California bills aimed at better worker conditions head to Gov. Jerry Brown [Sacramento Bee]
Lawmakers on Thursday sent Gov. Jerry Brown a pair of bills intended to improve conditions for farmworkers, housekeepers and nannies. Farmers could be jailed for failing to provide field workers with adequate shade or water under Assembly Bill 2676, which cleared the Assembly, 43-28….AB 2676 requires that anyone directing or supervising a farmworker must ensure "continuous, ready access" to shade and to enough "suitably cool" water for each employee to drink one quart per hour throughout a work shift.
http://www.sacbee.com/2012/08/31/4774460/california-bills-aimed-at-better.html#storylink=misearch
Calif. court upholds state apple moth plan [Associated Press]
A California court on Wednesday gave the go-ahead to a controversial state plan to control and eradicate the crop-damaging light brown apple moth. But the ruling in Sacramento Superior Court prohibited the California Department of Food and Agriculture from using aerial spraying to control the Australian pest. Health and environmental organizations had challenged the plan, arguing that officials understated the human and animal health risks of pesticide exposure and overstated the moth's potential impact on crops. The court denied their petition, but put some limitations on the plan, ordering an environmental review in five years. Agriculture authorities argued that the moth could cause billions of dollars in losses by damaging everything from apples to grapes and berries.
http://www.sacbee.com/2012/08/30/4773847/calif-court-upholds-state-apple.html
Editorial: Failing reform process needs to be public [San Francisco Chronicle]
California's workers' compensation program is expensive, unwieldy and incredibly important. So why in the world would the Legislature pass a 170-page bill to overhaul the $17 billion system that was only introduced last week? Employers are rightfully nervous about the possibility of a large hike in premium costs starting next year. Workers' compensation insurers' loss-and-expense payments shot up by more than $1 billion in 2011, to nearly $12.5 billion. To pay for this remarkable increase, the Workers' Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau is recommending a 12.6 percent rise in premium costs for next year. And admittedly, SB863 will save some money. It's a sign of how slapdash this process has been, though, that even the proponents don't know how much money it will save:
http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/Failing-reform-process-needs-to-be-public-3829653.php
Key leaders at UC Davis ag college resign [Sacramento Bee]
The top two leaders of the University of California, Davis' signature College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences have resigned their posts. Dean Neal Van Alfen and Executive Associate Dean James D. MacDonald tendered their resignations Tuesday in letters to Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi and the university's provost, Ralph J. Hexter. Van Alfen intends to remain as a faculty member; MacDonald will leave the school. Long considered one of the nation's premier agricultural schools, UC Davis now finds itself with what one state agricultural expert called "a void of leadership." UC Davis' agriculture college is the campus' oldest.
http://www.sacbee.com/2012/08/31/4774485/key-leaders-at-uc-davis-ag-college.html#storylink=misearch
Columnist: Delta fix is better than nothing [Davis Enterprise]
If there’s such a thing as a sure thing it politics, it is this: If the water plan announced late last month by Gov. Jerry Brown ever passes the state Legislature, it surely will become the object of a statewide referendum much like the 1982 vote that defeated a somewhat similar plan endorsed by Brown. The defeat of that plan made consideration of water conveyance plans political anathema for almost 30 years. It was known as the Peripheral Canal because it would have taken many thousands of acre-feet of Sacramento River water yearly around the edges of the delta formed where that river and the San Joaquin River come together east of the San Francisco Bay….Make no mistake: Something is needed in the delta, both to assure water supplies for California’s most significant farms and largest cities, and to preserve water quality and life itself in much of the delta.
http://www.davisenterprise.com/forum/opinion-columns/delta-fix-is-better-than-nothing/
Letter to the editor: Rules are in place to guard workers [Stockton Record]
The Aug. 20 Associated Press story, "Bill aims to keep workers cool, safe in the fields," discusses a topic that is very important to San Joaquin County farmers: the protection of farm employees from heat illness. Farmers and farm labor contractors work diligently to ensure that employees are safe while working outdoors….The bills in the Legislature do not recognize safety measures already in place and instead raise regulations to nearly impossible standards, turning farm employers into targets for bounty-hunting lawyers. We believe the current rules are working and the new legislation is not needed. AB2346 and AB2676 are bad legislation and need to be voted down.
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120831/A_OPINION02/208310312
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