BOARD LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE Friday, March 9, 2018 12:30 p.m. EBRPD – Administrative Headquarters 2950 Peralta Oaks Court Oakland, California 94605
The following agenda items are listed for Committee consideration. In accordance with the Board Operating Guidelines, no official action of the Board will be taken at this meeting; rather, the Committee’s purpose shall be to review the listed items and to consider developing recommendations to the Board of Directors.
A copy of the background materials concerning these agenda items, including any material that may have been submitted less than 72 hours before the meeting, is available for inspection on the District’s website (www. ebparks.org), the Headquarters reception desk, and at the meeting.
Public Comment on Agenda Items If you wish to testify on an item on the agenda, please complete a speaker’s form and submit it to the recording secretary. Your name will be called when the item is announced for discussion.
Accommodations and Access District facilities and meetings comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. If special accommodations are needed for you to participate, please contact the Clerk of the Board at 510-544-2020 as soon as possible, but preferably at least three working days prior to the meeting.
AGENDA
TIME ITEM STATUS STAFF 12:30 I. STATE LEGISLATION / OTHER MATTERS A. NEW LEGISLATION R Doyle/Pfuehler 1. AB 1945 – Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (Garcia D-Coachella) 2. AB 2053 – Harmful Algal Bloom Task Force (Quirk D-Hayward) 3. AB 2061 – Clean Energy Trucks (Frazier D- Discovery Bay) 4. AB 2137 – Riverside County Regional Park and Open Space District General Manager Powers (Mayes R-Yucca Valley) 5. AB 2421 – Monarch Butterfly and Pollinator Rescue Program (Stone D-Monterey Bay) 6. AB 2441 – Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Abandoned Vessel Removal Account (Frazier D-Discovery Bay) 7. AB 2551 – Forest and Wildland Health Improvement and Fire Prevention Program (Wood D-Healdsburg) 8. AB 2614 – Transportation for Disadvantaged Youth to Experience the Outdoors (Carrillo D-Los Angeles) 9. AB 3160 – Coastal Wetlands Fund (Grayson D-Concord)
10. SB 1015 – California Climate Resiliency Program (Allen D-Santa Monica) 11. SB 1316 – Carnegie State Vehicular Recreation Area Alameda-Tesla Expansion Area (Glazer D-Orinda) 12. SB 1401 – Climate Adaptation Information Clearinghouse (Wieckowski D-Fremont) R Doyle/Pfuehler
B. OTHER MATTERS 1. Prop. 68 Park Bond 2. Other matters
II. FEDERAL LEGISLATION / OTHER MATTERS R Pfuehler A. NEW LEGISLATION 1. S. 2350 – Explore America Act (Schatz D-HI) 2. S. 2395 – Forest Incentives Program Act (Shaheen D-NH)
B. OTHER MATTERS I Pfuehler 1. 2018 Legislative Meetings in Washington 2. Other Matters
III. MEASURE CC EXTENSION UPDATE I Pfuehler/Doyle
IV. ARTICLES I
V. OPEN FORUM PUBLIC COMMENT Individuals wishing to address the Committee on a topic not on the agenda may do so by completing a speaker’s form and submitting it to the recording secretary.
VII. BOARD COMMENTS
(R) Recommendation for Future Board Consideration (I) Information (D) Discussion Legislative Committee Members Future Meetings: Dee Rosario (Chair); Dennis Waespi, Beverly Lane January 8 & 26 July 20 Colin Coffey, Alternate February – NO MTG August – NO MTG Erich Pfuehler, Government Affairs Manager *March 9 September 21 April 20 October 19 May 18 November – NO MTG June – NO MTG *December 14 TO: Board Legislative Committee (Chair Dee Rosario, Dennis Waespi, Beverly Lane, Alt. Colin Coffey)
FROM: Robert E. Doyle, General Manager Erich Pfuehler, Government Affairs Manager
SUBJECT: Board Legislative Committee Meeting WHEN: Friday, March 9, 2018 12:30 PM Lunch will be served
WHERE: Board Room, Peralta Oaks ______
Items to be discussed:
I. STATE LEGISLATION / OTHER MATTERS A. NEW LEGISLATION
1. AB 1945 – Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (Garcia D-Coachella) The General Manager, Advocate Doug Houston, and Government Affairs Manager will go over Attachment A. 1 – Draft AB 1945 Coalition Letter.
Staff Recommendation: Support
2. AB 2053 – Harmful Algal Bloom Task Force (Quirk D-Hayward) Assembly Member Quirk’s bill would require the State Water Resources Control Board to establish and coordinate a Harmful Algal Bloom Task Force. The Task Force would include representatives from state agencies. It would submit a summary of its findings and recommendations to the legislature by January 1, 2021. The legislation would also authorize the State Coastal Conservancy, Department of Fish and Wildlife, Wildlife Conservation Board and the State Water Resources Control Board to provide grants under Prop. 1 to prevent and/or mitigate harmful algal blooms. District Stewardship staff provided significant input to Assembly Member Quirk’s staff by way of background as this legislation was being prepared. The Assembly Member is keenly aware of the issues at Lake Chabot and wants to be helpful to the District’s challenges with algal blooms.
Staff Recommendation: Support
3. AB 2061 – Clean Energy Trucks (Frazier D-Discovery Bay) Assembly Member Frazier’s bill seeks to remove weight-limit barriers for zero emission and near zero emission trucks in California. The engine and propulsion systems in electric, hydrogen and natural gas powered trucks weigh more than the traditional internal combustion engine by as much as 2,000 pounds. These cleaner energy trucks currently have to reduce their carrying capacity in order to comply with state weight laws, providing a disincentive for businesses to invest in cleaner trucks. AB 2061 would increase the weight limits for zero emission and near zero emission vehicles so they can compete on an equal playing field with diesel and gasoline powered trucks. Research by the California Air Resources Board finds transportation accounts for nearly 40 percent of all of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions. Diesel and gasoline big rigs and other heavy-duty trucks are the
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most concentrated source, making up only three percent of the vehicles on the road but accounting for 23 percent of transportation emissions. AB 2061 is supported by the California Natural Gas Vehicle Coalition, CALSTART, San Diego County Disposal Association, Clean Energy and Tesla. There is no known opposition. As the District seeks to make its fleet more fuel efficient, this legislation could help facilitate the use of more energy efficient trucks in the field.
Staff Recommendation: Support
4. AB 2137 – Riverside County Regional Park and Open Space District General Manager Powers - (Mayes R-Yucca Valley) This legislation would provide the General Manager of the Riverside County Regional Park and Open Space District the ability to approve contracts up to $50,000 without necessarily seeking Board approval. It specifically seeks to align the Riverside district with East Bay Regional Park District, Midpeninsula Open Space District and the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District. Since the Park District benefits from the $50,000 General Manager limit, staff is recommending supporting Riverside’s effort to achieve the same goal.
Staff recommendation: Support
5. AB 2421 – Monarch Butterfly and Pollinator Rescue Program (Stone D-Monterey Bay) Assembly Member Stone’s bill would establish the Monarch Butterfly and Pollinator Rescue Program, to be administered by the Wildlife Conservation Board (WCB). It authorizes WCB to provide grants to public agencies, nonprofit organizations and private landowners for the restoration of prairie lands. The bill would establish the Monarch Butterfly Rescue Fund Account in the State Treasury for the grant program. Moneys can be deposited into the Fund from gifts, donations, funds appropriated by the Legislature, from federal grants or other sources. The District could potentially benefit from the grant program.
Staff recommendation: Support
6. AB 2441 – Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Abandoned Vessel Removal Account (Frazier D-Discovery Bay) Assembly Member Frazier’s bill would create the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Abandoned Vessel Account in the General Fund. The fund would be available to the State Lands Commission to remove abandoned and derelict commercial vessels on lands, including tidelands and submerged lands, in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The revenue for the fund would be derived from rental income from surface uses for lands in the Delta.
Staff recommendation: Support
7. AB 2551 – Forest and Wildland Health Improvement and Fire Prevention Program (Wood D-Healdsburg) Assembly Member Wood’s bill would require the Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention establish and administer the Forest Wildland Health Improvement and Fire Prevention Program (FWHIFPP). The FWHIFPP would promote forest and wildland health, restoration and resilience, and improve fire prevention and preparedness throughout the state. The bill would require no less than 18% of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund
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moneys, which are part of the state’s cap-and-trade program, be allocated for projects that improve or restore forest and wildland health and fire resiliency. The District could potentially benefit from these funds for projects included in the District’s Wildfire Hazard Reduction and Resource Management Plan.
Staff recommendation: Support
8. AB 2614 – Transportation for Disadvantaged Youth to Experience the Outdoors (Carrillo D-Los Angeles) Assembly Member Carrillo’s legislation calls for the Department of Natural Resources to compile a list of all school districts which provide transportation to a non-profit organization. It then requires that list to be shared with all non-profits which provide outdoor experiences to disadvantaged youth. The bill also requires Resources to develop a grant program for innovative transportation projects that provide disadvantaged youth access to outdoor experiences. This is similar to the District’s concept in Measure CC extension to explore a partnership(s) with a transportation provider(s) in order to provide more disadvantaged youth access to District parks.
Staff recommendation: Support
9. AB 3160 – Coastal Wetlands Fund (Grayson D-Concord) Assembly Member Grayson’s legislation is largely a spot bill which calls out the Coastal Wetlands Fund. The Fund may be expended by the Department of Fish and Wildlife and the State Coastal Conservancy for the maintenance of coastal wetlands property owned by the state, a conservancy of the state, a local government agency, or a nonprofit organization. As an agency which manages 55 miles of Bay-Delta shoreline, the District has a potential interest in the future of this legislation.
Staff recommendation: Watch
10. SB 1015 – California Climate Resiliency Program (Allen D-Santa Monica) Assembly Member Allen’s bill calls upon the Wildlife Conservation Board (WCB) to establish a California Climate Resiliency Program. The program would plan and implement projects to improve and enhance the climate change resiliency of: • Natural systems, • Natural and working lands, and • Developed areas. Funding for the program would come from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (cap-and- trade), bonds, settlements and other revenue sources to create a separate California Climate Change Resiliency Fund (CCCRF) administered by WCB. The bill would also require WCB to expend a portion of the CCCRF to fund projects located in disadvantaged and low-income communities. The District could potentially benefit from these funds to implement resiliency projects.
Staff recommendation: Support
11. SB 1316 – Carnegie State Vehicular Recreation Area Alameda-Tesla Expansion Area (Glazer D-Orinda) Senator Glazer’s bill would authorize the Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) to dispose of the “Alameda-Tesla Expansion Area” to permanently preserve the land for
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conservation purposes. After a public hearing process, the bill authorizes the Director of General Services to transfer the land to a local agency for less than fair market value if it is for the purpose of creating a park or open space. It also requires any revenue gained from the disposal of the property to be deposited in the off-highway vehicle fund. This would allow DPR to potentially sell the land to Alameda County or the District for the purposes of establishing a park.
Staff recommendation: Support
12. SB 1401 – Climate Adaptation Information Clearinghouse (Wieckowski D-Fremont) Senator Wieckowski is following up on his efforts to coordinate climate adaptation information used by the state, regional and local entities to ensure the Office of Planning and Research’s (OPR) work is user-friendly. This legislation would require OPR to seek feedback from entities that use the clearinghouse to maximize its effectiveness. The District supported the original effort to coordinate climate adaptation information. It would be consistent to support this feedback effort.
Staff recommendation: Support
B. OTHER MATTERS 1. Prop. 68 Park Bond Proposition 68 is a general obligation bond that invests $4 billion in the coming years to address some of California’s most important park and natural resource needs. The state legislature passed the California Clean Water and Parks Act (SB 5) with bipartisan support, and it will appear on the June statewide ballot. The District has been working on enacting a “true” statewide park bond for over five years, and Prop. 68 is the culmination of those efforts. In recognition, staff is asking the Board to adopt a Prop. 68 support resolution.
Staff recommendation: Support
2 Other matters
II. FEDERAL LEGISLATION / OTHER MATTERS A. NEW LEGISLATION 1. S. 2350 – Explore America Act (Schatz D-HI) Senator Schatz’s legislation supports the expansion of cultural heritage tourism by strengthening the Preserve America Grant Program. Changes to the program will help attract more visitors to American landscapes and cultural heritage sites in the National Parks System, enhance existing programs, and increase collaboration between communities and the federal government. The Preserve America Program was established by Executive Order in 2003 to support state, tribal and local government efforts to preserve and enhance heritage tourism. The grant component of the Preserve America Program is a matching partnership between the Advisory Committee on Historic Preservation and the Department of the Interior that supports heritage tourism at the state and local levels.
The Explore America Act would amend the Preserve America Grant Program to: • Provide technical assistance. The bill directs the Departments of Commerce and Interior and the Advisory Committee on Historic Preservation (ACHP) to provide technical assistance in lieu of monetary funds.
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• Focus on economic growth. It directs the Secretary of Commerce to coordinate with the Secretary of the Interior and the ACHP to evaluate how the program can increase job creation, boost economic growth and promote tourism. • Increase accountability. It establishes program metrics to measure effectiveness and report findings to Congress. • Prioritize community coordination. The bill directs collaboration with gateway communities (communities adjacent to National Parks) by providing financial and technical assistance, tourism development and promotion, visitor management services and access to federal resources.
The bill was introduced with bi-partisan support, but is not likely to advance this year. In the future, however, this type of legislation could help communities such as Richmond, Martinez, Concord and Danville which are gateways to units of the National Park Service (NPS). Given the District’s interest in strong partnerships with NPS locally, it would be appropriate to support this legislation.
Staff recommendation: Support
2. S. 2395 – Forest Incentives Program Act (Shaheen D-NH) Senator Shaheen’s legislation is primarily geared toward private forest owners. It directs the U.S. Department of Agriculture to establish an incentive program encouraging private forest landowners to adopt conservation practices which deliver emissions reductions. The bill also creates financial incentives for commercial building owners to use biological products, such as wood, as structural building materials instead of more energy-intensive materials. These incentives will help private forest owners protect our air, water and wildlife habitat, and capture carbon. While the bill does not directly impact the District, the notion of incentivizing environmentally-conscious forest management techniques is consistent with the District’s Wildfire Hazard Reduction and Resource Management Plan.
Staff recommendation: Support
B. OTHER MATTERS 1. 2018 Legislative meetings in Washington This is a placeholder to discuss any additional follow up from the District’s D.C. legislative meetings during the week of February 11-15, 2018 as part of the Partnership for the National Trails System’s annual Hike the Hill conference.
2. Other Matters
III. MEASURE CC EXTENSION UPDATE Staff will provide a verbal update about their work on a possible extension of Measure CC.
VI. ARTICLES
VII. OPEN FORUM PUBLIC COMMENT
VIII. BOARD COMMENTS
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Draft AB 1945 Coalition Letter
The Honorable Eduardo Garcia California State Assemblymember State Capitol, Room 4140 Sacramento, California 95814
RE: AB 1945 (E. Garcia): Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund – SUPPORT
Dear Assemblymember Garcia:
On behalf of above signatories, we am writing to inform you of our support of AB 1945 regarding the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF).
Importantly, AB 1945 adds “public and community access” to the list of co-benefits for consideration when scoring specified grants pursuant to Green House Gas Reduction (GGRF) fund proceeds. Currently, the Urban Greening and Urban Forest Programs offer important urban benefits including the refashioning and repurposing of landscapes for increased carbon capture. However, in investing in these and other improvements, granting entities and applicants alike are not required to contemplate maximizing or introducing community use as a relevant benefit. Likewise GGRF funds have been awarded to fund natural landscape acquisitions and improvements in settings that include mountain meadows, watersheds and coastal wetlands. While not all public access opportunities can be harmonized with preferred land use policies related to sensitive lands, granting and applicant entities, similar to the Urban Greening Program, should be required under specific circumstances to factor in public access as a relevant benefit.
Several years into programming for the GGRF, we are learning what works and what is not working for ensuring this funding reaches the intended audience. AB 1945 seeks to improve access to programs funded by the GGRF by expanding the list of co-benefits, aligning application scoring with implementation of AB 617 (Chapter 136, Statutes of 2017), and reporting on applications. This bill further corrects an inequity specific to Imperial and San Diego Counties by allowing applicants to count daytime population in their applications for funding.
Questions regarding this letter may be directed to Doug Houston (916) 447-9884. We look forward to working with your office on the passage of AB 1945.
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CALIFORNIATHE CLEAN WATER SAFE PARKS & PROTECTING WHAT MATTERS. ACT PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE.
+ Cleans up and protects + Improves the safety of Ensuring our drinking water supplies Safe Parks for neighborhood parks Clean Drinking + Protects streams and Every Child throughout California rivers that provide drinking + Helps ensure every Water water from pollution California community has access to quality parks
+ Smart, proven, efficient + Increases access to our Preparing solutions to secure future Protecting Our coast and beaches for the Next water supplies Coastline and + Restores and protects + Restores groundwater, our natural areas and Drought which was severely drained Natural Areas implements wildfire in the last drought protection measures
+ Keeps toxic pollution out + Cleans up groundwater Helping of our drinking water Increasing and funds water recycling Communities + Provides safe drinking Local Water projects water to communities with + Captures more stormwater That Lack contaminated water Supplies and prevents flooding Clean Water
CALIFORNIATHE CLEAN WATER SAFE PARKS FOR EVERY CHILD SAFE PARKS + $725 million for parks in neighborhoods with the & greatest need ACT Investment Priorities + $285 million to cities, counties, and local park and open space districts to make local parks safer and improve facilities + $218 million to repair and improve state parks ENSURING CLEAN DRINKING WATER
+ $250 million for clean drinking water and drought IMPROVING RESILIENCE TO CLIMATE CHANGE preparedness + $30 million for innovative farm practices that improve + $80 million for groundwater cleanup climate resilience + $290 million for regional water sustainability, including + $50 million for forest restoration, fire protection and $50 million for groundwater sustainability planning management for wildfire and climate change + $100 million to enhance water supplies by recycling water + $40 million to restore natural and community resources, and helping farms conserve water including conversion of fossil fuel power plants to green space + $20 million for green infrastructure projects that benefit PROTECTING LOCAL COMMUNITIES FROM FLOOD disadvantaged communities + $550 million for flood protection and repair, including $350 million for flood protection, $100 million for stormwater, CONSERVING AND PROTECTING NATURAL AREAS mudslide, and other flood-related protections, and $100 + $160 million to state conservancies, including $87 million million for urban multibenefit flood projects for rivers, lakes and streams, and $73 million for open green space PROTECTING CALIFORNIA’S RIVERS, LAKES AND STREAMS + $200 million to restore the Salton Sea and prevent toxic + $162 million for river parkways and urban streams restoration air pollution + $30 million to connect habitat areas, including $10 million + $137 million to the Wildlife Conservation Board, for the California Waterfowl Habitat Program including $5 million for regional conservation investment + $25 million to restore rivers and streams in support of strategies, $52 million for Natural Community Conservation fisheries and wildlife, including $5 million for salmon and Plan projects, and up to $10 million to the UC Natural steelhead projects in Klamath-Trinity watershed Reserve System + $60 million to improve wildlife and fish passage, including + $200 million to implement habitat restoration $30 million for Southern California steelhead habitat + $50 million to repair and improve state fish and wildlife areas + $60 million for upper watersheds protection in the Sierra Nevada and Cascades PROMOTING RECREATION AND TOURISM AND SUPPORTING + $30 million to improve conditions for fish and wildlife in streams CONSERVATION JOBS + $25 million in grants for rural recreation, tourism and PROTECTING COAST, BEACHES, BAYS, AND OCEANS economic enrichment programs + $175 million for coastal and ocean resource protection of + $30 million to improve access to parks, waterways, natural beaches, bays, wetlands, lagoons, and coastal watersheds areas, and outdoor recreation areas, including expanding and wildlife areas outdoor experiences for disadvantaged youth + $40 million to assist coastal communities in adapting + $40 million for state and local conservation corps for to climate change restoration projects and equipment + $20 million for San Francisco Bay restoration + $18 million for wildlife and land conservation
Paid for by Californians for Clean Water and Safe Parks, sponsored by Conservation Groups. Committee major funding from The Nature Conservancy Conservation Action Fund for clean water and parks, sponsored by environmental organizations Committee for Clean Water Natural Resources and Parks
Board Legislative Committee Attachment IV March 9, 2018
Trump administration rejects California lawmakers’ criticism on wildfires aid
By Carolyn Lochhead November 20, 2017 Updated: November 20, 2017 5:49pm
• Photo: Tom Fox, TNS The White House has requested $44 billion in aid for hurri- cane-hit Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
WASHINGTON — Answering angry state lawmakers, White House officials denied Monday that they had omitted money for Northern California fire victims from their $44 billion disaster aid request to Congress. “The Trump administration is fully committed to assisting the victims of the California wildfires in their hour of need,” said White House spokeswoman Helen Ferre.
Top California Democratic lawmakers sent out blistering statements Friday accusing the administration of ignoring Gov. Jerry Brown’s $7.4 billion request for the Wine Country fires. The administration’s request specifically addresses disaster needs resulting from three recent hurricanes that struck Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, but mentions California only in regard to special tax relief targeted at fire victims.
But Ferre said California is included in a section of the request called the Disaster Relief Fund. The fund, which is administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, aids individual victims of disasters and pays for repairs to damaged public infrastructure. The administration has requested $23.5 billion for that fund. The remaining $20.5 billion would go to a variety of agencies that deal with different aspects of disasters.
“The California Wildfires are a declared disaster,” Ferre said, so money going to the Disaster Relief Fund “will support those efforts.”
The amount of money requested for the Disaster Relief Fund does not begin to cover the total damage assessed so far from all of the disasters that have hit U.S. states and territories since August. California would be left to compete with the hurricane-struck states for an inadequate pool of money, state lawmakers said.
“Even though the amount is far less than what Texas and Florida have requested, we’re supposed to infer additional wildfire needs are tucked in there,” said Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael. “I’m glad they’re not completely omitting us, but the idea that we would go in and compete with these hurricane victims for an amount of money that is insufficient to cover any of us is offensive in itself.”
Republican lawmakers from Texas and Florida were furious too, blasting the administration’s request as “wholly inadequate,” as Sen. John, Cornyn, the Senate’s second-ranking Republican put it. Texas alone has requested $61 billion in aid to rebuild from Hurricane Harvey, which struck Houston in August. Puerto Rico suffered catastrophic damage from Hurricane Maria in September, estimated at nearly $100 billion. Florida lawmakers were upset that their state’s citrus growers, like California fire victims, also went unmentioned in the budget request. Nearly half a million acres of the state’s citrus groves, which produce the bulk of the nation’s orange juice, were damaged by Hurricane Irma in September. GOP Rep. Tom Rooney, who represents the southwest portion of the state, called the budget request “flabbergasting.”
The state has already received help from FEMA and the Environmental Protection Agency, but Brown and California lawmakers have asked for $7.4 billion in initial aid to recover from what they describe as the most destructive wildfires in the state’s history. They said state and local officials are still assessing the damage, indicating that the cost could go higher.
Congress, not the administration, will determine by mid-December how much money the states get in disaster aid. Californians, including House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, fill some of the most powerful posts in Congress.
The Appropriations committees determine the amounts, and senior Californians sit on those panels as well. Those include Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, and Rep. Ken Calvert of Irvine, a Republican. Calvert toured the fire devastation in Sonoma County last weekend with Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena.
“I felt it was important to see the horrific impacts up close and hear from those affected,” Calvert told The Chronicle on Monday. He said despite the “tremendous effort” by FEMA and others, “more assistance will surely be necessary. I will be working with my House colleagues and the administration to ensure the areas affected by our recent disasters have the resources they need.”
Unlike delegations from other disaster-struck states, which united across party lines in asking for federal aid, California’s lawmakers divided mostly on partisan lines in making their request. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and Feinstein wrote President Trump on Nov. 3, asking him to consider Brown’s request. They were joined by all the California Democrats in the House delegation, and Orange County Republican Rep. Ed Royce. On Nov. 14, the state’s Republican lawmakers sent out a separate letter requesting aid, not mentioning Brown’s $7.4 billion figure, but asking for specific funding categories, including the Disaster Relief Fund.
Huffman noted that McCarthy visited Sonoma County, and also praised Calvert for taking the time to visit Sonoma County over the weekend.
“The fact that he’s here on the ground taking stock of the need and that he’s a fellow Californian is encouraging,” Huffman said.
Lawmakers and Senate aides said they were worried that by leaving specific mention of California out of its request, federal agencies might shortchange the state when they dole out the money. They noted that while it is true that the Disaster Relief Fund is available to all victims of declared disasters, the administration request pointedly omits California in its discussion of the fund. Specifically, it states, “This funding would support response and recovery efforts related to Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria.”
Huffman said appropriators should attach specific provisions to the money to make sure California fire victims are covered.
The budget request makes just one mention of California. “Due to this year’s historic and widespread wildfires, thousands of families in California are struggling to rebuild their homes and communities,” the request said. “Accordingly, the administration requests targeted tax relief that will directly aid in the rebuilding process in areas covered by a major disaster declaration.”
These should include allowing individuals to declare casualty losses, waiving the requirement that the loss exceed 10 percent of adjusted gross income, the request said. That contradicts the big tax bill that the House passed last week, with no Democratic support, that would allow casualty losses from this year’s hurricanes, but not California’s fires.
The administration also asked that Congress find offsetting cuts to pay for some of the disaster aid. The Government Accountability Office said in September that the cost of climate-related disasters had already reached $350 billion this decade, before this year’s hurricanes and fires. The agency said those costs will keep rising and that the federal government should start managing for the risks.
Carolyn Lochhead is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @carolynlochhead
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Board Legislative Committee Attachment IV March 9, 2018
Parks May Get Financial Boost | A $4 billion measure on the June ballot would help upgrade par ks and increase access to them. | By Alastair B l a n d
More than 15 years have passed since California's parks received a big shot of state bond money, and advocates say park infrastructure is falling apart.
Trails are wearing away. So are roads. Picnic tables are broken. Historic buildings are decaying. Bathrooms are filthy. Repairs and upgrades will cost billions. Drought, wildfires, and floods have made these problems worse, and changing climate and rising sea level are expected to exacerbate impacts in the future. In addition, low-income communities have limited access to parks, especially in the Bay Area.
A general obligation bond measure would reverse the decline of California's state and regional park system and create new recreation opportunities for millions of people, according to park advocates fervently trying to rally support for the measure.
By the most optimistic of opinions, Senate Bill 5 would help make California great again.
It heads to the ballot in June, and if voters approve it, "The California Drought, Water, Parks, Climate, Coastal Protection, and Outdoor Access for All Act of 2018" would direct just over $4 billion toward deferred maintenance of park amenities, habitat restoration programs, protection of waterways, safeguards against wildfire and sea-level rise, and the acquisition of new lands for public use.
"It is severely needed," said Mary Creasman, a San Leandro resident and the California director of government affairs for the conservation group The Trust for Public Land. "We haven't had statewide investment in parks since 2002, and many communities are starved for these kinds of investments."
Robert Doyle, general manager of the East Bay Regional Park District, helped draft the bill, which Gov. Jerry Brown signed on Oct. 15 and would need a two-thirds vote to pass. Doyle feels his district deserves some statewide support for its role in managing three local state parks, Crown Memorial State Beach in Alameda, McLaughlin Eastshore State Park in Berkeley, and Lake Del Valle State Recreation Area near Livermore.
"None of them gets any funding from the state, and that means every year, your East Bay taxpayer money is being spent on these state parks," he said. The bond measure would ease this fiscal pressure, while addressing many other areas of need. The measure would allocate $2.83 billion to parks and natural resources, including $725 million for creating new parks in communities lacking in access to open public space.
Another $1.27 billion would be earmarked for water resources, including $162 million for urban stream restoration and hundreds of millions of dollars for flood protection, groundwater sustainability, and drought preparedness.
Salmon and steelhead habitat would receive restoration funds, and the state's Department of Forestry and Fire Protection would get $50 million—an aspect of the bond measure that Doyle said is especially pertinent to the East Bay. "We're very concerned about fire, and there's no better example than 2017 of what the risks of wildfire are in urban areas," he said. "The Oakland hills are loaded with highly flammable fuels."
Sam Hodder, president and CEO of Save the Redwoods League, said the bond measure would also benefit some of California's redwood forests. Hodder, an Orinda resident, said second-growth redwood forests that were logged in the 19th and 20th centuries may now be growing back at unnaturally high tree densities. The bond measure would provide funding toward management of these forests, including the thinning of trees to allow for healthy recovery. This, he said, indirectly benefits water quality, stream flows, and native salmon and steelhead.
"This measure is really about protecting what's great about California."
The bill also addresses social inequities in park placement, infrastructure, and access. It even includes anti-displacement strategies, like tenants' rights, affordable housing support, and rent control measures, aimed at preventing the gentrification of areas that become newly improved with recreational and environmental enhancements. Creasman noted that more than one in five residents of Richmond do not have a public park within a half mile—a deficiency the measure could address by acquiring new spaces and opening them to public use.
Creasman said the bill also promises that refurbishment and construction jobs will be contracted to locally owned companies, with a focus on firms owned by women and minorities. "This is very progressive," Creasman said. "We haven't seen a natural resources bond before in California with such a strong focus on social equity and community access."
Many Californians living within an hour or two of the coast have never been to the beach, she said. The measure, by funding public transportation—including shuttles—and new coastal parking lots and trail infrastructure, will invite more people to the coast. Furthermore, she said, the bill would offer $60 million to create low-cost accommodations on the coast, including campgrounds and cabins. "Experiencing our coast isn't just about folks with money or privately held coastal property," she said.
While Creasman and many supporters feel the bill provides a buffet of social benefits for recreation-deprived Californians, others think it will be one more heavy burden on taxpayers. The Contra Costa Taxpayers Association, based in Walnut Creek, is opposed to the bond measure. On its website, the organization states it is "dedicated to promoting accountable, cost-effective and efficient government and opposing unnecessary taxes and spending." In an interview, the nonprofit's president Jack Weir said Senate Bill 5 is an unnecessary extra burden on the state's taxpayers.
"There's a point at which taxpayers are completely overburdened, and we think we're at that point," he said.
Weir believes the state has more pressing matters to resolve with taxpayer support than parks, open space, wetlands, and other areas addressed by Senate Bill 5.
"If you look at our transportation infrastructure—our roads, our bridges, our freeways— they're in terrible condition because of the lack of adequate maintenance," he said. "We'd rather see money spent to bring our basic infrastructure up to a decent condition, including dams and things of that sort, than on, say, acquiring new lands for parks."
But Doyle said research has shown that every dollar invested into regional parks produces $4 in economic benefits for the state, in part through more business activity and improved health.
Creasman said the notion that voters can choose to support general infrastructure or recreational opportunities is "a false choice" that fails to perceive various health, economic, and social benefits of parks and open space.
Basic social infrastructure is important. "But we also need quality of life," she said.
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Board Legislative Committee Attachment IV March 9, 2018
DWR Director Nemeth Contracted with California State Water Agencies to Plan Delta Tunnels While Employed at MWD RESTORE THE DELTA FEBRUARY 23, 2018
STOCKTON – Documents acquired by Restore the Delta from a recent a public records act request to Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) confirm that newly appointed California Department of Water Resources Director (DWR) Karla Nemeth was a MWD employee from 2009 to 2014, earning over $900,000 in total compensation. During her MWD tenure, she was contracted to work for Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) planning under the CalFed program, and then by the California Department of Water Resources. All PRA documents sent by MWD to Restore the Delta can be read here.
Representatives from various state water agencies and policy groups downplayed Ms. Nemeth’s pro- tunnels employment history with MWD in a recent Sacramento Bee report, while Restore the Delta maintained that Ms. Nemeth’s work history should be further scrutinized as a conflict of interest. Specifically, Restore the Delta noted that a report from Transparent California indicated Ms. Nemeth’s complicated employment history between MWD and California Natural Resources Agency.
The PRA documents show MWD was reimbursed by CalFed and then DWR for Ms. Nemeth’s compensation. Nevertheless, MWD controlled Ms. Nemeth’s job title and compensation and promoted her in 2012 to a Program Manager III for her broader strategic work, even though California Natural Resource Agency’s Jerry Meral had to sign off on her overall performance for billing purposes. While working under CalFed, Ms. Nemeth’s payroll was processed for a short time by the Delta Stewardship Council, and while working for DWR, her payroll was processed by the engineering arm of DWR.
It is also worth noting that at one point DWR requested from MWD a board resolution affirming the legality of Ms. Nemeth working for DWR. MWD’s assistant general manager Roger Patterson indicated the matter would not be taken to the MWD Board.
The documents further reveal that Ms. Nemeth worked under an interjurisdictional employee exchange agreement from February 2009 through December 2010. Ms. Nemeth was an employee for the contractor, Metropolitan Water District, assigned by MWD to work for the Natural Resources Agency under CalFed to oversee intergovernmental outreach for BDCP planning, equaling a total compensation of over $300,000. A second contract indicates that Ms. Nemeth was on loan from MWD to the Department of Water Resources from May 2010 through April 2014 performing similar functions for a total compensation of $638,000.
However, the January 10, 2018 press release announcing Ms. Nemeth’s appointment as head of DWR described her as the project manager for WaterFix with the Natural Resources Agency from 2009-2014 without any mention of her employment with Metropolitan Water District. In effect, she was an embedded MWD employee shaping state water policy and development for DWR.
Restore the Delta executive director Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla made the following statement regarding the findings within the PRA documents, “While it appears on the surface that Ms. Nemeth’s employment as a MWD contractor on loan to DWR was set up in a legal manner, it speaks volumes that this part of her work history has been hidden from the public, and dismissed by officials with the California Natural Resources Agency in press statements. On the heels of the Oroville catastrophe and subsequent revelations of DWR missteps and negligence in the Oroville response, it is clear that the Department of Water Resources is in need of internal reform. With 44 other state dams needingsignificant upgrades and repairs, one would think that Secretary Laird and Governor Brown would be interested in hiring an expert managing engineer to lead DWR, or someone with high level management experience within a government agency, like DWR, with a $3 billion budget and 3000 employees. At most, Ms. Nemeth may have managed a dozen people, solely on the Delta tunnels project.
“The Department of Water Resources has functioned for the last ten years as a subsidiary of the Metropolitan Water District with all functions centered on construction of the boondoggle Delta tunnels. This appointment reaffirms that DWR, the state’s managing entity for the entire state’s water resources, is held captive by the outsized influence of Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.
Secretary Laird and Governor Brown have placed in the director’s job someone whose primary work experience has been to coordinate public and intergovernmental outreach, in addition to policy planning, for an ill-conceived project. After eleven years of planning, project documents indicate that the project does not restore the San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary and does not include a completed analysis for climate change impacts for water deliveries beyond 2025. The people of California should be outraged over this conflict of interest, and the Governor’s failure to hire the most qualified candidate to deal with California’s new normal of ongoing drought.” ###
For immediate release: 2/23/18 Contact: Nora Kovaleski, 408-806-6470, [email protected] Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Restore the Delta, 209-479-2053, [email protected]
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Board Legislative Committee Attachment IV March 9, 2018
Cutbacks, policy shifts pummel morale at EPA office in SF
By Peter Fimrite February 23, 2018 Updated: February 24, 2018 5:40pm
• Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle Lynda Deschambault and her dog, Kodiak, visit the Mulholland Open Space in Moraga that she helped to preserve in the early 2000s. Deschambault took early retirement from the EPA office in S.F. after seeing ... more
Lynda Deschambault knew her career at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had taken a hard turn in July when, she said, her supervisor told her during a performance review to “be as invisible as possible.” The next month, she took early retirement. The request, she said, was jarring for a woman who had spent two decades enforcing pollution laws and the cleanup of toxic lands for the EPA’s Pacific Southwest region, based in San Francisco. Managing Superfund sites is not a position that lends itself to blending in.
“I’ve been through other administrations before, and we were always told to tighten our bootstraps and get to work. This was saying, ‘Well, don’t do your job,’” said Deschambault, who was the remediation manager at Leviathan Mine, an abandoned sulfur pit in Alpine County. “It was very surreal. I had never seen this before.”
More than a year into the Trump presidency, cuts to the EPA’s budget and the easing of regulations under Administrator Scott Pruitt have demoralized many workers in San Francisco-based Region 9, according to three current employees, a manager and a scientist who left in the past year, and five other former employees.
In interviews with The Chronicle, the workers described a situation in which managers, enforcement officers and scientists who take pride in their mission are being pushed out or shunted to the side. They said the tension is probably one reason Region 9 is the only one of the agency’s 10 offices still without a permanent leader.
“I’ve been here 31 years, and this is definitely the worst I’ve seen it in the EPA in terms of job security, staffing and just being able to do the work that the American people expect to protect the environment,” said Mark Sims, an engineer in the air enforcement division in Region 9 who spoke as a representative of the local chapter of the Engineers and Scientists of California union.
The White House said this month it is seeking to cut more than $2.5 billion out of the agency’s budget. The proposal, for fiscal 2019, would shrink EPA spending by more than 23 percent. That would come on top of reductions carried out in 2017, when hundreds of employees, or roughly 5 percent, took buyouts and early retirement.
Pruitt, who declined to be interviewed, is engaged in a revamping of the EPAanchored in his belief that the agency has overstepped its congressional mandate, including when it began regulating heat-trapping greenhouse gases under President Barack Obama and hindered oil, gas and coal production in favor of renewable energy.
Photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais, Associated Press Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt testifies in Congress in January.
Pruitt, who as Oklahoma attorney general sued the agency 14 times, has denounced the “picking of winners and losers” and believes in a “lean” EPA using a collaborative regulatory system. A memo sent to regional administrators Jan. 2 said the priority is “a level playing field for regulated entities.” It urged EPA regulators to defer to the states on enforcement whenever possible.
“What’s happened over the last 10 years or so is that the agency evolved and morphed into something that was almost like a superagency,” Pruitt told the New York Times in a recent podcast. “I think the agency took the perspective ... that though we have been blessed with natural resources that help us literally feed the world and power the world, that we should not develop those resources.”
Central to Pruitt’s agenda — and particularly alarming to the current and former employees who spoke to The Chronicle — is his questioning of climate science. He acknowledged that the planet is warming in a recent television interview, but said it wasn’t “necessarily a bad thing,” despite evidence that warming could drive extreme weather events and coastal inundation from sea level rise. Pruitt has removed much of the information that the EPA had about climate change from the agency’s website.
The request for Deschambault to lie low came on top of a series of regulatory rollbacks and cost-cutting moves. In October, Pruitt announced his intention to repeal the Clean Power Plan, Obama’s 2015 bid to curb power plants’ release of greenhouse gases. He said the program had “weaponized” the agency.
Even without the budget cuts at the EPA, enforcement has suffered, critics say. A report released this month by the nonprofit Environmental Integrity Project, which pushes for strong enforcement of environmental laws, said that in the first 12 months of the Trump administration, the agency brought an average of 44 percent fewer civil cases than the previous three administrations did in the same time frame. The report said civil penalties paid by polluters declined 49 percent during the same period.
Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle Lynda Deschambault, a scientist at the EPA office in San Francisco who oversaw cleanup at Superfund sites, took early retirement when the new administration decided to go “lean” and cut her regulatory authority. Deschambault and others said a malaise has gripped the EPA office at 75 Hawthorne St. in San Francisco, as managers are forced to tighten purse strings and limit inspections.
“Many inspectors have been discouraged from conducting inspections, and the attorneys who focus on enforcement have been moving away from it,” said Taly Jolish, an EPA lawyer speaking in her capacity as the president of the local American Federation of Government Employees union. “It’s depressing and discouraging ... we came to EPA to enforce the environmental laws of the United States, which have been the model for the world.”
The 702 employees in Region 9 enforce federal regulations in California, Nevada, Arizona, Hawaii, the Pacific islands and 148 tribal nations. The office has ordered California to re- examine rules that allowed oil companies to inject wastewater into aquifers, fined companies that polluted San Francisco Bay, forced the cleanup of rivers and creeks, and taken legal action against the Bureau of Indian Affairs for not providing adequate drinking water to schools on Indian land.
Environmental advocates say Pruitt’s actions have decreased critical oversight of polluting industries.
“We don’t have a fully functioning agency and that’s intentional,” said Jared Blumenfeld, who ran the San Francisco office before stepping down as regional administrator in May 2016. He said Pruitt is “delivering on his promise: Don’t do enforcement so polluters can be left to pollute.”
Pruitt has said oversight remains strong, but now strictly follows federal law.
The San Francisco office employs about 250 fewer people than it did in 2010, Blumenfeld said. Records show about 700 employees nationwide have left the EPA since Trump was elected. Staffing is now roughly equivalent to the level in 1988, when 14,442 people worked for the agency. That’s about 3,000 less than were employed at the EPA a year into the administrations of Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Obama. EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox said 400 workers took buyouts, including 11 in Region 9, a small percentage of those who were eligible. He disputed that the San Francisco office is beset by concern over the agency’s direction, saying, “Morale is great at EPA.”
Blumenfeld said 800 to 900 employees are needed to attend to all of the work in Region 9. Sims said that in addition to those who took buyouts, as many as 40 other San Francisco employees quit or retired last year. Pruitt’s plan, he said, is to cut 10 percent a year for the next three years in Region 9, eliminating 47 jobs in the coming fiscal year.
Those numbers are “not accurate,” Wilcox said without elaborating.
Environmental groups and Democratic politicians are afraid staffing nationwide will be decreased so much that it matches the early 1980s, when then-EPA administrator Anne Gorsuch cut the budget, feuded with employees and reduced cases against polluters. She resigned in 1983 after a scandal over the mismanagement of the Superfund program. There were fewer than 11,000 employees in the agency that year, according to EPA documents.
Pruitt’s critics fear he will end dozens of programs nationwide and virtually eliminate work related to climate change. They say deferring to states with varying environmental priorities will make it more difficult for the EPA to hold polluters accountable.
The critics point to a recent settlement with Syngenta Seeds, which was accused of exposing workers in Hawaii to an insecticide. The EPA initially sought $4.8 million after 10 workers at a farm on Kauai were hospitalized, but settled this month for $150,000 while mandating a training program for growers.
“To reduce it by this amount is quite unusual,” said Judith Enck, a former EPA administrator in New York.
Pruitt has stated he wants to focus on Superfund cleanup and recently released a list of 21 sites targeted for immediate attention. The list included two of the 111 sites in Region 9. California has 98 Superfund sites, second in the nation to New Jersey. One site on the list was ARCO’s abandoned Anaconda Copper Mine southeast of Reno. But instead of going forward with a remediation plan this month, Pruitt agreed, over the objections of nearby American Indian tribes and environmentalists, to delay a Superfund priority listing for at least four years.
“The first thing he did where an oil company is the polluter was say, ‘Oh, we won’t make it a Superfund site,’” said Kathy Setian, an environmental engineer who worked for 20 years as a Superfund project manager and left the agency in 2012. “It’s devastating. I feel like it is my life’s work that is being dismantled.”
Some project managers say regulations are being relaxed at many toxic sites, including Leviathan Mine, a 250-acre property in the Sierra abandoned in the early 1960s after sulfuric acid drained out and metals were detected in a creek and on Washoe Indian land. The state of California bought the site in 1983, and the Washoe asked the EPA to intervene 15 years later.
Oversight and the interpretation of data collected at the mine were curtailed last June as part of the lean management adopted by Pruitt. Deschambault said she was told to cut down on meetings and stop putting pressure on ARCO, which as a former site owner was handling cleanup, to provide the EPA with sampling results.
When Deschambault pushed back, she said she was told a second site manager would be brought in to streamline the process. She said her supervisor had told her to be “invisible” out of helpless frustration and concern for her, not out of animosity. The agency did not allow the supervisor to respond to inquiries, but Deschambault said she was told her supervisor denied the charge after she included it in her resignation letter.
“We don’t have any information for you at this time,” Michele Huitric, a Region 9 spokeswoman, wrote in an email when asked about Deschambault’s allegations.
“We feel like the administrator is promoting the oil and gas industries and that he’s focused on limiting the work that we feel is important,” Jolish said. “He sees industry as our customer.”
Wilcox said that “Administrator Pruitt is proud to streamline regulations, which is creating regulatory certainty.”
Blumenfeld’s onetime deputy, Alexis Strauss, has been acting administrator for Region 9 for nearly two years. (She could not be reached for comment.) So far, none of Pruitt’s preferred candidates have agreed to take over an office in a left-leaning region populated by employees considered to be largely hostile to the administration’s views.
Ryan Flynn, an oil and gas lobbyist in New Mexico, recently became the second oil industry executive to turn down the job, the Los Angeles Times reported, citing EPA sources. Flynn, who was twice awarded the “Toxic Turkey” prize by the New Mexico Environmental Law Center, was not a popular choice among the rank and file, current and former Region 9 workers said.
Flynn, the executive director of the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association, told The Chronicle he “never aspired” to be the San Francisco office administrator.
“I admire EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and strongly believe in EPA’s mission to protect human health and the environment, however, my family is happily rooted in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and I am very satisfied with my current role,” he said in an email.
Managers and former employees said EPA staffers fear that resisting changes, or criticizing the leadership, will lead to being targeted by the administration.
The EPA gave a no-bid, $120,000 contract to a Republican-linked opposition-research firm, Definers Public Affairs, and the the New York Times reported that one of its executives spent last year filing Freedom of Information Act requests while scouring the agency for “resistance” figures.
“People are so afraid of retribution,” Setian said. “They are trying to intimidate people.”
Wilcox, the EPA spokesman, said the firm was hired only to collect and categorize media reports for the agency. He denied the agency had sought to intimidate employees, but he acknowledged internal communications were subject to review.
“Like any government agency, all EPA employees are subjected to the Freedom of Information Act,” he said, “and in terms of the FOIAs, nearly all are aimed at political, not career employees.” Deschambault said it is clear to her that the agency’s watchdog role is broken.
“The people we used to regulate are now in charge,” she said.
Peter Fimrite is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @pfimrite
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Board Legislative Committee Attachment IV March 9, 2018
California Democrats deny Sen. Feinstein an endorsement
By Maeve Reston, CNN Updated 2:31 PM ET, Sun February 25, 2018
SAN DIEGO (CNN)As he sought to wrest the California Democratic Party's endorsement away from longtime Sen. Dianne Feinstein, her upstart challenger, Kevin de León, made an impassioned argument to state delegates Saturday that the time had come for a new generation of leadership in the Senate.
While he was not able to earn their endorsement outright, he did secure enough votes (54%) to prevent one for Feinstein, who received just 37 percent of the delegates' votes. In an aggressive speech at the California Democratic Party convention, De León said Democrats deserve a progressive senator who fights on the "front lines," who doesn't "equivocate on the sidelines." "I'm running for US Senate because the days of Democrats biding our time, biding our talk, are over," said De León, who is the leader of the California Senate. "Leadership comes from human audacity, not from congressional seniority." He faulted Feinstein for her initial approach to President Donald Trump -- which infuriated Democratic activists here -- mocking her for saying last August that she believed Trump "can be a good president" if he had the ability to "learn and to change."
Charging that Feinstein is out of step with the progressive direction of the party, De León pointed to a litany of issues where he said he disagrees with the senior senator, including school vouchers, allowing federal agents to spy on American citizens, and her past support of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He said he would never have supported prosecuting 13-year-olds as adults "in a criminal justice system propped up by institutional racism" (an apparent reference to her support for the 1994 crime bill). De León also chided Feinstein's approach to immigration, charging that he would never use the so-called Dreamers "as a bargaining chip."
"We demand passion, not patience. We speak truth to power," said De León said. "And we've never been fooled into thinking that Donald Trump could be a good president. ... Being good sometimes is not good enough."
Feinstein did not mention her Democratic opponent at all. In the wake of the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, she focused her remarks on her decades-long advocacy for an assault weapons ban, which was phased out in 2004. She criticized Trump for suggesting that teachers should be armed.
"I thought after Sandy Hook there would never be another school shooting, yet after Sandy Hook, 400 people have been shot in over 200 school shootings," Feinstein said. "Last year, 26 of us in the Senate introduced a new assault weapons ban, and passing it now is my quest. It's my mission. I am absolutely committed to achieving this."
"Now is the time to take those weapons of war off our streets," she said to applause.
De León got a far warmer welcome than his opponent on the convention floor. But he had to receive 60 percent of the delegate votes to get the Democratic endorsement, a threshold he did not meet. De León enjoys a close kinship with many of the state delegates, who tend to be far more liberal than the average California voter.
Even had De León notched the endorsement, Feinstein is still heavily favored to win in November -- in part because of her nearly unlimited resources, and her support among California independents and some Republicans. Dan Newman, a Democratic strategist for Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and US Sen. Kamala Harris, said a party endorsement for De León would be "the apex of his campaign," but that it was unlikely to have an impact on the outcome in the Senate race because of Feinstein's near universal name recognition. "He still faces an electorate that largely doesn't know who he is, and the tremendous amount of respect and reverence for Senator Feinstein because of her decades of work, particularly on the issue that is energizing Democrats more than any other right now," said Newman, who supports Feinstein.
Governor's race
Delegates began voting Saturday evening on endorsements for the statewide races, including the US Senate seat and the California governor's race. The endorsement battle was far more competitive in California governor's race where John Chiang and Gavin Newsom were locked in a close race for the party's nod. "The time for timidity is over," said Newsom, touching on his history of becoming the first mayor to marry same-sex couples, passing the state's highest minimum wage, and pushing for the first citywide universal health care plan when he was mayor of San Francisco. "My opponents in this race have spent a lot of time telling us what can't be done."
"My whole life we have faced down skeptics, defeatist Democrats who have suggested we need to pick our battles," Newsom said. "California has never succeeded by playing it safe."
Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, made the case that his life experience growing up in poverty had prepared him for the challenges of the governor's office. "Millions of Californians are worker harder than ever before, and they are still falling further and further behind," Villaraigosa said. "There are two Californias, one rich and getting richer, and another where millions of hardworking families are still struggling to make their California dream come true. But it doesn't have to be this way. They call us the Golden State and we can shine again." Villaraigosa, who has long trailed Newsom with his fundraising efforts, threw a few jabs in his rival's direction. At one point, he noted that he learned about poverty and the middle-class struggle through his own life experience, not at "a panel at Davos."
Without mentioning their names, Chiang took shots at both Newsom and Villaraigosa. He alluded to the fact that both weathered embarrassing episodes when their past marital problems spilled into the public eye. "You deserve a governor with integrity to lead and the character to make every Californian proud," said Chiang, who is state treasurer. "You deserve a governor you can trust, a governor with the credibility to go after sexual harassers."
Chiang tried to position himself as the best candidate to stand up to Trump, noting he had experience standing up to "racist bullies" when he was a child.
After the votes were tallied, no consensus was reached for a gubernatorial candidate. Newsom received the highest percentage of votes with 39%, followed by Chiang with 30%, Delaine Eastin with 20%, and Villaraigosa with 9%.
The endorsement caucuses Saturday night could also could be a key factor in narrowing the field in the seven congressional races in California that are key to Democrat's hopes of winning back the House of Representatives.
Party officials are concerned that the large field of Democratic candidates in several races -- including the contests to replace retiring Republican House members Darrell Issa and Ed Royce -- could actually put Democrats in a scenario where they split the vote, creating a path for the Republican candidates.
Though voting took place in those congressional races Saturday night, the results will not be final until they are certified on the convention floor Sunday.
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Board Legislative Committee Attachment IV March 9, 2018
Along California-Oregon border, debate over protected lands is clash of values
By Kurtis Alexander March 3, 2018 Updated: March 5, 2018 12:38pm
• Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle A spring house in the Horseshoe Ranch Wildlife Area in the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument outside of Copco, Calif., on Wednesday, February 21, 2018. The monument, expanded in the final year of the Obama ... more
CASCADE-SISKIYOU NATIONAL MONUMENT, Siskiyou County — There’s no welcome sign here, not even a marked road to the entrance. Just wide-open countryside. But this little-visited stretch of protected hills and valleys that makes up California’s share of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument is at the heart of a nationwide debate over the management of America’s public lands.
After President Trump’s recent decision to shrink two monuments in Utah, the administration is eyeing the 113,000-acre Cascade-Siskiyou site on the remote California- Oregon border for similar downsizing.
Established in 2000, the monument safeguards the crossroads of the ancient Siskiyou Mountains and the younger volcanic Cascades. The juncture forms a land bridge that brings together an unusual mix of animals and plants, from desert snakes to salamanders to cactus to old-growth firs. Some have called it the Galapagos of North America.
The administration, though, has recommended more logging and cattle grazing here, an overture that brings Trump’s pro-development push from the more receptive Southwest to the deep blue West Coast. Already, all four senators from California and Oregon, as well as many in the state legislatures, are lining up with conservation groups to protest.
“This isn’t Utah,” said Dave Willis, 65, an outdoorsman who lives in a mobile home on one of many private parcels within the monument’s boundary and has spent much of his life advocating for the area’s protection.
But despite the resistance, many residents in this sparsely populated region don’t share the politics of the rest of their states, and they have little concern for the monument.
“Never heard of it,” said a woman working the Chevron food mart off Interstate 5, the only store at the exit on the monument’s California side. Several people stopping for gas said the same.
The subject was more familiar a half hour south in Yreka, the seat of Siskiyou County, where one of two remaining sawmills closed a few months ago and a historically booming timber industry has given way to high unemployment. Many said they can’t afford to put conservation ahead of commerce.
“Our concerns don’t come from a standpoint of having a pristine place because we have tons of them,” said county Supervisor Ray Haupt. “We’re a poor county, and anytime we look at a lockup of public property, it hurts us economically.”
The Trump administration has not said how much of the monument it wants to open up to private interests. Nor has the president indicated if he’ll sign off on the recommendation. Administration officials have said only that they’re listening to the wishes of locals.
On a recent afternoon, terrestrial ecologist Evan Frost, who co-wrote a scientific report that successfully argued for the monument’s expansion under President Barack Obama, trekked down an old ranch road on its California portion.
To the south, giant Mount Shasta loomed. To the north stood Pilot Rock in Oregon, an old volcanic plug that once guided wagon trains and serves as the monument’s defining landmark.
Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle Pilot Rock lies in Cascade-Siskiyou monument, which was expanded by President Barack Obama but now faces possible reduction under President Trump.
“I rarely see anyone up here,” Frost said, crossing through grasslands where feral horses grazed. “It’s really off the beaten track.”
The California side of the monument is just 5,000 acres, sitting alongside the state’s little- known Horseshoe Ranch Wildlife Area, which is roughly the same size and enjoys similar protections.
While small, the expanse is important, Frost said. It’s not as high as the more mountainous terrain across the border and offers sanctuary to low-lying oak and chaparral, which attract deer and elk from the north come winter.
The monument’s biggest waterfall, Jenny Creek Falls, flows in California. The series of cascades with drops up to 40 feet is hidden in a far-flung canyon where hikers commonly get lost trying to find the chutes.
Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument A tour of California's slice of the monument
00:52 The Obama administration added the California property to the monument in January of last year, part of a near doubling of the overall site. While monuments are similar to national parks, they don’t need congressional approval and are created or enlarged at the wishes of the president under the 112-year-old Antiquities Act.
Frost and others made the case to the Obama administration that the original boundaries weren’t sufficient to preserve the area’s biodiversity.
“Having this full spectrum of ecological change is very important,” Frost said. Now he stood beside a fragrant juniper tree, more at home in the dry eastern basins of Oregon than its perch on the grassy, California hillside. “We’re almost in a high desert here, but we go to a conifer forest in only a few miles.”
The Bureau of Land Management, which oversees the monument, has yet to draft an official plan for the expansion. If the site survives Trump’s review, federal officials could add a few amenities for visitors, such as road signs and trails.
The site, though, is never expected to be built out in the fashion of more popular monuments like the Bay Area’s Muir Woods.
The spread of the Cascade-Siskiyou monument was not well received by many living nearby.
When Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke visited the region last summer to evaluate the Obama administration’s adjustments, the region’s logging and ranching communities opened their arms to the scrutiny. One resident greeted the secretary with a poster: “New Endangered Species: Rural American.”
As in the nation’s coal country, the natural-resource economy here has taken hits not only from stepped-up environmental restrictions but foreign competition, new material markets and an aging workforce. Far more jobs today are in health care, hospitality and retail. Many are holding out hope for a turnaround, even if unlikely. “We’re just getting to where everything is coming down on us,” said Siskiyou County resident Lawrence Bell, 72, who supports the monument’s downsizing. “We got nothing compared to what we had.”
Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle Diarmuid McGuire (right), owner of Green Springs Inn and Cabins, talking with Erika Charbeneau, favors keeping the expanded boundaries and federal protection of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument.
Under the terms of the monument’s creation, grazing is permitted, at least where the Bureau of Land Management thinks cattle won’t trample hillsides or pollute creeks. Logging, though, is being phased out in a bid to improve forest health.
The impact of the monument’s regulations is limited on the California side. Just two sites have been grazed recently and continue to be leased to ranchers, according to federal records. Logging companies have never harvested timber here because of the lack of trees.
Oregon is seeing a bigger fallout. While the government hasn’t forced cattle off the monument, some ranchers sold grazing leases to conservation groups, which in turn retired the rights. An industry group says monument rules make it hard for cattlemen to run their herds. About two dozen grazing areas remain active, records show.
As for logging, about 6 million board feet of timber is forfeited on Oregon’s side of the monument each year, according to federal estimates — a small fraction of the state’s production, but still troubling, according to some local businesses. Both the lumber trade and a coalition of Oregon counties, which receive a cut of logging proceeds, are suing the federal government over the monument. Their attorneys contend the expansion violated a 1937 federal law designating most of the land for timber.
John Kessler, a forestry consultant in Siskiyou County, said the reasons to scale back the monument don’t end there. He fears damage from wildfires if timber harvesting ends, and the loss of logging roads popular with all-terrain vehicle users and snowmobilers.
Environmentalists dismiss such concerns, insisting that many of the hundreds of miles of dirt roads will remain and that logging isn’t the only way to reduce fire hazard. But Kessler’s arguments carry an emotional weight with local currency.
“I’m afraid we’re just going to see more problems,” he said.
Along Oregon’s Highway 66, where the core of the monument reveals thick pine and fir forests and plenty of snow in the winter, an emerging tension is clear in the competing signs that dot the roadside.
“No Siskiyou Monument,” reads one.
“We (heart) our monument,” says another.
Padraic McGuire, whose family runs Green Springs Inn and Cabins near the crossing of the Pacific Crest Trail, hung a banner in support of the site last year in anticipation of a nearby opposition rally.
“If this is how it’s going to be,” he said, “let’s wave our flag.”
McGuire, 35, appreciates the modest services the Bureau of Land Management introduced for visitors. Updated maps highlight points of interest, such as Hyatt Lake and Hobart Bluff, and a few signs show the way to destinations like Soda Mountain Wilderness.
McGuire’s woodsy resort has benefited from crowds that come from nearby Ashland, Ore., a town known for its Shakespeare festival, where people have been largely supportive of the monument. He said hikers and climbers also have started coming from Portland and the Bay Area. “It’s been cool to see people become more enthusiastic,” he said.
McGuire hopes the organized advocacy for the monument will win out. In addition to support from political leaders up and down the West Coast, businesses have been writing letters, and some national corporations are joining the fray.
Patagonia, the outdoor retailer, recently sparred with Washington over its website accusing Trump of stealing America’s public lands. The House Natural Resources Committee fired back in a tweet that the company was lying and simply trying to “sell more products to wealthy elitist urban dwellers from New York to San Francisco.”
Attorneys general from Oregon and California are threatening to sue the administration if the Cascade-Siskiyou monument is altered. They allege that while a president has authority to create such a designation, he doesn’t have the power to remove it.
That argument is already at work in lawsuits in Utah, where Trump in December cut Bears Ears National Monument by 85 percent and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument by nearly half.
The administration has rejected the legal challenges. In addition to the Cascade-Siskiyou site, Zinke is recommending reductions to Nevada’s Gold Butte National Monument as well as management changes that could lift protections at a half dozen other land and marine sites.
In Siskiyou County, Anne Marsh, 78, said she’s no longer able to get out into these wild places because of her age, but she’s adamant that they shouldn’t be turned over to private enterprise.
“It’s not a popular opinion to have in this community. I’m considered a real greenie environmentalist here,” she said. “But for me, I have grandchildren and perhaps great grandchildren on the way. I’d like to see them be able to use our country’s land.”
Kurtis Alexander is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @kurtisalexander
Board Legislative Committee Attachment IV March 9, 2018
Chemical industry insider nominated to key EPA position
By Micheal Biesecker
Published 2:46 pm, Saturday, March 3, 2018
WASHINGTON — President Trump has tapped a chemical industry insider to run the Environmental Protection Agency office that oversees emergency response to hazardous spills and cleanups of the nation’s most toxic sites.
The White House announced Friday that Trump has nominated Peter Wright to serve as the EPA’s assistant administrator for Land and Emergency Management. Wright has worked as a corporate lawyer at Dow Chemical Co. since 1999. Despite Trump’s campaign pledges to “drain the swamp” in Washington, Wright’s nomination is the latest example of the president appointing corporate lawyers or lobbyists to supervise federal offices that directly regulate their former employers. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said Wright is “exceptionally qualified” to lead the Office of Land and Emergency Management.
“He has the expertise and experience necessary to implement our ambitious goals for cleaning up the nation’s contaminated lands quickly and thoroughly,” Pruitt said. If confirmed by the Senate, Wright would oversee the EPA office that responds to such large-scale national emergencies as oil spills and unauthorized releases of chemicals or radioactive materials. Wright would also oversee the Superfund hazardous waste cleanup program. Dow merged with rival DuPont last year, creating the world’s largest chemical maker. The companies are also financially responsible for cleaning up toxic sites where they caused pollution. At Dow, Wright has served as managing counsel for environmental health and safety, as well as the company’s principle counsel for mergers and acquisitions. Wright also advised Dow on Superfund cleanups. An analysis of EPA data by the Associated Press shows Dow and DuPont are listed as responsible parties for more than 100 of the toxic sites currently undergoing or slated for cleanup across the nation. Dow also provided a $1 million check to Trump’s inaugural committee.
Micheal Biesecker is an Associated Press writer.
Board Legislative Committee Attachment IV March 9, 2018
California Republicans see chance to take Democratic seats in Congress
By John Wildermuth February 28, 2018 Updated: March 1, 2018 7:43am
• Photo: Rich Pedroncelli, Associated Press Incumbent Democratic Rep. Ami Bera goes to cast his ballot while voting in Elk Grove, Calif on Nov. 4, 2014. Bera is in a tight race with Republican Doug Ose for the California 7th District seat, one of the ... more
While Democrats see California as a target-rich environment in their bid to take control of Congress, Republicans hope to make that tougher with their own list of seats they intend to flip from Democratic blue to GOP red. Incumbents in suburban Sacramento, Riverside County, Santa Barbara and San Diego are the focus of attention from Republican leaders convinced that a typically low-turnout midterm election will give them a shot at an election day surprise in November.
“The fundamentals look good for Republicans,” said Jack Pandol, a spokesman for the Republican National Congressional Committee. “Democrats are sleeping on their efforts at this point.”
It’s not like Republicans are trying to unseat Democrats like Oakland’s Barbara Lee or San Francisco’s Nancy Pelosi, long-term incumbents in districts so one-sided that GOP challengers are barely an afterthought.
But in the Seventh Congressional District, which includes much of the Sacramento suburbs, Rep. Ami Bera beat GOP incumbent Dan Lungren in 2012, 51 to 49 percent. He was re-elected in 2014 by a scant 892 votes and then won another 51-49 nail-biter two years ago.
“It’s a true swing district, probably the most competitive in California,” Pandol said. “Bera always just barely does enough to slip by.”
In an off-year election, without President Trump on the ballot to stir up Democratic opposition, Republicans could outnumber their opponents at the polls, clearing the way for an upset victory.
“Statistics show that the electorates are more Republican, more married, older and whiter in midterms,” all conditions that favor GOP turnout, Pandol added.
The situation is similar in all four of the districts targeted by Republicans.
In Santa Barbara’s 24th Congressional District, Salud Carbajal, a Santa Barbara County supervisor, replaced retiring Democratic Rep. Lois Capps two years ago, beating Republican businessman Justin Fareed, 53 to 47 percent. But Fareed ran well ahead of Trump, who lost by 20 percentage points to Democrat Hillary Clinton in the district. Republicans argue that the numbers show that even anti-Trump voters are willing to support a GOP congressional candidate. Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-Palm Desert (Riverside County), won his 36th Congressional District seat in 2012 by beating GOP incumbent Mary Bono. While he crushed his Republican opponent two years ago, it was a much closer race in the 2014 midterm year. Trump lost to Clinton in the district by fewer than nine percentage points, “numbers better than some of our California incumbents,” Pandol said.
Democrat Scott Peters in San Diego’s 52nd Congressional District also took office in 2012, beating GOP Rep. Brian Bilbray, 51 to 49 percent. After a tight re-election campaign in 2014, he won easily in 2016.
The strong anti-Trump feeling in California won’t be much help for the targeted Democrats, Pandol said, since they are in districts that have shown conservative leanings in the past, along with a willingness to elect Republicans.
All four incumbents have toed the Democratic line, “which has moved far, far to the left on issues like immigration and tax cuts,” he added. “They’re not paying attention to their districts.”
But for all the upbeat talk by GOP leaders, a loss by any of those Democrats would be seen as an upset.
“There’s absolutely nothing in California now that points in a Republican direction,” said Tony Quinn, a former GOP consultant who now is a senior editor for the California Target Book, which studies state and congressional races in California.
Charles Cook, whose nonpartisan “Cook Political Report” newsletter has been ranking congressional, Senate and gubernatorial races since 1984, listed only two Democrat-held congressional seats as competitive, with Bera’s seat rated as “Leans Democratic” and Carbajal’s as “Likely Democratic.” Neither Ruiz nor Peters makes the list.
By contrast, seats now held by retiring Republicans Ed Royce of Fullerton (Orange County) and Darrell Issa of Vista (San Diego County) are listed as “Leans Democrat.” Three other GOP-held seats are rated as toss-ups, one as “Leans Republican” and three as “Likely Republican.” While the list of candidates won’t be complete until the March 9 filing deadline, the Democrats already have a strong fundraising edge over the likely Republican challengers.
Fareed, who is steering toward a rematch with Carbajal in Santa Barbara, is the only GOP contender with more than $200,000 in the bank. All four of the Democrats had more than $1 million cash on hand at the end of 2017, and Ruiz and Peters each reported more than $2 million.
While Pandol vowed that “we’ll be there to support them,” Republicans already are committed to defending the seats they now hold. With Democrats targeting 10 of California’s 14 GOP congressional seats, it’s unknown how much cash Republicans will have to help the challengers.
California’s changing demographics will also play a role in November.
Since this same point in 2014, the last midterm election, Democratic registration has grown and Republican numbers have dropped. In Peters’ San Diego district, for example, the percentage of Democrats has grown from 32.4 to 34 percent, while Republicans have fallen from 33.9 to 30 percent.
And with a strong possibility that there will be no Republican candidate for governor or U.S. Senate that will get through June’s top-two primary to advance to the November ballot, “What is going to bring Republicans out to vote?” Quinn asked.
While Trump’s name won’t be on the 2018 ballot, Democratic candidates across the state, including those targeted by the GOP, will do their best to convince voters that they will be casting their ballots against a historically unpopular president and his policies.
“Trump so dominates everything in California right now” that there isn’t an election that isn’t about him, Quinn added.
Republicans don’t argue that California has become an increasingly difficult state for the GOP, but there’s still hope for November.
“We’ve got good recruits,” Pandol said. “We’re confident we’ll be able to play offense.” John Wildermuth is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @jfwildermuth
John Wildermuth Political Reporter
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Board Legislative Committee Attachment IV March 9, 2018
North Bay congressmen outraged that Trump hasn’t funded fire relief
By Rachel Swan November 18, 2017 Updated: November 18, 2017 7:34pm
Photo: Noah Berger, Special To The Chronicle Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, rebuked President Trump for not providing for victims of the North Bay fires in a recent request for funds for disaster relief.
Stunned that a White House request for $44 billion in disaster relief funds didn’t include a penny for fire victims in Northern California, two North Bay congressmen delivered a strong rebuke to President Trump on Saturday. “These are Americans in a time of need, and the administration is supposed to be helping, not playing political games,” said Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena.
He and a fellow Democrat, Rep. Jared Huffman of San Rafael, are increasing the pressure on the White House to set aside the $7.4 billion that Gov. Jerry Brown is seeking for wildfire victims.
“We were sure hoping it would be in this package,” Thompson said, adding that Brown requested the $7.4 billion “far enough back that (the administration) had ample time to get it.”
Huffman said he is surprised by the “conspicuous absence” of wildfire relief funding in the appropriations bill that the White House asked for Friday, which designated money for victims of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria.
Both congressmen noted, however, that their districts had received help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Environmental Protection Agency.
“But when it comes to reimbursing us money, we just haven’t been able to get it,” Thompson said.
On Saturday, Thompson met with Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Corona (Riverside County), and officials from Santa Rosa and Sonoma counties, who are leading the recovery effort for the most destructive firestorm in state history.
Thompson is looking to Calvert, who sits on the House Appropriations Committee, for help securing the money he said is owed to North Bay residents.
The White House Friday asked Congress for $44 billion to help with hurricane relief, but also called on lawmakers to offset the cost of that aid by cutting budgets for rural economic development programs, state highways and the Army Corps of Engineers, among other services.
The request, which immediately set off controversy in Congress, came a day after the House passed a sweeping tax bill that would take away taxpayers’ ability to write off losses because of fires such as those in California. Added to the elimination of middle-class tax deductions for interest on mortgages above $500,000, that amounted to a big black eye for California — a state where wildfires rage every year and real estate prices are high, Huffman said.
“They’re going to raise Californians’ taxes, and now, unless we get this (disaster relief) thing turned around, they’re going to leave us high and dry on disaster costs,” he said.
California members of Congress have until mid-December — when the current government funding agreement expires — to secure the wildfire relief money. The clock is ticking, Huffman said, and he and other Democrats are still trying to rally support among their Republican colleagues.
While delegations in Texas and Florida started a bipartisan effort to help repair the hurricane damage in their states, California Republicans have largely been silent on the effort to rebuild in Napa and Sonoma counties.
Rep. Ed Royce of Fullerton (Orange County) was the only one of the state’s 13 Republican members of Congress to sign Brown’s letter with the $7.4 billion request.
Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @rachelswan
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Board Legislative Committee Attachment IV March 9, 2018
Huerta out of Central Valley Congress race, another Dem takes his place
By John Wildermuth March 6, 2018 Updated: March 6, 2018 5:30pm
Photo: Nathan W. Armes, Special To The Chronicle Former candidate Emilio Huerta with his mother, 87-year-old labor leader Dolores Huerta, in 2017.
In a key Central Valley congressional seat, it’s one leading Democratic candidate out and another in, as the names and numbers shift before Friday’s statewide filing deadline.
Bakersfield attorney Emilio Huerta said last weekend that he won’t challenge GOP Rep. David Valadao of Hanford (Kings County) for the 21st Congressional District seat that includes all of Kings County and pieces of Fresno, Tulare and Kern counties. Valadao beat him badly in 2016, 57 percent to 23 percent.
On Tuesday, T.J. Cox, a businessman and founder of a development group that works with disadvantaged communities, announced that he would shift his campaign from the 10th Congressional District, where he was challenging Republican Rep. Jeff Denham of Turlock (Stanislaus County), and run against Valadao. “Right now, a Democrat is well-positioned to defeat Jeff Denham in CA-10,” Cox said in a letter to supporters. “But in CA-21 — where I have deep roots — I refuse to let David Valadao off without a fight.”
Cox, who was born in Walnut Creek, moved to Modesto from Fresno to run for Denham’s seat. He’ll now return to Fresno to challenge Valadao. Rumors about his possible shift have been flying ever since Michael Eggman, who has run twice against Denham, jumped back into that race last month.
Democratic Party leaders were quick to thank Huerta for his efforts, with New Mexico Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, saying: “Emilio Huerta and his family have made immense contributions to the Central Valley and our country as a whole.” Those kind words likely came with a long sigh of relief, since Democrats inside and outside of California saw Huerta as a likely repeat loser for a seat Democrats desperately want to win. At the end of 2017, Huerta had about $96,000 in his campaign account, compared with $981,000 for Valadao.
But Huerta is the son of Dolores Huerta, a Latina labor leader who’s a key figure in Democratic politics, both in the Central Valley and nationally. Given Dolores Huerta’s place in California Latino history — and her continuing political clout — no one was eager to possibly earn her enmity by challenging her son. With Emilio Huerta out, however, the door opened for Cox, who already has $280,000 cash on hand from his planned race against Denham.
Valadao is anything but an easy target, however. Despite living in a heavily Latino and strongly Democratic district where Democrat Hillary Clinton beat Republican Donald Trump by more than 15 percentage points, the Hanford-born dairyman remains popular. John Wildermuth is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @jfwildermuth