by: Dennis Albiani, Legislative Advocate

December 3rd, was the first day that legislation could be introduced for the new legislative session. The members then participated in training and headed home after the initial week of work. There have been a few bills introduced that could impact water policy in California.

Bills Introduced Impacting Agriculture

Labor issues have been the focus of significant policy discussions over the past few years. There were several bills that would impact labor introduced on day one of the legislative session. These are likely just the first bills introduced and more are expected.

• AB 10 (Alejo) this measure would raise the minimum wage from $8 an hour to not less than $8.25 January 1, 2014, not less than $8.75 January 1, 2015, not less than $9.25 an hour on January 1, 2016.
• SB 25 (Steinberg) This bill builds upon an earlier measure authored by Senator Steinberg and signed into law. The bill would alter a 90 day requirement following bargaining for an unfair labor practice allowing certification of the union and would apply to subsequent purchasers of the business.

Water Quality/Nitrate Legislation

Last session, following a UC report on Nitrate contamination in the Central and Salinas Valleys, there was a group of bills introduced to help provide financial assistance for local communities to help clean their water, continue to delineate the challenges, and provide some additional research funding. Due to the late introduction, the bills failed passage. Several of those bills have been introduced and more are expected.

• AB 1 (Alejo) Requires an integrated water quality plan for the Salinas Valley. Primarily focuses on nitrate contamination.
• AB 21 (Alejo) Amends the Safe Drinking Water grant program for small communities to redefine "emergency" to provide access to unprivileged communities.
• AB 30 (Perea) Amends the Safe Drinking Water grant programs to allow the deferral of interest until 2019.

CEQA

The California Environmental Quality Act has garnered much attention since its passage 40 years ago. Recently, there have been many discussions about reforming the act to allow for more expedient review of projects and to reduce delay and the perception of lawsuits purely for non-environmental purposes. CEQA reform will be a priority for the Legislature this year. Leading the discussion will be the Senate Chair of the Environmental Quality Committee Senator Michael Rubio, in close coordination with Senator Steinberg.

• AB 37 (Perea) This bill is currently a place holder requiring a lead agency to compile a record of proceedings concurrently with the development of the EIR/negative declaration or other CEQA activities.

Water Bond

The California Water Bond was postponed from this November's election until November 2014. There is much discussion on "opening up" the water bond for renegotiation on some of the key issues, most importantly the size of the bond. Widely distributed articles quote water leaders and advocates stating a smaller bond is prudent - from $6-9 billion. While there is much speculation around the water community on the fate of the water bond measure and a desire to amend the measure to make it more palatable to voters, there will likely be bills introduced in this first year of the session but it will be difficult for agreement on the issues in a year when there is no deadline for action.

Proposition 39

In November, California voters enacted Proposition 39, allocating $550,000,000 dollars for the next 5 years (total of $2.75 billion) to energy efficiency programs throughout California. The priority will be on energy efficiency in schools, but all programs are eligible according to the language of the initiative. A major energy challenge is moving water. There are a host of reports that demonstrate improving water use efficiency improves energy efficiency. There are several bills introduced to create the definitions and legislative priorities for this funding. There may be opportunities for agriculture to address water use efficiency and energy efficiency activities in water districts and on farm.

• SB 39 (DeLeon) Focuses funding on energy efficiency upgrades in k-12 education facilities.
• AB 39 (Skinner) Establishes priorities and definitions for implementation of Prop 39.
• AB 29 (Williams) Creates revolving loans funds for higher education facilities for California Universities and Community Colleges.

BDCP/Delta Plan

The Delta Plan is progressing towards finalization in Spring of 2013. The Bay Delta Conservation Plan DRAFT EIR/EIS on the preferred alternative is due out mid 2013. There is much discussion on several elements of the Delta plan and BDCP including the delta diversion facility size of 9,000 cfs, financing including the amount and who will pay, assurances, extent of ecosystem restoration and maintaining water quality. Currently, there are no legislative proposals introduced encouraging or creating impediments to the completion of these planning efforts or implementation. However, there have been several bills introduced each year and more should be expected. The coalition called "Restore the Delta" is still active in Sacramento and is expected to continue to promote alternatives and create impediments to the implementation of these efforts.

While insiders insist there continues to be "quiet progress" on a short-term scheme to avoid the fiscal cliff's tax increases and economic turmoil on January 1, 2013, key negotiators publicly sniped at each other throughout the week, and the broader political parties signaled their priorities on programs that "must not" be part of the final package if there is one. However, it remains clear if there's a fiscal cliff deal cut, farm programs will be part of the mix if only because of the savings they contribute. House Speaker John Boehner and the President met at the White House twice in the last 10 days - once with staff, once without - and this week exchanged what reports said were tense phone calls. Partisan rhetoric continues to fly following these meetings from both sides, fueling the media and market pessimism a deal can get done by December 31.  

The Washington, DC based Business Roundtable this week waded into the broad fiscal cliff negotiations fray, saying lawmakers should raise taxes if necessary - something that appears almost inevitable - to reach an agreement. "We urge you to step forward and demonstrate that principled compromise is once again possible and that the American political system...can function as designed," the Roundtable said in a letter to congressional leaders. Congress needs to agree on how to get more revenue, it said, "whether by increasing taxes, eliminating deductions or some combination thereof." However, they cautioned tax increases must go "hand-in-hand" with spending cuts and overhauling entitlement programs, including Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. President Obama has refused to talk publicly about entitlement program cuts, though congressional Democratic leaders this week said entitlements should not be part of the fiscal cliff negotiations.  

The GOP said it won't talk about tax rate increases unless entitlements are on the table. Rep. Dave Camp (R, MI), chair of the House Ways & Means Committee, responded to the Business Roundtable letter by saying, "Big business may support raising taxes on small businesses, but I do not." A similar scenario played out among key ag negotiators on a 2012 farm program package that may move with any fiscal cliff package. With farm program spending cuts representing approximately $32-35 billion in savings, the chairs and ranking members of the respective agriculture committees met December 12 and December 13, in hopes of hammering out at least a short-term farm program agreement. Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow (D, MI) will not accept a straight extension of 2008 programs that she says leaves 37 current programs unfunded while continuing direct payments to producers, but Rep. Frank Lucas (R, OK), chair of the House Agriculture Committee, says he can live with an extension as it provides producers operational certainty, allows USDA to prepare for new programs and cuts in old operations, and gives him and Stabenow the opportunity to hammer out a 2013 five-year Farm Bill in the spring.  

The two big sticking points in the ag talks are farm program payments - the Senate reinvents payment programs as risk control insurance-like programs, but the House includes marketing loans and countercyclical payments - and how much to cut federal food stamps. Among the top four House and Senate ag leaders there have been some major shifts in position, particularly from Senate leaders. Stabenow says she's willing to entertain deeper cuts to food stamp fraud, waste and abuse if it leads to a five-year package included in the fiscal cliff deal. Senate ag panel ranking member Sen. Pat Roberts (R, KS) says he'll talk about revising his chamber's Farm Bill commodity program title to include a marketing loan and/or countercyclical payments scheme - a move that would mitigate southern peanut and rice producer opposition to the Senate's risk/crop insurance approach - again if that's what it takes to get a 2012 package done. However, as of December 14, House and Senate ag negotiators began to mirror the broader party lines on the fiscal cliff negotiations, digging in and trading barbs.  

After the December 13 meeting among Stabenow, Roberts, Lucas and House ag panel ranking member Rep. Collin Peterson (D, MN), the Senate chided the House bill because it never received a full chamber vote. Lucas and Peterson fired back in a statement this week, "When the Senate Ag Committee starts to negotiate in good faith...rather than in the press, we stand ready to work with them." The two House ag leaders said, "Contrary to what they would have you believe, this not a rice, peanut and wheat issue...it's about making sure policy is defensible to tax payers and works for all commodities in all regions of the country."

With billionaires Warren Buffett and George Soros calling for dramatic increases in the federal estate tax, with President Obama willing to take the "death tax" back to Clinton era levels while cutting the exemption, and ag groups holding elimination of the estate tax as one of their highest collective priorities, the fate of taxes paid on estates is emerging as a singular issue in the tax reform portion of fiscal cliff negotiations. The current 35% tax rate on estates of more than $5 million is set to expire at the end of the year. Without action, the rate would jump to 55% on estates in excess of $1 million, affecting nearly 600,000 farms in the U.S. This week, analysts complicated the discussions by pointing out average-quality farmland in some parts of the country has increased in value by more than 20% during 2012, and a Purdue University study shows those values are hitting nearly $7,500 per acre, with top-quality land going for nearly $9,000 an acre, and even poor land getting more $6,000 per acre.  

This runup in land values means farmers not concerned about estate taxes in the past are now paying close attention. Sen. John Boozman (R, AR) said on the Senate floor this week an increase in the estate tax would affect over 22% of Arkansas farmers. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R, UT), ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, called on President Obama this week to ensure an increase in the estate tax rate is not included in the fiscal cliff negotiations and that there must be "an end to the death tax" as part of broader tax reform efforts next year. He was joined in his Senate floor remarks by Sens. John Barrasso (R, WY) and Sen. Roy Blunt (R, MO), Senate minority whip. Land sales, experts say, have also accelerated by more than 20% in the last half of 2012, a concern that Congress will not act on the fiscal cliff and federal capital gains taxes will jump to 20% next year, along with a separate 3.8% tax on capital gains contained in Obamacare health care law now in effect.  

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) and several conservative tax groups this week publicly opposed enactment of a five-year 2012 Farm Bill as part of any fiscal cliff agreement, saying, "The time to pass a farm bill has come and gone. Congress should pass a fiscally responsible one-year extension of farm and food programs and allow the House to debate the future of farm subsidies." Calling it a "secret farm bill," EWG and the tax groups held a Washington, DC press conference where they called for the one-year extension, but said direct payments must be ended immediately as a "downpayment" on the deficit. Taxpayers for Common Sense said the current farm bill approaches "save too little, preserve ridiculous crop insurance subsidies and create new entitlement programs" and called the approach "the height of fiscal irresponsibility." One of these new entitlements, said the American Enterprise Institute, is the House Agriculture Committee creation of price loss coverage, and the Senate bill's Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) programs. The groups said they want to see a "full farm bill process" next year, one that will result in no shallow loss program, reforms crop insurance subsidies and adds "taxpayer protections."

All companies currently registered under the federal Bioterrorism Act of 2002 are required to register with FDA under new requirements of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) of 2010, and while FDA has had problems with its registration system, this week the agency announced it is extending the deadline for reregistration until January 31, 2013. The registrations are required every two years, with the "window" for reregistration set as October 1-December 31, in even-numbered years. However, FDA's registration system didn't come online until late October, the agency said, and reregistrations were stymied. Registration under both the Bioterrorism Act and FSMA are required of companies with facilities that manufacture, process, package, receive or store food for man or animal in the U.S. Go to www.fda.gov to get specifics on registration.

Remember all employers that all commission agreements must be put in writing by January 1, 2013.

By that time, any employee hired to perform work for commissions in California must receive a written contract that includes the method for calculating and paying the commissions.

Passed in 2011, this mandate of AB 1396 applies to employers located inside and outside California. It amended Labor Code Section 2751, which previously applied only to employers with no fixed California location. In 2012, the law was further clarified with respect to what types of plans are excluded from the written commission agreement requirement.

The new law appears simple and straightforward. However, a number of potential pitfalls within the law could result in wage-and-hour claims filed against employers.

CalChamber's white paper "Don't Forget: Commission Agreements Deadline" covers the following critical information:

• What is a "Commission?"; 
• Recordkeeping and Procedures for Compliance; 
• Employer Pitfalls
• Best Practices.  

(Reuters) - Sticking to a fitness routine is not always easy, but holiday feasting, drinking and family can make it even harder.

'Tis the season, experts say, to bend your fitness routine so it does not break. "Consider the holidays a time to maintain fitness, not a time to set new goals or be ambitious," said fitness expert Shirley Archer, author of "Fitness 9 to 5" and "Weight Training for Dummies."

The average American gains one pound (.45 kilograms) each year during the holiday season, Archer said, but it's a fate you can avoid by being active when time allows. "Research tells us that you can get an effective strength training routine in as little as 15 minutes," she said. "This is not ideal to build strength over time, but is sufficient to keep what you have during the holidays."  

A bare-bones cardio workout can be accomplished by fitting short, 10-minute bouts of activity into your holiday plans. Danielle Hopkins, group fitness manager and instructor at an Equinox fitness center in New York City, tells her concerned clients to try to sweat at least 20 minutes a day. "I stress the importance of keeping to your routine. The main thing is putting it on your calendar," said Hopkins, who said drinking too much makes it harder to make it to the gym. "Always make room. It's pretty easy to do. If you're traveling, bring your running shoes, or a jump rope, or look for a gym."

And rest assured that one night of over-indulgence won't derail a year of work. "Everyone's diet has a bit of wiggle room," she said. "I think it's good to imbibe a little, but be strategic about what you'll allow. Have a little bit." Constantly avoiding holiday temptation is tiring and in the end unsustainable, according to Gregory Chertok, a sports psychologist with the American College of Sports Medicine.

When navigating holiday stresses, from family to poor food choices, Chertok, who is based in New Jersey, said a simple change in attitude can yield powerful results. "Embrace challenge rather than avoid temptation," he said. "Avoidance over time can be pretty exhausting. Just like our physical muscles, our mental muscles can get exhausted. Will power requires replenishment."

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