LEGISLATIVE BULLETIN

January 22, 2024

To read the full version each week, please subscribe below.

Congress Passes Another Continuing Resolution to Fund Federal Government
President Joe Biden on Friday signed H.R. 2872, a continuing resolution which funds the federal government into March. The move once again averts a government shutdown, as prior funding authorizations for several sectors of the federal government had been set to expire at midnight on Friday.

As with the continuing resolution passed in mid-November, the latest funding bill is ‘laddered’ in that it extends funding through March 1 for some government agencies and through March 8 for others. Of particular interest to cattle producers, agencies funded through March 1 include the U.S. Department of Agriculture (except the U.S.  Forest Service), U.S. Department of Transportation and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (Livestock Mandatory Reporting provisions have also been extended through March 1). Agencies funded through March 8 include the Department of the Interior, the U.S. Forest Service, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Small Business Administration.

Visit RTAP and the Ag Hub in Red Bluff Starting Wednesday
If you are headed to the Red Bluff Bull and Gelding Sale this week, be sure to visit the Rancher Technical Assistance Program’s team in the tradeshow, Wednesday through Saturday. NEW this year, RTAP is part of the “Ag Hub” booth in the tradeshow along with CCA, California Farm Bureau and the California Cattle Council. Stop by the Ag Hub to connect with Jack and Noah on issues, as well as talk with guests about livestock, range, funding, water, and other issues relevant to ranchers. Check out the following scheduled speakers highlighted below and view the full schedule at https://www.calcattlemenfoundation.org/redbluff.

Wednesday, 2:00pm – 3:00pm
David Lile – UCCE Livestock and Natural Resource Advisor, Lassen County: Virtual Fencing, Range Improvement and Seeding

Thursday, 4:00pm – 4:30pm
Jeffrey Stackhouse – UCCE Livestock and Natural Resources Advisor, Humboldt & Del Norte Counties: Prescribed Burn Associations, WSARE Grant Opportunities, Goose Depredation

Friday, 11:00am, 1:00pm, 3:00pm
“Pulling a Calf With Dr. Gaby Maier” – Your chance to practice pulling a calf from an interactive simulator with Dr. Gaby Maier, DVM, PhD, DACVPM, Beef Cattle Herd Health & Production, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine

Friday, 12:00pm – 2:00pm
Ag Hub Roundtable with Shannon Douglass, President, California Farm Bureau, Mike McCluskey, 2nd Vice President, California Cattlemen’s Association
and Dave Daley, Board Member, California Cattle Council.

Saturday, 10:00am – 11:30am
Jack Rice – Rancher Technical Assistance Program: SGMA and Water Issues

For more details on the Ag Hub, tune in to today’s episode of Sorting Pen.

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 CCA’s Membership and Events Coordinator Gracie LeCheminant along with Jack Rice and Noah Lopez of the Rancher Technical Assistance Program sit down with Katie to talk about the new “Ag Hub” that will be in the tradeshow at the Red Bluff Bull & Gelding Sale, happening this week. To listen to the episode click here. 

Newsom Releases Proposed 2024-25 Budget
Earlier this month, Governor Gavin Newsom released his Proposed Budget for Fiscal Year 2025. The Proposed Budget totals $291.5 billion with a projected budget deficit of $37.9 billion, which Newsom aims to address by drawing $13.1 billion from the state’s reserves, reducing existing budget allocations by $8.5 billion and delaying $5.1 billion in previously-appropriated funding. The Proposed Budget would cut approximately $2.9 billion in funding for climate programs but leaves prior appropriations for wildfire and forest resilience largely untouched. For more information on the Proposed Budget, see last week’s edition of Legislative Bulletin. Additionally, a more thorough breakdown of the Budget will be available in the February edition of California Cattleman.

CDFW Projects that Wolf Compensation Program Funding Has Been Exhausted
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) on has announced that all available funds under its Wolf/Livestock Compensation Program have likely been encumbered, jeopardizing future compensation claims from livestock producers impacted by wolves. CCA is seeking additional funding for the Wolf Compensation Program in this year’s Budget, though the state’s substantial deficit is a complicating factor in that effort. For more information, see last week’s edition of Legislative Bulletin.

CDFA and USDA Wildlife Services Release Draft Wildlife Management Analysis
The California Department of Food and Agriculture and the California State Office of USDA APHIS Wildlife Services announced Friday that the agencies have completed a draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) analyzing the environmental impacts of the agencies’ wildlife damage management activities in California.  CCA is hopeful that the EIR/EIS will resolve California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) concerns that have spurred litigation in numerous California counties and resulted in some of those counties terminating their wildlife damage management program agreements with Wildlife Services. CCA will thoroughly review the draft environmental assessments and provide input to the agencies ahead of the March 12 comment deadline. For more information, see last week’s edition of Legislative Bulletin.

CARB Extends Clean Truck Check Reporting Deadline to January 31
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has announced that January 31 is the deadline for vehicle owners subject to the Clean Truck Check regulation to report their vehicles to CARB’s Clean Truck Check database. The Clean Truck Check regulation – also known as the Heavy Duty Inspection and Maintenance Program – applies to nearly all non-gasoline vehicles (including diesel vehicles) with a gross vehicle weight rating of 14,000 pounds or more which operate within California. Along with the reporting requirement, the regulation requires vehicle owners to pay a fee of $30 per reported vehicle. For more information about the Clean Truck Check program, see the January 2 edition of Legislative Bulletin or CARB’s program webpage.

New Name for Weekly E-Newsletter Legislative Bulletin
Legislative Bulletin is getting a new name! Come Monday, Feb. 5, the weekly e-newsletter will hit inboxes with the title, California Cattleman Weekly. The name change is being made to reflect that the weekly e-neswletter includes an array of information, sources, news and legislative updates. Other than the new name, the weekly e-newsletter will have no change in content or delivery.

CattleFax Cow-Calf Survey Released
From CattleFax
CattleFax has introduced its annual Cow-Calf Survey. Information requested in the survey provides participants and the rest of the industry with valuable data regarding industry benchmarks and trends.

Survey participants will recieve a results summary packet, with useful benchmarking information that will allow managers and owners to evaluate their own operations. Items such as cow-calf profitability, tendencies of high and low return producers, regional data, and other valuable material are included. To receive the summary packet, a valid email address must be submitted. All individual results will be confidential and remain anonymous.

By completing the survey and submitting a valid email address, participants will also be entered in a drawing to win a $700 CattleFax voucher. The credit can be used for any CattleFax memberships, registration fees for education seminars (Corporate College and Risk Management Seminar), and/or registration fees for the annual Outlook and Strategies Session.

The survey can be accessed through the following link or by going to CattleFax.com, selecting the About tab at the top of the page, and then clicking on 2023 Cow-Calf Survey on the sidebar. The deadline to complete the survey is March 1^st, 2024.
2023 Cow-Calf Survey

For questions or concerns please contact Matthew McQuagge, Analyst, at 303-850-3407, or mmcquagge@cattlefax.com.

Upcoming CCA Events

Upcoming Industry Events

Industry News

NCBA Continues to Push for Death Tax Relief National Cattlemen’s Beef Association “Current Death Tax relief is set to expire at the end of 2025, and it is vital that Congress acts soon and provide permanent relief for our family operations. If the federal estate tax exemption reverts to pre-2017 limits, coupled with the rapid inflation of farmland values, many more families will be subject to the Death Tax.” To continue reading, click here.

NYSE pulls plan for environmentally sustainable asset class Reuters “‘Under the proposal, private interests, including foreign-controlled sovereign wealth funds, could use their capital to purchase or manage farmland, national and state parks, and other mineral-rich areas and stop essential economic activities like farming, grazing, and energy extraction,’ Oaks said.” To continue reading, click here.

NCBA Welcomes USDA Pilot Program to Expand Remote Grading for Beef National Cattlemen’s Beef Association “Today, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) welcomed the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) announcement that the agency is pursuing a Remote Grading Pilot Program for beef. The pilot program will allow a USDA meat grader to assign grades from a remote location, increasing the grading options available to producers who sell into smaller, local processing facilities.” To continue reading, click here.