The Barbed Wire - July 19, 2019

Registration Now Open for RCRC’s 2019 Annual Meeting in El Dorado County!!!

Registration is now open 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.  Register today to receive the “Early Bird” rate!  Read More…

RCRC Leadership Attends Annual NACo Conference

The 2019 National Association of Counties (NACo) Annual Conference concluded on Monday, with a number of members of the RCRC Board of Directors attending the four day series of meetings in Las Vegas, NV, from July 12-15, 2019.  

RCRC Chair Matt Kingsley (Inyo), 1^st Vice Chair Daron McDaniel (Merced), 2^nd Vice Chair Stacy Corless (Mono), Immediate Past Chair Rex Bohn (Humboldt), Supervisor Kevin Cann (Mariposa), and Supervisor Lee Adams (Sierra) joined other supervisors from RCRC member counties for the conference.  Supervisor Cann serves as President of NACo’s Western Interstate Region (WIR) and Supervisor Adams serves as RCRC’s WIR representative.  

Of importance were conversations in the Public Lands Committee, including an appearance by USDA Forest Service Chief Vicki Christiansen.  Other important items that were discussed included funding for the Federal Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program and the upcoming “PILT Fly-In” in Washington, D.C. in early September. 

The final action was the election of DeKalb County Commissioner Larry Johnson to serve as NACo 2nd Vice President. 

RCRC leadership will provide an overview during the August RCRC Board of the Directors meeting.  Next year’s Annual Conference will be held in Orlando, Florida on July 17-20, 2020.

RCRC Submits Letter to Veterinary Medical Board Requesting a Suspension to Pending Regulation Changes

On Wednesday, the Veterinary Medical Board (VMB) discussed considering a potential legislative solution to concerns raised by numerous animal shelters and stakeholders on the Minimum Standards and Protocols for Shelter Medicine regulations.  Current law requires that animal shelters have a premises permit, equating these shelter facilities to those of a veterinary facility.  

At this week’s hearing, the VMB decided to continue to move forward with their informal rulemaking process on Minimum Standards on Shelter Medicine. A draft of those protocols can be viewed here.  Once the formal Rulemaking process begins in the next year, a 45 day public comment period will commence.  Moving forward, RCRC will continue to advocate for a change in law to resolve the ambiguity with applying premise permits to animal shelters, an arbitrary barrier to providing basic care to surrendered animals in many rural communities.

RCRC’s letter to the VMB can be accessed here.  

Cannabis Banking Hearing

The Senate Banking Committee scheduled a hearing to examine legislation to address the legal prohibitions preventing banks from providing financial services to cannabis related businesses.  Senate Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Ranking Member Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) will lead the full committee hearing, scheduled for Tuesday, July 23, 2019.  Chairman Crapo and Ranking Member Brown will hear from two panels of witnesses.  The first panel will feature Senators Cory Gardner (R-Colorado) and Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon), the original sponsors for the Senate version of the SAFE Banking Act, a legislative proposal that would lift the prohibition on cannabis banking.  The second panel includes representatives from the cannabis and financial services industry who are expected to testify on the hazards and complications of denying the cannabis industry access to fundamental banking activities. 

The hearing is a significant reversal from Chairman Crapo who was previously adamant the cannabis banking prohibition be resolved through federal legalization. Chairman Crapo has not come out in favor of cannabis banking legislation but holding a hearing is a significant step forward for the SAFE Banking Act.

Forest Service

The Trump Administration ended a long dispute with the State of California of the terms of the U.S. Forest Service’s reimbursement to state firefighting agencies for their assistance during the 2018 wildfire suppression efforts on federal lands.  The U.S. Forest Service was disputing portions of a $72 million reimbursement owed to California according to the California Fire Assistance Agreement (CFAA).  

The U.S. Forest Service ultimately agreed to uphold the CFAA for the remainder of 2019 and complete a full reimbursement to California.  CFAA took effect in 2015 and will expire in 2020, when California will have to renegotiate the terms of its agreement with the U.S. Forest Service for cooperative wildfire suppression activities on federal land.  The announcement this week marks the end of a bitter feud between the Trump Administration and California that began with a series of comments from President Trump blaming recent wildfires on the states’ environmental and forest management laws.

Infrastructure

Last week, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman John Barrasso (R-Wyoming) held a hearing on an upcoming surface transportation infrastructure package that will reauthorize critical federal funding for highway infrastructure and other surface transportation programs.  The legislation is expected to focus on traditional “roads and bridges” infrastructure projects and will likely be the only significant infrastructure legislation to move through Congress in 2019.

BULLETIN BOARD

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

Public Forums on California’s Water Future - Meetings in Redding and Fresno

The California State Board of Food and Agriculture will be hosting a series of public forums to allow farmers, ranchers, and stakeholders the opportunity to provide input on the California’s Water Future.  It should be noted that RCRC staff has been invited and will be attending the meeting in Redding, CA. 

Redding – Tuesday, August 6, 2019

1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Sheraton Redding Hotel

820 Sundial Bridge Drive

Redding, CA 96001

Fresno – Thursday, September 5, 2019

1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Fresno County Farm Bureau

1274 W. Hedges, Ave

Fresno, CA 93728

Read More...

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

The Legislature adjourned for Summer Recess on Friday, July 12, 2019, and will reconvene activities on Monday, August 12, 2019.  Upon return, the Legislature is likely to consider nearly 1,000 legislative measures in the final 4 weeks of the 2019 Legislative Session.  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.

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.