Advocacy in Action

White House meeting

California Farm Bureau President Shannon Douglass joined state Farm Bureau presidents from across the U.S. and American Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall at the White House last week to discuss issues and hear from cabinet members, administration officials and senior White House staff. 

Douglass and others participated in discussions with U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Lee Zeldin, administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. They talked about priority issues that included the farm economy, preserving family farms, disaster assistance, trade, labor, Make America Healthy Again policies and regulatory reform.

During the meeting, Rollins said the U.S. Department of Agriculture has started a new round of disaster payments. Producers who suffered eligible crop losses due to natural disasters in 2023 and 2024 may now apply for $16 billion in assistance through the Supplemental Disaster Relief Program.

Williamson Act

Speaking before the California Senate Local Government Committee last week, Peter Ansel, senior policy director for the California Farm Bureau, said Assembly Bill 1156, which would allow industrial scale and battery projects on prime agricultural land, raises serious concerns for the long-term protection of the state’s farmland. 

Unless the bill—authored by Assembly Member Buffy Wicks, D-Berkeley—is amended, Ansel said, it would repeal the requirement of a payment to cancel Williamson Act contracts for solar use easements, expediting the speculation of farmland conversion to solar energy. The bill passed out of the committee and will be heard today in the Senate Committee on Environmental Quality.

Agricultural waste

Senate Bill 279 by state Sen. Jerry McNerney, D-Stockton, passed out of the Assembly Natural Resources Committee last week. The bill, which Farm Bureau supports, would increase the amount of agricultural material that can be sent to composting. As burning is no longer allowed in the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District, farmers need alternative methods for managing their organic waste. The bill will next be heard in Assembly Appropriations.

Immigration

In recent weeks, the White House has offered mixed signals regarding how it intends to protect agriculture and other industries from its immigration enforcement efforts. President Trump has repeatedly floated the idea of allowing farmers and ranchers to vouch for long-term immigrant workers residing in the U.S., even suggesting amnesty could be a viable option.

However, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins contradicted that stance last week, saying amnesty is “completely off the table” for those currently at risk of deportation. She also suggested that about 34 million able-bodied Medicaid recipients could be used to help fill labor shortages in the agricultural sector. 

It remains unclear whether Congress will act on a comprehensive solution, said Matthew Viohl, a policy advocacy director for the California Farm Bureau, which continues to work with partners to advocate for legislative reforms.

Water quality

The North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board approved a first-of-its-kind order last week to protect waterways, groundwater and aquatic species by regulating waste discharge for about 65,000 acres of vineyards in Mendocino and Sonoma counties.

In a years-long process, the California Farm Bureau and the county Farm Bureaus of Mendocino and Sonoma submitted  comments and worked with leaders in the wine sector to make the regulation less burdensome for affected vintners, said Kari Fisher, senior counsel and director of legal advocacy for the California Farm Bureau. Because of the efforts, the board agreed to delay the decision for six months so that some local concerns could be addressed. 

The order establishes water quality regulations for owners and operators of commercial vineyards. The regulation requires implementation of on-farm practices to prevent or control discharges of sediment, nutrients and pesticides to surface water. Requirements take effect when vineyards begin enrolling under the order in July 2028.

Landline access

Assembly Bill 470, Tina McKinnor, D-Inglewood, would usurp a rulemaking to broadly consider changes related to requirements and procedures for landlines or carriers of last resort, or COLRs. There are 16 COLRs in California. AT&T is the biggest. Frontier is second. 

Parties including the California Farm Bureau have been holding meet-and-confer sessions that address potential areas of agreement related to issues raised. The AT&T-sponsored legislation presented unworkable and one-sided processes to implement the COLR revisions. AB 470 made it out of the Appropriations Committee but did not advance to the Assembly floor for consideration. Farm Bureau opposes the legislation and is collaborating with other stakeholders to defeat it.

Labor

The California Farm Bureau and five other western state Farm Bureaus last week joined in a letter to urge the U.S. Department of Labor to consider dropping its defense of the Biden-era Farmworker Protection Rule, which resides within the H-2A program. 

Farm Bureau submitted comments last year critical of the original proposal, which effectively attempts to circumvent the National Labors Relations Act by offering union-related benefits to H-2A workers. The program has long been plagued by complex regulatory requirements, which were made worse through this and several other rulemaking. With the rule tied up in litigation, dropping the legal defense of it would effectively help to reverse the rule, offering at least some reprieve for those currently using the guestworker program.

Electric vehicles

President Trump signed several resolutions last week that effectively overturned California’s electric vehicle mandate, its phaseout of medium- and heavy-duty diesel vehicle sales and a rule related to tailpipe emissions from trucks. 

Historically, California has relied on waivers from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to implement more stringent environmental regulations. However, concerns from other states that California’s policies could have nationwide effects helped drive efforts in Washington, D.C., to reverse initiatives by the California Air Resources Board.

CARB is weighing legal options to preserve portions of its emissions mandates, meaning this issue may soon head to the courts. California Farm Bureau will continue to monitor developments and provide updates to members.

Workforce 

The California Farm Bureau is working with federal lawmakers and partners to find a solution to workforce challenges faced by those in agriculture. 

Related to this effort, U.S. Reps. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose, and Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., this month reintroduced the Farm Workforce Modernization Act.  

The legislation is also supported by Reps. Jim Costa , D-Fresno; David Valadao, R-Hanford; and Adam Gray, D-Merced.  

The Farm Workforce Modernization Act, which has struggled to find enough Republican support in the Senate, remains unchanged from previous iterations. 

Water

The California Farm Bureau supports California Water for All, a statewide coalition working to educate policymakers on the urgent need for Senate Bill 72, by state Sen. Anna Caballero, D-Merced. The bill would create the state’s first-ever statewide water supply target and improve the California Water Plan, which is updated every five years and has guided the state’s effort to meet water demand since the 1950s. SB 72 calls on state, federal and
local partners to collaboratively develop 9 million acre-feet of new water supply by 2040 through investments in stormwater capture, recycling, desalination and storage. While conservation remains essential, the research shows it can cover only 20% to 30% of the expected water shortfall—making bold, coordinated action critical.

A new economic study led by experts from the University of California, Davis, and UC Merced highlights the staggering cost of continued inaction. The research finds that California could lose up to 9 million acre-feet of water annually—enough to serve 9 million households—resulting in economic losses ranging from $3.4 billion to $14.5 billion per year. The impacts include up to 3 million acres of fallowed farmland, 67,000 lost jobs, and lasting harm to rural communities and the broader state economy.

Learn more at www.cawaterforall.com.

Litigation

Oral arguments are set to occur later this summer for a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals case for which the California Farm Bureau and Pacific Legal Foundation joined together in filing a “friend of the court” brief. The document argues that the lower court incorrectly issued injunctive relief under the federal Endangered Species Act regarding Lopez Lake Dam. 

The amicus brief was filed Jan. 31 in San Luis Obispo Coastkeeper v. County of San Luis Obispo. San Luis Obispo County was sued by environmental groups alleging that Lopez Lake dam threatens steelhead trout under the ESA. A federal judge determined that the operation of the lake threatens the trout and ordered the county to immediately release more water from Lopez Lake. 

Species

This week, the California Farm Bureau submitted comments to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regarding two proposed federal listings under the Endangered Species Act. 

In comments on the proposal to list the monarch butterfly as a threatened species, Abby Carlson, assistant director of legal advocacy at the California Farm Bureau, emphasized that regulatory authority over pesticide use should remain with the Environmental Protection Agency rather than the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. She highlighted the importance of maintaining the Section 4(d) rule to support agricultural flexibility and said Conservation Reserve Program lands should be treated as cropland and not be subject to unnecessary restrictions. 

For the proposed federal listing of the Suckley’s cuckoo bumble bee as an endangered species, Carlson submitted comments opposing the listing on behalf of Farm Bureau. Comments highlighted the absence of recent sightings of the species in California and the lack of sufficient scientific data on its habitat or threats. Carlson added that regulatory decisions must be based on clear, reliable and verifiable data, which she said is lacking for the species.

Legislation

Senate Bill 353, authored by California Sen. Marie Alvarado-Gil, R-Jackson, passed from the Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee with bipartisan support. The bill, supported by the California Farm Bureau, would remove a sunset provision from existing law that would otherwise end a tax credit program for donations of fresh fruits, dairy products and vegetables to California food banks. SB 353 would make that tax credit permanent. The bill moves to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Solar

Assembly Bill 1156, authored by Assembly Member Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland, passed out of the Assembly Committee on Agriculture. The bill would repeal the requirement of a payment to cancel Williamson Act contracts for solar use easements. 

The committee’s 6-1 vote did not fall along party lines, with Assembly Member Jeff Gonzalez, R-Coachella, voting against it, and Assembly Majority Leader Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, D-Winters, abstaining. 

Assembly Member Damon Connolly, D-Marin, and Assembly Member Rhodesia Ransom, D-Stockton, voted in favor of the bill but expressed concerns that it was too broad. Ransom proposed an idea to redirect cancellation payments toward local community benefits instead of the state’s general fund.

Assembly Member Esmeralda Soria, D-Fresno, who chairs the committee, voted to move the bill out of the committee, though she raised concerns about the potential for widespread Williamson Act cancellations, including the conversion of prime farmland to solar development, and she is requiring amendments to the bill. Soria has also asked for a community benefit investment from solar developers. 

Assembly Member Juan Alanis, R-Modesto, and Assembly Member Heather Hadwick, R-Jackson, spoke in favor of the bill, citing the rights of landowners. 

Participation in the Williamson Act and its cancellation have always been voluntary. AB 1156 does not enhance landowner rights. It merely waives the contractual obligation to pay a cancellation fee. 

The Large-scale Solar Association and Almond Alliance supported the bill, while California Farm Bureau led the opposition and remains opposed unless the bill is amended. American Farmland Trust and similar organizations opposed the bill for its potential to allow cancellation of agricultural conservation easements. 

Labor 

The California Senate Labor, Public Employment and Retirement Committee declined to advance Senate Bill 801, which would have exempted sheep and goat herders from California’s agricultural overtime law. 

The bill’s author, state Sen. Melissa Hurtado, D-Sanger, agreed to withdraw her request for a vote on the bill in exchange for continued dialogue about challenges created for farmers and ranchers by Assembly Bill 1066, the 2016 law that requires farmworkers be paid time and a half when they work more than 8 hours a day or 40 hours a week. 

Since 2019, the minimum wage for herders who work on call around the clock has more than doubled as a result of a combination of state labor laws and regulations, including AB 1066. 

California sheep and goat ranchers have cautioned that applying the overtime law to on-call herders could bankrupt them, some of whom provide targeted grazing of wildfire fuels that is a crucial part of the state’s wildfire prevention strategy. 

SB 801 failed to make it out of the labor committee just a week after the same committee similarly rejected SB 628, another bill that sought to address the consequences of AB 1066 on farms and farmworkers. 

Although both SB 628 and SB 801 failed to advance, the hearings appear to have sparked new interest in developing a more flexible approach to overtime requirements in agriculture, a unique industry in which a one-size-fits-all policy does not work. Farm Bureau sponsored SB 628 and supported SB 801. The latter bill was drafted following advocacy efforts by California ranchers and by the Kern County Farm Bureau.  

Water

Alexandra Biering, a California Farm Bureau policy advocacy director, provided lead testimony last week on three bills considerd by the California Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife committee. She encouraged support for AB 430, legislation that requires the California State Water Resources Control Board to conduct an environmental and economic study for nonfee emergency regulations in place for more than a year and for it be released to the public. She said the bill brings transparency and accountability when emergency water regulations are used consecutively for more than one year. 

“We’ve seen a trend where the state water board is using emergency regulations as a water management tool, even when there’s no longer a drought in place,” Biering said, citing the emergency regulation for the Scott River and Shasta River watersheds as an example. 

For AB 929, a bill that exempts managed wetlands and small community drinking wells from groundwater sustainability plans under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, the Farm Bureau opposes it unless it is amended because Biering said the bill sets up overdrafted groundwater basins to fail.   

Biering called AB 1146 “unnecessary,” saying the bill prohibits the release of stored water from a reservoir in the state if the release is done under false pretenses. The bill serves as a countermeasure to the release of water this past January by the Trump administration. Biering said had the bill been in place in January, it would not have stopped the federal release of water or held anyone accountable. 

All three bills passed the committee and are headed to the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

Clean Water Act 

As the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reviews the definition of “waters of the United States,” or WOTUS, Kari Fisher, senior counsel and director of legal advocacy for the California Farm Bureau, submitted public comments on behalf of farmers and ranchers, and participated in a listening session held by EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In addition, she participated in a Voice of California Agriculture podcast on the topic that is set to air May 15. Access the podcast at www.cfbf.com/ag-news/voice-of-california-agriculture-podcast.