Several bills likely to impact county in coming legislative year

EL CENTRO — A re-introduction of Assemblyman Eduardo Garcia’s Assembly Bill 1945 and state Sen. Ben Hueso’s Senate Bill 1365 were among the pieces of legislation Imperial County officials will watch for in the coming legislative session.

AB 1945, which would have made Imperial County eligible to receive more funding through the California Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund by including incoming commuters from Mexico as part of the daytime population, was vetoed by Gov. Jerry Brown this year.

SB 1365 involves governance of restoration efforts at the Salton Sea. Introduced in the final weeks of the legislative session, officials believe it was probably moved through the process too quickly and could use fine tuning for the coming legislative session. It was held in the Assembly.

These were among the pieces of legislation on which the Imperial County Board of Supervisors were updated during a presentation Tuesday in El Centro. Leading the presentation was Richard Harmon of Townsend Public Affairs, an organization working with Imperial County on lobbying efforts at the state level.

“It was a busy year, and it’s leading into a busier year,” Harmon told the supervisors Tuesday as he took them on a trip through the legislative year that was and the upcoming year.

The main pieces of legislation dealt with last year included wildfire-related issues, including SB 901 that, first, set up a framework for $1 billion in fire prevention and, second, established a framework for utilities to bond against damages when blamed for wildfires, Harmon said.

Also of interest was bail reform, that is, the bill that eliminated cash bail and therefore eliminates the need for the bail bonds industry. When a whole industry goes away, Harmon said, don’t expect that industry to take it laying down. Signatures are now being collected to get a referendum on an upcoming ballot to repeal the law.

Imperial County sponsored some legislation and Harmon took the supervisors through those bills, including AB 2746 and AB 893, both by Garcia. Signed by the governor, AB 2746 fixes a loophole in state tax law regarding tax-defaulted auctions of property.

Specifically, it addresses the “redemption termination deadline related to tax-defaulted property the county tax collector is required to offer for sale at a public auction.”

Also of note was Garcia’s AB 893, which pushed a more significant procurement of geothermal energy sources. The legislation, which died in the Senate, would have helped California reach its climate and clean energy goals by adding “grid-balancing resources to an energy portfolio that urgently needs it,” according to information prepared by Townsend Public Affairs. It would also have helped the disadvantaged communities of the Imperial and Coachella valleys.

In addition to AB 1945 and SB 1365, the county also actively engaged in SB 100 by state Sen. Kevin De Leon. The bill, which was signed by Brown, upped the state’s procurement of renewable energy. The bill increases the requirement for renewable energy to 50 percent by 2026, 60 percent by 2030 and 100 percent by 2045.

Also of importance in the coming legislative year will be potential cannabis and hemp legislation and regulation. Harmon said “we” are part of a group of 10 lobbyists whose goal is to allow for production of hemp in California.

There will be pieces of legislation, he said. Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom is supportive of the effort for California farmers to be able to grow industrial hemp, although federal law complicates it now.

“This is important for Imperial County,” Harmon said.