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.
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 Senate Governmental Organization Committee. RCRC Status: Support
Assembly Bill 134 (Bloom): Safe, Clean, Affordable, and Accessible Drinking Water. Assembly Bill 134 would require funding from a Safe Drinking Water Fund or Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund to be displayed in the Governor's annual budget and requires the board by a specified date of each year to review the assessment of funding need and to prioritize the public water systems. Status: AB 134 awaits consideration in the Senate Environmental Quality Committee and the Senate Natural Resources & Water Committee. RCRC Position: Watch
Assembly Bill 178 (Dahle): Energy: building standards: photovoltaic requirements. Assembly Bill 178 exempts post-fire residential rebuilding from recently-adopted California Energy Commission (CEC) solar energy installation mandates in order to reduce the cost of rebuilding. Status: AB 178 passed the Senate Energy, Utilities, and Communications Committee and awaits consideration in the Appropriations Committee. RCRC Status: Support
Assembly Bill 247 (Dahle): Disaster Relief: Carr and Klamathon Fires. Assembly Bill 247 provides that the state share for disaster project allocations to local agencies is up to 100% of total state eligible costs connected with the Klamathon fire that started on July 5, 2018, in the County of Siskiyou, and the Carr Fire that started on July 23, 2018, in the County of Shasta. Status: AB 247 awaits consideration in the Senate Appropriations Committee. RCRC Status: Support
Assembly Bill 394 (Obernolte): California Environmental Quality Act: Exemption: Fire Safety. Assembly Bill 394 expedites fire safety improvements for subdivisions that are at significant fire risk and lack a secondary escape route. Status: AB 394 awaits consideration in the Senate Natural Resources & Water Committee. RCRC Position: Support
Assembly Bill 417 (Arambula): Agriculture and Rural Prosperity Act. Assembly Bill 417 authorizes the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) to take several actions to support rural communities and further the development of rural agricultural economies, including offering rural communities assistance in gathering economic data to target investments, identifying methods to attract and retain businesses, determining and forecasting the economic influences of agriculture and related industries, and mustering resources to expand broadband infrastructure. Status: AB 417 awaits consideration in the Senate Appropriations Committee. RCRC Status: Support.
Assembly Bill 658 (Arambula): Groundwater Management. Assembly Bill 658 authorizes a groundwater sustainability or local agency to apply fora conditional temporary permit for diversion of surface water to underground storage for beneficial use that advances the sustainability goal of a groundwater basin. Status: AB 658 awaits consideration in the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee. RCRC Status: Pending
Assembly Bill 1080 (Gonzalez)/Senate Bill 54 (Allen): Circular Economy and Plastic Pollution Reduction. Assembly Bill 1080/SB 54 requires manufacturers to reduce the waste associated with single use packaging and products 75 percent by 2030, requires the state to set standards for what is considered recyclable and compostable, and promotes the development of in-state manufacturing that uses recycled materials. Status: AB 1080/SB 54 awaits consideration in the Senate Environmental Quality Committee and Assembly Natural Resources Committee, respectively. RCRC Status: Support
Assembly Bill 1111 (Friedman): Office of Sustainable Outdoor Recreation. Assembly Bill 1111 would establish the Office of Sustainable Outdoor Recreation in state government. Requires the office to undertake certain activities, including supporting the outdoor recreation economy of the state by engaging in specified activities. Requires the office to create an advisory committee to provide advice, expertise, support, and service to the office. Authorizes the office to receive the assistance and funds from public and private sources. Status: AB 1111 awaits consideration in the Senate Natural Resources Committee, Water Committee and the Senate Governmental Organization Committee. RCRC Position: Support
Assembly Bill 1144 (Friedman): Self-Generation Incentive Program. Assembly Bill 1144 requires the California Public Utilities Commission to establish pilot projects to install energy storage systems to back up critical infrastructure in high-fire threat districts. Status: AB 1144 67 passed in the Senate Energy, Utilities & Communications Committee and awaits consideration in the Appropriations Committee. RCRC Position: Support
Assembly Bill 1160 (Dahle): Forestry: Timber Operations: Sustained Yield Plans. Assembly Bill 1160 would extend the effective period of a sustained yield plan from 10 years to 20 years. Status: AB 1160 awaits consideration in the Senate Appropriation Committee. RCRC Position: Support
Assembly Bill 1486 (Ting): Local Agencies: Surplus Land. Assembly Bill 1486 adds more specificity to the types of agencies subject to the Surplus Land Act, by adding sewer, water, utility, and local and regional park districts, joint powers authorities, successor agencies to former redevelopment agencies, housing authorities, and other political subdivisions of this state to the list of agencies that are mandated to follow certain requirements before disposing of surplus land. AB 1486 also redefines and substantially broadens the term “dispose of” to include the sale, transfer, or other conveyance of any interest in real property. Status: AB 1486 awaits consideration in the Senate Governance and Finance Committee and the Senate Governmental Organization Committee. RCRC Status: Oppose Unless Amended
Assembly Bill 1516 (Friedman): Fire Prevention: Defensible Space Fuel Reduction. Assembly Bill 1516 would make various changes to improve California’s fire prevention policies including its defensible space requirements. Status: AB 1516 consideration action in the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee. RCRC Position: Support
Assembly Bill 1783 (Rivas): Worker Housing State Funding: Assembly Bill 1783 requires "agricultural employee housing" of unlimited size and density to go through a streamlined, ministerial permit process, be treated as an agricultural land use, and permitted anywhere within any agricultural area without the ability to impose conditional use permits or local fees on the project. Status: AB 1783 awaits consideration in the Senate Housing Committee. RCRC Status: Watch
Assembly Bill 1810 (Assembly Transportation Committee): Transportation/Cattle Guards. Assembly Bill 1810 allows proceeds derived from a state motor fuel taxes to be spent, at the discretion of a county Board of Supervisors, on the maintenance of cattle guards on the public right-of-way. Status: AB 1810 awaits consideration in the Senate Transportation Committee. RCRC Position: Support
Assembly Concurrent Resolution 73 (Bigelow): California Fairgrounds Appreciation Month. ACR 73 would designate May 2019 as the California Fairgrounds Appreciation Month. Status: ACR 73 has passed the Senate Legislative and Chaptered by Secretary of State. RCRC Position: Support
Senate Bill 19 (Dodd): Water Resources: Stream Gages. Senate Bill 19 requires the California Department of Water Resources to develop a plan to deploy a network of stream gages that includes a determination of new needs as well as opportunities for reactivating existing gages. Status: SB 19 consideration action in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. RCRC Position: Support
Senate Bill 45 (Allen): Wildfire, Drought, and Flood Protection Bond Act 2020. Senate Bill 45 enacts the Wildfire, Drought, and Flood Protection Bond Act of 2020, which, if approved by voters, authorizes the issuance of bonds to finance projects to restore fire damaged areas, reduce wildfire risk, create healthy forests and watersheds, reduce climate impacts on urban areas and vulnerable populations, protect water supply and water quality, protect rivers, lakes and streams, reduce flood risk, protect fish and wildlife from climate impacts, and protect coastal lands and resources. Status: SB45 awaits consideration in the Senate Appropriations Committee. RCRC Status: Support
Senate Bill 62 (Dodd): Endangered Species: Accidental Take. Senate Bill 62 extends the sunset date on a provision allowing 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 work. It also repeals the sunset on the California Endangered species Act’s Safe Harbor Agreement Program. Status: SB 62 awaits consideration in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. RCRC Status: Support
Senate Bill 167 (Dodd) Electrical corporations: wildfire mitigation plans. Senate Bill 167 requires electric utility reenergization protocols to mitigate impacts on Californians who rely on life-support equipment. Status: SB 167 awaits consideration in the Assembly Utilities and Energy Committee. RCRC Status: Support.
Senate Bill 190 (Dodd): Fire Safety: Building Standards. Senate Bill 190 creates a model defensible space program for local governments and requires the Office of the State Fire Marshal (OSFM) to provide training resources for local building officials, builders, and fire service personnel to improve building fire safety standards. Status: SB 190 awaits consideration in the Assembly Governmental Organization Committee. RCRC Position: Support
Senate Bill 200 (Monning): Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund. Senate Bill 200 establishes the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund in the State Treasury and provides that moneys in the fund are available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the State Water Resources Control Board to provide a stable source of funding to secure access to safe drinking water for all Californians, while also ensuring the long-term sustainability of drinking water service and infrastructure. Status: SB 200 awaits action in the Assembly Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee. RCRC Status: Support
Senate Bill 209 (Dodd): California Wildfire Warning Center: Weather Monitoring. Senate Bill 209 establishes the California Wildfire Warning Center, a statewide network of automated weather and environmental monitoring stations to conduct fire weather forecasting and threat assessment to aid in wildfire prevention and response. Status: SB 209 awaits action in the Assembly Governmental Organization Committee. RCRC Position: Support
Senate Bill 414 (Caballero): Small Systems Water Authority Act of 2019. Senate Bill 414 creates the Small System Water Authority Act of 2019 and states legislative findings and declarations relating to authorizing the creation of small system water authorities that will have powers to absorb, improve, and competently operate noncompliant public water systems. Status: SB 414 awaits consideration in the Assembly Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee and the Senate Local Government Committee. RCRC Status: Support
Senate Bill 450 (Umberg) California Environmental Quality Act exemption: supportive and transitional housing: motel conversion. SB 450 expedites the creation of supportive and transitional housing by exempting the temporary conversion of existing motels, hotels, and hostels into supportive and transitional housing from CEQA. Status: SB 450 awaits consideration in the Assembly Natural Resources Committee. RCRC Status: Support
Senate Bill 462 (Stern): Community Colleges: Forestland Restoration Workforce. Senate Bill 462 would require the Chancellor's Office of the California Community Colleges, working in collaboration with the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges, to establish a model curriculum for a forestland restoration workforce program that could be offered at campuses of the California Community Colleges. Status: SB 462 awaits consideration in the Assembly Higher Education & Natural Resources Committee. RCRC Position: Support
Senate Bill 667 (Hueso): Greenhouse Gases: Recycling Infrastructure. Senate Bill 667 would help facilitate the state’s organic waste recycling targets. These include: clarifying that the California Pollution Control Financing Authority to provide alternative financing methods; requiring CalRecycle to prepare a five-year investment strategy; and, requiring CalRecycle to develop financial incentive mechanisms. Status: SB 667 awaits consideration in the Assembly Natural Resources Committee. RCRC Status: Support