RCRC members are encouraged to share letters addressed to state and federal representatives and regulatory bodies with RCRC’s Government Affairs staff.

AB 1035 (Speaker Perez): Workers’ Compensation/Death Benefits for Firefighters and Peace Officers. AB 1035 which would extend the timeline for firefighters and peace officers to file certain death benefit claims under the workers’ compensation system.  Governor Brown has vetoed two similar bills in recent years.  Status: AB 1035 passed both houses of the Legislature and will soon be forwarded to the Governor for his consideration. RCRC Position: OpposeAB 1451 (Holden): Concurrent Enrollment. AB 1451 would help provide rural high school students with access to higher education opportunities.  Status: Passed out of the Assembly Education Committee. RCRC Position: Support

AB 1451 (Holden): Concurrent Enrollment.  AB 1451 would help provide rural high school students with access to higher education opportunities.  Status: Passed out of the Assembly Education Committee.  RCRC Position:Support

AB 1647 (Bigelow): Fairs: Department of Food and Agriculture.  AB 1647 would provide modest reform to the governance and structure of fairs including the repeal of several requirements for fairs including: an annual report to the Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) related to free pass admissions by fairs and CDFA expenditures on exhibits, as specified among other provisions.  Status: Passed out of the Assembly Agriculture Committee. RCRC Position: Support

AB 1739 (Dickinson): Groundwater Management.  AB 1739 would require a sustainable groundwater management plan to be adopted, except as provided, for each high or medium priority groundwater basin by any groundwater management agency as defined. Status: Passed out of the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee.  RCRC Position: Pending with amendments requested

AB 1799 (Gordon): Land Use: Mitigation Lands.  AB 1799 would eliminate, if a governmental entity provides evidence that it possesses an investment grade credit rating and meets other specified conditions, the requirement of an endowment for long term stewardship. Status: Passed out of the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee.  RCRC Position: Support

AB 1867 (Patterson): Timber Harvest Plans: Exemptions. AB 1867 would repeal the existing THP exemption and expand it to allow landowners to cut down and sell timber located within 300 feet of a habitable structure without having to submit a THP to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE). Status:Passed out of the Assembly Appropriations Committee. RCRC Position: Support

AB 1961 (Eggman): Land Use Planning: Sustainable Farmland Strategy.  AB 1961 would require each county with significant agricultural land to develop on or before January 2, 2018 a sustainable farmland strategy. Status:Placed on the Assembly Appropriations Committee Suspense File.  RCRC Position: Oppose unless amended

AB 2173 (Bradford): Low-Speed Electric Bicycles.  AB 2173, as amended, would redefine a “motorized bicycle” or “moped” by increasing the maximum brake horsepower that its motor produces to less than 4 to provide adequate power for their operation.  Prior to the amendments that were accepted this week, AB 2173 would have established two classifications of motorized bicycles to distinguish a low-speed electric bike, as defined, from other motorized bikes or mopeds, and to provide low-speed electric bikes an exemption from the prohibition of motorized bicycle operations on various biking lanes, trails, and paths, and hiking, equestrian, and recreational trails.  While local governments were provided the authority to restrict their operation on these facilities through passage of a local ordinance, RCRC remained concerned with the safety and liability issues that would result from their operation.  Status: AB 2173 was amended to address our concerns in the Assembly Transportation Committee and awaits consideration in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.  RCRC Position: Neutral – Concerns Removed

AB 2363 (Dahle): Electricity Procurement.  AB 2363 would require the development of integration adders so that the Commission accurately considers the full costs and benefits of the various technologies in its renewable portfolio standard decision-making by October 1, 2015. Status: Passed out of the Assembly Utility and Commerce Committee.  RCRC Position: Support

AB 2373 (Hernandez): Probation Officers/Funding Request. AB 2373 would require County Boards of Supervisors to provide a written document to the Chief Probation Officers when a Chief Probation Officer has sent a letter to the Board of Supervisors outlining the need for additional monies for the Probation Department and the Board is not honoring that request.  Status: AB 2373 gained passage in the Assembly Public Safety Committee and now awaits consideration in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.  RCRC Position: Oppose

AB 2402 (Buchanan): Noxious Weed Management.  AB 2402 would appropriate $2.5 million from the General Fund to the Noxious Weed Management Account within the California Department of Food and Agriculture and specify the allocation of the funds from the Noxious Weed Management Account to the various entities. Status:Placed on the Assembly Appropriations Committee Suspense File.  RCRC Position: Support

AB 2417 (Nazarian): California Environmental Quality Act: Exemption: Recycled Water Pipelines.  AB 2417 would exempt from CEQA projects that construct or install new water recycling pipelines or involve maintenance, repair, restoration, reconditioning, relocation, replacement, removal or demolition of an existing pipeline, not exceeding eight miles in length, for the distribution of recycled water within a public street, highway or right-of-way. Status: Passed out of the Assembly Natural Resource Committee.   RCRC Position: Support

AB 2490 (Eggman): District Agricultural Associations.  AB 2490 would modify District Agricultural Association's (DAA) requirements for activities needing prior approval by the California Department of Food and Agriculture and/or the Department of General Services. Specifically, the bill deletes the requirement for DAAs to have prior approval by CDFA, for DAAs to sue.  The bill also deletes the requirement that a DAA board receive approval from DGS prior to conducting any activity upon its property, among other provisions.  Status: Passed out of the Assembly Agriculture Committee.  RCRC Position: Support

AB 2561 (Bradford): Personal Agriculture.  AB 2561 would eliminate the ability of local government to prohibit personal agriculture, community agriculture, or entrepreneurial agriculture as defined. Status: Passed out of the Assembly Local Government Committee. RCRC Position: Oppose unless amended

AB 2703 (Quirk-Silva): County Veterans Service Officers. AB 2703 would allocate $6,000,000 from the General Fund to counties for the purpose of funding various CVSO activities and would create a formula through which those funds would be allocated.  Status: Passed out of the Assembly Veterans Affairs Committee. RCRC Position: Support

SB 1268 (Beall): Natural Resources Climate Improvement Program. SB 1268 would establish the Natural Resource Climate Improvement Program. Status: Passed out of the Senate Environmental Quality Committee. RCRC Position: Support

SB 1270 (Pavley): Surface Mining Operations. SB 1270 would shift the annual inspection, review and approval of financial assurance responsibilities of surface mining operations from local governments to a state agency. Status: Passed out of the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee. RCRC Position: Oppose

SB 1353 (Nielsen): Local Government: Williamson Act.  SB 1353 would eliminate the sunset date on the alternative Williamson Act funding program giving counties that opted into the program the ability to continue this alternative funding mechanism for the Williamson Act.  The program works by shortening the length of Williamson Act contracts by 10 percent in exchange for the forfeit by landowners of no more than 10 percent of their tax benefit.   Status: Passed out of the Senate Appropriations Committee. RCRC Position: Support

SB 1399 (Galgiani): Agricultural Seed: County Seed Enforcement Subventions.  SB 1399 would extend the sunset date of the seed enforcement subvention program through July 1, 2019.  The subvention program, funded by the seed industry, provides counties with a source of revenue to cover a portion of their costs for enforcing the California Seed Law.  Status: Passed out of the Senate Appropriations Committee.  RCRC Position: Support

SB 1451 (Hill): California Environmental Quality Act: Document Dumping.  SB 1451 would reduce the use of the document dumping tactic by placing modest limitations on when certain issues may be raised during the environmental review process in order to sue on those issues in litigation following project approval. Status:Passed out of the Senate Environmental Quality Committee.  RCRC Position: Support

Water Bonds

AB 2043 (Bigelow): Safe, Clean, and Reliable Drinking Water Supply Act of 2014.  AB 2043 would repeal the provisions of the 2012 Water Bond currently on the November 2014 ballot and would, if adopted by voters, authorize the issuance of bonds in the amount of $7,935,000,000 pursuant to the State General Obligation Bond Law to finance a safe drinking water and water supply reliability program. Status: Passed out of the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee.   RCRC Position: Amendments requested

AB 2554 (Rendon): Safe, Clean, and Reliable Drinking Water Supply Act of 2014.  AB 2554 would repeal the provisions of the 2012 Water Bond currently on the November 2014 ballot and would, if adopted by voters, authorize the issuance of bonds in the amount of $8,500,000,000 pursuant to the State General Obligation Bond Law to finance a clean, safe and reliable drinking water program.  Status: Passed out of the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee. RCRC Position: Amendments requested

AB 2686 (Perea): Safe, Clean, and Reliable Drinking Water Supply Act of 2014.  AB 2686 would repeal the provisions of the 2012 Water Bond currently on the November 2014 ballot and would, if adopted by voters, authorize the issuance of bonds in a unspecified amount pursuant to the State General Obligation Bond Law to finance a clean, safe and reliable drinking water supply program.  Status: Passed out of the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee. RCRC Position: Amendments requested