All indications are that Saturday, June 15th, just in time to meet the constitutional deadline, the legislature will vote to approve a budget.  The final issues have been wrapped up and the legislature has agreed to accept the Governor's more modest budget projections.  The $97 billion general fund budget restores significant funding for schools, reverses some Medicare and MediCal cuts and distributes the $446 million for energy efficiency funding from the recently passed Prop 39.  The budget is quite consistent with funding for the Department of Food and Agriculture, CalEPA, and the Natural Resources Agency.  We will have further updates after the budget is passed and signed next week.  

Agriculture advocates celebrated a victory this week when the Assembly Labor and Industrial Relations Committee held SB 25 (Steinberg) in Committee.  The legislation would make changes to the mandatory mediation law that Steinberg carried a few years ago.  Tree Fruit Grower Dan Gerawan testified discussing that his operation was the subject of a successful unionization vote in 1990.  This legislation would subject his workers to a contract, without the actual workers ever having the opportunity to vote on that contract. The bill received 3 yes votes, 1 shy of the 4 needed to pass.  Assembly member Alejo, a longtime advocate and supporter of farm worker rights did not support the bill, saying it went too far in eliminating the farm workers' right to vote.  The association has been working with a coalition of ag interests opposing the bill.  

Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow (D, MI) steered her second Farm Bill in as many years to its endpoint, as the full Senate this week approved the bill on a strong 66-27 bipartisan vote. The final tally was two more votes in favor than in 2012.  The road to reaching the final vote was a rocky one, with over 200 amendments dealt with.   

The bill carries a $955-billion price tag, and saves an estimated $24 billion over 10 years.  About 80% of the total cost is monies spent on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or federal food stamps, as well as federal nutrition programs, including school meals and the Women Infant Children (WIC) program.

While several southern Senators praised a shift in the bill's direct payment title - it includes new ties to target prices for rice and peanuts - the bill is more in line with the House bill than last year's version. However, that move to retain target prices on some crops cost Stabenow the vote of her former ranking member Sen. Pat Roberts (R, KS), who is also a former chair of the House Agriculture Committee, and Sen. John Thune (R, SD).  Roberts called the commodity title programs "looking in the rear-view mirror of outdated policies causing the farmer to plant for the government not the market," and Thune complained of the shift as well as about amendments filed but ignored.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D, NV), shut the Senate down for a day and a half last week to allow Senators to attend the funeral of Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D, NJ) and pay their respects as Lautenberg's body lay in state in the Senate chamber.  Reid then filed a cloture motion last Wednesday, easily approved 75-22, cutting off debate on the Farm Bill.  Reid's cloture motion was supported by a letter from over 120 national, regional and state ag and input industry groups, including AFIA.

Stabenow and committee ranking member Sen. Thad Cochran (R, MS) walked away from about 175 of the filed amendments, the vast majority of which had little or nothing to do with USDA programs or the Farm Bill.  However, it was unusual an 11th-hour package of agreed-to amendments was not included in the bill finally approved by the full Senate, particularly since Stabenow talked about creating such a list throughout floor action.    

Reid publicly acknowledged he wanted to see a package of agreed-to amendments to be voted upon, but that list eluded Stabenow Cochran (R, MS), and the shortened timeframe worked against getting such a package together in time for the final vote.  The two Senate ag leaders held to strict standards for amendments, demanding they not substantially modify the committee-passed bill and they be germane to the Farm Bill.  Stabenow reminded members 34 amendments accepted as part of the 2012 Farm Bill were part of the 2013 effort, and 18 amendments received floor action this year.

The Senate easily approved a series of procedural votes this week formally beginning consideration of the chamber's comprehensive immigration reform bill. Perhaps optimistically,   Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D, NV) set June 11 for a cloture vote to cut off debate on the controversial measure and move to passage.

The general consensus at this point is the package will be approved by the Senate, with a number of members holding their noses and voting "aye."  Sen. John McCain (R, AZ), a member of the Gang of Eight who drafted the immigration bill, said he's confident there are now 60 votes to cut off debate and move to final action; Reid told reporters getting to the magic 60 votes "should be pretty easy."  

GOP Senators are focusing the floor debate on border security as a condition of legalizing the immigrant status of undocumented aliens in the U.S.  Sen. Marco Rubio (R, FL) told a home state audience over the weekend he's in discussions on how to increase both the amount and efficiency of border security.  Rubio wants to see strict instructions to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to ensure border security dollars are spent properly and he wants to remove much of the discretion the bill grants DHS on determining when borders are "secure."   

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D, NV) moved this week to block an amendment by Sen. John Cornyn (R, TX) designed to beef up the border security section of the bill, referring to the Cornyn amendment as a "poison pill." Cornyn unveiled his amendment last week, an effort to boost border security spending by $1 billion per year for six years, and authorize 10,000 new border agents over five years, a move some estimate could cost nearly $18 billion. However, most Democrats and a handful of Republicans say the Cornyn approach is a step too far.  

Cornyn wants to make the path to citizenship for illegal aliens reliant on strict border security measurements, including giving federal agents full control of the border programs and requiring them to catch 90% of all individuals crossing illegally at all points along the border.  His bill would mandate fingerprint scanners and other "biometric" controls at all land and sea ports and full, mandatory implementation of the electronic E-Verify citizenship verification. He also wants the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to submit to Congress a full implementation plan to control the border and cut waiting time at border crossings in half.

Ag grower groups are pushing to preserve the bill's ag worker provisions, negotiated between industry and the United Farm Workers union.  Few amendments are expected to be directed at the ag section of the bill, but Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R, GA) has said publicly he wants to see improvements in that section.  

A key Republican vote is Sen. Orrin Hatch (R, UT), ranking member of the Judiciary Committee. Hatch, who voted to approve the committee bill, is noncommittal on whether he'll vote for final passage.  He intends to file amendments requiring undocumented workers to pay all back taxes owed or be disqualified from the path to citizenship. He wants to see language denying Social Security benefits to workers on wages earned prior to citizenship, as well as increasing the income requirements for so-called provisional residents.  

Judiciary Committee Chair Patrick Leahy (D, VT) filed an amendment to ensure same sex couples are covered in the bill, and Rubio wants language that requires green card recipients to be proficient in English.

The House is expected to eschew a comprehensive bill for the time being, moving several independent bills through various committees.  House Speaker John Boehner (R, OH) this week told committees with jurisdiction he wants their duties completed before the July 4 recess.

However, a final legislative package has not been agreed on, and Boehner may wait and see what the bipartisan House group puts together, gauge the GOP reaction, and if positive enough, may then seek to replace sections of a broader bill with the individual bills approved by committee. Boehner has also not decided how he will treat the Senate bill if that chamber passes it.

CALIFORNIA CERTIFIED FLORIST (CCF)

EXAM PREPARATION CLASSES SCHEDULED

The California State Floral Association (CSFA) &  

The California Certified Florist (CCF) Program

Present:

CCF Prep Classes

Sunday, September 22nd

Two Locations:

A To Wholesale Floral Supply Inc.  

1511 E. McFadden Avenue,

Santa Ana, CA  92705

Northern California - Location To Be Announced

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!!

For More Information call the CSFA office at 916-448-5266 or go to the CCF website at:  www.californiacertifiedflorist.org 

Fun 'N Sun Weekend� 2013

July 17-20

Fess Parker's Doubletree Resort

Santa Barbara, CA

•  Click here for program