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January 11, 2013    
Inside This Issue.....
Aloha!...CSA 73rd Annual Convention
Steinberg Announces Senate Committee Assignments
Governor Releases Budget
Delta Stewardship Council to Release Final Draft in Spring
What's Next on a Five-year Farm Bill?
USDA Names nearly 600 Counties as 2013 Drought Disaster Areas
FDA Publishes FSMA Human Food Safety
Durbin Says Mississippi River Level OK for Now
New Ag Statistics Released
Pompeo Bill Goes After Bioenergy
USDA Highlights 2012 Investments to Build Stronger Rural Communities
2013 Ginny Patin Scholarship Applications Available
Upcoming Meetings
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Aloha!  CSA 73rd Annual Convention

 

             March 4-7, 2013 at the Sheraton Maui Resort & Spa

 

 

Registration Program and Materials are now available   

BOOK YOUR ROOM ASAP - they will sell out of our group rate. 

 

 

You will also find what you need on the CSA Website at

 http://www.calseed.org/calendar.html

 

Since we have set up a seasonal rate plan to include the pre and post rates and dates, it will be best for ALL attendees to call the Sheraton Maui Resort Desk at 808-921-4645 when making your hotel reservations.  Best time to call is Monday -Friday 6:00 am/6:00 pm or Saturday-Sunday 8:00 am /4:00 pm - Hawaii Standard Time.  This will ensure you talk to the experts on property familiar with our convention and group rates.

 

Group Rates have been set up for Run of House at $229.00 and Run of Ocean at $250.00.  There are a limited amount of other rate options for resort view if you need a little less on the rate and there are a few upgrades for suites, etc. for a little more on the rate - but best to call and discuss your individual needs with the Sheraton Maui Hotel Experts - at 808-921-4645.  Be sure to book your hotel room by February 1st to secure the great group rate!

 

If you have any questions email or call me at the CSA office.

 

Mahalo!!

 

Steinberg Announces Senate Committee Assignments

(Sacramento) - State Senate President pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg announced his proposed Senate committee membership assignments, following his earlier announcement of proposed Senate committee chairs and leadership positions. The full list of Senate committees and membership is below.

 

"We're extremely fortunate to have such a talented team to help shape state policy with the goal of improving the lives of all Californians," said Steinberg. "Their expertise promises a very productive year ahead for the California State Senate."

 

The proposed committee chair and member designations will be formally considered for adoption by the Senate Rules Committee at its meeting scheduled for today, Monday, January 7, 2012, at 11:30 a.m. in Room 3191 of the State Capitol.

 

A resolution will be brought upon the floor of the Senate today to approve membership of the Rules Committee, replacing Senator Kevin de Le�n with Senator Ricardo Lara..

 

Majority Leader: Corbett

 

Democratic Caucus Chair: Hill

 

Agriculture: Galgiani (Chair), Cannella (Vice Chair), Berryhill, Lieu, Rubio, Wolk  


Governor Releases Budget - Claims it is Balanced

On Thursday January 10th, the Governor released his 2013-14 budget. The $97.7 billion general fund budget includes an additional $2.7 billion for K-12 education and $250 million each for the CSU and UC systems. The total budget spending including fees and special funds is $139 billion, $9 billion more than last year.

 

Brown's budget shows cash coming in exceeding checks going out by less than $900 million. He wants to add a $1 billion reserve, more than two-thirds of it generated by maintaining a fee on hospitals and taxing managed care plans operating within Medi-Cal, the state's health care program for the poor. Several economic risks imperil that balance, Brown said. Chief among them is the speed of the state's economic recovery and actions by the federal government that could increase state costs, particularly in the area of health care.

 

California Department of Food and Agriculture 

Initial reviews of the budget, funding for CDFA remains relatively stable. There are ongoing working groups discussing methods to enhance and improve the state's animal health and diagnostics lab system which helps identify and prevent diseases to livestock and companion animals. There are also ongoing discussions on revamping and modernizing the pest detection and prevention system for invasive pests. The Secretary has convened a consortium of stakeholders to continue to explore ways to reform and fund these priorities.

 

Environmental and Resources Actions 

AB 32 funding - CARB will be developing a spending plan for climate auction revenues. While 10% must be spent to mitigate impacts in underserved communities, the entire plan will be adopted by CARB this spring and included in this year's budget.  

 

Water Board Fees - the budget requires the State Water Resources Control Board to recommend potential funding mechanisms to provide disadvantaged communities with safe, affordable, and reliable water. Stakeholders will be consulted in the development of a proposal to improve the administration of the water programs and to implement sustainable funding mechanisms.

 

Prop 39 Energy Efficiency - Voter approval of Proposition 39, which halts a tax break for large companies headquartered both in-state and out, hands Brown $1 billion in new revenue, spread over two fiscal years. The initiative requires that 50 percent of the money be spent on projects to conserve energy or expand the use of alternative energy sources.

 

The Governor's budget proposes to give all $450 million of Proposition 39 generated revenue to schools and community colleges in the next fiscal year - and for the four years following as well. The money would be used so districts can "reduce their current utility requirements and expand the use of renewable energy resources."

 

Timber Harvest and State Responsibility Areas

For rural residents and those with forest lands, the budget includes two specific changes. Existing law requires an interdisciplinary review of timber harvest plans by various departments. These plans serve as the equivalent of preparing an environmental impact report under the California Environmental Quality Act. AB 1492 established a 1 percent assessment on lumber and other building wood products sold in California, with the assessment revenue used to fund specified activities, including existing and additional timber harvest plan reviews. The legislation allowed the elimination of fees that had been assessed on in-state timber producers and made possible an expansion of the number of plans reviewed annually. The Budget includes an increase of $6.6 million Timber Regulation and Forest Restoration Fund and 49.3 positions in the California Natural Resources Agency, the Department of Conservation, the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the State Water Resources Control Board to increase review of timber harvest plans.

 

State Responsibility for Fire Protection - SB 1241 requires CAL Fire to assist in the review and updating of safety elements pertaining to fire hazards in local general plans required by SB 1241. State Responsibility Area Fire Prevention Fees - An increase of $11.7 million and 65.1 positions in 2013-14 to implement the law.

 

Workers Compensation Reform and Implementation - Significantly more expensive is adding 82 new jobs and spending $153 million to implement changes in the state's byzantine workers compensation insurance system wrought by Brown's signature on a bill that says it will boost benefits to injured workers by some $860 million while lowering employer costs by $1 billion. 

 

Delta Stewardship Council to Release Final Draft in Spring

The Delta Stewardship Council furthers the state's coequal goals in the Sacramento San Joaquin Delta of providing a more reliable water supply for California and protecting, restoring, and enhancing the Delta ecosystem. The Council is required to develop and periodically update a legally enforceable Delta Plan to guide state and local agency activities related to the Delta. Under state law, agencies are required to coordinate their actions pursuant to the Delta Plan with the Council and the other relevant agencies.

 

The Council released a final draft of the Delta Plan and a corresponding draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Report in the fall of 2012. After the Council receives and considers written comments on the draft Report, and holds public hearings regarding proposed regulations to implement the Delta Plan, the Plan will be adopted formally in the spring of 2013. The resources necessary to oversee and implement the Plan will be evaluated during the spring budget process.

 

What's Next on a Five-year Farm Bill?


The consensus among ag groups in Washington, DC, when it comes to what form a 2013 five-year Farm Bill take and how quickly it will move boils down to two notions: Both House and Senate bills will look very much like the respective versions completed in 2012, and the Senate will move first. Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow (D, MI) said she will move quickly to get her committee to approve a five-year bill; House Agriculture Committee Chair Frank Lucas (R, OK) has been more circumspect, saying only he may hold a hearing in late February, backing away from earlier statements about beginning markup around the same time.  

 

The two biggest obstacles to overcome for the committees are reconciling their respective commodity titles - the Senate takes a revenue protection approach; the House includes some conventional loan and payment programs - and how deeply cuts will be made to the federal food stamp program. The latter may be left to negotiations over broader federal spending cuts as they relate to entitlement programs. The Senate has the most heavy lifting to do as it will likely have to rewrite its commodity title to make Sen. Thad Cochran (R, MS), the new committee ranking member, and his southern committee cohorts happy. The commodity title approved by the committee and ultimately the full Senate last year is a revenue-based insurance approach to protecting farm income. However, that approach was scorned by southern crop producers as favoring large midwestern farmers over smaller, more government-reliant southern producers.  

 

The House bill includes marketing loans and deficiency payments - far more southern producer-friendly - and it is expected Cochran will push for a similar approach when the full committee begins its work. On the House side, ag committee ranking member Rep. Collin Peterson (D, MN) fired the opening salvo in the political farm legislative debate by sending a strongly worded letter to House Speaker John Boehner (R, OH), along with a copy to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R, VA), castigating House Republican leadership for going back on its commitment to operate the House under "regular" order and open debate by "bottling up" the bill passed by the agriculture committee. Peterson asked Boehner to provide a "written commitment" to find the floor time "if the committee marks up a new five-year Farm Bill." Boehner refused last year to bring the bill to the floor for a vote contending it lacked the votes to pass, a statement Peterson called "patently false."  

 

"At this point, however, I see no reason why the House Agriculture Committee should undertake the fool's errand to craft another long-term farm bill if the Republican leadership refuses to give any assurances that our bipartisan work will be considered," Peterson wrote. "You and your leadership team seem very content with simply extending the 2008 Farm Bill year after year without making any effort at reform, achieving savings and efficiencies, or improving the farm safety net for rural America. If that's your goal, I will certainly accommodate you."

 

 

USDA Names nearly 600 Counties as 2013 Drought Disaster Areas

USDA this week released a list of 597 counties in 14 states it considers to be primary natural disaster areas due to drought and heat for 2013. Arkansas, Georgia, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas had the most counties receiving the disaster designation. All qualified farm operations in those counties are now eligible for low-interest emergency loans, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. Vilsack took the opportunity of releasing the county list to poke Congress to enact a five-year Farm Bill that includes updated disaster assistance programs. The department said the counties listed showed a drought "intensity value" of D2 (drought severe) for eight weeks based on U.S. Drought Monitor measurements. The Drought Monitor is a joint venture among USDA, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). In 2012, the department designated 2,245 counties in 39 states - 71% of the U.S. - as drought disaster areas. A full list of USDA programs and services related to drought assistance can be found at www.usda.gov/drought.

 

FDA Publishes FSMA Human Food Safety, Produce Rules; Feed Rules Still in Review

After missing just about every statutory deadline set for publication of new rules under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), the White House late last week finally allowed FDA to publish proposed rules related to human food processing and fresh produce production. Affected parties have 120 days to comment on the new proposals. Rules implementing the feed/pet food sections of FSMA are back at the Office of Management & Budget (OMB) for final clearance after changes were made, and sources indicate those rules should publish in mid-February. The two published rules were called "the central framework for (contamination) prevention" by FDA Deputy Commissioner for Food Michael Taylor, who said the rules cover about 80% of the nation's food supply, along with fruits and vegetables.  

 

The first rule applies to U.S. and foreign on-farm production, packing and storage of fruits and vegetables likely to be eaten raw. The second rule covers hazard identification and control plans by domestic and foreign food processors, manufacturers and handlers. Most food industry groups, along with organizations representing fruit and vegetable growers, declined to immediately react to the new regulations saying they need to analyze the rulemaking first. One area of focus is whether FDA adhered to congressional instructions to avoid treating small and medium farms in the same manner as multinational farming and processing conglomerates. FSMA carries an exemption for farms producing annual food sales less than $500,000 over the last three years and sales are direct to consumers within 275 miles of the farm.  

 

Compliance timelines for farms were expanded by FDA based on the size of the farming operation. The published rules carry no criminal penalties for infractions, a result of limited FDA resources for enforcement, critics said. Other rules implementing FSMA still awaited are the foreign supplier verification rule - ensuring overseas suppliers adhere to the same food safety standards and hazard controls as domestic producers - and a rule implementing third party certification standards for private entities.

 

 

Durbin Says Mississippi River Level OK for Now; Shippers See Traffic Shutdown

Sen. Dick Durbin (D, IL) this week said the Mississippi River has enough water for navigation for the time being as he completed a tour with officials, adding the White House continues to review options for maintaining navigation on the river if levels continue to drop. However, the Army Corps of Engineers and private shipper studies show the deteriorating situation means river traffic could come to "an effective halt" sometime before the end of January, but the Corps said this week melting ice and snow from recent Midwest storms should help keep river levels sufficient to move barge traffic.  

 

The new data includes Corps of Engineers analysis and forecasts released last week by the American Waterways Operators (AWO) and the Waterways Council, Inc. (WCI). A shutdown will affect 8,000 jobs, cost $54 million in wages and benefits and halt movement of 7.2 million tons of commodities with a value of $2.8 billion, the groups said. The Corps says its efforts to blast rock pinnacles out of the shipping lanes and continued dredging of soft bottom sections of the river to maintain a nine-foot channel will be successful and traffic will continue to flow. Shippers want President Obama to allow the Corps to release additional water from the Missouri River reservoirs to keep Mississippi levels up, but so far the White House has remained silent.

 

New Ag Statistics Released



 

Pompeo Bill Goes After Bioenergy, Alternative Energy Tax Breaks

Rep. Mike Pompeo (R, KS) is looking for House support for proposed legislation to kill off federal tax credits for alternative energy production. Citing the inclusion of several federal energy tax credit extenders in the recently enacted fiscal cliff deal at a cost of about $20 billion, including biodiesel/renewable diesel blenders tax credits, small bioenergy producer tax credits and infrastructure credits, Pompeo said his bill - the Energy Freedom & Economic Prosperity Act (EFEP) - will repeal credits for several other renewable and conventional sources of energy. "Regardless of how you voted on final passage of the fiscal cliff legislation," Pompeo wrote to colleagues this week, "I hope we can all agree that these energy tax credits foisted upon the House at the last minute represent bad energy policy and bad tax policy."

 

Included in Pompeo's target list of credits are the wind production tax credit; the alternative fuel and alternative fuel mixture tax credits; cellulosic biofuel producer credit; the alternative fuel infrastructure credit; the plugin electric and fuel cell vehicle credit, and the investment tax credit for equipment powered by solar, fuel cells, geothermal or other specified renewable sources. The Kansas Republican said his goal is to control costs by eliminating "multibillion-dollar handouts to companies more than capable of financing projects on their own" and to cut energy rates to consumers.

 

USDA Highlights 2012 Investments to Build Stronger Rural Communities

Rural Development helps to invest more than $30 billion to strengthen rural America

 

WASHINGTON, January 9, 2013 - Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today issued a report highlighting USDA Rural Development's fiscal year (FY) 2012 investments in job creation, businesses, infrastructure and housing for Americans living in rural communities across the nation.

 

"President Obama's plan for rural America has brought about historic investment in rural communities that have made them stronger," Vilsack said. "Thanks to our loan, grant and technical assistance programs, USDA Rural Development is helping residents and rural enterprises thrive, and we are laying a strong foundation for rural America's future."

 

With an active portfolio of more than $176 billion in loans and loan guarantees, Rural Development has provided affordable housing, improved utility infrastructure, and helped businesses and cooperatives create jobs, build rural economies and increase the quality of life in rural areas. For a full copy of the 2012 Progress Report, go to  

(http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/SupportDocuments/RD2012ProgressReport.pdf).

 

For example, in 2012, nearly 64,000 rural residents received new or better access to broadband Internet service. Under the Rural Utilities Program, Rural Development provided approximately $4.7 billion in electric loans, $173 million in telecommunications loans and grants, and $1.4 billion in water and waste disposal loan and grants.

2013 Ginny Patin Scholarship Applications Available 

  

The Members of the California Seed Association have been assisting outstanding college students in achieving their scholastic goals through the Ginny Patin Scholarship Foundation. Due in part to the wonderful support of CSA members at the Mid Year Bocce Ball and Golf Tournaments and through additional contributions, the Ginny Patin Scholarship Foundation is financially strong.  CSA is pleased to offer two $2500 scholarships this coming year to qualified students.  The 2013 Ginny Patin Scholarship Applications are now available online at (LINK to website).  Deadline for submission to the CSA office is  February 1, 2013.

 

Upcoming Meetings

     

 

 

  • March 3-7, 2013 ~ CSA Annual Convention at The Sheraton Maui Resort & Spa, Lahaina, Hawaii   

 

Sheraton Maui - webcam

http://www.seehawaiilive.com/maui/maui-resorts

 

 

  • September 24-25, 2013 - CSA Mid Year Meting at the InterContinental Hotal in Monterey, CA