On Monday, the Governor signed an Executive Order that provided an array of tax and regulatory relief for small businesses, as well as suspended certain workforce requirements for Fair Boards in order to allow needed funding to go to fairgrounds during the State Emergency relating to COVID-19. In November 2019, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) initiated long-awaiting rulemaking on how to allocate revenues collected in the state’s Fair and Exposition Fund to qualified fairs and fairgrounds pursuant to the 2017 enactment of Assembly Bill 1499 (Gray) - legislation which RCRC fully supported. To date, over $20 million has been collected under AB 1499, but has yet to be distributed.
The Executive Order exempts fairs that cannot provide workers with 30% above minimum wage, but still maintains meal and rest breaks, as well as applicable overtime pay. On Wednesday, CDFA sent Fair Managers and Board Presidents pertinent information on how to receive these soon-to-be-released funding allocations, which must be formally approved by each respective Fair Board at its next regular board meeting or at an emergency board meeting. CDFA intends to distribute these funds based on the class size of the fair, ranging from $132,500 to $198,700.
The Executive Order can be found here. The draft funding distribution can be viewed here.