CALIFORNIA CATTLEMAN WEEKLY

January 21, 2025

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Newsom Expands Special Session Mandate to Address Wildfire Response and Preparedness 
Early last week, Governor Gavin Newsom issued a proclamation expanding the current special session of the Legislature to address wildfire response and preparedness in light of the ongoing wildfire emergency in Los Angeles County. The Governor’s proclamation calls for legislation to provide $1 billion for emergency response, recovery and clean up (which should ultimately be reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency as a result of a Jan. 8 Major Disaster Declaration issued by former President Joe Biden) and an additional $1.5 billion in funding “for greater preparedness against the growing threats of firestorms and windstorms and other natural disasters.”

The proclamation amends the Governor’s November 7, 2024 proclamation which established a special session to “Provide additional funding to the California Department of Justice….to support the ability to immediately file affirmative litigation challenging actions taken by the incoming Trump Administration.” The special session kicked off concurrently with the 2025-26 Regular Session on December 2, 2024.

State legislators last week vowed not to tether wildfire funding to the special session’s “Trump-proofing” agenda, and yesterday Assembly Budget Committee Chair Jesse Gabriel introduced initial legislation for wildfire response and preparedness envisioned by the proclamation.

Trump Targets State Electric Vehicle Mandates After California Withdraws Request to Enforce Advanced Clean Fleets Regulation
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) last week withdrew its request to the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for a waiver to enforce the state’s Advanced Clean Fleets regulation, which sought to phase out the sale of new medium- and heavy-duty diesel trucks by 2036 and to remove all such vehicles from California roads by 2042 in favor of zero-emission electric alternatives. The federal Clean Air Act permits California to seek a waiver to implement stricter-than-federal emissions standards, but the EPA under former President Joe Biden failed to act on California’s waiver request. Faced with the Trump Administration’s certain rejection of the waiver, CARB withdrew its request.

In an executive order issued yesterday, President Donald Trump also targeted CARB’s Advance Clean Cars II regulation, which mandates that “all new passenger cars, trucks and SUVs sold in California will be zero emissions” by 2035. While the Biden Administration last month granted a waiver enabling California to enforce the regulation, President Trump has  now implemented a policy to terminate “state emissions waivers that function to limit sales of gasoline-powered automobiles.” The executive order is not immediately effective, but must be implemented via EPA’s ordinary administrative procedures, after which it will likely be subject to lengthy legal challenge by the State of California.

New Episode of Sorting Pen: The California Cattleman Podcast
A new episode of Sorting Pen: The California Cattleman Podcast is out now! In this week’s episode Anthony Stornetta, a San Luis Obispo County cattle rancher, Deputy Fire Chief of Operations for Santa Barbara County Fire Department, and the Chair of CCA’s Fire Subcommittee joins Kaite on the podcast. Tune in to hear Anthony’s insights and knowledge on how the LA wildfires got to be what they did and where we go from here as a state with more wildfires in its future. To listen, click here.

UPDATE: Biden Designates Chuckwalla and Sáttítla Highlands National Monuments
After hinting earlier this month at his intention to designate two new national monuments in California, then-President Joe Biden last week issued proclamations designating the Chuckwalla National Monument in eastern Riverside County and the Sáttítla Highlands National Monument within the Modoc, Shasta-Trinity and Klamath National Forests.

Under authority vested in the President under the Antiquities Act of 1906, Biden’s designations reserve 848,000 acres of land (Chuckwalla is 624,000 acres in size and Sáttítla Highlands encompasses 224,000 acres). 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 policy broadly opposes establishment of new national monuments because such designations have historically resulted in diminished grazing rights on designated lands. While grazing hasn’t been permitted within the boundaries of the Chuckwalla National Monument in over two decades, its proclamation troublingly provides that “the Secretary [of the Interior] shall not issue any new grazing permits or leases on such lands.” As reported in last week’s California Cattleman Weekly, Sáttítla Highlands does implicate existing U.S. Forest Service-administered grazing permits. While its proclamation provides for continuation of existing livestock grazing permits, similar language has not precluded diminution of grazing within national monuments in the past. Additionally, the proclamation designating Sáttítla Highlands also prevents creating new grazing allotments or issuing new grazing permits.

Moving forward, CCA and our national partners will aggressively seek to preserve the grazing rights of permittees within the newly-established Sáttítla Highlands National Monument.

UPDATE: President Trump to Survey Damage from Los Angeles County Fires
As previously reported in California Cattleman Weekly, Governor Gavin Newsom has proclaimed a state of emergency in Los Angeles and Ventura counties as a result of the Palisades Fire. Former President Joe Biden issued a Major Disaster Declaration, and 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. Both the Internal Revenue Service and California’s Franchise Tax Board have extended 2025 tax filing deadlines for impacted residents until Oct. 15.

At a pre-inauguration rally on Sunday, President Donald Trump announced that he will visit Los Angeles County this Friday to survey the damage from the wildfires. The visit will likely be President Trump’s first trip of his second term in office.

As of press time, the Palisades Fire was a mere 63% contained with 23,713 acres burned; the Eaton Fire was 89% contained after 14,021 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 more information, see last week’s edition of California Cattleman Weekly For information regarding wildfire assistance, visit the Ranchers Technical Assistance Program website.

Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District Now Accepting Request for Proposals to Lease District Property for Conservation Grazing
From the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District
The Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District is now accepting Request for Proposals (RFP) to lease District property for conservation grazing. The District has released RFP’s for five grazing units in San Mateo County. The District invites qualified livestock operators to submit a proposal for one or more of the listed grazing units. Proposals should reflect the operator’s relevant qualifications, experience, and desire to work with the District by utilizing conservation grazing to meet District goals.

To view the RFP package and for additional information please visit, www.openspace.org and click on “What We do”/“Bids and Proposals.” Click here for a direct link to the Bids and Proposals page.

Please pay special attention to the mandatory meeting that is scheduled for Feb. 20 at 5pm. That meeting will be held at the District’s Administrative Office in Los Altos but can also be attended virtually. If you plan to attend that meeting, you must register with me by 5pm on Thursday, Feb. 13.

Should you have any further questions, please contact Matthew Shapero by email, [email protected], or phone, 650-625-6510.

Newsom Releases Proposed 2025-26 State Budget
Governor Gavin Newsom earlier this month released a $322 billion Proposed Budget for 2025-26. Newsom’s initial budget outline proposes spending $2.7 billion of the $10 billion Climate Bond (Proposition 4) approved by California voters in November, including $1 billion for “Safe Drinking Water, Drought, Flood & Water Resilience” and $325 million on “Wildfire & Forest Resilience.” Importantly, Newsom’s Proposed Budget would not cut any additional funding from the $54 billion in climate funding 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).

For more information on the Governor’s Proposed Budget, see last week’s edition of California Cattleman Weekly or the February edition of the California Cattleman magazine.

Livestock Producers at Point Reyes Agree to Settlement Terminating Ranch Leases
The National Park Service announced earlier this month 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.

While CCA is dismayed to see much of the ranching at Point Reyes discontinued, the Seashore ranchers’ difficult decision to settle is entirely understandable given the ceaseless litigation they suffered over the years from radical environmental groups. CCA is encouraged that two beef producers will remain at Point Reyes, continuing the proud historical tradition of ranching at the Seashore. For more information, see last week’s edition of California Cattleman Weekly.

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CCA in the News

Calif. beef industry seeks focus on fire resiliency Western Farm Press “Since 2021, the California Cattlemen’s Association has helped secure more than $120 million in state funding for such fire prevention efforts as wildland grazing, a prescribed fire claims fund and various forest health initiatives.” To continue reading, click here.

Settlement reached to end ranching in Point Reyes Western Livestock Journal “Kirk Wilbur, California Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) vice president of government affairs, told WLJ, ‘CCA is dismayed to see cattle ranching diminished at Point Reyes, but we absolutely support the dairymen and ranchers at Point Reyes and the difficult decisions they’ve made.’” To continue reading, click here.

Industry News

Cattle Producers Pleased by Withdrawal of Anti-Free Market USDA Rule National Cattlemen’s Beef Association “The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) welcomed the withdrawal of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) proposed rule entitled ‘Fair and Competitive Livestock and Poultry Markets,’ announced today by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. This harmful regulation would have dismantled current cattle marketing agreements, reversed decades of innovation in the cattle industry, and threatened producer profitability.” To continue reading, click here.

In Wake of Catastrophic Wildfires, Westerman and Peters Re-Introduce Fix Our Forests Act House Committee on Natural Resources “The Fix Our Forests Act is a historic and comprehensive package that will encourage active forest management and support community resiliency to wildfires by expediting environmental analyses, reducing frivolous lawsuits and increasing the pace and scale of forest restoration projects.” To continue reading, click here.