September, 16 2009
California is currently considering registering methyl iodide—a cancer-causing, highly toxic chemical—for use in agriculture.
We need to prevent the registration of methyl iodide before it can endanger farmworkers and rural communities!
Methyl iodide would be one of the most dangerous pesticides in use. Farmworkers and rural communities would be at serious risk from methyl iodide exposure.
- Methyl iodide is used by scientists to induce cancer in laboratory animals. It causes thyroid toxicity, permanent neurological damage, and could be especially damaging to fetuses, pregnant women, the elderly, and the developing brains of children. Methyl iodide also causes fetal deaths in experimental animals.
- Methyl iodide would be used as a fumigant. Applied as gases, fumigant pesticides frequently drift away from their targets, poison communities and cause long-term health problems.
- 54 scientists, most members of the National Academy of Sciences and including five Nobel laureates, urged former US EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson not to register methyl iodide as a soil fumigant because of the high risks it poses to human health and the environment.
Take Action Now!
File under: methyl iodide Hearing Sacramento pesticide hearing
Last week the California Legislature sent SB 716 (Wolk) The Expanded Rural Transit and Farm Worker Vanpool Bill to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s desk. Currently, some counties have found that real transit needs like farmworker vanpools are not reasonable transit needs because farmworker vanpools are not legal. SB 716 eliminates the question of eligibility by specifying that farmworker vanpools are legally eligible for the LTF funds, subsequent to all other transit needs having been met, so as not to compete with other transit.
Moreover, SB 716 updates the definition of a county that is allowed to use these local transit funds for streets and roads to only those jurisdictions that truly lack the density to maintain a viable transit operation. Many of our rural cities are dense urban centers, like Fresno, Modesto and Ventura, and need to be fully investing in transit.
SB 716 will ensure that the transit needs of all rural Californians will be met.
Public transit has long been a priority area for public investment because of the clear benefit it provides for the general public and the environment. In particular, public transit provides for greater access to work, school, critical services and overall manner is which low-income Californians can fully participate in society.
Today more than ever, we recognize the importance of transportation and land-use decisions on our environment. With the passage of SB 375 and AB 32 we know that public transit is a critical tool towards attaining reductions in vehicle miles traveled and an overall reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
Yet, some of California’s historic transit laws are antiquated and currently provide too many loopholes for not investing in transit, especially in rural communities.
SB 716 updates the static nature of the use of Local Transportation Funds in order to ensure that rural agencies are investing fully in transit and providing for full participation in the public unmet transit needs process.
Please send in a letter of support for SB 716 to Governor Schwarzenegger. See below for Fact Sheets on SB 716 along with a sample letter.
Sample Letter of Support
SB 716 Fact Sheet- English
SB 716 Fact Sheet- Spanish
File under: SB 716 Wolk Farmworker Vanpool LTF Funds
June, 8 2009
HanfordSentinel.com
By Eiji Yamashita
eyamashita@HanfordSentinel.com
Driving your car to work is getting more and more expensive. But to most, taking a bus is way too inconvenient. And commuting to work by train is difficult unless you live and work in downtown areas where the railroad passes through and trains actually leave and arrive on time.
So what’s a perfect mode of public transportation that gets you directly from Point A to Point B in the Valley while saving significantly on gas money?
A vanpool.
Kings County, of all places, seems to have figured it out.
File under: hanford, kings county, ron hughes, vanpool
June, 3 2009
The Kings County Agricultural Industries Transportation Services (AITS) farmworker vanpool project was recently highlighted as one of 11 projects nationally that are leading the way in terms of innovative solutions for public transit. Through 11 case studies, the report illustrates how cutting edge transit has been implemented quickly and cost-effectively in a variety of settings from urban to rural. Expanding cost-effective transit options is key to our nation’s economic and environmental health. On the environmental side, transportation sources are responsible for about a third of U.S. global warming pollution—most of which comes from cars and trucks. Economically, investments that expand transit provide more and longer-lasting jobs than investments to expand highways, while boosting economic develop ment, enhancing real estate values and helping relieve consumer reliance on foreign oil.
Below find the full version of the report, along with a newly released video profiling the AITS vanpool program.
File under: farm worker, farmworkers, hanford, kings county, ron hughes, transportation, vanpool
May, 13 2009
On May 19th, California voters will have an opportunity to vote on SIX measures, Propositions 1A - 1F, which all deal with budget related items. Many of you will recall the constant battles in recent years over passing a state budget at a time when revenues are low and spending continues to soar. This passed February 2009, the California State Legislature reached a budget agreement which prompted many of these initiatives, resulting in tax increases, such as the sales tax and personal income tax.
These measures are very complicated, and below you will find brief summaries of what each of these would essentially do. Please note that at the bottom of the posting, you will be able to DOWNLOAD a detailed PDF version in Spanish and English that provides information on each proposition, and arguments for and against each measure. We hope you find these useful. As always, if you have questions, please feel free to contact us.
Proposition 1A : State Budget. Changes California Budget Process. Limits State Spending. Increases “Rainy Day” Budget Stabilization Fund.
This measure would change the way in which the state sets aside money in one of its “rainy day” accounts. Measure would increase the amount of money set aside in the “rainy day” account from 5% to 12.5% of the General Fund, and also restrict the withdrawal of these funds. If this measure passes, several of the tax increases passed as part of the February 2009 budget package would be extended by one to two years. A portion of the annual deposits into that fund would be dedicated to savings for future economic downturns, and the remainder would be available to fund education, infrastructure, and debt repayment, or for use in a declared emergency.
Proposition 1B: Education Funding. Payment Plan.
Requires supplemental payments to local school districts and community colleges to address recent budget cuts. Annual payments begin in 2011-12. Payments are funded from the state’s Budget Stabilization Fund until the total amount has been paid (this would be established if Prop 1A passes; otherwise Prop 1B would not take effect). Payments to local school districts will be allocated in proportion to average daily attendance and may be used for classroom instruction, textbooks and other local educational programs.
Proposition 1C: Lottery Modernization Act.
The measure makes major changes to the 1984 voter initiative that created the California Lottery. These changes could increase lottery ticket sales and allow the state to borrow $5 billion in the 2009-10 fiscal year from future lottery profits. In addition to borrowing this $5 billion, the state also could borrow more from lottery profits in future years. Under the measure, lottery profits now dedicated to schools and colleges would be used to pay back the borrowing. The measure would increase state payments to education from the state General Fund to make up for the loss of these lottery payments.
Proposition 1D: Protects Children’s Services Funding. Helps Balance State Budget.
This measure would temporarily redirect a significant portion of Proposition 10 (First 5 program) funds to achieve budgetary savings and would make permanent changes to state and local First 5 commission operations. Provides more than $600 million to protect childrens programs in difficult economic times. Redirects existing tobacco tax money to protect health and human services for children, including services for at-risk families, services for children with disabilities, and services for foster children. Ensures counties retain funding for local priorities. Helps balance state budget.
Proposition 1E: Mental Health Services Funding. Temporary Reallocation. Helps Balance State Budget.
Proposition 63 provides state funding for certain new or expanded mental health programs through a personal income tax surcharge of 1 percent on the portion of a taxpayer’s taxable income in excess of $1 million. This measure allows for the temporary redirection of some Proposition 63 funds-specifically, $226.7 million in 2009‑10, and between $226.7 million and $234 million in 2010‑11. In effect, these Proposition 63 revenues would be used to offset state costs that would otherwise be borne by the General Fund, thereby achieving savings to help address the state’s current budgetary problem.
Proposition 1F: Elected Officials’ Salaries. Prevents Pay Increases During Budget Deficit Years.
Encourages balanced state budgets by preventing elected Members of the Legislature and statewide constitutional officers, including the Governor, from receiving pay raises in years when the state is running a deficit. Directs the Director of Finance to determine whether a given year is a deficit year. Prevents the Citizens Compensation Commission from increasing elected officials’ salaries in years when the state Special Fund for Economic Uncertainties is in the negative by an amount equal to or greater than one percent of the General Fund.
DOWNLOAD: Informacion Sobre Eleccion Especial 19 de Mayo
DOWNLOAD: Special Election Information May 19th ENGLISH
For a Visual on Prop 1A, 1D, 1E Please Visit: California Partnership Presentation on May 19th Ballot
File under: ballot measures, proposition, special election may 19
May, 3 2009
This legislative session we are monitoring 11 key priority bills that could benefit rural communities across California. Below please find summaries and status updates on these bills. If you have any questions, or want to provide additional support please contact Cultivo Consulting to connect you with the appropriate organizational sponsors.
RURAL COMMUNITY LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
HEALTHY & SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
SB 194 (Florez) Community Equity Investment Act of 2009
Over 1.5 million Californians live in disadvantaged, unincorporated communities. Residents of these communities experience high levels of poverty and lack basic infrastructure and services such as: safe drinking water, sidewalks, adequate waste-water disposal systems, streets and street lights, parks, adequate housing and public transit.
Disadvantaged, unincorporated communities- some of the oldest communities in our state have been systemically neglected since the arrival of their first residents.
SB 194 would build equity and opportunities for greater prosperity by providing much needed investment in the communities with greatest need. This proposal would implement a plan to ensure that residents of unincorporated communities enjoy basic infrastructure and services by:
- Incentivizing the development of local community equity investment plans by linking state planning funds to the adoption of a local plan of action to identify and address infrastructure deficits and housing inequities in unincorporated communities;
- Reprioritizing existing funding streams to ensure that limited public infrastructure funds are directed to the poorest communities in our state;
STATUS: PASSED Senate Local Government Committee
AB 537 (Arambula) Food Access
Existing law authorizes the Secretary of Food and Agriculture to adopt regulations to encourage the direct sale by farmers to the public of all types of California agricultural products. Current law allows farmers to sell the agricultural products they produce directly to the public at certified farmers markets, field retail stands and farm stands. Certified Farmers’ Markets allow California farmers to sell their fresh-picked crops directly to the public in over 500 communities throughout the state. Certified farmers markets are a great link between farmers and consumers providing fresh and quality products.
If by January 1, 2012, a market described in subdivision (a) does not have system in place for its produce sellers to accept electronic benefit transfer (EBT) for purchases, the Department of Social Services may designate or assign the market shall allow an interested Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) authorized third-party organization to operate an EBT acceptance system in the market on behalf of the markets produce sellers. The market shall reasonably allow and accommodate the assigned or designated FNS-authorized third party organization in a reasonable manner that aids in the creation, implementation, and operation of EBT acceptance system.
STATUS: AMENDED; PASSED Assembly Agriculture Committee
PESTICIDES
AB 835 (Monning) Reducing Pesticide Air Pollution
Pesticides, especially fumigants are toxins that poison communities and cause air pollution that poses a public health risk. In addition, fumigants are used to ‘kill’ organisms in the soil this results in an unhealthy soil that prevents the ability to capture carbon. In addition, many pesticides and fumigants emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) has the responsibility to ensure that VOC emission reductions are achieved. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is the designated state agency for adopting and enforcing the California State Implementation Plan (SIP), the federally required compilation of rules and regulations that will achieve federal health-based air quality standards. In 1996, CARB modified California’s SIP to include a pesticide element, under which DPR was to adopt and implement regulations necessary to reduce pesticide VOC emissions by 20% from 1990 levels by 2005. This did not occur, and has not occurred as of 2009.
AB 835 will require that DPR us accurate science in determining the emission reductions are met. CARB in a public hearing is to update annually the pesticide VOC emissions inventory in consultation with DPR and would require CARB and DPR to disclose active and inert pesticide ingredients of all pesticide products registered for use in California.
AB 835 also prohibits DPR from registering new chemicals that can be more toxic.
STATUS: HELD in Assembly Agriculture Committee
TRANSPORTATION
SB 716 (Wolk) Local Transportation Funds: Investment in Vanpool Services
Existing law requires that ¼% of the local sales and use tax be transferred to the local transportation fund of the county and be allocated, as directed by the transportation planning agency, for various transportation purposes.
This bill would authorize a county, city, county transportation commission or transit operator to file a claim for an allocation of funds for farmworker vanpool service capital improvement expenditures.
STATUS: AMENDED; POSTPONED from Hearing, in Senate Transportation & Housing Committee.
WATER
AB 626 (Eng) Integrated Regional Water Management Planning for Disadvantaged Communities
In 2006 a water initiative bond act was approved by the voters which authorizes the issuance of bonds in the amount of $5,388,000,000, of which 1,000,000,000 is generally required to be allocated by Department of Water Resources to specified regions for projects to meet the long-term water needs of the state in accordance with adopted integrated regional water management plans. This bill would state that at least 10% of these funds shall fund disadvantaged communities in each hydrological region of the state.
STATUS: PASSED Assembly Water, Parks & Wildlife Committee
AB 1438 (Conway) Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Funds
Currently, the California Safe Drinking Water Act requires the State Department of Public Health to administer provisions related to the regulation of drinking water to protect health, including, but not limited to, conducting research, studies, and demonstration programs relation to the provision of a dependable, safe supply of drinking water, enforcing the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, adoption of enforcement regulations, and conducting studies and investigations to assess the quality of water in domestic water supplies. Under current law, the Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund is to be continuously appropriated for the provision of grants and revolving fund loans to provide for the design and construction of projects for public water systems that will enable suppliers to meet safe drinking water standards.
This would allow the department to establish a wellhead protection account within the fund. Under existing law, the funding grants for the planning and preliminary engineering studies, and design and construction of a single project are set at a maximum of $1,000,000 . This bill would allow DPH to increase the maximum grant amount for the planning, preliminary engineering studies, design and construction of a single project annually through their US EPA Intended Use Plans. This bill may also be used that disadvantage communities receive adequate attention in the prioritization of stimulus funds.
STATUS: PASSED Assembly Water, Parks & Wildlife; PASSED Environmental Safety & Toxic Materials.
LABOR
AB 854 (Arambula) Suspension of Licenses for Farm Labor Contractors and Garment Manufacturers Who Fail to Satisfy Final Judgments on Unpaid Wages
In 2003, the California State Contractors License Board (SCLB) sponsored legislation creating a mechanism for automatic suspension of licensed state contractors licenses if they failed to satisfy final judgments by customers, equipment suppliers, sub-contractors or employees. If judgments aren’t satisfied, the contractors’ license to do business is automatically suspended.
AB 854 adopts the SCLB’s general approach and updates it to adapt to the farm labor contractor system and the garment manufactures. AB 854 would only apply to final judgments or labor commissioner orders involving “unpaid wages.”
STATUS: PASSED Assembly Labor & Employment Committee; to Appropariations Committee.
AB 527(Fuentes) Disregard for Falsified Pay Records Submitted by Employers in Any Labor Commissioner Wage Hearing
In previous years, the California Legislature has responded to evidence of widespread pay record falsification in the underground economy by enacting AB 2075 which made it a misdemeanor for an employer to require an employee, as a condition being paid, to execute a statement of hours worked which the employer knows is false. AB 2075 provides that each such false statement is “null and void.”
AB 527 would mandate that once a single pay record submitted in connection with a Labor Commissioner wage action is deemed to be falsified, then all pay records submitted in connection with that claim are deemed to be false and disregarded. AB 527 would require that the Labor Commissioner disregard the false pay records (while not disallowing admission and consideration of the correct records or correct portions of the pay records). AB 527 gives the Labor Commissioner a broad mandate to protect these workers, regardless of industry from unscrupulous employers use of falsified pay records in Labor Commissioners wage hearings.
STATUS: PASSED Assembly; REFERRED to Senate committee on Labor & Industrial Relations
SB 789 (Steinberg) Labor Representatives: Elections
Existing law prohibits employers from engaging in unfair labor practices, including interfering in the election by agricultural employees of labor representatives to engage in collective bargaining for the designated bargaining units. SB 789 would give farmworkers an alternative way to form a union: Instead of holding an election with secret ballots, workers could submit cards, signed by a majority of the workers asking for representation, to state labor authorities. The cards could be filled in at workers’ homes with a union organizer present and helping, and could be collected by the organizers.
STATUS: PASSED Senate. REFERRED to Assembly Labor & Employment Committee.
HOUSING
AB 494 (Caballero) Improved Housing Opportunities for Farm Workers
AB 494 would help remove one barrier to the development of safe, decent housing for farmworkers, by limiting restrictive zoning rules that prevent the development of farmworker housing close to where they work. Increasingly growers are interested in providing housing to their workers and turning to nonprofits experienced at providing these services. Some growers are willing to provide a small portion of their agricultural land as a site on which to develop the housing. However, even under circumstances in which there is a willing housing provider with access to land set aside by a grower, another barrier remains that precludes development of farmworker housing-local zoning restrictions. These local rules often mandate a minimum parcel size that is far too large to develop affordable farmworker housing.
To overcome this problem, AB 494 would establish a very limited exception to local zoning restrictions requiring a minimum parcel size, by requiring a local government to allow a parcel split for the limited purpose of providing farmworker housing, even if one of the parcels is smaller than the minimum parcel size required under the zoning code. The requirement to allow the creation of this smaller parcel would be subject to several important limitations that would balance the need for housing with the objective of preserving agricultural land.
STATUS: PASSED Assembly Local Government and Assembly Agriculture; REFERRED to Assembly Appropriations
SB 575 (Steinberg) Local Planning: Housing Element
Existing law requires that ever city, county, and city and county revise the housing element f its general plan as frequently as is appropriate to reflect the results of the periodic review. This bill will require that jurisdictions revise their housing element of the general plan no later than an unspecified period of time.
STATUS: REFERRED to Senate Appropriations.
California Rural Communities Legislative Update
File under: rural communities, rural legislation
The day Sacramento County officials disclosed they may have to lay off more than 1,000 employees to close the county’s $187 million projected budget gap, Standard & Poor’s downgraded the county’s credit rating from AA- to A+.
In its narrative explaining the downgrade, the credit agency pointed to “stress in local real estate values.” Specifically, the Standard & Poor’s analysis noted that assessed values for some 50,000 Sacramento County properties fell in fiscal 2008; in the current fiscal year 85,000 were downgraded, and the assessor estimates that 170,000 parcels will be downgraded in the coming fiscal year.
That represents a dip in values for about a third of the county’s 507,000 parcels.
In 2008, property taxes accounted for the largest share of the county’s general fund revenues, 19 percent. In 2010, assessed values are projected to be down by 9 percent.
Clearly, Sacramento County, like the rest of California, is feeling the impact of the housing collapse that has sparked a global recession. But it’s not the only issue affecting finances. Something more is at play here, and that is the fiscal black hole that this page has long termed the “uncity” – the urbanized portions of Sacramento County that exist outside the county’s cities.
Sacramento County’s “uncity” has shrunk in recent years with the incorporation of the new cities of Citrus Heights, Elk Grove and Rancho Cordova. Even so, a large percentage of Sacramento County residents, some 40 percent, continue to live in the unincorporated areas of the county, in communities such as Arden Arcade, Carmichael and North Highlands.
There’s a reason for this. Historically, some of the region’s largest employers, including the former Mather and McClellan Air Force bases and Aerojet, established their sites a considerable distance from the county’s main city of Sacramento. The county provided municipal services, primarily police protection, to the bedroom communities that grew up around those job centers. After the bases closed and Aerojet shrank, those outer-ring suburbs experienced serious decay. The cost of providing police and social services grew, but the amount of taxes generated in those communities plummeted.
The recession has exacerbated the structural imbalance that has long existed in the “uncity.” Standard & Poor’s analysis of the county’s fiscal outlook highlighted the problem: “The county continues to provide municipal-type services to the approximately 40 percent of residents living in unincorporated areas, a rate that is, in our view, still high in comparison with that of other California counties.”
In the past, the county has performed some accounting magic to balance its budget despite the fiscal drag from the “uncity,” including booking sales tax revenue before it arrived in county coffers, refinancing the jail and doing internal borrowing, among other things. But with the deepening of the recession, the county has run out of gimmicks.
In the short term, supervisors must make difficult and painful budget cuts, including layoffs.
In the long term, the economic crisis presents elected officials with a golden opportunity to create a more sustainable and economically vibrant county. They need to seriously consider shedding some of the county’s expensive municipal burdens permanently. They can do that by encouraging densely populated unincorporated areas to either form their own cities or attach themselves to existing cities.
So supervisors – if you want to save the county, there’s a good way to do it. Eliminate the “uncity.”
File under: fiscal crisis california, rural community
