Upon the emergency declaration of drought by Governor Brown, the legislature immediately began working on expediting water infrastructure investments and passed a package of legislation which was signed by the Governor this week.  The drought relief package included two bills, SB 103 and SB 104 both authored by the budget committee.  The bills will accelerate funding of:

• $549 million of already approved bond funding for projects ready for construction to increase local reliability, recycle water recharge groundwater and improve water conservation.
• $30 million from the Global Greenhouse reduction fund for water use and energy efficiency grants to state and local entities.
• $14 million for groundwater management actions across the state. 
• $10 million from  Greenhouse Gas Fund to CDFA to invest in irrigation and water pumping systems that reduce water and energy use.
• $25.3 million from general fund for local food assistance to those impacted by the drought including local farmworker communities.  
• $21 million from the general fund for housing assistance for low income communities impacted by the drought.  

For more info on the package go to:  http://www.gov.ca.gov/home.php 

Legislation has been introduced that requires all food sold in Califonria that has GMO ingredients to be conspicuously labeled as having GMO's.  Raw and bulk products must contain a label at the retail level.  SB 1381 (Evans) sets up another battle between entities wanting to label or ban GMO's with food manufacturers, retailers and farmers similar to Prop 37 which failed passage in California in 2012.  Referred to by the sponsor as "Proposition 37 light" the bill would require mandatory labels on foods containing GMO's and authorize citizen suits to enforce.  There is a broad coalition of ag, food and retailers reviewing and working to oppose this legislation. 

President Obama sent a $3.9-trillion FY2015 budget package to Capitol Hill this week. The budget outlines his recommendations on how federal dollars should be spent, including several hundred million dollars in proposed user fees.  Sen. Patty Murray (D, WA), chair of the Senate Budget Committee, said the package is "realistic," while her counterpart in the House Rep. Paul Ryan (R, WI) called the proposed budget "a campaign brochure."

Appropriators generally use the White House budget to guide their spending work, treating presidential requests as policy statements. They then frame their own spending plans, which may or may not include any of the Administration's requests.  For instance, the White House budget recommendation that the federal minimum wage be raised to $10.10 per hour is far too hot an issue to jeopardize overall spending by including it in an appropriation bill.

When it comes to food safety spending, the White House allocates FDA $4.5 billion overall, but assumes significant user fees within that number. The Center for Food Safety & Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) gets a 2.5% increase, while the other centers - including the Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) - within FDA see a general decrease of about 1.5%.  About $24 million is set aside for food safety programs broadly; however, the Administration assumes at least $230 million will be generated through food safety user fees.  About $170 million will come from new importer service fees authorized in the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), but the White House also recommends nearly $70 million be raised by charging a new, unauthorized fee for companies to register under FSMA.  Registration fees were rejected when FSMA was winding its way through Congress, and that rejection has continued through the last few appropriations processes.  Agriculture strongly opposes the fees, seen as a de facto tax on the food and feed industries.

USDA's share of the budget is about $23.7 billion, with cuts to the Food Safety & Inspection Service (FSIS) of about $10 million.  The White House also proposes meat inspection user fees, but every Administration going back to President George H.W. Bush has unsuccessfully sought the same goal. About $14 million in cuts to federal crop insurance are recommended, as is the closing or consolidating of 250 Farm Service Agency (FSA) county offices.

EPA takes a $310-million cut in FY2015, with the White House recommending agency funding at $7.89 billion.  Nearly $200 million will be dedicated to climate change to support the President's Climate Change Action Plan, including CO2 standards for power plants and actions to address hydrofluorocarbons and methane. Money is also allocated to assist states in controlling greenhouse gas emissions in the coming year, $23 million would be spent on chemical and toxics safety.  About $8 million would be spent on clean water initiatives.

A proposal by EPA to rewrite the definition of "waters of the U.S." which defines its jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act (CWA) is bringing new pressure on the White House from agriculture and other interests. The proposal has been at the Office of Management & Budget (OMB) for review since September, 2013, and the White House has given no hints as to when or if the agency proposal will be approved.

EPA proposes to broaden its authority by redefining the CWA regulated waters definition from "navigable waters" to essentially all bodies of water across the country.  Opponents - including most of agriculture, the transportation industry and energy groups - say the redefinition would allow the agency to impose regulations on ponds, ditch water, etc.

The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) said this week if the White House approves the EPA proposal "it will undermine some of the Administration's other priorities including job creation and energy independence."

In the face of social media campaigns, demonstrations and media demands for action on immigration reform, House GOP leadership continues to indicate to reform supporters of the possibility a reform bill could pass this year.  However, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D, CA) this week said she's close to leading her caucus in a move to sign up 218 House members on a discharge petition to force the chamber to take up the Senate-passed immigration reform package regardless of what the leadership wants.

While the likelihood of Pelosi getting the magic 218 signatures is slim - several pro-reform GOP members have already said they won't sign the petition out of political loyalty to House Speaker John Boehner (R, OH) - the petition would send a strong message to GOP leadership and the public on the need for immigration reform. However, action may not be as elusive as previously thought as Boehner (R, OH) said last week that immigration reform is an area of potential compromise with the Administration this year.

The ongoing legislative battle between the House and EPA over the agency's authority to regulate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from new coal fired utilities was fought again this week as the House overwhelmingly passed a bill that would limit EPA's emissions authority. The White House has pledged to veto the bill if it reaches the president's desk.

The bill requires EPA to limit emissions only if it recognizes technologies in use commercially for at least a year in six plants.  EPA currently seeks to require coal-fired plants to recapture carbon using so-called sequestration technology which opponents contend is not widely used in the "real world" and is extremely expensive.  Supporters of the bill, authored by Rep. Ed Whitfield (R, KY), said the bill does not prohibit EPA requiring technologies developed and used in the U.S. or overseas.  

The full House rejected an amendment that would have enshrined EPA's finding that GHG pollution is a threat to human health and is a major contributor to climate change.   

Eleven ag groups, including livestock and poultry producers as well as the feed industry, sent a letter this week to the leadership of the House Energy & Commerce Committee supporting EPA's proposed reduction in Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) blend rates for biofuels, and asking for a hearing on a bill by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R, VA) to "reform" the RFS overall.

In a related development, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced this week that for the first time, USDA will include biofuels among U.S. commodities promoted for export in overseas venues.  "We think the world is ready for U.S. biofuel," he said," so we want to use these resources to promote this great American product."  USDA said the first overseas promotion will be in China, with Japan and India also targeted.  

The Goodlatte bill, the ag groups say, addresses the "unintended negative consequences" of the RFS as it's currently framed in federal law.  The bill would eliminate the corn ethanol mandate and cap the RFS on ethanol at 10%.  

Blood plasma used as a feed ingredient can't be confirmed as the source of recent Canadian porcine epidemic diarrhea (PEDv outbreaks, the government said this week after significant testing.  While the government studies showed plasma may contain the virus, it could not confirm plasma added to pelleted feed was capable of causing the virus.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) tested a variety of feed, plasma and other feed ingredients sourced in both Canada and the U.S. and associated with outbreaks on various individual farms in Canada.  All tests were negative, CFIA said.   

The agency said it will continue to test feeds and ingredients to ensure its actions to prevent future outbreaks continue to be successful.