YOUR DUES DOLLARS AT WORK CHECKING IN ON THE CAPITOL MID-WAY THROUGH THE LEGISLATIVE YEAR by CCA Vice President of Government Affairs Kirk Wilbur April is among the busiest months in Sacramento’s legislative calendar. The end of the month is the deadline for any bill must advance out of policy committees in its chamber of origin to remain viable. That deadline represents the first full opportunity to fully consider legislative proposals, and with 2,136 bills introduced this year, legislators and advocates had their work cut out for them. The end of April also happens to be roughly the half-way point in the 2024 legislative year, which kicked off on Jan. 3 and is scheduled to conclude at the end of August. With the first-house policy deadline now in the rear-view mirror, CCA’s legislative priorities for 2024 have become clear. Whereas last year saw three major proposals to undermine California’s water rights priority system and a major threat against animal agriculture from radical animal rights groups, the second year of the 2023-24 Legislative Session has seen fewer red flags for California’s cattlemen. That is a sign that CCA’s ongoing advocacy in the Capitol (and the educational efforts of the California Cattlemen’s Foundation) is paying dividends. The lack of major legislative threats has allowed CCA staff to focus greater attention this year on advocating for ranchers’ fiscal priorities in the Fiscal Year 2024-25 Budget, including seeking renewed funding for the Wolf-Livestock Compensation Program and safeguarding investments in wildfire resilience. Governor Newsom will release the “May Revise” of his proposed budget in mid-May, and Legislators must finalize the budget by June 15. CCA will provide a breakdown of the 2024-25 Budget in a future issue of California Cattleman.
16 California Cattleman May/June 2024
In the meantime, this article overviews CCA’s legislative priorities for 2024 and where those bills stood at the half-way point of the year. AB 1963 (Friedman) – Pesticides: paraquat dichloride prohibition CCA-OPPOSED Status: Referred to Assembly Appropriations Committee Prior Action: Passed Assembly Environmental Safety & Toxic Materials Committee 5-2 (4/23) Paraquat dichloride is a pesticide commonly used in California agriculture, including in the production of alfalfa. Alleging links to certain cancers and Parkinson’s Disease, AB 1963 would prohibit the use of paraquat dichloride in California until the Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) completes an evaluation of the pesticide and either cancels its registration or “places appropriate restrictions on the use of the active ingredient paraquat dichloride to mitigate any potential significant adverse effects.” Rather than a legislative ban on the pesticide, CCA believes that paraquat dichloride’s use should not be prohibited unless and until the science-based analyses by DPR and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency determine that use of the product poses an unreasonable risk. AB 2079 (Bennett) – Groundwater extraction: large-diameter, high-capacity wells: permits CCA-OPPOSED Status: Referred to Assembly Appropriations Committee