The Committee agenda for the Agriculture, Environment and Natural
Resources (AENR) Policy Committee has been released for the
Annual Conference. The meeting will take place on Tuesday,
November 28 from 9:00 am to 10:30 am in the Sacramento
Convention Center Room 313. Topics on the agenda will include a
review of AENR related legislation from 2017, a discussion of the
2017 fire season with Cal Fire Chief Pimlot, an update on AB 617,
California’s newest emissions law, and the adoption of the 2018
AENR priorities.
Please save Tuesday, November 28 from 9:00-10:30 a.m. for a
meeting of the Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources
(AENR) Policy Committee, which will take place during the CSAC
Annual Meeting in Sacramento.
The Social, Community and Public Health Impacts of
Cannabis
Not all counties have legalized cannabis within their borders.
However, the impact of state legalization will undoubtedly impact
local governments across California. The Cannabis Working Group
will host a workshop to examine impacts of cannabis legalization
on county governments. Topics to be discussed include public
health and public safety impacts, and the long-term implications
of cannabis legalization.
Governor Brown and California’s Congressional Delegation have
asked the Federal Government for $7.4 billion in funding to help
with the relief and recovery efforts from the October fires this
year. The money could be used for federal cleanup, recovery and
assistance programs and also to support housing,
transportation, agriculture, environmental protection, local
health services, long-term recovery planning, reconstruction and
local small businesses.
Governor Brown concluded legislative business by the October 15
deadline, ultimately signing 859 bills into law. CSAC is
publishing a series of updates on new laws from each policy area.
This week, the report from the Agriculture, Environment and
Natural Resources policy unit provides information on the
following legislation that has been enacted by the Legislature
and signed by the Governor.
Other policy area reports on new laws can be found at these
links:
A legislative hearing in Ventura County focused on the process of
diverting organic materials from landfills, in part to reduce
methane greenhouse gas emissions. Recent legislation has
significantly increased California’s organic waste diversion
targets, but private, public and non-profit advocates have
expressed concerns about hitting those targets due to
California’s lack of facilities and infrastructure to properly
process the diverted organic waste.
CSAC Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources staff,
working in partnership with the Bureau of Cannabis Control,
helped develop and send out a cannabis ordinance survey tool for
local governments to help ensure local control. A link to the
survey was sent to CSAC’s Board of Directors and County
Administrative Officers.
The Bureau of Cannabis Control (BCC) held an event that
provided licensing information from the various state and local
agencies in the Sacramento Convention Center recently. The event
drew a demographically diverse crowd in the hundreds and
contained several rows of tables staffed by local and state
agency employees who provided handouts related to cannabis
regulation.
A reminder that Cannabis Working Group will hold a call on
Monday, October 30 at 3:30 – 4:30 p.m.Since the working
group last met, there has been significant legislative and
regulatory activity around California cannabis Law. This activity
includes the passage of SB 94 in June that merged provisions of
the Medical Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act together with the
Adult Use of Marijuana Act (Prop. 64).
The Mattress Recycling Council’s (MRC) Illegal Dump Compensation
Program aims to help collect data about illegal mattress dumping
across California and pays eligible entities up to $10 per
mattress collected. The program requires registration of your
entity with the MRC and month-by-month data input of information
about mattresses removed from public rights-of-way in your
jurisdiction; including how they were disposed of.
Senator Bob Hertzberg hosted an SB 231 focused webinar earlier
this week called “Getting It Right: Stormwater Stewardship.” The
Senator told viewers that his main goal in authoring SB 231 was
to help communities capture and use water locally, in part, to
help reduce water costs. Along with Senator Hertzberg the webinar
featured Sean Bothwell, Policy Director at California
Coastkeeper Alliance and Attorney Michael Colantuono.
The State Water Resources Control Board adopted the
Cannabis Cultivation Policy this week, which includes
new standards to protect water flows and water quality in
California. The Policy establishes statewide requirements that
will be implemented through a water quality permit known as the
Cannabis General Order and through conditions for
cannabis-related water rights referred to as Cannabis Small
Irrigation Use Registrations.
Governor Jerry Brown signed AB 1284 and SB 242. These two
measures will help improve California’s PACE program.
SB 242 (Skinner) improves the PACE program for both consumers
and program administrators through disclosure requirements,
enhanced consumer protections and requirements on 3rd
party program administrators.
The Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency will hold a series of ten teleconferences to hear from stakeholders in a variety of sectors about a possible revision to the definition of “Waters of the United States” under the Clean Water Act. The series of calls started in late September and will continue over the next several months.
CSAC- supported legislation extending the Sea Level Rise Database Program has been signed by Governor Brown. AB 184 authored by Assemblymember Marc Berman extends the length of time that public agencies and private entities must provide sea level rise planning information to the Natural Resources Agency for the Sea Level Rise Database.
California Air Resources Board (CARB) staff has posted a draft of
its FY 2017-18 Funding Plan for Clean Transportation Incentives
in preparation for a public workshop on October 4. The draft
Funding Plan describes CARB’s proposed investments from the
following clean transportation incentive funding sources:
CalRecycle is holding two informal
stakeholder implementation workshops about methane emissions
targets established by SB 1383 (Lara
2016) ahead of a potential rulemaking next year. SB 1383 is a
statewide effort to reduce emissions of short-lived climate
pollutants (SLCP) in various sectors of California’s
economy.
DWR has released a helpful new
tool to view decades of land use data in a simple way. The
Land Use Viewer allows both Groundwater Sustainability Agencies
and the public to easily access both statewide and existing
county land use datasets that have been collected over the last
30 years.
SB 5 passed both houses of the Legislature on the final day
of the legislative session. The bill was recently amended to
increase funding levels for water-related projects, bringing its
total from $3.997 billion to $4 billion. If signed by Governor
Jerry Brown, the bond will appear on the Primary Election Ballot
in June 2018.
The Administration proposed last minute budget trailer bill
language (TBL) related to cannabis clean-up legislation late last
week that is working its way through the Senate and Assembly
budget committees. The bills,
AB 133 and
SB 118, contain a number of clean-up provisions to the larger
cannabis trailer bill, SB 94 that was passed with the budget in
June.
Governor Brown’s Administration released a letter last week
outlining their proposal for a $1.5 billion cap and trade
expenditure plan which will be enacted through a budget trailer
bill prior to the end of the legislative session. This
expenditure plan follows the enactment of two major pieces of
climate-related legislation this session, AB 398 and AB 617.
SB 5, by Senator De León, was amended this week to reflect
ongoing negotiations of stakeholders in a water and parks bond
deal. The bill, which is currently awaiting a vote on the
Assembly Floor, will need to return to Senate Floor for a final
floor vote to concur in the amendments before the end of the
legislative session next week.
