Midnight on August 31, 2014 marks the Constitutional deadline for the 2013-14 Legislative Session. As of this writing, the Assembly and Senate are expected to act on approximately 100 remaining bills prior to adjournment.
Many key RCRC-supported bills secured passage earlier this week and now await the Governor’s consideration. The Governor has until September 30, 2014 to address the hundreds of bills that have reached his desk. RCRC supported two key forestry bills regarding expansion of Timber Harvest Plan (THP) exemptions - Assembly Bill 1867 (Patterson) and Assembly Bill 2142 (Chesbro).
Other key bills that gained passage include:
· AB 896 (Eggman) regarding the control of West Nile Virus through collaboration approach between state agencies and the local vector control districts;
· AB 2363 (Dahle) regarding eligibility of a renewable energy source for inclusion in the state’s renewable portfolio standard;
· AB 2413 (Perez) which would create the Office of Farm to Fork;
· SB 1341 (Mitchell) which would aid in the transition to the state’s new Medi-Cal computerized eligibility system (CalHEERS);
· AB 1174 (Bocanegra) which would ease the Medi-Cal payment restrictions for tele-dentistry providers;
· AB 2490 (Eggman) would make a number of modest administrative changes in the governance of fairs; and,
· AB 2231 (Gordon) which would re-instate a Senior Citizens Property Tax Postponement program.
RCRC-opposed bills also secured passage and await the consideration of the Governor. One high-profile example is Assembly Bill 2188 (Muratsuchi), which would require an expedited permitting process for rooftop solar, placing these particular permits in front of all other permits. RCRC will be attempting to secure a veto of this measure.
RCRC staff continues to work on issues still outstanding in the Legislature, including the various groundwater measures, in the final days and hours of session. The RCRC bill list will be available on our website, and will be updated as each bill passes through the legislative process, and then again after the Governor takes action on each item.