On behalf of the California State Floral Association, thank you to all those who sent letters and made calls to the Assembly Business, Professions and Consumer Protection Committee supporting AB 1581.

Assembly Member Bob Wieckowski (the sponsor of AB 1581) was asked to amend his bill to be the same wording as our previous geographic misrepresentation bill sponsored by former Assembly Member Mary Salas and vetoed by Schwarzenegger. We were told there would not be opposition if this wording was amended.  

CSFA member Jim Relles did an outstanding job testifying on behalf of every brick and mortar florist in California as did CSFA Lobbyist Dennis Albiani and Assembly Member Bob Wieckowski. The Chair of the Business, Professions and Consumer Protection Committee, Assembly Member Mary Hayashi, indicated there was support for the bill, however, asked that the bill be heard again on either April 10th or April 17th (date to be determined) with the new language clearly stated.

We will keep you all informed on the status of this bill and will need your calls and support letters once again as we near the Committee hearing.

Starting next year, industries will have to track their greenhouse gas emissions and some will have to pay for carbon pollution rights. Mary Nichols, chairwoman of the California Air Resources Board (ARB) announced at a state senate hearing of the Select Committee on the Environment, the Economy and Climate Change that the first carbon permit auction will be pushed back to November 14th.

The surprise announcement came at a hearing called to discuss what to do with proceeds from the sale of permits to emit greenhouse gases, the first of which is expected to flow into state coffers late this year. Nichols' announcement stole the headlines, though she said that the new auction date will not affect the overall timeline for implementation and that August will now be a "practice auction."

The rest of the hearing returned to the business of how the expected revenue from trading carbon "allowances" - which could exceed $1 billion in the first year - may be spent. It's likely that the money will be considered a regulatory fee, which means that legally it can only be spent on programs that further the goals of AB 32 - namely greenhouse gas reduction. "That makes sense, right, you don't want the state collecting regulatory fees and then turning around and using them for unrelated revenue purposes," explained Cara Horowitz, a law professor at UCLA who gave testimony at the hearing.

For the first several years, only "major emitters of carbon" will be required to participate in the permit system. The first rounds will focus on heavy industries such as refineries, electricity generation and cement. 

The $150 per year fire fee instituted as part of last year's budget solution may be coming to an end, after a surprising 7-2 vote by one Assembly Committee. The Assembly Natural Resources Committee heard testimony on AB 1506 which would repeal the $150 per structure fee. It's a fee that some have called unfair and others have described as unconstitutional. As it stands now, residents in areas that CalFire has responsibility for delivering fire services must pay a $150 per structure fee.

However, opponents of the plan say it is unfair to charge the fee. Many residents already pay local fees and taxes for fire services, and making them pay twice is wrong. Other opponents challenge the constitutionality of a fee they say is a tax. The tax was not approved by a two-thirds majority, and thereby violated the law. AB 1506 would repeal the fee but would exacerbate the deficit in the state budget.

A bill that would instate penalties on unlicensed farm labor contractors (FLC) passed the Assembly Committee this week. AB 1675 (Bonilla) is intended to address unlicensed FLC's. When the bill mandating FLC to become licensed passed, there were no penalties included because they wanted to work with the FLC's to educate them on the laws, labor code and safety requirements. The goal was to legitimize the FLS's, not penalize them. After several years of education campaigns, outreach and seminars, the bill sponsors are stating through this bill it is time to enforce the statute and penalize non compliance.

The agriculture community has embraced licensing FLC's and bringing them into compliance. The association has joined a coalition of ag entities supporting the legislation based on the principle a standardized legitimate labor contracting system helps the employee, the employer and competing FLC's who have followed the rules and requirements. The bill is now headed to Assembly Appropriations Committee.

The full House this week took up and shot down half a dozen competing FY2013 budget proposals, ultimately approving the $1.0287-trillion House Budget Committee's resolution just before Congress' two-week spring recess. Prior to approving the committee resolution that would cut agriculture spending by about $180 billion over 10 years, the House rejected handily President Obama's FY2013 budget request - as included in a GOP amendment that "mirrored" the president's budget (0-414), a separate Democrat budget (163-262), a Progressive Caucus budget (78-346), a Black Caucus budget (107-314), an amendment based on the Simpson-Bowles deficit reduction commission plan (38-382) and a Tea Party/Republic Study Committee budget proposal (136-285). The Senate is not expected to consider a formal budget resolution.

Stabenow Shoots for End-of-April Markup - Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D, MI), chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee, confirmed media reports this week that her committee is targeting the last week in April to start committee markup of its 2012 Farm Bill, with the committee's goal being a bill ready for the floor by May 1. She further confirmed Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D, NV) is willing to bring the bill to the floor as long as it comes out of the committee with "strong bipartisan support." The commodity title remains the biggest hurdle.

Lucas Says House Ag May Try to Cut $30 Billion - In an interview this week with AgriTalk radio, House Agriculture Committee Chair Frank Lucas (R, OK) said he expects his committee will shoot to pare ag spending over the next decade by about $30 billion, somewhat less than recommended in the recently passed House Budget Resolution, but $7 billion more than the $23 billion he and Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D, MI), chair of the Senate ag panel, agreed to last year during the deficit wars. Lucas said the ultimate number is yet to be determined, but he warned that House cuts may have to be deeper than previously thought because of the politics of spending that could block the bill on the House floor. Lucas also acknowledged what Farm Bill veterans lobbyists know: The House and Senate Farm Bills are where damage control is done on program rewrites; it's the conference committee between the two chambers where the ultimate Farm Bill is written.

Conrad, Baucus, Hoeven Introduce Commodity Title Bill - A bipartisan trio of Canadian border state Senators this week introduced their version of a 2012 Farm Bill commodity title, saying their version is friendlier to their farmers and ranchers than the shallow loss approach being examined by the full Senate Agriculture Committee. The bill also contains lower target prices and a disaster program proposal. The three call their bill the Revenue Loss Assistance & Crop Insurance Enhancement Act, and point at the Revenue Loss Assistance Program (RLAP) as its centerpiece, a move that combines the current SURE and ACRE programs. RLAP would kick in on losses of 12-25% on average historic revenue based on individual farm performance, and an eligible loss would be any combination of decreased yields, falling prices or quality discounts. Aid would also be available for farmers with losses on planted acreage at 65% rate, and acreage that couldn't be planted due to weather would get a 45% payment rate, limited to total base acres. The three Senators would continue but modify the commodity loan program and countercyclical programs, but end direct payments and ACRE payments beginning in 2013. Conrad said the bill is "a version of shallow loss and fits hand-in-glove with crop insurance."

Former Ag Secretaries Call for Strong Conservation Compliance Compact - Former Secretaries of Agriculture Dan Glickman and Ann Veneman this week sent House and Senate ag committee leadership a letter calling on them to "renew the conservation compact between taxpayers and farmers." The "compact," the two said, is a provision of the 1985 Farm Bill called conservation compliance that "sparked a decade of unprecedented progress in limiting soil erosion, cleaning up waterways and protecting wetlands." This compact, they said, has protected 140 million acres of highly erodible land and reduced soil wash into streams by 40%.

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack this week told a gathering at the Department of Labor honoring United Farm Workers founder/leader Cesar Chavez, that Congress must fix broken immigration laws, and that all farm workers in the U.S. illegally should have a way to gain legal status. Vilsack called the undocumented workers "orphans," workers who deserve concern, and said Congress must reform immigration laws to make it easier to recruit foreign workers. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said the Obama Administration is committed to enforcement of immigration laws, and said new regulations for H-2A temporary ag visas were part of the President's commitment. She also said her department is hiring 300 new investigators as part of its enforcement action.  

Meanwhile, a new national survey by fruit and vegetable producer group Western Growers revealed this week 70% of "likely voters" in this fall's election support a guest worker program with strong rules. Western Growers President Tom Nassif said the survey results belies GOP assumptions its base won't support a guest worker program. Western Growers', which conducted the poll in January, described to voters a program that would make jobs available to U.S. workers first; restrict points of entry and length of stay; market-based limitations on the number of visas issued would be in place; both Social Security and Medicare taxes would be withheld from the pay of foreign workers; foreign workers could stay up to 12 months, with an option to renew for another 12 months; employers would be subject to federal oversight, and the program would allow workers currently in the U.S. to participate, but would not grant amnesty to illegals. A majority of poll respondents said, however, they object to workers being able to bring spouses and children with them, and that illegal workers in the U.S. should not be allowed to stay.

The increasingly controversial proposed rule from the Department of Labor (DOL) to restrict teenagers from participating in several on-farm jobs and related ag activities has been targeted by Rep. Denny Rehberg (R, MT), chair of the labor/HHS/education subcommittee in House appropriations, who said this week he will act to mitigate the DOL rulemaking through restricting funding, and can "assure the committee this will be addressed in the budget." Said Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R, WY), a member of the subcommittee: "I grew up on a ranch. I was driving tractors when I was 8, 9, 10 years old. I don't know how to thread a sewing machine, but I know how to thread a baler and that gave me a great deal of self-esteem as a young, paid farm worker."  

Both Rehberg and Lummis' remarks were directed at Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis who testified before the subcommittee this week on FY2013 appropriations for her department. Meanwhile, House Agriculture Committee Chair Frank Lucas (R, OK) issued a statement this week calling the DOL rulemaking a "misguided attack on family farms." Lucas said during Farm Bill field hearings, he has heard repeatedly from farmers and ranchers of their concern about the DOL rulemaking, and said it's just another example of "top-down, stifling regulations coming out of the Obama Administration." The Rehberg action backstops legislation introduced last week by Sen. Jerry Moran (R, KS), along with 38 cosponsors. Moran's bill would block the DOL from finalizing any part of the workplace safety rules it proposed last September, and Sen. Pat Roberts (R, KS), a cosponsor and ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Committee said the department has gone way too far. "We need the Department of Labor to take a big pill of common sense and back off," Roberts said.

This week EPA proposed carbon pollution standards for new power plants, a move some said is a retreat from previous efforts to regulate power plant greenhouse gas emissions, while others contend this is EPA's backdoor move to get greater control over greenhouse gas pollution. The agency says the new rule simply reflects the nature of the power industry. The proposed final rulemaking applies only to plants to be built in the future, and does not apply to existing plants or those that will begin construction in the next 12 months, EPA said. The agency said the rule is designed, in part, to provide an incentive to utility companies to accelerate an industry trend to "take advantage of American-made technologies, including new, clean-burning efficient natural gas generation, which is already the technology of choice for new and planned power plants." The agency said the rule will also allow plants to burn coal, but to take advantage of a "wide array of available technologies" that reduce carbon emissions.

Sen. James Inhofe (R, OK), ranking member of the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee, joined Sens. Jeff Session (R, AL) and Pat Roberts (R, KS), along with House counterparts Rep. Dan Mica (R, FL), transportation committee chair, and Ag Committee Chair Frank Lucas (R, OK) in a letter to the White House asking the Office of Management & Budget (OMB) to halt finalization of a federal report upon which EPA intends to expand its authority under the Clean Water Act (CWA) to regulate "virtually every body of water in the U.S. no matter how small." The report, released last May and done by EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers, is entitled "Guidance on Identifying Waters Protected by the Clean Water Act," and is the basis, the lawmakers said, for an Obama Administration move to regulate a much broader array of waters, including irrigation ditches, ground water, and "puddles of water on the road." The bicameral group said such an action should be done through rulemaking and not guidance as guidance does include public participation.

CALIFORNIA STATE FLORAL ASSOCIATION TOGETHER WITH ROP CAMARILLO   

Present a Floral Design Workshop

New Date ~ April 28th 

Floral Architectonics: the Art of Incorporating Architectural Elements into Dynamic Floral Designs

Instruction by:  

Tony Alvarez AIFD, CCF & Debbie Alvarez AIFD, CCF

Place: ROP Camarillo, 465 Horizon Circle, Camarillo, CA 93010

Time: 9:00 am - 4:00 pm

In this class we will explore a number of architectural elements developed since man first began building shelters right up to the modern age of towering steel structures and modern conceptual theories in architecture. We will integrate these architectural elements in our design constructions using assorted building materials, plant materials, flowers and branches as well as decorative wire and glassware.  

Come spend a day with friends and learn new ways to add interest, value, drama and innovation to everyday designs!

Class fee: $125.00

• Click here for full details