August 5, 2021

July 29, 2021

July 5, 2021

The California Fire Safe Council (CFSC), in partnership with the California State Association of Counties (CSAC) and the Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC), will open applications for the 2021 County Coordinators Grant Program on Monday, August 2, at 9:00 AM PST. Applications will close August 31, 2021, at 11:59PM PST. Grant awards will be announced in September 2021.

July 1, 2021

This week, President Biden and Vice President Harris met with Governors from Western States and announced that Sonoma County will receive $37 million in wildfire mitigation funds. 

June 17, 2021

June 17, 2021

Last week marked a critical deadline for the Legislature when all bills must have passed out of their house of origin. Below is a round-up of how bills being tracked by the Government Finance & Administration team fared.

Broadband

May 27, 2021

This week, CSAC joined a coalition letter to the Governor and Legislative leadership requesting $200 million to CalRecycle for organic waste recycling infrastructure, and $200M for local organic waste recycling assistance. This funding will assist cities in counties by making an initial investment to accelerate development of the programs and infrastructure necessary to achieve the state’s organic waste recycling goals.

May 27, 2021

Coming up in June are two opportunities for county staff to join state and federal partners for virtual meetings and workshops on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers processes, and separately FEMA and DWR floodplain management principles and Risk Rating 2.0.

National Water Conference’s Regional Spotlight: California on June 1-2, 2021 (virtual):

May 20, 2021

At their meeting this month, the Wildfire Safety Advisory Board approved recommendations on the 2021 Wildfire Mitigation Plan (WMP) Updates for Small and Multi-Jurisdictional Utilities (SMJU). The Board adopted similar recommendations for Large Investor-Owned Utilities last month.

May 13, 2021

The Senate’s budget proposal, which had a hearing this week, includes critical funding requested by CSAC, RCRC, and CalCities, for implementation for organic waste diversion. The plan would make $200 million available to cities and counties for the development and implementation of organic waste recycling programs as required by CalRecycle’s new Organic Waste Reduction Regulations.

May 13, 2021

This week, the Governor significantly expanded his April 21 drought emergency proclamation to include Klamath River, Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, and Tulare Lake Watershed counties, where accelerated action is needed to protect public health, safety, and the environment. In total, 41 counties and, representing 30 percent of the state population, are now under a drought state of emergency.  

April 23, 2021

Governor Newsom released a two-fold announcement today to move towards a full ban on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) by 2024 and study phasing out oil production in the state. The Governor-directed Department of Conservation’s Division of Geologic Energy Management (CalGEM) will initiate regulatory action to end the issuance of new permits for fracking by January 2024.

April 23, 2021

April 8, 2021

The CSAC Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources policy team request comments on two bills of importance to counties.

SB 612 (Portantino) – Community Choice Aggregators