VASCM: FW: CAWG Legislative Update

Fri Oct 15 13:46:04 PDT 2010

I would point out that the Governor (or the Legislature in the case of the
failure of AB 2595 (Huffman) Waste Discharge Requirements) supported CAWG
and our industry on every item listed below.

May we have an equally supportive next Governor...

Bill Cooper

From: vascm-bounces at kkn.net [mailto:vascm-bounces at kkn.net] On Behalf Of Mary
Lindsay, Muns Vineyard
Sent: Friday, October 15, 2010 11:21 AM
To: VASCM at kkn.net
Subject: VASCM: CAWG Legislative Update

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

<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=7wzeipdab&et=1103666428396&s=929&e=001kxe4dRo
3gSI1JF3eQCPcn9CuNBxtIO49zH0BKHmUCISC_819D6ZFPRmlx9KnTqn4g1Ma2JbyEMx-mnEg_EU
pydL8w_NDcwNlSmxPP2CWzTI=> Leg Update Masthead

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 or (800) 241-1800.

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