The annual budget dance may come to a halt this afternoon here in the state Capitol. It is unclear whether the legislature and the Governor have come to terms grappling with the estimated $16 billion deficit, but Legislators are obligated to pass a budget by June 15th or lose their pay.

The spending plan currently being discussed is close to the Governors original budget proposal with some noted changes. The legislature is likely to reduce the cuts to welfare and social programs by about $1 billion less than the Governor proposed and instead will reduce the reserve by $500 million and gain additional "saving" with accounting gimmicks such as paying schools later and requiring businesses to remit taxes earlier.

Many reporters have criticized this budget for including "gimmicks" when the Governor promised none. Therefore, at the time of this article being written, it was still unclear whether there was agreement by the Governor to sign the budget. The Governor can sign or veto the budget, but he can also use a line item veto to remove specific expenditures.

CDFA has been reduced $14.5 million dollars. Below is a brief summary of the estimated cuts/fees and efficiencies:

Increases in fees -

• $1,150,000 - Replace Interior Exclusion Program and Plant Pest Diagnostics Laboratory General Fund with phytosanitary fee for certification to move nursery stock.
• $1,028,000 - Replace Milk and Dairy Food Safety General Fund with an increase to the dairy industry's existing fee for service.

Reductions and Shifts -

• $5,500,000 - Decrease General Fund for operations at Border Protection Stations. The General Fund reduction will result in reduced operations at several stations.       Budget offsets cut with a shift of $1,432,000 in reimbursement authority from CalRecycle to operate border stations to reduce fraud in the recycling program.

Program Efficiencies and Reductions in Program Scope -

• $953,000 - Limit activities within the Light Brown Apple Moth program to federally funded activities only, such as a sterile release program which may increase nursery and farmers exposure to quarantines.
• $701,000 -Eliminate General Fund support for Biological Control activities.
• $366,000 - Reduce Plant Pest Diagnostics and Seed Laboratories via program efficiencies.
• $2,400,000 - Reduce Local Assistance to counties for Trapping and/or High Risk Pest Exclusion activities, including inspection of incoming shipments of plants, fruits, vegetables, and conveyances at destination points throughout the state.
• $350,000 - Discontinue support for Agriculture Security and Emergency Response Program.
• $500,000 - Reduce staffing levels through efficiencies for the Animal Health Branch and Animal Health Food Safety Data Management System.
• $425,000 - Reduce frequency of meat and poultry inspections and locate efficiencies within the Meat and Poultry Inspection program.

The California State Water Resources Control Board held a call this morning to discuss their ongoing budget challenge introducing the stakeholder community to their need to raise fees. The board has annual revenues of $98 million with expenditures estimated at $98.5 million. Current law requires the State Water Board to adopt, by emergency regulations, an annual schedule of fees for dischargers.  The water board has authority to adjust the fees annually to conform to the revenue levels set forth in the Budget Act. The State Water Board's current annual fee schedules were adopted on September 20, 2011. During the call the staff indicated they were going to initiate actions to increase the water board fee for waste dischargers but were not specific on which fees would be raised or by how much. A schedule of proposed fee increases should be available later this summer.

Great customer service isn't just about money--but dedicated staff and extra resources certainly help. So when it comes to customer service, small companies can have a hard time keeping up with deeper-pocketed retail giants.

In his new book, High-Tech, High-Touch Customer Service, Micah Solomon shares some of the best practices of consumer giants like Amazon, Lego and more. But small businesses can steal some great customer service ideas and apply them to their own firms, Solomon said in a recent interview with Inc.

Your competitors are already offering "tolerable reactive service," Solomon says--meaning if a customer asks for something, they give it to them. "Just about every business in the country does that, so if that's all you're doing, it might be OK--but it's not enough to distinguish your company," he says.

Here are a few companies he says are doing better than OK--and some great takeaways you could put into practice.

Progress Minimal on Senate Farm Bill as Deal on 250 Amendments Remains Elusive - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D, NV) once again this week pleaded with his colleagues to withdraw most of nearly 250 amendments filed on the pending 2012 Farm Bill. All eyes now turn to next Monday evening when it's hoped Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R, KY) will announce they've reached an agreement on which amendments will be debated and voted upon and which will simply be talked about. The vast majority of amendments filed so far are unrelated to the Farm Bill or are parochial interests of individual Senators with little relationship to the underlying bill, but some Senators have made public threats to vote against the bill if their particular amendments are not at least considered. Sen. Pat Roberts (R, KS), ranking member on the Senate Agriculture Committee, told one reporter this week, "There are people who want to throw a monkey wrench into the gear box if, in fact, they don't get their particular amendment." Votes on unpopular amendments this week included one by Sen. Jean Shaheen (D, VT) designed to kill the sugar support program and another by Sen. Rand Paul (R, KY) to turn the federal food stamp program into a state block grant program.  

Both amendments were tabled. Key to killing both amendments was a bloc of conservative 33 GOP Senators, including many southerners, led by Roberts. When Reid proposed moving to four other amendments, he was blocked by Paul and then by Sen. Tom Coburn (R, OK) who proposed the Senate set a limit on amendments at 40 and take them up in rapid-fire succession. Reid seemed to like the Coburn plan, but Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R, GA), who's leading the fight against the committee-approved commodity title as discriminating against southern producers, said he'd seen a preliminary list of possible amendments and it did not include several he's brought forward, including one that would create an "alternative countercyclical " program exclusive to rice and peanuts. Chambliss said he wants any and all amendments debated, and that Farm Bill consideration should be debated "for weeks."

McConnell Lays Out Anti-Regulation Amendments to Farm Bill - This week Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R, KY) laid out a list of five initiatives he wants included in the Farm Bill to overturn or block pending EPA and other government agency rulemakings. The package includes language on financial derivatives, non-navigable waters, worker safety rules affecting farm children and EPA's dust rule. An amendment by Sen. Mike Johanns (R, NE) would block EPA from regulating ag dust, a demonstration he doesn't trust EPA's assurances it has no intention of regulating farm dust. McConnell specifically referred to a separate action to bar EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers from extending their regulatory authority under the Clean Water Act (CWA) to ponds, ditches and other non-navigable waters. Sen. John Thune (R, SD) filed an amendment that would require the Department of Labor to consult with Congress before worker safety rules affecting children are proposed. Johanns and Sen. Mike Crapo (R, ID) filed an amendment that would bar the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) from imposing end user margin requirements on derivatives trades. The Johanns/Crapo amendment is identical to a bill that overwhelmingly passed the House. In an independent move, Johanns also filed an amendment that would prohibit EPA from conducting aerial surveillance to investigate farm and ranch compliance with EPA regulations. The amendment comes on the heels of a letter Johanns and the rest of the Nebraska delegation sent to EPA asking why it was conducting aerial "inspections," how the information was used, etc. Johanns said he was expecting EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to respond to the letter, but instead the response came from EPA's District 7 office, and "until they're open and transparent, we should just stop it." Sen. Chuck Grassley (R, IA) has also asked EPA to brief him on overflights in Iowa that is also overseen by EPA District 7, but said he hasn't passed judgment, but has questions he wants answered.

Banks, Insurers Promote Crop Insurance, Checkoff Change Assailed, Export Assistance Attacked - As the proposed amendments to the 2012 Farm Bill continued to pile up in the Senate, so too did the press releases, letters and other communications defending or attacking various proposals. The Independent Community Bankers (ICB), along with the American Association of Crop Insurers and the Crop Insurance & Reinsurance Bureau, took on the Environmental Working Group (EWG) and several Senator by denouncing any attempt to change federal crop insurance programs, urging the Senate to "avoid amendments that result in...lower premiums or a weaker delivery system." ICB also urged the Senate to reject amendments aimed at restricting farmer access to USDA's guaranteed operating loan program or efforts to restrict that program. The American Soybean Assn. (ASA) told the Senate this week to reject an amendment by Sen. Jim DeMint (R, SC) that would effectively make all current producer-funded checkoff programs voluntary. DeMint has characterized mandatory checkoff programs as a tax; ASA said such programs allow farmers to "invest their own dollars to conduct research, build markets and create new uses" for various products. Sen. Tom Coburn (R, OK) filed an amendment against the USDA Market Access Program (MAP) seeking to cut the program by $30 million and withhold federal dollars from certain market promotion activities. He singled out industry associations receiving MAP money based on whether the group enjoys the membership of "big corporations with 'household' name products." In a letterdated June 13, 2012, 80 members of the Coalition to Promote U.S. Agricultural Exports strongly opposed an amendment by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) to S. 3240 (Agriculture Reform, Food, and Jobs Act of 2012) to reduce annual funding for the Market Access Program (MAP) by $40 million and prohibit the use of MAP funds for certain activities.  A coalition of groups, including the American Feed Industry Assn. (AFIA), which receive MAP funding or support industries which do, said in a letter this week, "Reducing funding for MAP would seriously undermine U.S. agriculture's ability to compete in this highly competitive international marketplace. It is a very efficient, cost-effective program." The groups also pointed out that under MAP; participants must evaluate and adjust all export market development activities every year. This analysis, in conjunction with feedback from USDA overseas officers, determines whether activities merit funding.