SACRAMENTO – Seven bills by Assemblymember Wesley Chesbro (D-North Coast) were passed last week by the Legislature and are now on Governor Brown’s desk awaiting signatures. One such bill is AB 341 which will create thousands of new recycling jobs in California and will move California beyond the current 50 percent waste reduction standard toward a new 75 percent recycling goal. Other bills include:
AB 964 Water Storage Permit (Huffman and Chesbro) expedites the ability of growers, including grape growers, to obtain a permit to store water in ponds that are used in lieu of direct water diversions. This bill will resolve conflicts that have arisen between grape growers who are drawing water from streams to protect their grapes during frost events and fish and other aquatic species that are affected by the sudden drop in in-stream flows.
AB 1152 Ground Water Monitoring Program will addresses implementation problems to ensure that groundwater users who fully comply with groundwater monitoring requirements are not subject to potential loss of grant funds due to the inaction of other groundwater users in their county and allows the Department of Water Resources (DRW) to establish an effective, modified monitoring mechanisms for low-priority very remote, unpopulated areas with minimal or no existing groundwater use.
AB 1297 Medi-Cal Managed Care will bring the state’s requirements for Specialty Medi-Cal Mental Health Managed Care into alignment with federal requirements in order to maximize federal reimbursement to California.
AB 1398 Agriculture Packing Plant Extension will extend the existing exemption to January 2017 which allows Lake County agriculture packing plants to employ minors (16-17 years old) to work up to 10 hours day and 60 hours per week when school is not in session during peak harvest season.
AB 1429 Tsunami Disaster Relief will allow Del Norte County to be eligible for full reimbursement of the Tsunami disaster recovery and response not covered by the federal government, under the California Disaster Assistance Act. It is estimated that the tsunami caused $20 million in damage and this bill would provide Del Norte County $5 million it would have not otherwise received in reimbursement costs.
ACR 76 Highway 101 Memorial for Fallen Officers will designate two separate portions of State Highway 101 in Mendocino County as the California Highway Patrol Officer Thomas R. Adams Memorial Highway and the California Highway Patrol Officer Paul C. Jarske Memorial Highway. Both officers were killed in the line of duty.
All six bills await the Governor’s signature. He has until October 9th to do so. ACR 76 goes into effect without a signature from the Governor.
Chesbro Bills Already Signed into Law by Governor in 2011:
AB 82 Vehicles: Firefighting Equipment (Jefferies and Chesbro) which clarified that firefighters may operate fire equipment with a class A or B license alone or a class C license if they receive a special firefighter endorsement from the DMV.
AB 349 Highway 101 Sunset Extension extends the sunset to allow cattle tractor-trailers with kingpin to rear axle settings of 40 feet and overall lengths of 70 feet to continue to travel through Richardson Grove on Highway 101.
AB 384 Mendocino Triple Land Swap authorizes the Department of Parks and Recreation, CAL FIRE and the City of Fort Bragg and County of Mendocino to engage in a triple land swap, which is needed to build a long-haul transfer facility to replace Fort Bragg’s decrepit garbage system.
AB 528 Steelhead Card Reauthorization extends the operation of the Steelhead Trout Fishing Report-Restoration Card until July 1, 2017 which was scheduled to become inoperative on July 1, 2012.
AB 798 Del Norte County Joint Powers Agreement (JPA) authorizes the Smith River Rancheria Tribe to join the existing Border Coast Regional Airport Authority to enhance transportation services.
AB 1014 Microbrewery Tasting Rooms (Fletcher and Chesbro) creating a level playing field for beer tasting rooms so that the laws relating to beer tasting rooms the same as for wine tasting rooms.
AB 1020 Tribal Gaming Compact ratified the Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake Tribe gaming compact.
AB 1428 Tsunami Relief: Mendocino County Special Tax Treatment allows Mendocino residents who suffered losses as a result of the March 20011 Tsunami which exceeds the amount that can be deducted in the current year’s taxes return, to carry forward the loss to future years. If there are any remaining losses to be claimed beyond 5 years, they can be carried over the next 10 taxable years.
Contact: Lisa Ramer (916) 319-2001
