THIS WEEK IN
Federal Policy News
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Ocean Shipping Reform Act Moves Forward Simultaneously in Both Chambers |
The Ocean Shipping Reform Act, a bill aimed at ending port bottlenecks for ag exports, was introduced in the Senate Thursday by Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and John Thune (R-SD), even as sponsors of a tougher House-passed version sought to ramp up pressure for its enactment. It is not expected that the Senate version would have as immediate an impact as the House legislation would as it’s currently written. The House bill's sponsors, Reps. John Garamendi (D-CA) and Dusty Johnson (R-SD) took the unusual step of offering that measure as an amendment to the House’s America COMPETES Act, a sweeping trade competitiveness bill that’s expected to pass this week. The House easily approved the amendment with a 367-59 vote Thursday evening.
The House OSRA bill passed in the House as a stand-alone measure in December. Tying the measure to the America COMPETES Act – the House version of the Senate’s US Innovation and Competition Act of 2021 – is a means to get the shipping legislation out of Congress and onto President Joe Biden’s desk as soon as possible. The Senate easily approved its version of the competitiveness last year, 68-32. California Farm Bureau has been intensely engaged with both legislative vehicles and will continue to apply pressure on the House, Senate and the Administration for short term and long-term solutions.
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CAFB Submits Comments on WOTUS Proposed Rule |
On February 7, CAFB submitted comments to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers asking the Agencies to withdraw the Proposed Rule and instead preserve the existing National Waters Protection Rule. CAFB also expressed multiple concerns with the Proposed Rule, including but not limited to, the Rule’s potential to greatly impact routine farming and ranching activities, unclear regulation that would likely lead to unlimited jurisdiction, and expansion of federal jurisdiction not consistent with Congress’ intent.
In addition to CAFB’s written comments, via Farm Team, over 1,000 CAFB members submitted comments to the Agencies. We thank members for their engagement on this critical issue!
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USDA Update on Implementation of Forthcoming Disaster Assistance |
Last week, the USDA announced their plans regarding a two-phased distribution of up to $10 billion in disaster relief funds. In September of 2021, the President signed legislation that approved this amount, covering several natural disasters that took place over the previous two years. As one of the groups instrumental in helping push for this disaster relief, CAFB has closely followed the implementation process over at USDA, which has provided limited updates up until this point.
The USDA has broken down the distributions into two phases for both the livestock and produce portions of the aid. Phase one of the crop assistance program delivery will use existing Federal Crop Insurance or Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program data as the basis for calculating initial payments, while they’ll rely on the Livestock Forage Disaster Program for the latter. Phase two for both will cover the remaining areas not directly eligible under these programs. For now, the only deadline provided is the USDA’s hope that half of the $750 million in livestock funds will be distributed by the end of March. CAFB will continue to update members as we learn more about both phases.
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Congress is still Negotiating a Final Appropriations Deal, Plans to Extend Government Funding Through March 11 with Another Continuing Resolution |
Top appropriators continued to near a bipartisan “topline” deal on Tuesday to slate the overarching budget caps for military and non-defense agency spending, as well as ground rules for hashing out the details of a final appropriations package. Once they strike that compromise, spending leaders are expected to quickly wrap up a sweeping 12-bill bundle to fund the federal government through September.
House Appropriations Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) introduced the ‘Further Additional Extending Government Funding Act”, yet another continuing resolution that would continue government funding at current levels through March 11. Since it could take several weeks to complete the final package once they reach an initial deal, lawmakers are set to pass this short-term spending patch that would punt the next funding deadline to March 11, avoiding a government shutdown at the end of next week. The House plans to vote on that stopgap funding bill Tuesday afternoon, followed by Senate action sometime before federal cash runs out at midnight on Feb. 18.
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USDA Announces Climate Smart Commodity Funding |
On February 7, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced $1 billion in Commodity Credit Corporation funds that is being made available to support Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities, a new mechanism that will finance pilot projects that create market opportunities for agricultural and forestry products that use climate-smart practices and measure and verify greenhouse gas benefits. USDA defines a climate-smart commodity as a commodity that is produced using agricultural practices that reduce greenhouse gas emissions or sequester carbon.
USDA is now accepting project applications for fiscal year 2022 with funding being provided in two funding pools. A range of public and private entities are eligible to apply. Applicants for the first funding pool (proposals from $5-100 million) should submit their application via Grants.gov by April 8, 2022. The second funding pool (proposals from $250,000 - $4,999,999) must submit applications by May 27, 2022.
CAFB previously submitted comments to USDA in September 2021 on their Request for Information for input on this new initiative. In those comments, CAFB emphasized the importance of building flexibility into the initiative so that all forms of agriculture and forestry could be adequately included.
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Federal Land Management Agencies Announce 2022 Grazing Fees |
The Bureau of Land Management and the USDA Forest Service have announced grazing fees for 2022. The federal grazing fee for 2022 will be $1.35 per animal unit month for public lands administered by both entities. An animal unit month or head month is the use of public lands by one cow and her calf, one horse, or five sheep or goats for a month. Grazing fees are determined by a Congressionally mandated formula originally established in the 1978 Public Rangelands Improvement Act and continued under a 1986 presidential Executive Order. Under that order, the grazing fee cannot fall below $1.35 per animal unit month/head month, and any increase or decrease cannot exceed 25 percent of the previous year’s level. The 2022 grazing fee will take effect March 1, 2022. The 2021 public land grazing fee was also $1.35. |
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CAFB Submits Scoping Comments to BLM on Sage Grouse Land Plan Amendment |
On February 7, CAFB submitted comments to the Bureau of Land Management in response to their Notice of Intent to amend land use plans and environmental documents regarding greater sage-grouse and sage brush habitat on BLM-managed public lands in California via a land use planning initiative.
In 2014 and 2015, BLM amended or revised land use plans in multiple western states including California. BLM again revised plans for several of those states in 2019 including California. On October 16, 2019, the United States District Court for the District of Idaho preliminarily enjoined the BLM from implementing the 2019 Sage-Grouse Plan Amendments. Due to factors including new science and climate-related changes affecting BLM’s management of public lands including drought, loss of habitat, more frequent wildfire, and less riparian areas, BLM is now seeking to amend the plans once again.
CAFB’s comments urge BLM to incorporate the impact of wildland fire and invasive species on greater-sage grouse and sagebrush habitat. The comments also emphasize the negative impact unmanaged levels of wild horse and burro populations have on federally managed lands and urge BLM to collaborate and coordinate with state and local governments on the development of any new land management plan.
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USDA Provides $17.6 Million to Protect California Agriculture and Natural Resources through Plant Health and Pest Mitigation Activities |
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is allocating $17.6 million to California as part of its effort to strengthen the nation’s infrastructure for pest detection and surveillance, identification, and threat mitigation, and to protect the U.S. nursery system. Overall, USDA is providing more than $70 million in funding this year to support 372 projects in 49 states, Guam, and Puerto Rico. USDA provides this funding under the authority of the Plant Protection Act Section 7721. |
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Florida Representative Introduces Immigration Reform Legislation |
On Tuesday, Representative Maria Salazar (FL-27) introduced the Dignity Act, an immigration bill that would include reforming the H-2A process and removing the Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR) as the primary function for calculating their wages. The bill would instead rely on a state’s minimum wage or pay 125% over the federal minimum wage. In addition, it would lead to substantial border security increases while paving a pathway towards legal residence for undocumented workers. |
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Sara Arsenault
Federal Policy, Director
916-561-5619
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Matthew Viohl
Federal Policy, Associate Director
916-561-5612
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Erin Huston
Federal Policy, Consultant
916-849-3746
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