For the third year running, Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia of Coachella is proposing to apply California’s environmental and labor standards to imports. Instead of imposing fees on out-of-state producers, Assembly Bill 865 would require them to submit a form self-attesting compliance with California’s codes.
Last year the Assembly Agriculture Committee advanced the measure, but it stalled in Appropriations. Garcia shelved the bill for the year and is now bringing it up for a vote.
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Appropriations will consider that bill this week as well as one to add $100 million in drought and flood relief to ag businesses. In 2022 the Newsom administration set aside $75 million in drought aid but the state deficit and inertia with launching a new program delayed the funding until late last summer. In the meantime, Republican Assemblymember James Gallagher of Yuba City pushed for more money to help rural communities climb out of the economic hardship that lingers longer after drought and floods.
The state has delivered on much of the initial aid. But with the deficit deepening, the governor is proposing to cut $13 million from the remaining $30 million in the pot. The budget situation raises a steep hurdle for AB 1044 to survive out of Appropriations.
