Immigration
bill would be largest such effort ever attempted [Los Angeles Times]
After
months of negotiations, a bipartisan group of eight senators is poised to offer
a sweeping bill to rewrite the nation's immigration laws this week, taking
advantage of a changed political alignment that, for the first time in nearly a
generation, appears to have opened the way for comprehensive legislation….The
legalization program would amount to the largest such effort any nation has
attempted, affecting more than three times as many people as the Reagan-era
immigration reform law. But it is only one part of the legislation, and perhaps
not the portion with the greatest impact. The agricultural workforce — where
half the workers currently have no legal status — would be transformed by a new
guest worker program that is designed to bring more than 300,000 immigrant
farmworkers to the nation's fields over the next decade and provide field
workers an expedited pathway to citizenship…. For farmworkers, as many as
337,000 new three-year visas — 122,333 each year for the first three years
after the bill becomes law — would be available. After five years, the
secretary of Agriculture would set an annual visa limit based on market
conditions. Growers would also have to pay transportation and housing costs for
workers, but workers' spouses and children would not be eligible to join them.
Commentary: Viewpoints: We
need to find compromise in immigration legislation [Sacramento Bee]
…From
all indications, the overwhelming majority of people who cross our borders
without permission or paperwork do so with honorable intentions. Their desire
is to find a new and better life for themselves and their families, and pay
their dues along the way. At the same time, it must be acknowledged that many
employers struggle to fill jobs that are physically demanding or simply
unappealing in the mainstream marketplace. When farmers are short on labor to
harvest crops and immigrant workers show up ready to work, it makes little
sense to allow a year's worth of toil to rot in California's vineyards,
orchards and fields because those eager and willing lack the proper documentation….I
hope we finally see action from Congress. As California has the largest share
of immigrants of any state, it is important that we, as elected officials,
express the need for Congress to take action to fix this broken system.
Chinese
markets are a work in progress for California agribusiness [The Sacramento Bee]
Yet
as Brown winds down his weeklong trade mission - speaking enthusiastically in
city after city about California-Chinese trade - the work of Rue and a small,
agriculture-based subgroup of Brown's party suggests how difficult certain
elements of the relationship remain. Though China became a net importer of rice
last year, it prohibits rice from the United States. California's delegation
had a discussion with Chinese officials in Beijing last week about restrictions
on rice and other crops….The Chinese have their own demands - they want the
United States to allow fresh apple shipments from China, for example - and
progress on either side is slow.
Jerry
Brown says CEQA reform unlikely this year [Los Angeles Times]
HONG
KONG -- Gov. Jerry Brown said Tuesday that winning a major overhaul of
California’s environmental laws was unlikely this year as he focuses on transforming
the state’s public school funding, developing a plan to deal with its
overcrowded prisons and upgrading its water system. As he wrapped up a weeklong
trade mission to China, Brown talked to reporters about his trip and what
awaits him back in Sacramento. Sipping green tea and sitting on on a long white
couch surrounded by top aides, he said that changing the California
Environmental Quality Act was unlikely this year. “This is not something you
get done in a year,” Brown said, explaining that “there are very powerful
forces that are strong in the party that will resist” changes to the law. “But
I believe before I depart this stage, we’ll see reform in CEQA.”
Agriculture
representatives want study on groundwater basin before drilling [Monterey County
Herald]
Salinas
Valley agriculture representatives on Monday called for a collaborative effort
with California American Water to determine whether a disputed aquifer can be
used for the proposed Peninsula water supply project. Dale Huss and Nancy Isakson
of the Salinas Valley Water Coalition told the Peninsula mayors water
authority's technical advisory committee that water experts from the coalition
and Cal Am should start working together soon on studies designed to fully
assess the Salinas Valley groundwater basin, which the water company wants to
tap for its desalination plant planned for north of Marina….Cal Am has proposed
drilling into the shallower sand dunes aquifer as a feeder source, but has
acknowledged that it may also need to tap the deeper aquifer depending on the
test well results. Salinas Valley farmers have promised to oppose any effort to
drill into the deeper aquifer over concerns about exacerbating seawater
intrusion, which they've invested millions of dollars to halt.
Hoop
houses sprouting up in Santa Barbara County [Santa Maria Times]
They’re
sprouting up in rural areas throughout the North County. They’re those white,
cylindrical shaped canopies covering small green plants. Technically, they’re
called hoop houses, and they shelter raspberries. There’s a reason why more
hoop houses are being seen here. “There’s been a dramatic increase in berry
growing in the county,” said Mark Gaskell, farm advisor with the University of
California Cooperative Extension office in San Luis Obispo, covering Santa Barbara
County.
Ag
Today is distributed to county Farm Bureaus, CFBF directors and CFBF staff, for
information purposes, by the CFBF Communications/News Division, 916-561-5550; news@cfbf.com.
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