On Friday, the House Agriculture Committee will be holding separate listening sessions on the Farm Bill. The efforts are part of their ongoing push to solicit the feedback of Farm Bill stakeholders in-district. The session being held in Red Bluff, CA has not formally been posted, but they are intended to hold it at the Red Bluff Community Center at 2:00 p.m. EST on the 14^th. Due to this lack of formal posting, a viewing link has not been made available for the session at this time. For those interested in listening into the session being held in New York, please follow this link to listen in beginning at 7:00 a.m. (the link will have the recording as well).

The House Committee on Natural Resources also held a hearing in Tulare earlier this week, drawing their attention to Californian bills: the Working to Advance Tangible and Effective Reforms (WATER) for California Act from Rep. Valadao—and the Federally Integrated Species Health (FISH) Act from Rep. Calvert. The two bills are intended to address some of the ongoing federal water management issues that have caused challenges here in California. For more information on the legislation and hearing, click the button below.

Earlier this week, CAFB submitted comments on a proposed rule by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) that would revise regulations concerning the issuance of enhancement of survival and incidental take permits under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). While appreciative of some of the intentions behind the proposed rule, we listed out a number of recommendations and factors that the Service should consider as they look to move forward in the rulemaking process. For a full run through of those concerns, see the link below.

On Thursday, the US Treasury Department announced that an estimated 127,000 California homes and businesses would be impacted by a Capital Projects Fund initiative sending over half a billion dollars into the state for expanded broadband access. The funds come from the American Rescue Plan, which has set aside billions for rural development projects. Broadband access has been a key piece in those efforts, many of which have been aimed at historically underserved areas, both in urban and rural settings. CAFB has sat in on several public and private group meetings to help ensure rural and agricultural areas remain a top-of-mind consideration for these projects, as historical challenges have often left rural and ag support to be more superficial than substantive.