Salas Select Committee Holds Hearing on Water Storage Options

On Tuesday March 19, the Assembly Select Committee on Water Supply chaired by Assembly member Rudy Salas from Bakersfield held a hearing opportunities and conditions for water storage. Department of Water Resources experts discussed the status of storage possibilities and projects. Engineers discuss the multiple benefits for storage such as flood control, water supply, recreation and environmental benefits such as managing water temperature and pulse flows necessary for the endangered species. They also discussed the value and operation of underground storage.  

Steinberg Says - Lees Money for Storage in New Water Bond

California Senate Leader Darrell Steinberg said lawmakers plan to rewrite the $11 billion water bond for the November 2014 ballot - and the new version will likely have less money for storage projects such as dams.

"I think there will continue to be a chapter for storage," said Steinberg. "I don't think there will be nearly the same amount of money in that chapter as there was in the original bond. And I think there will be de-emphasis, frankly - or at least, on the same surface storage projects."

It took over a week for the Senate to get agreement on amendments and timing, but this week the full Senate overwhelmingly approved its version of the FY2013 continuing resolution (CR) to keep the government operating through September 30. The House quickly accepted the Senate bill by a wide majority and sent the bill to the President just as Congress recessed for two weeks for the Easter/Passover holidays.  

Both House and Senate Appropriations Committees now turn to the task of drafting and approving individual spending bills for FY2014, but so far have been hampered by the Administration's failure to send them formal budget recommendations. The Senate spending package approval this week avoids a government shutdown set for midnight March 27 if Congress had not acted, and the House approved its version of the CR two weeks ago, a bill which added more money for defense and military construction while retaining the sequestration spending cuts which went into effect March 1.  

The Senate's bipartisan bill, cobbled together by Appropriations Committee Chair Barbara Mikulski (D, MD) and ranking member Sen. Richard Shelby (R, AL), also retains the 5.8% across-the-board sequestration cuts, but adds additional dollars for USDA/FDA, the Departments of Commerce, Justice and Homeland Security and for various science-related projects. For the full fiscal year, FDA receives, $4.3 billion, including $40 million directed for implementation of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). USDA received a $285 million increase, including $55 million to prevent the furlough of meat and poultry inspectors under a floor amendment successfully offered by Sens. David Pryor (D, AR) and Roy Blunt (R, MO), chair and ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Committee's subcommittee on ag/FDA.  

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack publicly endorsed the Pryor/Blunt amendment. The pre-sequester USDA appropriations total is $140.3 billion, $3.4 billion or 2% more than FY2012. More than 85% of money is for mandatory programs, including direct crop supports and nutrition programs. "Such sums as may be necessary" were appropriated to fund federal crop insurance, with the amount expected to be needed set at $9.5 billion or three times the FY2012 level. Conservation programs receive about $850 million, $3 million less than the year before, with cuts mandated to the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) program, the Agricultural Management Assistance Program and the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program. The bill also includes a 4% reduction in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). EPA's budget takes a $136 million hit in the new CR, mainly by rescinding previous agreements on clean water and drinking water state revolving funds and through cancellation of some grants, with $40 million coming out of the Superfund program, according to reports.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee (HELP) this week quickly approved reauthorization of the Animal Drug & Generic Animal Drug User Fee Reauthorization Act, continuing programs under which the animal drug industry pays FDA dedicated user fees to expedite new animal drug reviews and approvals, including animal drugs routinely administered through feed. Committee Chair Tom Harkin (D, IA) and ranking member Sen. Lamar Alexander (R, TN) refused to include in the underlying bill controversial amendments unrelated to the user fee programs that would slow consideration of the bill. A 'clean' user fee bill was also a priority of ag, and animal health groups in Washington, DC. AFIA sent a letter to Harkin and Alexander, with copies to the full committee, praising the panel for the bipartisan and efficient manner by which it was handling the bill, but urging the panel to resist unrelated amendments or changes for which complete concurrence could not be demonstrated.  

This action helped stop Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D, NY) and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D, NY) from adding language to require feed mills and on-farm feed mixers report to FDA the identities of farmer customers who bought feed or premixes containing antibiotics, as well as information on the species for which the feed was made, how much antibiotic was added and why - growth, prevention or treatment - and for what animal disease or condition the antibiotic was added. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R, AK) insisted on offering the lone amendment during markup to require any genetically enhanced (GE) Atlantic salmon - or a food containing GE salmon - be labeled. Her amendment was opposed by Sen. Pat Roberts (R, KS) and was defeated on a voice vote. It's expected these amendments will be offered when the bill reaches the Senate floor sometime this spring. The House Energy & Commerce Committee has not set its schedule for dealing with the animal drug user fee legislation, but hearings are expected to begin once Congress returns from its spring recess in two weeks.

The House Committee on Energy & Commerce this week released the first of what's expected to be a series of bipartisan white papers and called for public comment on the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), that part of federal law mandating specific amounts of various biofuels be blended with gasoline, aimed at informing debate on whether the RFS needs to be changed or scrapped as many ag groups are calling for. The committee "will review all aspects" of the RFS, the committee said, including its impact on the price of gasoline and current price of ethanol Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs). Gina McCarthy, President Obama's nominee to head EPA, has been asked by Sen. David Vitter (R, LA), ranking member of the Environment & Public Works Committee, to show how she'll protect the public from rising gasoline prices due to "the rising cost of ethanol RINs." Sen. Ron Wyden (D, OR), chair of the Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources, confirmed he's also looking at the cost of RINs, and his ranking member, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R, AK), joined Vitter in asking McCarthy to provide her plans for consumer protection.

Sen. Roy Blunt (R, MO) this week said he's placed a hold on the nomination of Gina McCarthy to be administrator of EPA. Blunt said the hold will remain until the Obama Administration releases information on a flood control project in Missouri. The Army Corps of Engineers was to have updated Sen. Clair McCaskill (D, MO) and Blunt on progress made so far on the St. Johns Bayou and New Madrid Floodway Project by March 15, but missed the deadline. Meanwhile, Tom Perez, an assistant attorney general in the Department of Justice's civil rights division, has been nominated by President Obama to be Secretary of Labor, replacing Hilda Solis who resigned in January. Perez, the son of Dominican immigrants, previously served as Maryland's state labor secretary. Some GOP Senators have expressed skepticism of the nomination because neither the President nor Perez has indicated how they would deal with immigration reform if Perez is confirmed.

The renewed bipartisan momentum to get some form of immigration reform legislation to the President by the end of the summer faltered this week, as discussions between the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO over how to create a "guest worker" program for some immigrant labor fell apart. The goal of the talks is to find a way for employers to find workers and for workers to stay in the U.S. through creation of a new visa category - a "W" visa - for low-skilled guest workers. However, one major sticking point remains how many of the new visas would be issued, with the chamber saying it wants an uncapped program, but can live with a cap of 400,000, and the union contending the annual cap should be around 10,000. Meanwhile, House Speaker John Boehner (R, OH) said so far he's OK with an immigration reform proposal being hashed out by a bipartisan group of House members that includes a "path to citizenship" for illegal workers, calling the draft he's seen "a pretty responsible solution." Sen. Rand Paul (R, KY), speaking to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce this week, said he plans to be "part of the solution" on immigration reform, a major shift from previous statements. Paul said the U.S. won't "deport 12 million illegal immigrants," and said his proposal would give immigrants "working visas" that would allow them to stay in the U.S., according to a report in the Washington Post.  

The Paul plan echoes provisions of many other proposals on how to deal with 11-12 million illegal workers in the U.S., including registration, payment of back taxes, learning English, no special treatment and application for work visas. The Senate bipartisan "Gang of Eight" is still expected to introduce a reform package the week of April 8 - a major reform rally is set for the Capitol on April 10 - according to reports, but some Senators are complaining the "gang" has not solicited input beyond its membership. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D, VT), chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee through which immigration reform must move, warned the "gang" that its failure to release the bill this month jeopardizes its progress as his committee won't be able to take it up until May; Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin (D, IL), part of the Gang of Eight, said he intends to talk with Leahy and urge him to move as quickly as possible. Leahy is also on the list of Senators who have publicly warned the chamber to not move too quickly, but give Senators time to read and study the proposal when it's released and be in a position to offer amendments.  

April 24-27, 2013

Highlights from the Business Session & Speakers

• Doing What Matters - Steering Science to Inform Public Policy 
• by Frank Mitloehner, Ph.D., UC Davis
• U.S. Didn't Fall Off the Cliff...Now What? Impacts: Economy/Markets /Policy                           
• by Jim Wiesemeyer, Senior VP, Farm and Trade Policy, Informa Economics, Inc.
• CGFA Annual Meeting and Report
• by President John Pereira, Frontier Ag Group & EVP, Chris Zanobini
• The U.S. Dairy Market Outlook and What It Means to California  
• by Mary Ledman, Daily Dairy Report, Dairy Economist   
• Weather Trends, Climate Change, and Energy:  Implications for California Agriculture            
•   by Steve Goreham, Climate Science Coalition of America
• Keynote Speaker:   Mack Dryden