VASCM: CAWG Legislative Update

[Mary Lindsay, Muns Vineyard]

This is the latest Legislative Report issued by the California Assn. of 
Winegrape Growers (CAWG). There might be some issues of interest to you 
here.

- Mary Lindsay


Leg Update Masthead 
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October 2010

As a valued member of CAWG, we are pleased to serve as your advocate in 
Sacramento and Washington, D.C.  With the recent California state 
legislative session having ended, we wanted to provide you with a 
highlight of some of the bills that made their way through the 
Legislature and the actions the Governor took.

Below is just a sampling of the numerous pieces of legislation we 
watched and weighed in on, but they represent the breadth of interests 
that could impact your business on a day-to-day basis.

AB 1265 (Caballero) Safe, Clean and Reliable Drinking Water Act of 2012
*Signed by the Governor
CAWG Position: Support*
This bill moves the Safe, Clean and Reliable Drinking Water Act of 2010 
(The Water Bond) and moved it from the November 2010 ballot to November 
2012 ballot to allow for further consideration of provisions included 
therein.

AB 1649 (Chesbro) Winegrowers Licensees
*Signed by the Governor*
This bill allows wineries to produce spirits of wine (byproducts of 
fermentation) without having to obtain a distilled spirits 
manufacturer's license.

AB 1798 (Evans) Sonoma County Conjunctive Labeling
*Signed by the Governor
CAWG Position: Support* 
This bill requires that on or after January 1, 2014, wine made from 
grapes grown within Sonoma County or AVA's located therein and 
appellated accordingly be conjunctively labeled with Sonoma County.

AB 1891 (Committee on Higher Education) Sustainable agriculture research 
and education
*Signed by the Governor* 
This bill re-establishes the Sustainable Agriculture Research and 
Education Program (SAREP) in the University of California to support 
competitive grants to advance research and ecucation in sustainable 
agricultural practices.

AB 2240 (Ma) CDFA - Market Enforcement Branch

*Signed by the Governor*

*CAWG Position: Support* 

This bill would make adjustments to the fee structure and reporting 
provisions for the Market Enforcement Branch - primarily, the fee 
increases would impact the lowest tier of food processors (wineries 
included) and produce dealers from $100 to $136; raises agent fees from 
$35 to $55; and raises the grower complaint fee from $60 to $100.

AB 2530 (Nielsen) Williamson Act Contracts

*Signed by the Governor*

*CAWG Position: Support*

This bill creates a temporary program for counties receiving less than 
one-half of their forgone property tax revenue to renew Williamson Act 
contracts for a 10 percent shorter time period. In exchange, landowners 
receive up to a 10 percent reduction in their property tax relief while 
maintaining the majority of their benefit. The temporary program will 
sunset in 2015.

AB 2595 (Huffman) Waste Discharge Requirements
*Failed Passage* 
This bill would have required a county agricultural commissioner to 
withold issuance of an operator identification number for pesticide 
applicators if the operator of the property was found to be in violation 
of certain specified water quality requirements after the provisions of 
all administrative proceedings and appeals.

SB 1101 (Wiggins) Wine Tasting: Instructional Events
*Signed by the Governor*
This bill allows winemakers who participate in instructional events or 
winemakers' dinners, held at a retailer's licensed premises, to offer 
three one-ounce tastes of wine from bottles, remove any unused wine from 
the premises, and offer samples of only minimal amounts of wine taken 
from barrels or from tanks.

AB 1121 (Florez) Overtime Wages for Agricultural Workers

*Vetoed by Governor*

*CAWG Position: Oppose* 

This bill would have removed the agrilcultural worker exemption included 
in the wage and hour requirements as they relate to overtime pay.

/Thank you to all CAWG members who reponded to the Legislative Action 
Alert requesting action to ask the Governor to veto this measure./

SB 1303 (Wolk) Accidental Take of Endagered Species
*Signed by the Governor*
This bill allows extends the sunset date to January 1, 2014 for 
provisions protecting farmers from the accidental take of endangered 
species when the act occurs on a farm or ranch in the course of normal, 
routine and lawful, ongoing agricultural practices.

SB 1474 (Steinberg) Card Check

*Vetoed by Governor*

*CAWG Position: Oppose* 

This bill would have allowed for the Agricultural Labor Realtions Board 
to certify a labor union election via card check should the secret 
ballot election have been set aside based upon employer misconduct.

/Thank you to all CAWG members who reponded to the Legislative Action 
Alert requesting action to ask the Governor to veto this measure./


Look for more information and Legislative Action Alerts in the coming 
year.  Your participation in the political process is extremely valuable 
and well received in the Capitol.  Should you have any questions, 
please  contact Camron King, CAWG Program Director, at camron at cawg.org 
<mailto:camron at cawg.org> or (800) 241-1800.
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