The Barbed Wire - August 09, 2019

August 8, 2019
Register for RCRC’s 2019 Annual Meeting in El Dorado County!!!
State Legislature Returns on Monday
RCRC Staff Serves on “Water Resilience Portfolio” Panel Discussion
FCC Proposes “Rural Digital Opportunity Fund” Program
Broadband Mapping Update
Presidential Candidates Release Broadband Plans
BULLETIN BOARD

Register for RCRC’s 2019 Annual Meeting in El Dorado County!!!

Have you registered for RCRC’s 2019 Annual Meeting?  This year’s conference will be held September 25-27 at the Lake Tahoe Resort Hotel in El Dorado County.  This year’s program will feature experts discussing a wide range of topics on critical issues shaping California’s future.  Read More…

State Legislature Returns on Monday

The California Legislature will reconvene from Summer Recess on August 12, 2019.  Legislators will jump directly back into the thicket of policy-making with a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing scheduled on Monday.  

The Legislature is expected to consider nearly 1,000 legislative measures in the final four weeks of the 2019 Legislative Session.  Housing and gun violence discussions are expected to receive a great deal of attention.  Both houses of the Legislature are slated to adjourn on September 13, 2019. 

For more information regarding state legislative activities, please contact the RCRC Governmental Affairs staff at (916) 447-4806.

RCRC Staff Serves on “Water Resilience Portfolio” Panel Discussion

On Tuesday, Mary-Ann Warmerdam, RCRC Senior Legislative Advocate, represented California’s rural counties on a panel before the California State Board of Food and Agriculture.  The panel, which focused on the Water Resilience Portfolio, also included David Guy with the Northern California Water Association, and Rich Gordon with the California Forestry Association.  

“The Water Resilience Portfolio initiative creates an opportunity for us to step back and reimagine how we might best steward the infrastructure investments already made, even as we operationalize them for today’s ecosystem and economic needs,” said Warmerdam.

Ms. Warmerdam’s comments centered around three policy buckets – healthy watersheds, water infrastructure, and Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) implementation. 

“A healthy watershed leads to a healthy water supply” noted Warmerdam, and preserving California’s largest reservoir (Shasta Lake) is of paramount importance.  Nearly 75 percent of California’s available water originates in the northern one-third of the state, while more than 70 percent of the demand occurs in the southern two-thirds of the state and coastal areas.  Protecting our watersheds begins with properly managing our forests and wildlands.

Ms. Warmerdam discussed the importance of investing in water infrastructure, and recognizing conjunctive use benefits, namely the integration of California’s surface water supply and groundwater.

Lastly, the SGMA provides us the opportunity to “get it right” through empowering local groundwater sustainability agencies (GSAs) as the lead on local solutions.

RCRC’s overall advocacy efforts related to various water proposals and policy can be accessed here.

FCC Proposes “Rural Digital Opportunity Fund” Program

On August 1, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) held an Open Commission Meeting where commissioners considered multiple issues that could impact the deployment of broadband internet in rural California.  During the meeting, Commissioners proposed a new program to invest in rural broadband projects entitled the “Rural Digital Opportunity Fund.”  

The Rural Digital Fund (the Fund) would invest $20.4 billion to expand broadband in rural areas without adequate internet access.  The proposal would raise the bar for rural broadband deployment by making more areas eligible for support and requiring faster service than the Connect America Fund (CAF) Phase II reverse auction.  In a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, the FCC seeks comment on continuing the expansion of broadband where it’s lacking by using an efficient reverse auction that builds on the success of the CAF Phase II auction.  The Fund would focus on areas currently served by “price cap” carriers, along with areas that were not won in the CAF Phase II auction and other areas that do not currently receive any high-cost universal service support.  The official Notice of Proposed Rulemaking requests comment on the following policy proposals for the new fund:

  • Make eligible for support any price cap area currently receiving CAF Phase II model-based support but lacking broadband at speeds of 25 Megabits per second (Mbps) downstream, 3 Mbps upstream, as well as the areas un-awarded in the CAF Phase II auction.
  • Make additional homes and businesses eligible for support by including areas that remain unserved, despite previous expectations that they would be served without subsidies due to estimated lower costs.
  • Raise the standard for broadband deployment from the CAF’s 10 Mbps/1 Mbps minimum to at least 25 Mbps/3 Mbps, with incentives for faster speeds.
  • Allocate support through a multi-round reverse auction like that used in last year’s CAF Phase II auction. In that auction, competition reduced the cost of reaching over 700,000 unserved homes and businesses from the $5 billion auction reserve price to $1.488 billion.
  • Implement a two-phase approach: 1) In Phase I, target wholly unserved census blocks, using an existing FCC data collection 2) In Phase II, target unserved locations in partially unserved census blocks, using new, more granular data being developed through the Digital Opportunity Data Collection, along with areas not won in Phase I.
  • Set a budget of $20.4 billion in high-cost universal service support, making available at least $16 billion for Phase I and the remainder available for Phase II. Both phases would have 10-year support terms.
  • Adopt technology-neutral standards, opening the auction to all types of providers that can meet program standards.
  • Ensure a smooth transition of support from existing providers to auction winners.
  • Include measures to require accountability to ensure that funding is used wisely to expand broadband deployment.

Detailed information on the Fund can be accessed here.

Broadband Mapping Update

In order to identify geographic areas that lack adequate broadband access, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is instituting a new process for collecting fixed broadband data.  This proposal would reform the FCC’s broadband deployment data collection rules, and improve the accuracy of the National Broadband Map overseen by the National Telecommunications Information Agency (NTIA).  

The order established a new collection process known as the Digital Opportunity Data Collection which require mobile and landline service providers to submit detailed coverage maps to show specific areas they serve at the census block level.  The order was praised by third parties such as Microsoft, a leading voice from the private sector to improve broadband coverage data, while acknowledging the order is only a step in the right direction.  In general, the order is expected to increase the granularity of the data shared by service providers which should lead to more accurate coverage information.

Detailed information can be accessed here.

Presidential Candidates Release Broadband Plans

Democratic candidates for the 2020 presidential elections are pitching themselves to rural America this week during their campaign tours across the State of Iowa.  Some candidates are seizing this opportunity to launch their rural policy platforms and appeal to rural voters.

On Wednesday, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) announced her plan to deliver high speed broadband coverage to rural areas.  As part of her policy platform for rural America, Senator Warren proposed the creation of a new Department of Economic Development which would oversee an $85 billion federal broadband grant program that would provide funding to electricity and telecommunications co-ops, nonprofits, tribes, and local governments. Nationwide carriers would not be eligible for funding.

In her rural platform launch, Senator Warren also said she would back federal legislation that would authorize local governments to construct their own broadband networks.  Municipal-owned networks are outlawed in 26 states, including California, but Senator Warren suggested as president she would support federal legislation to lift these bands and authorize municipal broadband networks nationwide.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York) published her plan for rural America called “Rebuilding Rural America to Build Our Future,” which would create a $50 billion fund within the U.S. Department of Agriculture to distribute block grants to rural communities for infrastructure, public assistance, and economic development programs. In addition, Senator Gillibrand promised her administration would spend $60 billion to deliver high-speed internet access in rural areas.

BULLETIN BOARD

Announcements regarding hearings, grants, and public comment notices of importance to California's rural counties.

 

CalPERS Hosts Tailored Forum for Elected Officials

CalPERS has extended an invitation to local elected officials to attend a special meeting to discuss key issues and upcoming policy issues related to the long-term funding of CalPERS. 

CalPERS hosts an Educational Forum every October for employer management and operational-level team members.  This year, CalPERS is hosting a “Forum-within-the-Forum” tailored specifically to elected officials who oversee the agencies, local governments, and schools that make up the CalPERS System.  The event will feature discussions on pension costs, projections, and strategies to address:

  • Unfunded Accrued Liability
  • Investment Returns
  • Rising Health Care Costs
  • Pre-Funding of Pensions and Post-Retirement Benefit Costs

The “Forum-within-the-Forum” will be held at the Oakland Marriott Events Center in Oakland, California on Monday, October 28, 2019 from 9:30am to 12:00pm.  The official invite letter can be accessed here.

 

Shasta County Seeks County Executive Officer

Live, Work, and Play in Beautiful Shasta County.  Located at the northern end of the Sacramento Valley, nestled between Mt. Shasta and Mt. Lassen, Shasta County covers over 3,800+ square miles of rivers, lakes, mountains, State Parks, and National Forests. Easily one of the most picturesque counties in all of California, Shasta County, population 180,000, has an economy based on agriculture, tourism, timber, medical services, and retail businesses. Shasta County has a wealth of resources in a business friendly atmosphere promoting thriving industries.

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