LEGISLATIVE BULLETIN

September 25, 2023

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107th CCA + CCW Annual Convention Attendee Registration Open
Attendee registration for the 2023 CCA/CCW Convention is now open! Register, reserve your room in CCA’s room block and get more information at https://calcattlemen.org/convention2023. Click the links below for more resources related to the event. Attendee Registration | Reserve your Tradeshow Booth Now | Sponsorship Opportunities.

2023 CCA Scholarship Application Deadline Approaching on Oct. 1 
Applications for the 2023 CCA Scholarships are due this Sunday, Oct. 1, 2023. CCA awarded $59,000 in scholarships to students studying agriculture, although scholarship amounts and quantities vary year to year. Current CCA members (producer, feeder or YCC) that are currently enrolled at a university or college are eligible to apply. Past recipients of her CCA scholarship program may also apply again this year. For a complete list of awards and to download the application visit calcattlemen.org/scholarships. Contact Maureen in the CCA office at maureen@calcattlemen.org with any questions.

Department of Insurance Previews Wildfire Insurance Deal
In the final days of the 2023 legislative year, lobbyists and lawmakers sought to craft legislation to stem the tide of insurers leaving California and stabilize the state’s marketplace for homeowners insurance and commercial property insurance. That legislative compromise never materialized, however, leaving the issue in Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara’s hands.

At about 2:00pm Thursday, Governor Gavin Newsom issued an executive order directing Commissioner Lara to take “prompt regulatory action” to “Expand coverage choices for consumers, particularly in underserved areas of the State” and “Maintain the long-term availability of homeowners and commercial property insurance coverage,” among other priorities.

Just 90 minutes later, Lara hosted a press conference to announce “California’s Sustainable Insurance Strategy.” Under a deal reached with insurance companies, insurers would be required to increase their participation in high wildfire risk communities to “no less than 85% of their statewide market share” and would have to bring on some policyholders currently participating in the state’s insurer of last resort, the FAIR Plan.

In return, insurance companies would be permitted to use forward-looking catastrophe modeling in setting their insurance rates, a practice likely to result in higher insurance costs. However, proposed rate hikes would still be subject to the approval of the Department of Insurance.

For additional details of the Sustainable Insurance Strategy, see the Department of Insurance press release announcing the deal. The Department of Insurance expects to implement the Strategy via regulation no later than December 2024, but no proposed regulations (including emergency regulations) have yet been filed. CCA will monitor any proposed rulemaking by the Department in the months to come.

CDFW Issues Nearly a Dozen Gray Wolf Depredation Investigation Reports
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) on Thursday posted 11 new “livestock loss determination” reports related to suspected gray wolf depredations covering the period between June 30 and August 19.

The determinations include two confirmed livestock kills by wolves – one by the Lassen Pack on July 23 and another by the Whaleback Pack in Siskiyou County on August 18 – and two livestock kills for which the Whaleback Pack was the “probable” cause. Most of the remaining reports list the cause of death as “unknown,” usually owing to carcasses which were too old, decayed or consumed to facilitate a thorough investigation.

So far in 2023, CDFW has confirmed 19 livestock kills by gray wolves, 17 by the Whaleback Pack and two by the Lassen Pack. Another four have been listed as “probable” and two others as “possible,” all within the Whaleback Pack’s territory.

This latest tranche of livestock loss determination reports includes the first investigation related to the newly-identified Tulare County wolf pack, designated the “Sequoia Pack” in an August 8 report that could not identify a calf’s cause of death because the carcass had been largely consumed.

Finally, it should be noted since Legislative Bulletin initially reported the existence of the Sequoia Pack, CDFW has announced the presence of three additional, unnamed wolf packs in Lassen, Plumas and Tehama counties, bringing California’s total number of known wolf packs to seven.

For a discussion of emerging trends and research in California’s gray wolf population, listen to last week’s edition of Sorting Pen: The California Cattleman Podcast.

CCA Staffer Appointed to 30×30 Partnership Coordinating Committee
Earlier this month, the California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA) announced the membership of the agency’s 2023-2024 30×30 Partnership Coordinating Committee, including CCA’s Vice President of Government Affairs, Kirk Wilbur. CCA will join with the other members of the 30×30 Partnership Coordinating Committee during the 30×30 Partnership 2023 Gathering in Riverside October 11 & 12. For additional details, see last week’s edition of Legislative Bulletin.

Apply to Be a 2023 CCA Convention Intern 
Internship applications are open for the 2023 CCA/CCW Convention happening Nov. 29 – Dec. 1 at the Nugget Casino Resort in Sparks, Nev. Selected interns will help run CCA’s tradeshow booth, onsite registration and other behind the scenes tasks at the event, they will also get to attend select meetings of interest, general sessions and the tradeshow with complimentary lodging and registration. Additionally, the interns will get to interact with CCA leadership and staff, as well as industry leaders at the best attended meeting of the year. For further information and to apply, click here.

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