California Foothills Legacy Area

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is initiating the planning process for the proposed California Foothills Legacy Area (CFLA). CFLA is a proposed new voluntary easement program intended to protect working landscapes on rangelands surrounding California’s Central Valley.

This initiative was developed in cooperation with the California Rangeland Conservation Coalition, a group of more than 100 agricultural organizations, environmental interest groups, as well as state and federal agencies. Rangelands represent one of the most threatened habitats throughout the western United States. The purpose of this initiative is to help protect these valuable rangelands that include a rich and varied landscape of grasslands, oak woodlands, vernal pools, riparian areas and wetlands, which support numerous imperiled species, many native plants. 
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will host public meetings in six California communities to receive input on its proposed California Foothills Legacy Area (CFLA) project. The meetings begin June 6, in Bakersfield, and continue through the final scoping meeting in Hollister, Calif., on June 16, 2011. For more information, visit the U.S. Fish & Wildlife website.

Solid Waste

AB 1178 (Ma) – Oppose Unless Amended
As Amended May 10, 2011

Last week, the CSAC Board of Directors took an oppose unless amended position on AB 1178, by Assembly Member Fiona Ma, a measure related to solid waste. AB 1178 would prohibit a city or county from restricting or limiting in any way the importation of solid waste based on the place of origin. The bill was amended on May 10, 2011 to exempt publically owned landfills from the bill. CSAC staff was given the direction to continue to work on amendments that would clarify the public exemption provision of the bill. 

CSAC, along with RCRC and the League of Cities is working on amendments would strengthen the language regarding the publically owned landfill exemption; clarify that the bill would not impact existing contracts; and, clarify that nothing in the bill impacts or changes local land use authority. Until these amendments are accepted by the author, CSAC will be opposed to the current version of the bill. AB 1178 will be heard in the Senate Environmental Quality Committee later this month. 

AB 833 (Vargas) – Oppose
As Amended April 25, 2011

AB 833, by Assembly Member Juan Vargas, would place specific restrictions on the construction of solid waste facilities in San Diego County. Specifically, SB 833 prohibits a person from constructing a solid waste facility in San Diego County if it is within 1,000 feet of the San Luis Rey River, or within 1,000 feet of a site that is considered to be sacred land to a Native America tribe. CSAC is opposed to this bill because it would establish a dangerous precedent when dealing with the siting and permitting of solid waste facilities. CSAC believes that the existing permitting process is the appropriate channel for this debate to occur. 

Overriding existing laws and regulations related to the siting and construction of a solid waste facility would jeopardize the process the Legislature created exactly for this purpose. This bill is awaiting committee assignment in the Assembly. 

Energy

SB 618 (Wolk) – Request for Comments
As Amended May 11, 2011

SB 618, by Senator Lois Wolk, passed off the Senate floor last week, and is now headed to the Assembly for consideration. This bill would create a solar easement program for siting solar projects on marginally productive agricultural lands (term defined in bill). Easements would look similar to Williamson Act contracts, with a term of no less than 10 years, and an automatic annual renewal, and termination only by a process of non-renewal. Several outstanding issues have yet to be addressed in the bill, including the level of taxation on the land under easements. CSAC is continuing to work with the author to address these issues. 

Water Quality

AB 741 (Huffman) – Support
As Amended April 11, 2011

AB 741, by Assembly Member Jared Huffman, passed out of the Senate Governance and Finance Committee this week. AB 741 would authorize public wastewater agencies to offer voluntary liens to private property owners to finance sewer lateral replacements and conversions from septic to sewer systems to prevent groundwater contamination and protect the environment, public health and safety. CSAC supported a similar version of this bill last year. The previous version would have allowed property owners to finance these improvements through a PACE- like program. In light of the issues with PACE, this bill uses a different financing mechanism to accomplish the same goal of helping private property owners finance the cost of converting from a septic system to a community sewer system and, or the replacement of damaged sewer later laterals.