condition of overdraft by January 31, 2022 and all other high and medium priority basins by January 31, 2022.

NOFA: Emergency Housing and Assistance Program Capital Development Component (EHAP-CD)

Click here

KEEPING UP

Vanessa Robledo, 37, of Napa, has been reappointed to the 25th District Agricultural Association, Napa Town and Country Fair Board of Directors, where she has served since 2013.  Robledo has been owner and chief executive officer at Black Coyote Wines since 2008.  She was president at Robledo Family Winery from 1997 to 2007.  This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Robledo is a Democrat.

Devonna Smith, 50, of Napa, has been appointed to the 25th District Agricultural Association, Napa Town and Country Fair Board of Directors.  Smith has been chief financial officer and chief of staff at Chappellet Winery since 2013.  She was chief financial officer at Long Meadow Ranch from 2008 to 2013, an owner at Meritage Properties and Meritage Builders from 2002 to 2008, and chief financial officer at Demptos Napa Cooperage from 1998 to 2002.  She is a swine leader at the Las Amigas 4-H Club.  This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation.  Smith is a Republican.

Thomas Trzesniewski, 65, of Napa, has been reappointed to the 25th District Agricultural Association, Napa Town and Country Fair Board of Directors, where he has served since 2013.  Trzesniewski has been a general manager at the Bremer Family Winery since 2011.  He was a retail manager for Chimney Rock Winery from 2006 to 2010.  Trzesniewski is a member of the Friends of the Napa River and the City of Napa Planning Commission.  This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation.  Trzesniewski is registered without party preference.