YOUR DUES DOLLARS AT WORK CCA MEMBERS GO TO NATION'S CAPITOL TO ADVOCATE FOR WAY OF LIFE On Sept. 9, CCA officers and staff converged on Washington, D.C. to address some of California cattle producers’ top priorities with lawmakers and regulators at the federal level. Lobbying on behalf of California cattlemen were CCA President Steve Arnold, Santa Margarita; First Vice President Rick Roberti and wife Carolyn, Loyalton; Second Vice President John Austel, Boulevard; former CCA and National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) president Kevin Kester and June Kester, Parkfield; and CCA Cattle-PAC Chair Jack Lavers, Glennville. The members were joined by CCA Executive Vice President Billy Gatlin and Vice President of Government Affairs Kirk Wilbur. Having flown into town decked out in San Francisco 49ers garb, several members of the CCA delegation psyched themselves up for two days of Capitol Hill advocacy by catching the Monday Night Football matchup between the Niners and the New York Jets at a sports bar in the District. The 49ers routed the Jets 32-19, setting a positive tenor for the trip. Lobbying efforts kicked off in earnest bright and early Tuesday morning as the group hailed an Uber to Arlington, Virginia to meet with Chris French, the Deputy Chief of the U.S. Forest Service (it was the first of many trips CCA leadership would take in a Toyota Highlander, an apparently popular choice of vehicles among rideshare drivers in the nation’s capital). The conversation with Deputy Chief French was wide-ranging. In the wake of the “Rainbow Gathering” on an active grazing allotment on the Plumas National Forest this July, CCA pressed the Deputy Chief on the need to rapidly respond to the annual unpermitted event to prevent disruption to grazing permittees and minimize natural resource disturbance. The need to reactivate grazable vacant allotments within the Forest Service system was also discussed at length. Lavers urged the agency to explore creative pathways to remove dead and hazardous trees, including entering into agreements enabling grazing permittees to assist in the work. And, of course, the need for aggressive wildfire resilience and response was discussed. Details gleaned from that first meeting informed CCA’s subsequent Hill visits, with members urging California’s Congressional Delegation to allocate greater appropriations to the Forest Service’s range program and suggesting that USFS be permitted to retain and reinvest permit fees within the agency’s programs
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(rather that remitting those fees to the Treasury). Later that morning CCA was hosted at NCBA’s Pennsylvania Avenue office for a policy briefing provided by NCBA Vice President of Government Affairs Ethan Lane, Public Lands Council Executive Director Kaitlynn Glover, NCBA Executive Director of Government Affairs Kent Bacus, NCBA Senior Director of Government Affairs Sigrid Johannes and NCBA Associate Director of Government Affairs Kelsey Forward. NCBA staff briefed CCA leadership on the outlook of the 2024 General Election, progress toward finalizing the Farm Bill and efforts to renew favorable elements of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 – such as federal estate tax relief – which are set to lapse in 2025. NCBA staff cautioned, though, that members of Congress were likely to have just one thing on their minds as they met with the California ranchers: the urgent need for the closely-divided Congress to pass a Continuing Resolution keeping the government funded. Lawmakers had only just returned to Washington and had just three weeks to avoid a government shutdown ahead of the Sept. 30 end to the federal fiscal year (after which legislators would return to their districts to campaign ahead of Election Day). CCA rounded out the morning by meeting with two ag-friendly Democrats, Rep. Jim Costa (CA-21) and Rep. Jimmy Panetta (CA-19). The meeting with Congressman Costa was casual and wide-ranging, touching on the ecological benefits of grazing, the need for continued inheritance tax relief, US Forest Service funding, water availability, wildfire management, and more. Rep. Panetta opened his meeting expressing his frustration with the 118th Congress’ general lack of action, having passed only 78 bills to date. When pressed on the need to extend favorable tax provisions for California’s ranchers, the Congressman enthusiastically agreed, pointing to his efforts to ease ranchers’ estate tax burdens through his Preserving Family Farms Act. As NCBA staff had suggested, both Congressmen expressed their frustrations about Congressional divisions delaying an appropriations bill. At noon CCA returned to NCBA’s Washington headquarters for a lunch reception with California’s newest Congressman, Rep. Vince Fong (R-CA-20). Fong warmly greeted the California ...CONTINUED ON PAGE 16