RCRC members are encouraged to share letters addressed to state and federal representatives and regulatory bodies with RCRC’s Government Affairs staff. Click “Read More” to access information related to the current status of legislation impacting California’s rural counties.
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 Appropriations Committee. RCRC Status: Support
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 awaits consideration on the Senate Floor (Third Reading File). 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 Appropriations Committee. RCRC Position: Support
Assembly Bill 402 (Quirk): Support: LPA’s. Assembly Bill 402 has authorized the State Water Resources Control Board to delegate partial responsibility for the Safe Drinking Water Act's enforcement by means of a local primacy delegation agreement. Status: AB 402 awaits consideration in the Senate Appropriations Committee. RCRC Status: 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 Appropriations Committee. RCRC Status: Pending
Assembly Bill 916 (Muratsuchi): Oppose: Glyphosate. Assembly Bill 916 Prohibits a city, county, charter city, city and county, or a special district, as defined, from using any pesticide that contains the active ingredient glyphosate. Status: AB 916 pulled from 2year bill. RCRC Status: Oppose
Assembly Bill 1080 (Gonzalez)/Senate Bill 54 (Allen): Circular Economy and Plastic Pollution Reduction. Assembly Bill 1080/SB 54 requires the state 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 and SB 54 await consideration in the Senate and Assembly Appropriations 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 Appropriations 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 awaits consideration in the Senate 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 action in the Senate (Senate Consent Calendar). RCRC Position: Support
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 awaits consideration in the Senate Appropriations 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 was substantially amended by the Senate Governance & Finance Appropriations Committee, but those amendments are not yet in print. RCRC Status: Concerns
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 been Chaptered by the 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 in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. RCRC Position: 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 passed the Assembly and awaits the Governor’s action. 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 Appropriations 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 Appropriations 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 consideration by the Governor. 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 consideration in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. RCRC Position: Support
Senate Bill 253 (Dodd): California Agricultural Conservation Program. Senate Bill 253 requires the Scientific Advisory Panel on Environmental Farming under the Secretary of Food and Agriculture, to assist government agencies to incorporate the conservation of natural resources and ecosystem services practices into agricultural programs. Requires the Department of Food and Agriculture with advice from the panel, to establish and administer the California Agricultural Conservation Program subject to an appropriation by the Legislature. Status: SB 253 awaits consideration in the Assembly Appropriations 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 Appropriations 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 Appropriations Committee. RCRC Status: Support
Senate Bill 462 (Stern): Community Colleges: Urban and Rural Forest and Woodlands. Restoration and Fire Resiliency Workforce Program. 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 Appropriations 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: allowing the State to provide alternative financing methods; requiring CalRecycle to prepare a funding need assessment; and, requiring CalRecycle to develop financial incentive mechanisms. Status: SB 667 awaits consideration in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. RCRC Status: Support