Combining payroll to 6,039 employees, contract expenditures, new jobs created and on-base construction projects, the largest employer north of Sacramento to the Oregon border provided a $427 million impact within the counties surrounding Beale Air Force Base's Yuba County location in 2011.

Growth is occurring in a number of different military missions within Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance (ISR) to expand its capabilities. The new MC-12W Project Liberty mission is consolidating aircraft and personnel to Beale, and activities are expanding related to the technology and communication deployment associated with the Distributed Ground Station 2 (DGS-2). 425 new employees have increased Beale's personnel level since 2010 filling an 80,000 square-foot office building. A second building of the same size is under construction, and 880 new military and civilian employees are being employed as the Liberty spy plane mission ramps up. 

In the construction pipeline 331 new homes are currently being built over the next three years with a $130 million contract to developer Balfour Beatty Corporation. A $17 million 34-room hotel/lodging facility is in the early planning stages. In addition, new building and infrastructure projects are needed including a redundant 60 KvA electrical line, an upgrade to Beale's wastewater treatment plant, and although not yet funded, an on-base 100-room visiting quarters building for officers and airmen.

Learn more about Beale Air Force Base here.

Yuba County supports a lending program designed to fill the financing gap between private debt financing and private equity, and is operated by the Yuba-Sutter Economic Development Corporation. Loans are currently available for building or land acquisition, working capital, inventory, equipment, supplies, marketing or other ongoing business or start-up costs. A key component of the lending program is the creation of new jobs. 

Successful lending applications in Yuba County have included Fusion Preschool Academy in Olivehurst, 2006, Kinner Manufacturing at the Yuba County Airport Industrial Park, 2009, and Flower Hut Nursery in Wheatland, 2010.

For more information, or for an application, contact Loan Officer Jackie Slade at 530.751.8555 or visit here. 

For more information on Yuba County's first-time homebuyer assistance program, or to get an application, call 530.749.5460.

Habitat for Humanity's ReStore in Marysville is moving up in a big way. From approximately 8,000 square feet at its former B Street location, it opens for business in the former Mervyn's building with 61,672 square feet. Open for business 10 a.m. Wednesday at 202 D Street January 9, a special ribbon cutting ceremony takes place at 5:30 p.m. 

ReStore hours will be 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday.

ReStore manager Joseph Hale accepts donated surplus or reusable building materials, appliances and furniture for resale at the new retail location, and believes he can fill the store with material from Beale Air Force Base's residential development project, and through relationships established with local big box stores and McNally's Appliance Store located across the street from the new ReStore location. Some space in the new building will be dedicated to offices for Habitat for Humanity administration, ReStore, and volunteer training for construction and energy efficiency programs.

Proceeds from ReStore will be used to supplement funding for Habitat for Humanity building projects. Most of the products sold in the retail center will be at about 50% of their retail value.

Find out more about nonprofit Habitat for Humanity and ReStore here.

Forty acres of land within Yuba County's voter-approved Sports & Entertainment Zone is slated to become "Indian lands" through a Bureau of Indian Affairs decision provided recently by Assistant Secretary Kevin Washburn.

One decade earlier to the month in 2002, the Board of Supervisors entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Estom Yumeka Maidu of the Enterprise Rancheria to pursue a gaming operation in Yuba County. Governor Jerry Brown agreed with an earlier decision made by the Department of the Interior supporting the tribe's interest to take land into tribal trust August 31, 2012. California legislature has more than a year to ratify the governor's compact with the tribe.

Consultants to the tribe have estimated the creation of 3,200 temporary construction and permanent casino jobs when all phases of the proposed development have been completed. The gaming facility is allowed to install up to 2,000 slot machines by the agreement signed by Governor Brown. 

See the Bureau of Indian Affairs final determination document published in the Federal Register December 3, 2012 here.

AgrAdvantage Promotes Local Food

"Eat, Drink, and be Local"

Megan Alpers and Megan Foster of the California and Yuba-Sutter Farm Bureaus provide information at AgrAdvantage 2012.

RV Camping Coupons Save Dollars

Celebrating Sierra Foothills Recreational Opportunities

Emergency Website Launches

Preparation and Communication keys to Yuba Disaster Response

California Legislative Update

2012/2013 Legislation Impacting Local Business

ADA Predatory Lawsuits

Governor Jerry Brown signed into law Senate Bill 1186, aiming to help California business owners guard against costly, predatory lawsuits filed under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and corresponding California laws September 19, 2012. Effective immediately, the bill is perhaps the most substantive disability access law reform to ever emerge from the California Legislature.

For years, California has been a hotbed for ADA litigation. According to Lawyers Against Lawsuit Abuse, more than 40 percent of all ADA lawsuits in the nation are filed in California, due in large measure to the high statutory damages and exorbitant attorneys' fees recoverable in the state. While some argue that SB 1186 does not go far enough, supporters are cautiously optimistic that the bill will indeed curb frivolous ADA lawsuits.

Under the new law, attorneys are now barred from sending "demand for money" letters, requesting payment of money in lieu of filing a lawsuit - a common "shakedown" tactic that, frankly, did very little to ensure ADA compliance. SB 1186 also requires attorneys to serve a written advisory upon potential defendants at least 30 days before filing a lawsuit, wherein all construction-related violations are set forth with facts sufficient to allow a reasonable person to identify the basis for the claim. Attorneys must also submit a copy of all demand letters and complaints to the California Commission on Disability Access and to the California State Bar.

For small businesses (defined as having 25 or fewer employees and no more than $3.5 million in gross annual receipts) faced with unintentional, construction-related accessibility violations, SB 1186 reduces the minimum statutory damages from $4,000 to $2,000, as long as the violations are corrected within 30 days of being served with the complaint. These damages may be further reduced, from $4,000 to $1,000 per unintentional violation, if (1) the defendant has corrected all construction-relation violations that are the basis of the claim within 60 days of being served with the complaint; and (2) other specified conditions apply, including (a) the claim pertains to a site that has a Certified Access Specialist (CASp) inspection report, or (b) the claim pertains to a site where new construction or improvement was approved between January 1, 2008 and January 1, 2016 by the local building permit and inspection process.

Moreover, in assessing liability for multiple claims arising from the same construction-related accessibility violation on different particular occasions (known as "stacking"), the court is now required to consider the reasonableness of the plaintiff's conduct in light of the plaintiff's obligation to mitigate damages.

Pending 2013 Legislation 

A new law that will take place in 2013 will require Yuba County to charge a $1 fee attached to businesses licenses - the funds gathered are supposed to pay for an ADA compliance specialist. As Yuba County currently only requires business licenses for certain businesses, the amount raised from the implementation of this bill will be minimal. Fortunately, Yuba County has already certified Community Development and Services Agency staff in ADA compliance, and will comply with the intent of this bill.

Tax Credits and the Yuba-Sutter Enterprise Zone