The Barbed Wire - January 18, 2019

January 18, 2019
RCRC Installs 2019 Officers and Presents Rural Leadership Awards
Merced County Distributes Laptops to Foster Youth
RCRC 2018 Annual Report
Disaster Relief
Partial Government Shutdown Rolls On
New Cannabis Regulations To Take Effect Immediately
The Rural Rundown Podcast: An Analysis of Governor Newsom’s Proposed 2019-20 State Budget
THE RURAL RUNDOWN PODCAST
KEEPING UP
BULLETIN BOARD
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

RCRC Installs 2019 Officers and Presents Rural Leadership Awards

Earlier this week, the Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC) installed its 2019 Officers and presented its Rural Leadership Awards at their annual reception in Sacramento.  Inyo County Supervisor Matt Kingsley was installed as Chair, Merced County Supervisor Daron McDaniel was installed as First Vice Chair, and Mono County Supervisor Stacy Corless was installed as Second Vice Chair.  Humboldt County Supervisor Rex Bohn remains an Officer as Immediate Past Chair.  The newly installed 2019 Officers will lead the organization in championing policies on behalf of California’s rural counties.  Read More…

Merced County Distributes Laptops to Foster Youth

Last Friday, RCRC First Vice Chair Daron McDaniel (Merced) was joined by Craig Ferguson, National Homebuyers Fund, Inc. Vice President, Justin Caporusso, RCRC Vice President of External Affairs, and representatives from iFoster at a laptop distribution event in Merced.  Nearly 100 foster youth and former foster youth aged 16-21 in Merced County are slated to receive laptops through a partnership between RCRC, NHF, and iFoster.  Read More…

RCRC 2018 Annual Report

RCRC released its 2018 Annual Report at the January Board of Directors meeting in Sacramento on Wednesday.  Read More…

Disaster Relief

On Wednesday night the House of Representatives passed a disaster supplemental spending package that would provide $12.14 billion of emergency relief for victims of hurricanes and wildfires. The measure passed 237-187 on the House Floor.

The final version of the House’s bill included $480 million for an Emergency Forest Restoration Program, approximately $125 million for financial and technical assistance for states and local sponsors to protect and restore watersheds, $150 million in funds to provide health care, education, and other public services for rural communities, and $15.5 million to the Bureau of Reclamation for fire remediation and firefighting activities. In addition, the disaster supplemental spending package provided $720 million to the U.S. Forest Service to repay the cost of fire borrowing in order to fund wildfire activities in Fiscal 2018 and $103 million for programs related to Forest Inventory Analysis, State and Private Forestry, the National Forest System, and Capital Improvement and Maintenance.

The House also approved three amendments to the package right before passage that would benefit rural California.  An amendment produced by Representative Mike Thompson (D-Napa) would clarify current law to ensure wine grape growers will be eligible for emergency relief if it is discovered that wildfire smoke damaged the grapes after they are harvested from the vine. The House approved a separate amendment supported by Representative Thompson that would increase funding for the Community Development Fund by $50 million and the added funds would be earmarked for the unmet infrastructure needs for grantees that were allocated funds for disasters that occurred in 2017.  Representative Thompson specified on the House Floor that he hopes the funds will be used in regions of Northern California that are still recovering from California’s deadly wildfire season of 2017.  Lastly the House approved a bipartisan amendment backed by Representative Jimmy Panetta (D-Monterey) and Bill Westerman (R-Arkansas).  This effort would increase funding for the State and Private Forestry accounts at the U.S. Forest Service to help state and private forest managers recover from 2018 wildfires and prepare for the next fire season.

The House passed the measure mostly along party lines. Many Republicans voted against the disaster supplemental spending package because Democrats attached a stopgap spending measure that would reopen the government and end the partial shutdown without providing any funding for President Trump’s border wall project. Among the members who opposed the bill were Doug LaMalfa (R-Butte), Tom McClintock (R-Placer), Paul Cook (R-San Bernardino), Devin Nunes (R-Tulare), Ken Calvert (R-Riverside), Duncan Hunter (R-San Diego), and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield). The measure will face similar opposition from Senate Republicans and is not expected to be considered in the Upper House.

Partial Government Shutdown Rolls On

The U.S. is in the longest government shutdown in history and there are no signs of a deal in the near future.  While the shutdown is only partial (the President signed spending measures to fund the military and the Departments of Labor, Education, Health and Human Services, and other key agencies), the government agencies that remain unfunded are critical to rural America.  Projects overseen by the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and Fish and Wildlife Service are on-hold. Programs providing rural aid at the U.S. Department of Agriculture are frozen.  Many rural counties across the country are financially dependent on various forms of federal assistance.  Rural counties are facing a financial burden that will continue to balloon if the shutdown drags into February.

New Cannabis Regulations To Take Effect Immediately

On Wednesday, the state’s three cannabis licensing authorities - the Bureau of Cannabis Control, the California Department of Public Health, and the California Department of Food and Agriculture - announced that the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) has officially approved state regulations for cannabis businesses from cultivation to retail.   These state regulations allow cannabis cultivators and retailers to participate in the regulated cannabis marketplace.

In order to have met the desire to open the state’s regulated cannabis market on January 1, 2018, the cannabis licensing authorities ratified emergency regulations in December 2017 and again in June 2018.  On December 3, 2018, the cannabis licensing authorities submitted a package of regulations to OAL, which started a 30-working day review process.   In light of the actions taken Wednesday, the emergency regulations are no longer valid, and these new and permanent regulations become effective immediately.

Of primary concern to municipalities, including rural counties, is the allowance of mobile deliveries into jurisdictions that prevent them from occurring.  The regulations contain a provision which allows for ubiquitous authority for licensed retailers to deliver products anywhere in the State.  A legal challenge is expected to overturn this aspect of the regulatory package. County Comments expressing opposition to the delivery piece can be accessed here.

Each licensing authority’s final regulations and rulemaking documents can be accessed here.

The Rural Rundown Podcast: An Analysis of Governor Newsom’s Proposed 2019-20 State Budget

In this episode of The Rural Rundown, RCRC's Vice President of External Affairs Justin Caporusso sits down with RCRC’s Vice President of Governmental Affairs Paul Smith to discuss Governor Gavin Newsom’s 2019-20 proposed State Budget, and its impacts upon California’s rural counties.  Read More…

THE RURAL RUNDOWN PODCAST

The Rural Rundown discusses the legislative and regulatory issues impacting California’s rural counties, featuring commentary and interviews from individuals committed to improving the quality of life in rural California. 

The Rural Rundown can be accessed here

KEEPING UP

Announcements regarding key staffing changes of importance to California's rural counties.

San Benito County Seeks Assistant County Administrator

Click here

BULLETIN BOARD

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

HDL Releases Local Government Guide to California Sales, Use and Transaction Tax

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.

Assembly Bill 41 (Gallagher): Disaster Relief: Camp Fire. Assembly Bill 41 provides that the State share for disaster relief is born by the State as it relates to the Camp Fire that started in November 2018 in Butte County. Status: AB 41 awaits consideration in the Assembly Governmental Organization Committee. RCRC Status: Support

Senate Bill 62 (Dodd): Endangered Species: Accidental Take. Senate Bill 62 would make permanent an “accidental take” of candidate, threatened, or endangered species resulting from acts that occur on a farm or a ranch in the course of otherwise lawful routine. Status: SB 62 awaits consideration in the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee. RCRC Status: Support