The California Association of Environmental Health Administrators
will hold a regulation of cannabis cultivation workshop on May
30 in Murphys, California to provide objective information
about the environmental and safety issues associated with
regulated and unregulated/black market cultivation of cannabis.
CSAC and our wildfire coalition partners sent a letter
to the Governor and Legislature regarding the California’s
increasingly devastating wildfires. The letter reaffirms
the coalition’s commitment to working with the Legislature and
Administration to address both the root causes of the growing
threat of catastrophic wildfire and on critical safety measures
that will help to prevent future events. The letter also
reiterates our opposition to any changes in utility liability
law, specifically to the constitutionally protected property
rights doctrine of inverse condemnation.
CSAC has been tracking and analyzing hundreds of bills that have
been introduced this session. This week, the CSAC AENR team
provides you with bills of interest in the area of wildfire and
disaster. We are actively soliciting feedback on the following
measures.
CSAC and several county engineers joined a broad coalition of
water agencies and business industry stakeholders at a public
workshop of the State Water Resources Control Board to support
changes to a draft Waters of the State regulation.
Dave Leamon, Chair of the CEAC Flood Control and Water Resources
Policy Committee and Stanislaus County Public Works Director and
Dr. Mark Strudley, Santa Cruz County Flood Control Division
Manager both testified at the hearing, expressing the impacts the
proposed regulations would have on counties.
The State Water Resources Control Board is proposing significant
changes to California’s protected waters of the state rule,
including changes to the definition of wetlands and its’ dredge
and fill procedures. The Board originally proposed to take action
on the proposed rules in early March, but recently pushed back
taking action by a month. The Board will now hold a public
workshop on March 5, 2019 and will consider
taking official action on the proposed changes April 2,
2019.
CSAC Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources staff
would like feedback from counties on the following bill from
Senator Bill Dodd. The bill was introduced on January 30 and is
aimed at improving building standards and defensible space
enforcement to reduce risk of fire. The bill is sponsored by the
California Building Industry Association. Please send any
comments to Nick Cronenwett at ncronenwett@counties.org
CSAC is actively monitoring the complex situation related to
Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E)’s official filing for Chapter
11 Bankruptcy this week. As a key stake holder in a wildfire
coalition that includes insurance companies, wildfire victims
groups, other local government advocates, and consumer protection
attorneys, CSAC’s top priority is ensuring that our communities
are safe and that people who are trying to recover from a
disaster can be made whole.
CSAC is hosting a Disaster Recovery Summit and Roundtable
Discussion in Sacramento on February 13th from 10
a.m. to Noon at the Capitol Events Center in
Sacramento. California County Supervisors, CAOs, Emergency
Managers, Public Works Directors and more from impacted counties
are invited to attend.
On January 14, the State’s
Forest Management Task Force met for the first time this
year. This was also the first time the group had met under the
new administration. The Task Force heard presentations from the
Board of Forestry, the Governor’s Office, and the CPUC on key
legislation and rulemakings related to forest management.
CSAC is encouraging boards of supervisors statewide to adopt a
local resolution requesting action from Governor Gavin Newsom on
a major recycling issue related to Chinese trade import policies.
Local governments are partners with the state in meeting
California’s recycling and waste diversion goals. California has
been largely successful in achieving and making progress towards
these goals and others over recent years.
