Farm Bureau at work California Farm Bureau’s government affairs team is at the Capitol, advocating for farmers, ranchers and agriculture’s future. Here are some key issues Farm Bureau is focused on this week.
Water Rights One controversial water-rights bill stalled in the California Senate last week, and some contentious provisions were re- moved from a second of three related and closely watched measures. The Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee put the brakes on Assembly Bill 1337, by Assembly Member Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland. The bill sought to bring the most senior water diverters under con- trol of the California State Water Resources Control Board and allow the board to cur- tail diversions in any watershed without needing a drought emergency order. The bill was scheduled for a hearing on July 10, but the author pulled it from the agenda because she could not get enough “yes” votes from committee members. Wicks made AB 1337 a two-year bill, which means she can decide to move it again in January, though it would likely have to be in a revised form. The bill, along with AB 460, by Assembly Member Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, D-Orinda, and Senate Bill 389, by state Sen. Ben Allen, D-Santa Monica, were opposed by a coali- tion including the California Farm Bureau and other water agencies and agricultural and business groups. After several weeks of negotiation with representatives of the opposing coalition, Allen amended SB 389 to remove the most problematic provisions. They included provisions that would have made it easier for the state water board to determine that water rights have been forfeited. Instead, the bill will focus on clarifying existing parts of the law. For example, the bill now modifies an existing code section that lays out the water board’s investigative abilities rather than creating a new code section that could be interpreted to endow the board with new authority. The opposing coalition also secured a requirement that the water board demon- strate the need for any requests for in- formation from diverters about the their water rights. During the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee hearing on July 11, Farm Bureau and other coalition members subsequently stated their intent to reevaluate their opposition to the bill with the intention to go neutral. Agricultural Employment Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed Assembly Bill 102, a trailer bill fleshing out the budget passed by the Legislature in June. AB 102, signed July 10, is a 364-page bill addressing numerous subjects, including the revival of the Industrial Welfare Commission. The IWC was established in 1913 to regulate wages, hours and working con- ditions in California. It was defunded by the Legislature in 2004. But its regulations consisting of 18 “wage orders,” including Wage Order 14, which regulates agricul- tural employment, remain in effect. They are enforced by the California Department of Industrial Relations’ Division of Labor Standards Enforcement. AB 102 appropriates $3 million to the IWC “to convene industry-specific wage
boards and adopt orders specific to wag- es, hours and working conditions in such industries, provided that any such orders shall not include any standards that are less protective than existing state law.” The bill notes that the commission “shall prior- itize for consideration industries in which more than 10 percent of workers are at or below the federal poverty level.”
California Farm Bureau is tracking po- tential implications of the bill. It is possi- ble that AB 102 is intended as an end-run around the referendum the restaurant industry qualified for the November 2024 ballot to invalidate the Fast Food Accountability and Standards Recovery Act, which was passed by the Legislature in 2022. The act created a quasi-regulatory
Fast Food Council in the Department of Industrial Relations with power to man- date restaurant wages up to $22 per hour. The Public Policy Institute of California re- ported in 2021 that more than a quarter of Californians live in or near poverty. The AB 102 mandate seems very broad. It requires the IWC to convene by Jan. 1 and adopt any changes to wage orders by Oct. 1, 2024.
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July 19, 2023 Ag Alert 17
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