CALIFORNIA CATTLEMAN WEEKLY

Newsom Releases Proposed 2025-26 State Budget
At a press conference Friday, Department of Finance Director Joe Stephenshaw detailed Govern Gavin Newsom’s 2025-26 Proposed Budget. The Proposed Budget totals just over $322 billion, and Stephenshaw projected an extremely modest budget surplus of just $363 million. Despite the rosier-than-expected budget outlook, the Proposed Budget “maintains the planned withdrawal of approximately $7.1 billion from the” Budget Stabilization Account – or the State’s “rainy day fund” – that was factored into last year’s budget outlook.

Newsom’s initial budget outline proposes spending $2.7 billion of the $10 billion Climate Bond (Proposition 4) which was approved by California voters in November. Of that $2.7 billion, Newsom proposes spending more than $1 billion on “Safe Drinking Water, Drought, Flood & Water Resilience,” $325 million on “Wildfire & Forest Resilience,” $134 million on “Climate Smart Agriculture” and the remainder on other climate expenditures.

Importantly, Newsom’s Proposed Budget would not cut any additional funding from the $54 billion appropriated in the 2022 Budget to be spent over a period of five years (which is now closer to $45 billion after cuts in recent years).

Of the $325 million in Proposition 4 funds dedicated to wildfire and forest resilience, the greatest sum, $82.2 million, would be allocated to fuels reduction and forest conservation initiatives under the Forest Health Program. $59.1 million would go to the Wildfire Prevention Grants Program to provide fire prevention grants to at-risk communities, and $33.4 million would be earmarked to prioritize wildfire resilience on 3.8 million acres of state-owned lands. In addition to Proposition 4 funding, Newsom proposes spending an additional $40 million in General Fund dollars for wildfire resilience.

Highlights of the Proposed Budget’s water investments include $231.5 million to “support dam safety and reservoir operations” and “$173.5 million to improve water storage, replenish groundwater, improve conditions in streams and rivers, and complete various water resilience projects and programs.”

The Governor will release a “May Revise” of his Budget later this year when the state has a clearer outlook on tax revenues after the April 15 income tax filing deadline, and Budget negotiations between the Legislature and Administration will continue through late June ahead of a June 30 deadline to pass the 2025-26 Budget. For more information on the Governor’s Proposed Budget, see the February edition of the California Cattleman magazine.

Biden to Designate Chuckwalla and Sáttítla Highlands National Monuments This Week
President Joe Biden is expected to designate two new national monuments in California this week, after dangerously high winds that drove a series of Los Angeles County wildfires forced the President to delay plans last Tuesday to sign the proclamations in the eastern Coachella Valley.

Under authority vested in the President under the Antiquities Act of 1906, Biden’s designations would reserve 848,000 acres as new national monuments. Biden is expected to set aside 624,000 acres in eastern Riverside County as the Chuckwalla National Monument and to designate 224,000 acres throughout the Modoc National Forest, Shasta-Trinity National Forest and Klamath National Forest as the Sáttítla Highlands National Monument.

The Chuckwalla National Monument would not implicate any active livestock grazing, but several U.S. Forest Service-administered grazing allotments are within the boundaries of the Sáttítla Highlands National Monument. While the language of President Biden’s proclamations has not yet been released – and it is thus not yet clear how Sáttítla Highlands will be managed – national monument designations historically have resulted in diminished grazing rights, even where proclamations establishing such monuments purport to preserve grazing. Given this reality, CCA policy broadly opposes new national monument designations.

In response to the move, CCA’s national partners at the Public Lands Council and National Cattlemen’s Beef Association immediately “condemned the Biden Administration’s irresponsible use of the Antiquities Act to create the Chuckwalla and the Sáttítla Highlands National Monuments.”

CCA will aggressively seek to preserve the grazing rights of permittees within the newly-established Sáttítla Highlands National Monument. California Cattleman Weekly will provide additional details on Chuckwalla and Sáttítla Highlands in the coming weeks after the text of President Biden’s proclamations becomes available.

Livestock Producers at Point Reyes Agree to Settlement Terminating Ranch Leases
The National Park Service announced last week that a dozen livestock producers at the Point Reyes National Seashore have agreed to a settlement which will terminate dairy and beef operations at the National Seashore. The settlement is in response to a 2022 lawsuit filed by Western Watersheds Project, the Center for Biological Diversity and other radical anti-grazing interest groups which objected to a General Management Plan Amendment that provided for long-term reauthorization of grazing leases at Point Reyes.

Under the terms of the settlement, ranchers bound by the agreement will cease their ranching operations within 15 months in exchange for compensation from The Nature Conservancy, which will then collaborate with the National Park Service on “natural resource restoration projects” on the former ranchlands.

Six dairies and six beef producers are parties to the settlement agreement. According to the National Park Service, two beef ranches not party to the agreement will remain in operation at the Seashore, continuing a long historical tradition of livestock production.

While CCA is dismayed to see yet another instance of livestock removed from historically grazed federal lands, the Seashore ranchers’ difficult decision to settle is entirely understandable in light of the ceaseless litigation they suffered over the years from radical environmental groups and the constant negative attention drawn from activists and the media.

As previously reported in California Cattleman Weekly, CCA last month sued the National Park Service to prevent the removal of an eight-foot-tall elk fence intended to keep Tule elk at the Tomales Point area of the Seashore off ranchlands. That lawsuit is still pending, and CCA is carefully examining the impacts that the settlement agreement may have upon the case. CCA is confident that the Association’s legal action to prevent removal of the elk fence helped preserve ranchers’ bargaining positions in the settlement negotiation reached last week.

Governor Newsom Proclaims State of Emergency Due to Los Angeles County Fires
Governor Gavin Newsom on Tuesday proclaimed a state of emergency in Los Angeles and Ventura counties as a result of the Palisades Fire, and subsequently issued a number of executive orders directed at response and recovery efforts, including an executive order suspending various provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act and California Coastal Act and an executive order to speed up debris removal and spur planning to avoid flash floods and mudslides in the burn scar.

President Joe Biden on Wednesday issued a Major Disaster Declaration for the State of California which will enable impacted residents to receive federal assistance and low-cost loans for recovery and will provide federal funding to state and local governments to fund emergency work. Additionally, California has secured Fire Management Assistance Grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for the Palisades Fire, Eaton Fire and Hurst Fire, which will allow state and local agencies to seek reimbursement for up to 75% of the costs they incur responding to the blazes.

The Internal Revenue Service on Friday announced that the 2025 federal tax filing deadline for “individuals and businesses in southern California affected by wildfires and straight-line winds that began on Jan. 7” has been extended by six months until Oct. 15, and the Governor’s Office announced on Saturday that the Franchise Tax Board will provide an identical tax filing extension for impacted taxpayers in Los Angeles County.

As of press time, the Palisades Fire was a mere 14% contained with 23,713 acres burned; the Eaton Fire was 33% contained after 14,117 acres had burned. Thousands of homes and businesses have been destroyed in the fires, and media reports indicate that at least 24 people have lost their lives to the fires.

For information regarding wildfire assistance, visit the Ranchers Technical Assistance Program website.

Corporate Transparency Act Enforcement Remains on Hold
As reported in last week’s California Cattleman Weekly, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has reinstated an injunction preventing the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) from enforcing provisions of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), which would have required many farms and ranches with 20 or fewer employees to begin filing “beneficial ownership information” with FinCEN. While the injunction remains in place, there has been a great deal of legal back-and-forth on the case in recent months and FinCEN has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to overturn the injunction. Given uncertainty around the ongoing litigation, CCA’s national partner the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association is urging “all cattle producers to consult with their attorney and/or tax professional for the latest information.” For additional details, see last week’s edition of California Cattleman Weekly.

2025 Feeder Meeting
May 21-22, Hilton San Diego Bayfront, San Diego, CA
The room block for 2025 Feeder Meeting is now open! Feeder Meeting will take place May 21 – 22. To book your stay at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront, click here. Check back in the coming weeks for additional details and registration information.

UCCE & UC Davis Veterinary Medicine Cattle Health Webinar Series
Tuesdays, 5:30 – 7:00pm, Month of January, Virtual
Join the University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) and UC Davis Veterinary Medicine for the 2025 Cattle Health Webinar Series! The series of free online webinars for cattle producers will take place every Tuesday evening in January from 5:30 – 7:00pm. The series will cover topics important to cattle health and management and will be held live so participants have the opportunity to ask questions. Below find the webinar series schedule.
These webinars are FREE to participate but registration is required. to register, click here.

Beef Cattle Respiratory Prevention and Treatment
Jan. 14, 5:30 – 7:00 pm
Munashe Chigerwe, BVSc, MPH, PhD, DACVIM, professor, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.

Biosecurity at the Ranch: Foot and Mouth Disease, Avian Influenza and More
Jan. 21, 5:30 – 7:00 pm
Gaby Maier, Ph.D., DVM, Assistant Specialist in Cooperative Extension, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.

Common Cattle Foot Issues
Jan. 28, 5:30 – 7:00 pm
Meera Heller, DVM, PhD, DACVIM Professor, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.

UCCE Offers AB 589 Water Measurement and Reporting Course
Jan. 30, 9:00am-12:30pm, UCANR Building, 2801 2^nd Street, Davis, CA
The University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) will offer a water measurement and reporting course, as authorized by CCA-sponsored AB 589 (2017) and SB 880 (2022), on Thursday, Jan. 30. Registration is $35 and pre-registration is required. For additional details and to register for the training, click here or contact Larry Forero or Sara Jaimes.

2025 CattleCon
Feb. 4 – 6, Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, San Antonio, TX
2025 CattleCon is headed to San Antonio! To register, view a tentative schedule and for additional information click here.

2025 Society for Range Management Annual Meeting
Feb. 9-13, Spokane, WA
Join the Society for Range Management (SRM) for their annual meeting, Feb. 9-13, in Spokane, WA. On Feb. 10 a producers forum will take place and ranchers can attend virtually or in person. To learn more about the event, view a schedule, and register, click here.

2025 Rustici Rangeland Science Symposium
Feb. 18, 8:00 am, UC Davis Activities and Recreation Center (ARC)
The 2025 Rustici Rangeland Science Symposium is taking place on Tuesday, Feb. 18 at the UC Davis Activities and Recreation Center. The symposium provides the opportunity to bring together ranchers, land managers, conservationists policymakers and scientists to collaborate. This year’s symposium will cover transformational shifts in the environment, policy and society, with key themes including, climate and weather; wildfire resilience; and ranching with wolves. For additional details and registration information, click here. Early bird registration ends on Jan. 17.