The Barbed Wire - October 16, 2015

October 16, 2015
Governor Acts on Legislation Impacting California’s Rural Counties
Key State Legislative Committee Discusses Transportation Funding
CAFWA Submits Testimony to Key Forestry Hearing
REMINDER: Upcoming SGMA Meetings
WOTUS Remains Tangled in Federal Courts
House of Representatives Schedules MAP-21 Reauthorization Mark-up
Floodplain Management Guidelines Present Fewer Concerns for Local Governments
Hearing on Feinstein’s California Desert Bill
BULLETIN BOARD
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

Governor Acts on Legislation Impacting California’s Rural Counties

Last Sunday, October 11, 2015, marked the deadline for Governor Brown to act on legislation passed during this legislative cycle.  While there are still several bills pending in the Special Sessions dedicated to Transportation and Health Care, action has occurred on a handful of bills of interest to California's rural counties.  

Late last week Governor Brown signed three bills into law which provide a medical marijuana regulatory framework.  This package of three bills, including Senate Bill 643 (McGuire), Assembly Bill 243 (Wood), and Assembly Bill 266 (Bonta) addresses a number of rural county priorities, including preserving local land-use control; providing explicit county taxing authority, creating a strict licensing system; and addressing environmental impacts caused by inappropriate cultivation.

While home-to-school transportation, Medi-Cal reimbursement rates, and reforms to the regulations governing surface mining were worked on throughout the year, resolution was not reached on any of these issues prior to the end of this legislative year, and negotiations will continue into the second half of the legislative term.  Additionally, the Special Session on Health Care has only so far addressed physician-assisted suicide, an issue it wasn't slated to address at all; and seeks to address a new Managed Care Organization tax and likely other ways of funding the Affordable Care Act, Medi-Cal, reimbursement rates and other health care costs in California including possibly new tobacco taxes among others.

Key State Legislative Committee Discusses Transportation Funding

On Friday, the Transportation Conference Committee held their first hearing to examine Governor Jerry Brown’s transportation funding proposal and to hear from local transportation stakeholder groups.  The committee’s deliberations started with testimony from Brian Kelly, Secretary of the California State Transportation Agency, who presented the Governor’s transportation proposal that calls for approximately $3.6 billion in new transportation revenues to be split evenly between state and local governments. 

The Governor’s proposal also includes various reforms to the California Department of Transportation and the California Environmental Quality Act.  Keely Bosler, Chief Deputy Director of the California Department of Finance, and Jessica Peters, Principal Fiscal and Policy Analyst from the Legislative Analyst’s Office, both provided comments regarding the impacts of the Governor’s proposal and answered questions from members of the Transportation Conference Committee.  The hearing concluded with a number of local government groups, business and labor organizations joining the call in support of new transportation revenues coupled with meaningful reforms.  The Transportation Conference Committee has scheduled their next hearing on Wednesday, October 21, 2015 from 9:00 AM – 12:30 PM in Ontario, California.

CAFWA Submits Testimony to Key Forestry Hearing

On October 8, 2015, the House Subcommittee on Conservation and Forestry held a hearing on the 2015 fire season.  The California Forest Watershed Alliance (CAFWA), of which RCRC is a founding member, submitted written testimony for the record in line with CAFWA’s perspective on key resources at risk from catastrophic wildfire including water supply, quality, and infrastructure; ecosystems and wildlife; and rural economies.  CAFWA called on the House to pass legislation that promotes landscape-scale collaboration, fixing “fire borrowing,” expediting forest restoration projects, addressing the pace of the judicial process, and continuing funding for forest-water research.  The full testimony can be accessed here.  

CAFWA is an urban-rural coalition representing water interests, local governments, the conservation community, agriculture, and the forestry sector, created to promote the restoration and improvement of California’s forested watersheds.  In addition to RCRC, CAFWA includes the Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA), the California Forestry Association (CalForests/CFA), the California Farm Bureau Federation (CFBF), and The Nature Conservancy (TNC).  CAFWA’s Charter can be accessed here.

CAFWA’s principal policy tenets emphasize the importance of healthy forests by highlighting the multiple values that they provide.  These tenets include advocating for:

  • Increasing funding and create new funding sources for forest management from federal, state, local, and private sources;
  • Creating policy and legislative reforms that will promote improvements to and expansion of ecologically sound forest restoration activities; and,
  • Advancing monitoring and research to improve the state of scientific knowledge to better direct future land management decisions.

CAFWA intends to pursue these policy goals as Congress crafts changes to forestry policy and fire funding expected to occur in the remainder of this year or early next year.

REMINDER: Upcoming SGMA Meetings

Starting next week, the State Water Resources Control Board and the Department of Water Resources will hold a series of informational meetings to discuss the implementation of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), and to address questions from the public.  Full details on the meetings can be accessed here.

WOTUS Remains Tangled in Federal Courts

Following last week’s federal 6th Circuit Court stay of the Clean Water Rule that redefines Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS), the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation this week ruled that seven district court cases can proceed on separate tracks.  The Obama Administration sought to consolidate the seven cases, in which 34 states and industry groups have filed suit against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Corps of Engineers (Corps), and defend the rule in only the Washington, D.C. circuit court.  

Opponents of the rule consider this another win after the 6th Circuit issued a ruling to halt implementation of the rule nationwide while the court determines which courts have jurisdiction over the rule.  During the public comment period on the rule, RCRC raised numerous concerns about the rule’s impact on storm water and water reuse facilities, county ditches, and water delivery systems.  The rule took effect August 28, 2015, but now that the rule has been stayed, EPA and the Corps must make decisions based on guidance issued during the Bush Administration.

House of Representatives Schedules MAP-21 Reauthorization Mark-up

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee announced a scheduled formal review and consideration of their federal surface transportation reauthorization measure for Thursday, October 22, 2015.  Earlier this morning, the Committee unveiled the bill text of their transportation proposal.  While the details are still forthcoming, early reports indicate the bill is a six-year reauthorization with roughly $325 billion identified to support three years worth of funding.  The Senate approved a six-year reauthorization measure a number of months ago, although this effort also only contained enough financing for three of the six years.  It is expected that once the House moved forward, an effort will be made to reconcile the differences between the House and Senate approach, namely the way a reauthorization measure is funded.  The current spending authorization expires on October 29, 2015; however, Congress provided enough funding the previous short-term extension to fund transportation programs through the end of December.  

Floodplain Management Guidelines Present Fewer Concerns for Local Governments

Last week, the federal interagency Water Resources Council adopted final implementation guidelines for an Executive Order and floodplain management standard issued earlier this year.  The final guidelines clarify that the order will apply primarily to federally funded projects for new construction or substantial improvements.  However, the guidelines advise federal agencies that they can utilize new methodologies for identifying floodplains larger than the 100-year floodplain mapped by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). 

For any federal activity considered a “critical action,” federal agencies are directed to consider using the 200-year floodplain as a minimum standard.  RCRC expressed concerns during the public comment period because the initial guidelines proposed that all federal actions--including any grant, loan, loan guarantee, permit, or license--would trigger an independent identification of the floodplain by each federal agency and new requirements to avoid impacts on the floodplain.

Hearing on Feinstein’s California Desert Bill

The Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests, and Mining held a legislative hearing to discuss several pending bills before the committee, including Senator Feinstein’s “California Desert Conservation and Recreation Act of 2015” (S 414).  Feinstein’s bill would amend and update the historic California Desert Protection Act of 1994, and is designed to protect additional land and help manage California’s desert resources by carefully balancing conservation, recreation and renewable energy development. 

The legislation received mixed reviews at the hearing.  Both the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service testified in support of the legislation.  Feinstein’s bill will now wait to be marked up in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. 

BULLETIN BOARD

NACo Hosts Series of Webinars

Click here

HCD: Second Round of $75 Million in Prop 41 Funds Now Available for Veteran Housing

Click here

HCD: $11 Million Available for Residents Facing Water Shortages

Click here

DWR Soliciting Comments on Guidelines for Small Communities Flood Risk Reduction Program

Click here

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

RCRC members are encouraged to share letters addressed to state and federal representatives and regulatory bodies with RCRC’s Government Affairs staff.  Click “Read More” to access information related to the current status of legislation impacting California’s rural counties.  

SB 239 (Hertzberg): Local Services: Contracts: Fire Protection Services.  Senate Bill 239 requires a local agency to enter into a written agreement for the performance of new or extended services pursuant to a fire protection reorganization contract with each affected public agency and recognized fire protection employee organization prior to submitting to the local LAFCO a resolution of application and a plan for services.  Status: Signed into law by the Governor.   RCRC Position: Oppose