RCRC members are encouraged to share letters addressed to state and federal representatives and regulatory bodies with RCRC’s Government Affairs staff.
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 Senate Education Committee. RCRC Position: Support
AB 2241 (Eggman): Local Government: Agricultural Land. AB 2241 would change the rescission fee charged by a county when land under Williamson Act contract or land designated as a farmland security zone enters into a solar-use easement to 10 percent of the fair market value of the property, and allows for counties that choose to utilize this approach to retain half of the rescission fee until January 1, 2020. Status: Passed out of the Senate Governance and Finance Committee. RCRC Position: Support
AB 2413 (Perez): Office of Farm to Fork. AB 2413 would create the Office of Farm to Fork under the direction of the Department of Food and Agriculture and would require the office to identify communities in both rural and urban areas that lack access to healthy food. Status: Passed out of the Senate Agriculture Committee. RCRC Position: Support
SB 1292 (Hueso): Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund. SB 1292 would increase the maximum amount of a construction grant award from $3 million to $5 million for a water system serving severely disadvantaged communities. Status: Passed out of the Assembly Environmental Safety and Toxics Materials Committee. RCRC Position: Support
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 Assembly Agriculture 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 Assembly Agriculture Committee. RCRC Position: Support