State Parks

SB 386 – Vetoed

The Governor has vetoed, SB 386, by Senator Tom Harmon. This bill would have required the State Department of Parks and Recreation to notify the public of park closures via the internet. This notice would include information on how an interested entity could contact the department to express their interest in entering into a contract. In his veto message the Governor noted that while it was a good idea, it was one that does not need a law. 

Medical Marijuana

SB 847 – Vetoed

The Governor also vetoed SB 847, which would have prohibited a medical marijuana cooperative, collective, dispensary, operator, establishment or provider that operates through a storefront or mobile retail outlet from being located within a 600-feet radius of a school unless the local governing entity (city council or board of supervisors) enacts an ordinance regulating the residential location of such medical marijuana entities. In his veto message the Governor acknowledged his signing of AB 1300 which clarified the Medical Marijuana Program to provide that the law shall not prevent a city or other local governing body from adopting local ordinances that regulate the location, operation, or establishment of medical marijuana cooperative or collective. The Governor indicated that SB 847 goes in the opposite direction by preempting local control.

Cal Recycle Commercial Recycling Regulations

Cal Recycle and ARB staff has released their Staff Report for the proposed mandatory commercial recycling regulatory action, which includes a summary of the economic and environmental impacts of the proposal. The initial Statement of Reasons for the Proposed Regulation to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions by Requiring Mandatory Commercial Waste Recycling is available and the full text of the proposed regulatory language may be accessed on ARB’s website. 

Cal Recycle is accepting orally or in writing at the meeting, and comments may be submitted by postal mail or by electronic submittal before the meeting. To be considered by the Air Resources Board, written comments, not physically submitted at the meeting, must be submitted on or after September 3, 2011 and received no later than 12:00 noon on October 19, 2011. CSAC is in the process of drafting comments on the proposed regulation. For more information, go to the Cal Recycle website.

Water Education Foundation:
Changing Our Perspective: New Ways of Thinking about the Delta

Speakers at this one-day forum will discuss new ideas to take a fresh look at the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. As planning continues in an effort to “solve” the Delta’s problems, this forum aims to turn the discussion in a new direction – how to manage the Delta’s conditions to maintain its local and statewide resources and uses.
The conference will be held at 9:00 a.m. on October 18, 2011 at:
 
The Haggin Oaks Golf Complex, 
3645 Fulton Avenue, Sacramento, CA .

Confirmed speakers include:

• Jeff Conklin, Author of Dialogue Mapping: Creating Shared Understanding of Wicked Problems and Director of the CogNexus Institute
• Ian Mitroff, Author of Dirty Rotten Strategies: How We Trick Ourselves and Others into Solving the Wrong Problems Precisely and President and Founder, Mitroff Crisis Management
• James P. Mayer, Executive Director of California Forward
  ​In addition to learning about new ways of thinking about the Delta, participants will get an opportunity to hear about the challenges and plans now under study by the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Conservancy, Delta Stewardship Council and Delta Protection Commission. A panel comprised of state legislators will close out the discussion.

For more information, visit the Water Education Foundation’s website. 

Bay Delta Conservation Plan: Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Oversight Hearing

The Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee has scheduled an oversight hearing on the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) for Wednesday, October 19, in the State Capitol, Room 437, starting at 9:00 AM. At this hearing, the committee will get an update regarding the status of the BDCP process and information regarding the BDCP Memorandum of Authority (MOA). The committee staff is in the process of preparing an agenda for the meeting.

According to background provided by the committee, “State and Federal leaders released what they have described as “an aggressive timeline” for BDCP completion and exchanged letters reaffirming their commitment to the Plan. In addition, the Department of Water Resources (DWR) and Federal Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) signed a new Memorandum of Authority (MOA) with certain state and federal water agencies who receive export water supplies from the Delta detailing how the remaining planning process will be funded and conducted, including environmental review.” 

The BDCP is analyzing an isolated conveyance facility around, or under, the Delta in conjunction with habitat restoration and other measures as the basis of a Habitat Conservation Plan/Natural Community Conservation Plan to provide the State Water Project Delta facilities operated by DWR with federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) and California Endangered Species Act CESA coverage for a fifty-year permit term. It is anticipated that an ESA consultation on the plan would also provide Reclamation with new federal biological opinions and incidental take statements for the federal Central Valley Project. 

The latest information on the Bay Delta Conservation Plan, including the correspondence and MOA referenced above, as well as draft documents, can be found at: http://baydeltaconservationplan.com/.