By Erica Felci, The Desert Sun

A locally-authored plan to allow undocumented agricultural and service sector workers to legally stay in California cleared its first legislative hurdle today.

The Assembly’s Committee on Labor and Employment endorsed the Agricultural Jobs and Industry Stabilization Act with a 4-1 vote.

The committee’s vote fell along party lines, with Republican Assemblyman Mike Morrell opposing it. Two lawmakers abstained.

Wednesday’s hearing was the first in a lengthy process to get Assembly Bill 1544 to the governor’s desk.

But it indicates that the Democratically-controlled state Legislature may be willing to buck critics who say the federal government should regulate immigration.

“The state of California is not going to tolerate modern-day racism or segregation,” said Assemblyman V. Manuel Pérez, a Coachella Democrat who is championing the bill.

“We can create history. We can be the model. We can set high expectations for other states.”

Pérez repeatedly said this is not a guest worker program since it doesn’t apply to new immigrants.

Instead, it will let undocumented farm and service-sector workers lawfully stay in the state if they have been working here for an extended period, clear criminal background checks, and pass an English proficiency test or prove they’re learning the language.

The bill is modeled after a program the Republican-controlled legislature in Utah approved.

But unlike that program, Pérez’s legislation includes a condition that California’s program wouldn’t kick in until the federal government gives its approval.

The bill — co-authored by Republican Assemblywoman Linda Halderman of Fresno — will now go to the Assembly appropriations committee, which is likely to consider the legislation in mid-May.

“Unfortunately, the will hasn’t been there, in Washington” to tackle immigration reform, said Democratic Assemblyman Luis Alejo of Watsonville.

“These are hardworking people that certain industries in our state highly depend on.”

©2012 The Desert Sun

By Erica Felci, The Desert Sun

Democratic Assemblyman V. Manuel Pérez is gaining some momentum in his ambitious effort to tackle immigration issues.

The Coachella Democrat last week announced Republican Assemblywoman Linda Halderman would help champion the Agricultural Jobs & Industry Stabilization Act.

The legislation, formally known as Assembly Bill 1544, would let undocumented farm and service-sector workers in California lawfully stay if they pass criminal background checks, prove they've been working here for extended period of time, and pass an English proficiency test or show proof they're learning the language.

The idea is modeled after a program passed by the Republican-controlled legislature in Utah.

Because it won't apply to new immigrants, Pérez insists the plan is different than a traditional guest-worker program.

But Pérez noted that he's been careful about how he describes the bill, since just the mention of a guest-worker program has left a "sour taste and a bad taste on both sides of the aisle."

"We know we need to stabilize the economy. At the same time, we need to stabilize our families," Pérez told The Desert Sun.

"There is a growing frustration that, at the federal level, unfortunately there has been inaction," he added. "But I think it's important that we as a state — and knowing the statistics and how important these two (workforce) sectors are to our economy — that we address the issue."

The first test for AB 1544 will be on April 18, when the Assembly Labor Committee takes it up.

At least three statewide groups have endorsed the bill, and no one has filed a formal letter of opposition.

Pérez joked he'd like it to stay that way but realistically expects some pushback. Once the Legislature reconvenes from its spring recess, Pérez said he'll also be talking about his idea with key Democrats.

"I'm taking a stand and saying, 'Let's go there. Let's have that conversation. Let's have that debate. Let's have the political courage to be pragmatic,'" he said.

"Even if this legislation does not pass, it will at the minimum lend itself to a conversation that needs to be held."

Erica Felci is a political reporter for The Desert Sun.

By ELIZABETH VARIN Staff Writer
IMPERIAL VALLEY PRESS

Guest workers, sponsored immigrants and more border economic development are in the works with three bills introduced by a local legislator.

Assemblyman V. Manuel Pérez, D-Coachella, announced last week that he had introduced a three-bill package that he said would assist sectors that strongly rely on the immigrant work force to sustain their economic strengths.

"Unauthorized workers in California are contributing to the state's economic vitality in key sectors, yet federal inaction on comprehensive immigration policy consigns these workers to the shadows and creates uncertainty for the businesses that rely on them," he said in a press statement. "As the state with the largest unauthorized worker population, California can help lead the way on this issue by advancing relevant policy that reflects our state's economic and social realities. This package of three bills takes a very practical approach."

The first of the three bills, Agricultural Jobs and Industry Stabilization Act, creates a guest worker program, administered by the state's Employment Development Department, according to a press release from Pérez's office. Current undocumented workers in the agriculture and service sectors and their immediate family members would be authorized to remain in California as legal residents provided they meet specified criteria.

This program would be paid for with fees charged to those participating. The bill requires an analysis to be done in the third year of the program to determine whether it had resulted in any displacements of employable U.S. citizens in the specified industries.

The second bill establishes a state equivalent of the North American Development Bank to facilitate and finance economic and infrastructure projects in the California and Mexico border region. The goal of the California Bi-National Economic Development and Infrastructure Bank Bill would be to improve the infrastructure for moving goods across the border as well as the economy of the California-Mexico border region. That, in-turn, will result in immediate and long-term benefits to the people of California.

Economic stability in the border region also serves as a practical approach for minimizing and discouraging the unauthorized flow of individuals into California, according to the press release. The bill creates a tool to support the investment of private and federal dollars in projects that facilitate trade and economic growth, while not using state General Fund money.

The final bill in the package creates a state version of the federal law related to sponsored immigrant workers. California High Skilled Workers Retention Act of 2012 would authorize the state Employment Development Department to develop a state program that allows high skilled workers that meet specified criteria to be sponsored by businesses to work legally in California under the status of resident immigrant. The program would be administered by EDD and paid for with fees from the sponsored businesses.

The bills seek to stabilize major industries in California that maintain hundreds of thousands of jobs and generate billions of dollars in revenue annually in the state, according to the press release.

"The three measures represent a first step," Pérez said. "There is much more to do, but rather than wait for federal action on this matter, these proposals set us on a path for a responsible and compassionate approach that supports the California economy and California families."

Copyright © 2012, Imperial Valley Press

By ELIZABETH VARIN Staff Writer
IMPERIAL VALLEY PRESS

Action is needed was a central theme at a state hearing held Monday at the North Shore Yacht Club.

And for many at the meeting, that means handing down control for restoration of the sea to local leaders as opposed to a council made up of mostly state officials.

Local leaders touted a bill by Assemblyman V. Manuel Perez, D-Coachella, that would allow the locally-controlled Salton Sea Authority to take on the role of a state committee that has yet to take shape.

The Salton Sea Restoration Council, made up of mostly state and few local members, was set to take up the reins on sea restoration. However, the group has not yet met though it was formed more than a year ago.

Perez introduced a bill this year to allow the Salton Sea Authority, a joint powers authority made up of Riverside County, Imperial County, Coachella Valley Water District, Imperial Irrigation District and the Torres-Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indian Tribe, to take over those responsibilities and kick start the restoration efforts.

The meeting Monday helped to drum up some support from different legislators and different parties for the bill, Perez said, referencing the two other assemblymen, Republican Assemblyman Brian Jones and Democrat Assemblyman Richard Gordon.

Locals need to drive the efforts to bring back the Salton Sea, and they’re more than ready to take on that responsibility, Perez said.

The bill, AB 939 Salton Sea Governance, is pending approval in the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Water, according to a fact sheet about the bill.

Locals pushed their support of the bill at Monday’s hearing.

The message of the hearing was that local people need to control how the sea is restored, said Riverside County Supervisor John Benoit. The interest is local, not at the state level.

The Salton Sea Authority, which Benoit sits on as a Riverside County representative, needs to take the leading role instead of having the state keep pushing restoration efforts down the road, he said.

Those taking up the Salton Sea restoration efforts at the state level have “no real skin in the games, no real attachment to it,” said Imperial County Supervisor Gary Wyatt. There’s action taken on other water projects in areas with bigger populations, but nothing in this rural region.

“The answer isn’t Big Brother riding to the rescue, because it isn’t coming,” Wyatt said. “Locals need to lead the way.”

Residents have been fighting the fight for years and are still strong supporters of the sea, even though efforts have persisted since long before he became a supervisor 12 years ago, he said.

“The sea needs help, and it needs it now,” he said.

Wyatt’s impassioned talk brought a round of applause among the residents that filled two rooms at the yacht club. Of the other officials and residents who spoke, many expressed similar concerns about nothing getting done.

The state came up with a plan that is nowhere near being implemented, said Steve Robbins, Coachella Valley Water District general manager. Perez’s bill to give control locally is great.

“We cannot do nothing,” Robbins said. “Doing nothing will be a disaster for all of us.”

Copyright © 2011, Imperial Valley Press

By ELIZABETH VARIN Staff Writer
IMPERIAL VALLEY PRESS

NORTH SHORE — Violeta Lopez has been on the front line of the changes that are taking place in the Salton Sea.

The North Shore resident of 16 years has seen people move away, kids having health problems and the smell of the sea grow worse throughout the years, she said in Spanish. The residents there now only have one store in which to buy groceries, and Lopez attributes that among other things to a declining, super-salinated sea that appears no closer to getting better.

She wants to know when all the talk is going to stop and action will start to save the sea and the community she lives in. No one could answer Lopez’s question, though much discussion settled Monday around how the state can move forward to help save the Salton Sea.

Sacramento came to the Salton Sea as the Assembly budget subcommittee on resources and transportation held a hearing at the North Shore Yacht Club, inviting local officials and residents to give their input on how they see the future of the largest inland body of water in the state. Assemblymen V. Manuel Perez, Richard Gordon and Brian Jones toured the sea and heard the continued frustration of residents and officials complaining about inaction at the state level.

“This is shameful and frightening,” said Kim Delfino, California program director for Defenders of Wildlife, an environmental organization. “It’s shameful that we spend so much time and so much money on studying the sea to death with no real benefit to show. It’s frightening because the situation at the Salton Sea is grim and the stakes are high.”

She, among others, expressed deep frustration in what they say is a significant amount of bond money spend on a lot of studies, but no projects to restore the sea. After eight years of working on getting something done and a project in the ground, Delfino said she’s losing hope for the sea.

With a view of the sea out the window, palm trees sprouting off the shore and birds flying by, the panel and audience members spoke of the funding sources, what governing body should be involved and a not-yet-approved plan for restoration.

The sea has been in trouble for years, and the continuation of the nation’s largest agriculture-to-urban water transfer has accelerated the receding shoreline and increased salinity that will likely make it hard in the future for fish to survive and birds to migrate to the sea, said Anton Favorini-Csorba, a California Legislative Analyst’s Office analyst for resources and environmental protection. The decreasing sea also poses a big risk to public health because it can increase the levels of air particulate matter in an area that already has bad air quality.

The state Legislature has set up three priorities for any plan to restore the sea, including restoring the shoreline for fish and bird habitats, eliminating air quality impacts and protecting the water quality, he said. However, with funding availability in limbo, the state will likely have to prioritize what it needs at the sea. The preferred plan to include all those priorities has an $8.9 billion price tag, much of which will have to be paid upfront for capital projects.

Currently the state has about $6.5 million of uncommitted funding for the sea, he said. “That doesn’t get us very far,” he said.

The state and locals are going to need to work together to prioritize the goals of restoring the sea, said Assemblyman Gordon, D-Palo Alto. He chairs the budget subcommittee on resources and transportation, the group that looked at eliminating the Salton Sea Restoration Council last year.

When the issues came up as to whether to fund restoration work while not having a governing body, members of the subcommittee had wanted to know more about the issues, Gordon said. That’s why the local meeting was scheduled.

“What we do to this sea is critically important, not only for this region, but the state of California,” he said.

For Assemblyman Perez, D-Coachella, the fight is not only political, but also personal. He remembers growing up in the area, swimming in the sea and catching corvina, he told the crowd.

Action needs to be taken now in order to save the sea, he said. The sea is running out of time.

He added he thinks there’s great momentum to see change done, and he hopes to work with both the state and local sources to find a solution to the problem that has plagued the area for decades.

Residents made up a good portion of the crowd that filled two rooms at the yacht club. People stood outside the room, peering in, while others sat through the three-hour meeting waiting to give their opinions on the sea restoration, like Bombay Beach resident Sonia Herbert.

“We live right on the sea,” she said. “We’re just hoping somebody will do something soon.”

Copyright © 2011, Imperial Valley Press

Written by Imperial Valley News

Coachella, California - This morning, State Assemblymember V. Manuel Pérez (D-Coachella) held an Agricultural Business Roundtable at the Sun World Packinghouse in Coachella.  The three-hour event was an opportunity for Pérez to hear directly from the agricultural community about the challenges they are facing in this economy and to discuss issues of common concern.

“Agriculture is critical to our local and state economy and fundamental to our regional identity,” said Pérez. “That’s why meetings like these are so important. I appreciate the time these leaders spent to share their insights with me this morning. I share many of their concerns, and I look forward to working together.”

Approximately 20 people were present at the meeting, representing more than a dozen agricultural companies and including representatives from the Imperial and Riverside branches of the Farm Bureau and California Women for Agriculture. Also in attendance were Assemblyman Brian Nestande (R-Rancho Mirage) and Mayor of Coachella Eduardo Garcia.

After welcoming statements, the conversation was free flowing, with growers discussing a range of challenges and issues they face remaining competitive in the economy. The group then collectively prioritized the issues raised into three areas – water, labor, and regulation. Pérez and his staff took notes throughout the conversation, and a follow up meeting is planned for early 2012.

The event was hosted by Sun World, Cocopah Nurseries, and Desert Fresh Farms at the Sun World Packinghouse facility, which created an ideal setting for the conversation.

Pérez, who is the chair of the Assembly Committee on Jobs, Economic Development, and the Economy, also provided updates on recently enacted laws. The roundtable is one of several Pérez is holding during the fall legislative recess to meet with key constituencies in the 80th district.

By ELIZABETH VARIN Staff Writer
IMPERIAL VALLEY PRESS

Rural renewable energy planning has started as a state committee began hearings today on the “promise of renewable energy development in California’s rural economies.”

The Assembly Select Committee on Renewable Energy Economy in Rural California, chaired by Assemblyman V. Manuel Pérez, D-Coachella, held its first hearing at Fresno City College to assess the opportunities and challenges of achieving the state’s high renewable energy portfolio standards. The hearing included discussion on transmission planning, siting and rural land use, according to a press release from Pérez’s office.

“Our purpose today has been to examine renewable energy development from a rural point of view, taking into consideration issues such as land use planning and transmission infrastructure challenges,” Pérez said. “While seeking to facilitate the state’s renewable energy goals, it is extremely important that those of us who represent rural areas are paying careful attention that we also optimize economic and job creation outcomes locally.”

The three-hour hearing included remarks from the senior adviser for renewable energy to the Governor’s Office, as well as a dozen panelists presenting viewpoints on issues like transmission planning and agricultural and rural land use issues.

The committee is charged with examining issues affecting the development of renewable energy projects in rural areas of California for the purpose of creating policy that facilitates the state’s renewable energy goals, according to the press release. The committee also has to look at ensuring job retention and creation, environmental protection and economic outcomes in rural communities.

Copyright 2011 Imperial Valley Press Online

Written by Imperial Valley News Staff

Sacramento, California - A new law by Assemblymember V. Manuel Pérez (D-Coachella) to spur clean-energy development and green job creation in the state was signed today by the Governor.

“By expediting renewable energy permitting and siting processes, we can achieve our state’s renewable energy goals and create jobs in California,” said Pérez, chair of the Assembly Committee on Jobs, Economic Development, and the Economy. “Smart policy choices such as this new law will help encourage a climate that spurs business investment and innovation and promotes a sustainable economic recovery.”

ABx1 13 streamlines the siting and permitting process for renewable energy projects within the state’s Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (DRECP). It adds wind and geothermal energy projects to a program currently in place for large-scale solar projects, whereby the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) may offer project developers the option of paying mitigation fees in-lieu of the traditional permitting process. The in-lieu fees are then used by DFG to acquire and restore habitat lands for species impacted by the projects. Included in the bill are also a number of fee accountability and transparency provisions to ensure that DFG has the staff capacity and manpower to expedite project reviews. These renewable energy developer fees are scheduled to sunset in 2016.

The new law also authorizes grants, upon legislative appropriation, of up to $7 million for Imperial and Riverside counties, as well as for counties in the San Joaquin Valley, to revise their general plans and zoning ordinances to encourage local renewable energy development.

“These grants will go far to facilitate the development and construction of local renewable energy projects,” said Pérez.

To read the text of the new law, please visit the state’s legislative information website at: www.leginfo.ca.gov.

Written by Imperial Valley News

Sacramento, California - Assemblymember V. Manuel Pérez, chair of the Assembly Committee on Jobs, Economic Development, and the Economy, made the following comments today at a press conference in the State Capitol celebrating the release of a statewide innovation assessment by the California Council on Science and Technology (CCST):

“Maintaining and expanding California’s historical dominance in innovation requires conscious stewardship. Since becoming the chair of the Assembly Jobs Committee, I have advocated for policies to strengthen California’s innovation leadership and capacity, and I’m delighted by the delivery of this report to the Legislature…The “i2i” report describes how innovation can play a major role in growing the California economy, which we know is becoming more globally linked; regionally driven; and fueled by renewable sources. Particularly in light of the massive demographic shifts we will be experiencing in the next two decades as baby boomers retire, we must embrace the beneficial and transformative role of innovation for our economy. It can assist critical investments to strengthen our human and physical infrastructure, while also spurring the development of new technologies and products. By prioritizing it, we recommit to our workers, businesses, and communities that California will remain a dominant player in the global economy, attracting new private investment and creating jobs well into the 21st century."

Recognizing the importance of innovation to the state’s economic recovery, Pérez was among the team of legislators that requested the assessment in 2009. Pérez initially authored AB 1420, which called upon the CCST -- a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization created in 1988 by the California Legislature to provide expert advice to state government on science and technology-related policy issues --to undertake an assessment of the state's innovation infrastructure and make recommendations for improvement. Seeking to expedite the matter, that bill proposal soon became the subject of a request letter to the CCST from Pérez and others, which served as the basis for the CCST to secure private funding and conduct the assessment.

The newly released report, "Innovate 2 Innovation" (i2i), presents an action plan to restore California's reputation as an innovation leader, including recommendations to help California maintain dominance in science and technology in an increasingly globalized economy. It lays out a three-pronged strategy to strengthen collaboration between industry and higher education, transform K-12 education into a more digitally-driven learning environment, and apply technology to resolving California's water issues. The report can be downloaded from the CCST website at: http://www.ccst.us/index.php.

By ELIZABETH VARIN Staff Writer
IMPERIAL VALLEY PRESS

An Imperial County probation officer who died in the line of duty could be honored with a portion of Interstate 8.

A resolution to rename a westbound segment of the state highway after Deputy Probation Officer Irene B. Rios passed the Assembly on Monday and now heads to the Senate for approval.

Rios died when her county vehicle overturned in 2008 on Interstate 8 at an area of the mountain grade known as Devils Canyon. She was heading to the San Diego International Airport for a placement visit in Sacramento.

She died from the injuries she sustained in the accident, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page Web site. The 28-year-old had served with the Probation Department for six years.

The resolution now before the Senate both honors her life and designates a portion of the interstate between mileposts R4.6 and R6.6 as “Deputy Probation Officer Irene B. Rios Memorial Highway,” according to a press release from Assemblyman V. Manuel Pérez, D-Coachella. Pérez introduced the legislation in June.

“Deputy Probation Officer Irene Rios and her tragic death will not be forgotten,” Pérez said in a statement. “She was a dedicated public servant highly valued by her colleagues and the families and children she supervised.

“I’m honored to be working on this resolution to name a segment of Route 8 after her,” he said.

No state funds will be used to cover the costs associated with the designation, according to the press release.

Copyright © 2012, Imperial Valley Press