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County hears state and federal legislative roundups; OMB grant rule drives concern
Summary
County staff and contracted lobbyists briefed supervisors on state bills affecting forests, Delta Conservancy expansion, and potential impacts of the OMB proposed grant rule; federal earmarks for Lake County were noted, along with an ongoing timeline for congressional action.
The board received state and federal legislative updates from Nielsen Merksamer and Paragon Government Relations during its July 28 meeting.
Jeff Neal of Nielsen Merksamer reviewed priority bills including AB 2494 (state demonstration forest changes) and AB 2216 (Delta Conservancy boundary expansion) and said the county is working with stakeholders to protect wildfire resilience and research priorities. "There are still worrying provisions in the bill," Neal said of the forest measure and urged continued engagement in Appropriations.
On the federal side, Hassan Sarsour and Rachel Mackey of Paragon summarized the congressional calendar and noted two earmarks likely to benefit Lake County: roughly $750,000 for water/wastewater infrastructure related to a recent sewage spill and $500,000 for a workforce housing and reentry project. Paragon warned the board about a proposed Office of Management and Budget rule that could centralize political review of discretionary grants and create compliance and legal risks for local governments. "This proposal would completely change federal financial assistance as we know it," Rachel Mackey said, describing a public-comment record of hundreds of thousands of submissions and the likely route to litigation.
Supervisors asked staff to continue engagement with the delegation and national associations on both the demonstration-forest bill and the OMB rule; Supervisor Paiske offered to follow up on specific wildfire-task-force alignment language.
