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.
Budget Gov. Gavin Newsom released his May Revise budget on May 13, accounting for updated revenues and expenditures to guide the upcoming fiscal year. This budget totals $300.7 billion—the largest budget ever proposed in California or any other state. Based on increased cap- ital gains tax and corporation tax revenues, the May revision boasts a $97.5 billion sur- plus, $49.2 billion of which is available for discretionary use. This is $55 billion higher than expected in January. The governor’s May revision propos- es to spend the discretionary surplus on one-time projects and as much as $37.1 billion in budgetary reserves, as the rainy- day fund is at the constitutional maximum. In the introduction to the May Revise, Newsom highlights the year’s challenges, among them debt and pandemic relief; extreme weather and its effects, including drought, energy reliability and wildfires; health care; homelessness; mental health; education; and public safety. Inflation and minimum wage Gov. Newsom’s $18.1 billion Inflation Relief Package, announced May 12, would increase the California minimum wage to $15.50 per hour on Jan. 2, 2023, as provided by Senate Bill 3. The bill, enacted in 2016, provided for an escalating minimum wage, beginning in 2017, to $15 per hour for em- ployers of 26 or more employees as of Jan. 1, 2022, and for employers of 25 or fewer as of Jan. 1, 2023. The inflation adjustment clause of the law directs the Department of Finance to calculate a minimum wage adjustment on or before Aug. 1 of each year. It is based on the lesser of two figures—either 3.5% or the U.S. Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners rounded to the nearest dime. Meanwhile, supporters of a proposed ballot initiative to increase the California minimum wage to $18 per hour by Jan. 1, 2026, announced they have gathered more than a million signatures to place the ini- tiative on the fall 2022 ballot—far in excess of the 623,000 signatures required. Climate The California Air Resources Board has released a draft of the 2022 Scoping Plan Update outlining the tenets of the pro- posed approach for greenhouse gas emis- sion reduction and carbon sequestration across all industry sectors. Specifically for agriculture, the proposed approach sug- gests goals for on-farm agricultural prac- tices, including: • Complementing the state’s 30% land conservation goal, with treatment of 2 million to 2.5 million acres of forestlands, shrublands and grasslands through pre- scribed fire, thinning, harvesting and other management actions. • Implementing climate-smart practices for annual and perennial crops over 50,000 acres annually. • Increasing agricultural and conserva- tion easements across 6,000 acres annually. • Increasing organic agriculture to 20% of all cultivated acreage by 2045
(65,000 acres annually). • Restoring 60,000 acres of delta wetlands. • Increasing investment in urban forestry and drought-resilient tree planting by 20%. It also proposes that 25% of the ener- gy demand for agriculture be achieved through electricity rather than fossil-fuel use, and 75% of energy demand be met
through electricity by 2045. It suggests an increase in funding for methane capture for dairy digesters and alternative ma- nure management, while anticipating a moderate adoption of strategies by 2030 to achieve the state’s short lived climate pollutant goal. Generally, the proposal seeks to phase out oil and gas extraction operations by
2045. Farm Bureau staffers are reviewing the full document and will be providing comments by June 24. The Air Resources Board will meet May 19 to likely discuss the proposal and other items. (A full roundup of Farm Bureau leg- islative efforts may be found online at www.cfbf.com/Farm-Bureau-At-Work.)
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May 18, 2022 Ag Alert 19
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