Gov. Gavin Newsom has selected Lynda Hopkins to serve as a board member of the Air Resources Board.
Until recently Hopkins and her husband ran Foggy River Farm, a small organic operation in Healdsburg known for its pumpkin patch and food boxes. As a Sonoma County supervisor, she spoke out against Measure J, a local ballot proposal last year that unsuccessfully sought to ban most confined feeding operations.
Hopkins argued the unfunded mandate would force the county to pull money from paving roads and providing critical services. She said environmental advocates “straight up lied” to her several times as they pressed her to sign the petition. Under the guise of animal welfare, the proposal would have “sentenced a whole bunch of beautiful dairy cows” to death, she added.
Ag voice: Hopkins is the second CARB member to come from agriculture. John Eisenhut, who manages grower relations at a Merced County almond processor, has served on the board for 15 years as the agriculture member.
Newsom also appointed to the board Dawn Ortiz-Legg, a San Luis Obispo County supervisor with a background in the energy sector.
CDFA has dairy money to return, but can’t
CDFA has more than $7 million left over from its milk marketing program and pooling branch for the state’s defunct quota system. CDFA derived the money from industry assessments, but it has no way to directly refund that money back to dairies, according to a budget document.
Many of the operations have shuttered since the programs ended in 2017 and over the 50-year lifespan of the quota system. Records on the thousands of transactions are long gone. Since the programs have ceased operations, the department lacks the authority to spend the money.
Instead CDFA plans to send the $3.5 million in pooling funds to the 800 dairies that participate in the Quota Implementation Plan. But it will take 840 hours to the mail all the checks, prompting the department to ask the Legislature for more money for that staff time. CDFA wants to use the dairy marketing dollars, meanwhile, to support research for improving animal welfare and reducing the industry’s environmental impacts.
Westlands considers Kevin McCarthy for advisory role
Westlands Water District has begun informal talks considering former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy for an advisory position at the district. No specifics have been discussed but the role would not be as a lobbyist.
House GOP tees up budget debate
Now it’s your move, House Republicans. Senate Republicans on Friday pushed through their skinny budget resolution. House Republicans will try this week to pass a much more sweeping plan that would require $1.5 trillion in spending cuts.
The House Rules Committee meets this afternoon to prepare the GOP resolution for debate.
House Democrats are hoping to peel off enough GOP votes to kill the budget plan. "We only need three to stand up on behalf of their constituents. And that is going to be an ongoing effort over the next few days to identify those individuals," House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told CNN on Sunday. Republicans control the House, 218-215.
Also this week: Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins hinted Saturday in a post on X that “big announcements” are coming this week. She has a lot on her to-do list, including a new plan for combatting bird flu.
For more on this week’s agenda, read our Washington Week Ahead.
Ag research dollars at risk over transgender athlete policies
State universities are being told to comply with Trump administration policies regarding transgender athletes or risk losing federal assistance, including agricultural research funding.
The warning came in a letter from USDA Acting General Counsel Ralph Linden to the state of Maine and the University of Maine following Gov. Janet Mills’ declaration that the state would continue to allow transgender athletes to compete in women’s sports.
She told President Donald Trump, “See you in court,” when he confronted her at the White House about her stand. Asked whether she would comply with his executive order, “Keeping men out of women’s sports,” Mills answered, “I’m complying with state and federal law.”
“President Trump has made it abundantly clear: taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars will not support institutions that discriminate against women,” Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said in a news release. “USDA is committed to upholding the President’s executive order, meaning any institution that chooses to disregard it can count on losing future funding.”
Read our full report at Agri-Pulse.com.
Trump vows tariffs to counter digital services taxes
In his latest tariff salvo, Trump on Friday directed officials to look into tariffs and other trade actions to counter foreign practices he says discriminate against U.S. tech firms.
The executive order denounces measures like foreign digital services taxes, local content requirements and data restrictions as disproportionately harming U.S. platforms.
Where officials identify foreign policies hurt U.S. companies, the order says the administration will respond by “imposing tariffs and taking such other responsive actions necessary to mitigate the harm.”
Why it matters: Many of the partners that maintain digital services taxes are already considering retaliating against other U.S. tariff threats, including Canada and the European Union.
The first Trump administration opened investigations into digital services taxes maintained by the United Kingdom, France, Austria, Italy, Spain and Turkey. Since then, Canada’s digital services tax has also entered into force. Friday’s executive order specifically calls out these countries for their digital policies.
Canada could offer dairy market concessions in USMCA review
A Canadian trade lawyer tells Agri-Pulse that Canada could grant U.S. dairy producers more market access in the face of strong U.S. pressure and to preserve the most important parts of a North American free trade deal.
“This will be strongly resisted by Canada for political reasons,” Lawrence Herman, an international trade lawyer at Herman and Associates, said. But he added that “strong U.S. pressure” and the risk of “jeopardizing other parts of the deal will allow some flexibility.”
A U.S. dairy representative said last week that they want to see the U.S. negotiate a “catch-up clause” in the forthcoming U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement review to make up for recent unfilled export quotas. U.S. dairy exporters have long complained that Ottawa’s management of the quotas is depressing U.S. exports to the country.
“This will be one of the most sensitive and contentious issues, where U.S. pressure will be unrelenting,” Herman said. “The U.S. will demand much more than a kind of catch-up clause,” he added. He argued that a maximalist negotiating position could involve “a full-frontal assault” on Canada’s dairy supply management system.
FDA in process of rehiring some laid-off personnel
Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said Sunday the Trump administration is moving to rehire people fired in the past week. He said the administration needs to be “more judicious” with its layoffs going forward.
“I think they could hire back fully half of the employees that were initially dismissed at the FDA, and they’ve tried to preserve things like review functions and inspectors,” Gottlieb said on CBS News’ “Face the Nation.”
Gottlieb, who led FDA during the first Trump administration, said some of the fired employees had “critical functions.”
Reported estimates of the number of FDA employees fired range from 700 to 1,000. The agency says it has more than 18,000 employees.
Final word:
“Make no mistake, Los Angeles will use this money wisely.” — Gov. Gavin Newsom, in a letter asking congressional leaders for $40 billion in wildfire disaster aid. The Trump administration still wants to add certain conditions to the aid, such as sending more water to farms and cities.
