Friday, May 30, 2008

Air Quality Health Threat

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) released a draft report that quantifies the human health impact of particulate matter (PM). These findings primarily focus on PM2.5 and provide the basis for the development of extensive regulatory emission reduction controls, particularly those that relate to ports and goods movement. The methodology that was used to quantify the premature deaths and other health impacts from PM exposure is based on peer-reviewed methodology developed by the US Environmental Protection Agency. Epidemiological data and other studies were incorporated to make the findings relevant to California. Based on all relevant scientific literature and relative risk factors CARB staff is estimating that exposures to ambient PM2.5 can be associated with 14,000 – 24,000 premature deaths annually. However, it is also stated that there is an uncertainty factor that ranges from 4,300 – 41,000 deaths annually. Given the wide disparity in projections, there will be considerable examination and debate over the validity CARB’s findings.

Legislative Update

This is the time of year when the Legislature kicks into high gear in order dispense with the hundreds of bills that are subject to legislative deadlines. It’s also the time when legislative leaders and the Administration try to hammer-out an agreement on the proposed 2008-2009 State Budget. Given the difficulties that are associated with this year’s budget negotiations, anything can happen over the next few weeks. In the meantime, the following bills of interest continue to move through the legislative process:

• Trans Fat – AB 97 (Mendoza) Prohibits food facilities after January 1, 2011, from storing, distributing, serving or using in food preparation any food containing artificial trans fat. The prohibition doesn’t apply to foods that are sold or served in a manufacturer's original, sealed package.
   
• GMO’s – AB 541 (Huffman) Specifies a number of new notification and reporting requirements for individuals engaged in the open field production of a genetically engineered plant. County agricultural commissioners would be required to annually report information on the number of acres of open field production of genetically engineered plants, the types of crops produced, and the genetic traits of those crops. This bill would also prohibit the production of a pharmaceutical crop that is produced by means of open field production and is of a plant species that is commonly produced for use as food for humans or animals.
   
• Williamson Act – AB 1764 (Blakeslee) Includes plant products used for biofuels in the definition of "agricultural commodity" within the Williamson Act and expands the definition of open space use within the Act to include an area enrolled in the USDA’s Conservation Reserve Program or Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program.
   
• Cotton – AB 1913 (Fuller) Revises the membership and administrative procedures of San Joaquin Valley Cotton Board.
   
• Water Quality – AB 1946 (Nava) Authorizes a Regional Water Quality Control Boards to delegate to its executive officer the authority to apply to the Attorney General for judicial enforcement. The bill also authorizes a district attorney, a city attorney of a city with a population that exceeds 750,000, or a city attorney for a city and county, to bring civil action for Water Code violations.
   
• Direct Marketing – AB 2168 (Jones) Authorize the adoption of regulations to encourage and expand the direct sale by farmers to the public of all types of California agricultural products.
   
• Labor – AB 2386 (Nunez) Makes minor, technical changes to the Agricultural Labor Relations Act.
   
• Quarantine Violations – AB 2349 (Fuller) Increases existing penalties for violation of state animal quarantine provisions.
   
• Manlift Inspections – AB 2629 (Evans) Requires that annual inspections of manlifts used in agricultural production and processing facilities to be conducted by a certified qualified conveyance company or mechanic.
   
• Loss of Load – AB 2714 (Keene) Exempts the transport of hay or straw from state “loss of load” enforcement provisions if the load complies with federal regulations relating to cargo securement.
   
• LBAM – AB 2760 (Leno) Requires the preparation of an environmental impact report or the modification, addendum, or supplement to an existing environmental impact report when pesticides are aerially applied to eradicate the light brown apple moth in an urban area.
   
• Invasive Pests – AB 2763 (Laird) Requires CDFA to maintain a list of invasive pests that have a reasonable likelihood of entering the state for which an eradication, control, or management action by the state might be appropriate. The department would be required, based on available funding, to develop and maintain a written assessment of the most appropriate options for eradication, control, or management of high priority invasives on the list, and to include specified information in the assessment if the use of pesticides would be among the appropriate responses.
   
• Brucellosis – AB 2824 (Berryhill) Deletes and recasts the provisions for indemnity payment for animals slaughtered due to Brucellosis control to conform to other code sections, and changes the payment amount from a fixed amount for nonreactive animals to an appraised amount.
   
• Beehives – AB 2849 (Evans) Increases fines and penalties on people who illegally take, transport or remove beehives from the property on which they were located.
   
• Milk Hearings – AB 2850 (Villines) Makes several technical changes to the administrative hearing process relating to milk pooling and pricing. It also restricts any decision concerning the milk pooling plan come from only that evidence and data submitted during the hearing and is supported by evidence and data submitted.
   
• Williamson Act – AB 2921 (Laird) Authorizes (litigation involving breach of contract) a court to award the Department of Conservation reasonable attorney's fees and costs where the department is the prevailing party. The bill would also revises the conditions under which a landowner may cancel a Williamson Act contract to place other land under an agricultural conservation preserve.
   
• Downed Cattle/Surveillance – SB 200 (Florez) Prohibits school food service programs from serving meat from downed cattle. The bill also requires the installation of video surveillance in livestock and poultry slaughtering facilities to continuously record the handling and treatment of the animals. New criminal penalties are established for the inhumane treatment of livestock.
   
• Food Safety – SB 201 (Florez) Require growers, handlers, and processors of leafy green vegetables to employ a Julian code dated lot numbering system, or other scientifically validated systems, that allows for each piece of product they produce, handle, or process to be traced in the production and distribution chain to or from the field in which it was grown and the facility in which it was processed, as specified. This bill would also require growers, handlers, and processors of leafy green vegetables to establish written procedures employing their Julian code dated lot numbering system or other scientifically validated systems to respond to a recall affecting leafy green vegetables and to initiate a recall of leafy green vegetables grown, handled, or processed in their field or facility.
   
• Olive Oil – SB 634 (Wiggins) Changes the state food labeling definition for olive oil to mean the edible oil obtained solely from the fruit of the olive tree.
   
• Container Fees – SB 974 (Lowenthal) Requires the Ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Oakland to collect a user fee on the owner of container cargo at a rate of $30 per twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU). The collected monies would be used to fund various transportation and environmental projects.
   
• Seed Law – SB 1280 (Maldonado) Revises the composition of the Seed Advisory Board to consist of 7 registered labelers, 2 persons who receive or possess seed for sale in this state, and 2 members of the public. The bill also changes labeler registration requirements.
   
• Endangered Species – SB 1436 (Ducheny) Exempts the accidental take of candidate, threatened, or endangered species resulting from acts that occur on a farm or a ranch in the course of otherwise lawful routine and ongoing agricultural activities from sanctions under the California Endangered Species Act. The exemption is valid until January 1, 2011, unless extended.
   
• Citrus – SB 1466 (Corbett) Requires CDFA to implement, by January 1, 2010, the Citrus Nursery Stock Pest Cleanliness Program to protect citrus nursery stock from harmful diseases, pests, and other risks and threats. The program will require producers of citrus nursery stock to comply with all agricultural practices, application specifications and deadlines, eligibility, inspection, isolation, notification, pest control, records maintenance and availability, registration, sanitation, testing, and other lawful orders issued by the secretary.
   
• Property Tax Breaks – SB 1562 (Hollingsworth) Extends temporary property tax exemptions to any fruit-bearing or nut-bearing tree that was damaged by the extremely strong and damaging winds that commenced on October 20, 2007, and by the wildfires that commenced on October 21, 2007, that were the subject of the Governor's proclamations of a state of emergency.
   
• Bio Fuels – SB 1574 (Florez) Establishes the California Biomass-based Diesel Commission comprised of handlers and producers of biomass-based diesel. The commission would be charged with specified powers, duties, and responsibilities, including the promotion of the sale of renewable biomass-based diesel by advertising for the purpose of maintaining and expanding markets for renewable biomass-based diesel.

Next eUpdate

I’m traveling to Des Moines, Iowa next week and Washington DC the following week. Therefore, the next eUpdate will be distributed on June 20.