Prop 23 Update: Overwhelming RCRC support for Prop 23

Russ Steele

The Regional Council of Rural Counties (RCRC) represents 31 rural counties in California. RCRC  Counties include: Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Colusa, Del Norte, El Dorado, Glenn, Imperial, Inyo, Lassen, Lake, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, Modoc, Mono, Nevada, Napa, Placer, Plumas, San Benito, Shasta, Sierra, Sutter, Tehama and Yuba.

The RCRC Board of Directors is made up of a Supervisor from each of the above Counties. The are Democrats, Republicans and  Independents, representing the needs of rural California counties. Twenty two the 32 RCRC Counties attended the 18 August Board of Directors meeting.

An agenda item for the August meeting was to review the Propositions that will be on the November ballot. The RCRC Staff presented the pros and cons of the propositions and made recommendations to the Board. They recommended the RCRC support Prop 23. The RCRC Board voted 21-YES, 0-No, and 1-Abstention by Napa County.  This is overwhelming support for Prop 23. 

A “Support” position means that RCRC endorses the measure, and agrees that the organization’s name can be used by those supporting that Proposition.

The material provided to the RCRC Board made some important distinctions about the impact of suspending AB32. Some provisions of AB32 are already being implemented under other laws passed by the Legislature and will not be impacted by the AB32 suspension:

• Land use policies to promote reductions in vehicle miles traveled enacted by SB 375.
• Emission standards on new vehicles, enacted by AB 1493 (Pavley).
• Requirements to address GHG emissions in environmental documents and
• general plans as a result of a federal ruling labeling GHGs as air pollutants.
• Energy efficiency standards on buildings and appliances.
• Diesel retrofit regulations adopted as part of ARB’s Diesel Risk Reduction Plan. 

On the other hand the following provisions of AB32 will be suspended until unemployment reaches 5.5% for four consecutive quarters under Prop 23:

• The proposed cap-and-trade program currently under development by ARB.
• The low carbon fuel standard already adopted by ARB.
• The already-adopted ARB regulation that enables the state to collect fees from high GHG emitters.
• The 33 percent renewable electricity standard currently under development by ARB and the California Energy Commission (CEC).
• The landfill methane control measure regulation already adopted by ARB.
• The heavy-duty GHG emission reduction measure (aerodynamic efficiency)already adopted by ARB.
• The green building standards already adopted by the Building Standards Commission.
• The mandatory commercial recycling requirements currently under development by ARB.

According to Supervisor John Spencer, representing Nevada County on the RCRC Board, these provisions of AB32 will have a negative impact rural county economies, therefore RCRC voted to support Proposition 23, that suspend these provisions.