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by Vice President of Government Affairs Kirk Wilbur

Late into the evening on Sunday, Aug. 28, California legislators unveiled 13 bills related to the state budget. While the bills had been introduced earlier in the legislative year, they were mostly “intent” bills – empty vessels which could be heavily amended later in session to reflect ongoing budget negotiations. With voters adopting a constitutional amendment in 2016 requiring that legislation be in print for 72 hours before being eligible for a legislative vote, the Aug. 28 amendments ensured that the bills could be voted on – but not further amended – before the constitutionallymandated close of legislative business on Aug. 31.

Fortunately, CCA had been engaged in budget discussions throughout the year, and those late-session budget bills contained several provisions supported by California’s ranching community.

The most significant of these bills was Assembly Bill 179, the “Budget Bill Junior” which amends the Budget Act of 2022 initially signed into law on the final days of June.

The “Budget Bill Junior” – which Governor Newsom signed on Sept. 6 – contains several promising wildfire resilience provisions which should be attractive to California’s cattle producers. For instance, the legislation augments by $3 million the amount available as local assistance for wildfire prevention and forest resilience and provides $20 million to the Department of Conservation for regional forest and fire capacity.

The Budget also allocates $2 million to the California Air Resources Board for enhanced permitting for prescribed fire and provides an additional $2 million to support University of California Fire Advisors. Streamlined permitting for prescribed fire has been a CCA policy priority since 2018, and University of California Fire Advisors like Lenya Quinn-Davidson in Humboldt County have been invaluable advisors to CCA’s Fire Subcommittee and play a crucial role in deploying ‘good fire’ throughout the state.

The Budget Bill Junior also includes promising funding provisions regarding grazing and grazing infrastructure. For years, CCA has sought to promote budget allocations to advance grazing as a fire-fuels management tool. In 2021, the Association sought a “one-time appropriation of $20 million to fund a pilot program providing grants to state lands grazing lessees/permittees for the purposes of installing and/or maintaining grazing infrastructure” which, regrettably, was not funded. This year, CCA followed up that request by joining nearly 40 other organizations asking for $8 million in the 2022-23 State Budget “to invest in prescribed and targeted grazing infrastructure” which would allow the state to better scale up the “proven and effective strategy for wildfire prevention” that is livestock grazing.

Fortunately, the Budget Bill signed into law last month does provide funding for livestock grazing and infrastructure to facilitate those grazing practices – provided ranchers apply for available grants. Specifically, among the $120 million allocated to Cal Fire for fire prevention and resource management in AB 179,

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Good Jobs Challenge awards funding for forestry, fire-safety jobs training

California's forested, rural communities are suffering from record-breaking wildfires that burned 2.5 million acres and destroyed multiple communities in 2021 alone. To create well-paying jobs and improve forest health and fire safety, the Sierra Nevada and Cascade regions have received $21.5 million for a project that will strengthen infrastructure for workforce development and increase access to jobs for local community members from all backgrounds.

The project, funded by the federal Good Jobs Challenge, is being rolled out by the Foundation for California Community Colleges, California State University, Chico, University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources, and the Sierra Business Council.

“There is so much work to be done in California to increase the resilience of forests and communities to wildfires and climate change, and there are just not enough trained workers,” said Susie Kocher, UC Cooperative Extension forestry and natural resources advisor for the Central Sierra. “A recent assessment estimated upcoming shortages of 6,000 fire managers, 4,000 conservation scientists and foresters, 7,000 loggers and 1,500 utility line clearance technicians. California desperately needs skilled workers to fill jobs to protect and rebuild communities in rural parts of the state. And these are well-paying jobs with benefits.”

The project will help train qualified workers for jobs in the forestry sector, responding to needs to build economic and climate resilience in California's forested, rural communities. Five community colleges – Butte College, Feather River College, Lake Tahoe Community College, Reedley College and Shasta College – California State University Chico, University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources and the Sierra Business Council are partnering on the project. This group has proven experience delivering effective workforce-training programs in partnership with industry and communities.

The emerging forestry and fire-safety sector has the potential to grow into a $39 billion industry. By working to recruit and train local workers in partnership with Hispanicserving institutions, Indigenous-led partners and other community organizations, the project will expand the industry's talent pool while diversifying the field.

The “California Resilient Careers in Forestry” project is being awarded one of 32 grants from the $500 million Good Jobs Challenge funded by President Biden's American Rescue Plan and administered by the Commerce Department's Economic Development Administration.

“We are honored to be selected as one of the award recipients alongside a talented group of partners...” said Keetha Mills, president of the Foundation for California Community Colleges. “This work is critical to help Californians access good jobs, especially as we help our state respond to the urgent needs of climate change and support economic growth in regions greatly impacted by the pandemic and natural disasters.”

$80 million has been set aside for Fire Prevention Grants which can be utilized for various treatments including “prescribed wildland grazing” and “prescribed grazing infrastructure.” CCA will continue to advocate in the 2023-24 Legislative Session for additional policies and funding that recognize and promote cattle grazing’s role as a method of removing fire fuels from the landscape.

Other budget bills introduced in the final days of session were “budget trailer bills,” legislation which amends state policy to effectuate provisions of the Budget. This year’s public resources budget trailer bill, AB 211, contains several wildfire- and drought-resilience measures which should benefit the state’s agricultural producers.

One provision of the public resources trailer bill seeks to streamline permitting for fire prevention projects by extending through Jan. 1, 2028 an existing California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) exemption for fuel reduction projects on federal lands which have already undergone National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analysis. This provision improves upon this year’s CCAsupported AB 267 (Valladares), which would have extended the exemption through 2026 (AB 267 was moved to the Senate’s inactive file after its provisions were incorporated and expanded in AB 211). The trailer bill would also expand the exemption to projects undertaken only partially on federal land and would eliminate certain certification and reporting requirements related to the exemption.

AB 211 also earmarks $30 million for Cal Fire “for projects that support wildfire and forest resilience.”

The public resources trailer bill allocates more than $787 million to various state agencies for public resource management, most significantly in the form of funding for drought resilience. The legislation includes nearly $49 million to the Department of Water Resources “to support immediate drought response” and to support agriculture; $56 million for implementation of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act; $122 million for projects that support aquatic habitat and drought resilience; and funding to various water agencies to improve drought resilience and water conveyance (among several other drought resilience efforts).

As of press time, Governor Newsom had yet to sign AB 211 (the Governor had until Sept. 30 to sign or veto bills passed by the Legislature in the final days of session), but the Governor’s endorsement of the vital trailer bill is virtually guaranteed.

AB 157, a budget trailer bill addressing state government, also contains drought relief provisions. Specifically, the bill would establish the California Small Agricultural Business Drought Relief Program to disburse $75 million in small business relief grants approved in the Budget Act this June. Those grants would provide $30,000-$50,000 to agricultural operations which have lost revenue due to the ongoing severe drought and would be targeted to “businesses located in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley and then to additional areas experiencing drought impacts.”

AB 157 was also awaiting the Governor’s action as of press time but is expected to be signed into law.

The late-August legislative maneuvering was merely the last of several frenetic budget processes throughout the 2022 legislative year – flurries of lobbying and legislating also surrounded the Governor’s Budget introduction in January, the May Revise and June’s Constitutional deadlines for passage and enactment of a Budget Bill.

One CCA priority that was unfortunately not funded during those prior Budget processes was Williamson Act subvention payments. The Budget Act initially signed into law on June 27 included $25 million in funding for the Department of Conservation to disperse subvention payments – last funded in 2010 – to participating counties. Just three days later, however, an amendment to the Budget Act of 2022 was signed into law which redirected that funding to the Department of Conservation’s Sustainable Agricultural Land Conservation program.

CCA did enjoy some June success, however, during negotiations on the education omnibus budget trailer bill. Through diligent negotiation on that bill, CCA was able to ensure that plant-based meals were not elevated above traditional offerings in school cafeterias, including beef and dairy products. More importantly, negotiations surrounding the budget trailer bill ultimately resulted in favorable amendments being made to then-CCA-opposed AB 558 (Nazarian). AB 558 had initially incentivized school districts to provide plant-based meals instead of conventional offerings by offering them a per-meal reimbursement that greatly exceeded the extra costs of plant-based meals. Because matters surrounding school meals were largely dispensed with in the budget trailer bill negotiations – importantly, without financial incentives promoting plant-based meals – all plant-based meal provisions were ultimately amended out of AB 558, allowing CCA to remove its opposition to the bill.

The 2022-23 Budget process resulted in numerous wins for CCA’s state funding priorities, and the Association stands ready to again advocate for the state’s ranchers in the 2023-24 Budget process. Those negotiations will kick off soon – Governor Newsom faces a Jan. 10, 2023 constitutional deadline for his opening salvo in 2023’s Budget negotiations.

Be sure to catch next month’s edition of California Cattleman for a full recap on CCA’s 2022 legislative efforts.