Association President/CEO Isom Testifies on West Coast Port Crisis
A special hearing was held yesterday by the Joint Assembly and Senate Select Committees on Ports and Goods Movement at their special hearing today in Sacramento on the West Coast Port Crisis. Association President/CEO Roger Isom was asked by the Committee to speak to the impact of the crisis on agriculture. Additional panelists included representatives from the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, California Association of Port Authorities, California Retailers Association, California State Transportation Authority, Pacific Merchant Shipping Association, BNSF, Teamsters and the ILWU. Isom’s comments focused on quantifying the costs and impact to agricultural exports, and outlined the direct problems faced by the industry included rolled bookings and the cancellation of Shipping Lines coming to Oakland to take exports. Isom stated “taking empties back to Asia, bypassing Oakland and leaving ag exports on the docks is clearly a trade issue…agriculture and our inability to get our exports out is simply collateral damage. We need solutions and we need them yesterday.” While the state of California has little jurisdiction on issues affecting the crisis, they can help with some of the short-term solutions to alleviate the logjam, including finding off-port storage and other potential solutions.
Cal/OSHA Proposed 2nd Readoption – COVID-19 ETS
One day prior to the October 21st Standards Board meeting, Cal/OSHA published proposed language for the second readoption of the COVID-19 ETS. If approved at the December Standards Board meeting, the readoption would provide for the proposed regulation to be in place from January 14, 2022 through April 14, 2022. Proposed updates include:
- Screening: During screening, both vaccinated and unvaccinated employees are to wear face coverings
- Testing: If COVID-19 case occurs in the workplace, testing for all non-symptomatic close contacts, including those who are vaccinated.
- Close contacts: currently employees who have had close contact but are fully vaccinated and remain asymptomatic do not need to be excluded from the workplace. Under the proposed – these employees must now wear a face covering in the workplace for 14 days, social distance for 14 days, and get a COVID-19 test 3-5 days after the close contact.
- Return to Work: The proposal revises if an employee returns to work before 14 days, they must wear a face covering and maintain social distancing until 14 days have passed.
- Outbreaks: employers will be required to test all employees regardless of vaccination status.
- Employer provided housing: housing ventilation must be maximized regardless of vaccination status. All employee residents must be tested if there were 3 or more cases in their housing in a 14-day period; the quarantine policy to exclude asymptomatic vaccinated close contacts has been removed.
- Employer provided vehicles: all employees must be provided and wear face coverings regardless of vaccination status.
WAPA will continue to monitor changes of the Cal/OSHA COVID-19 regulations in the workplace and provide comments at the December Standards Board meeting.
Governor Newsom Issues Executive Order Tackling Supply Chain Crisis
October 20, 2021
This morning, Governor Gavin Newsom issued Executive Order N-19-21, which aims to alleviate congestion at California’s shipping ports and tackle the state’s truck driver shortage.
The Order directs state agencies to:
- Find state, federal and private land for short-term container storage.
- Identify priority freight routes to be considered for a temporary exemption to current gross vehicle limits to allow for trucks to carry additional goods.
- Create workforce training and education programs. This includes expeditingAB 639’s (Cervantes, 2020) implementation.
Specifically, Governor Newsom's Order states:
- "The Department of Transportation, in partnership with the California State Transportation Agency, within 30 days of this Order, shall, in collaboration with industry stakeholders, evaluate and identify priority freight routes to be considered for a temporary exemption to current gross vehicle weight limits.
- The Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development shall identify non-state sites, including private, locally owned, and federally owned parcels, that could be available to address short-term storage needs to address the supply and distribution chain crisis.
- The Department of General Services shall complete its review of state-owned property in proximity to impacted ports that may be made available to address short-term storage needs to address the supply and distribution chain crisis by no later than December 15, 2021. To meet this deadline, all agencies under my direct executive authority shall support this effort by timely responding to all inquiries made by the Department of General Services.
- The Department of General Services shall collaborate with other state agencies to expedite leasing for the purpose of storing cargo containers on state-owned parcels identified pursuant to the Department of General Services' review.
- The California Labor and Workforce Development Agency shall use existing resources to identify potential high road training partnerships to increase education, career technical education, job training, and workforce development opportunities for port workers and other workers across the supply chain. In identifying such opportunities, the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency shall first consider whether such partnerships can be funded through existing sources, such as the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act.
- By December 31, 2021, the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency shall take all necessary actions to constitute and announce the membership of the industry panel required by AB 639and codified at Government Code section 12893.1 (a). The Secretary of Labor shall convene the panel for its first meeting by March 1, 2022.
- The Department of Finance shall work with state agencies and departments to develop longer term proposals that support port operations and goods movement for consideration in the January 10 Governor's Budget. Proposals may include port and transportation infrastructure improvements, electrification of the goods movement system from port to delivery, workforce development, and other actions to support goods movement.
- The Department of General Services, California Department of Food and Agriculture, the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development, California State Transportation Agency, Department of Transportation, and the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency shall use all existing legal and financial authority to expedite and prioritize these activities, including by giving them preference in the award of state funding, pursuant to my further direction. Agencies not under my direct executive authority are requested to do the same.
- The California State Transportation Agency, the California Department of Food and Agriculture, the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development, and the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency shall continue to execute actions in coordination with the Biden-Harris Administration Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force."
State Releases Draft Guidelines for SGMA Implementation Grants
The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) has released the draft guidelines and Proposal Solicitation Package (PSP) for the Sustainable Groundwater Management (SGM) Grant Program’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) Implementation Funding.
DWR plans to deliver the funding in at least two funding solicitations:
- Round 1 will provide over $150 million by spring 2022 to regional groundwater agencies in critically overdrafted basins for planning and implementation projects to help comply with SGMA.
- Future solicitation in 2022-2023 will provide over $204 million from various funding sources, including anticipated General Fund appropriations in Fiscal Years (FY) 2022/23 and 2023/24, remaining FY 2021/22 General Funds, remaining Proposition 68 Implementation funds, and any funds not awarded in Round 1, for planning and implementation projects to help comply with SGMA. If any funds are available after Round 2, future funding solicitations will be provided.
The public comment period began on October 13 and ends on November 29, 2021. Following the review and consideration of public comments, DWR will release the final 2021 Guidelines and PSP and solicit proposals for Round 1. A public meeting will be held on November 16, 2021 at 2:00 PM. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, DWR will host the meeting as a Zoom webinar. The meeting will be recorded and a link to the recording will be posted on the website and e-mailed to subscribers of the SGM Grant Program’s email list (see subscription option below to subscribe) as soon as possible following the webinar. Please register for the public meeting at:
https://ca-water-gov.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcudu6rpzkqE9Z8XtCx17gINmFalDZI4cjI
For more information on document releases, new solicitations, upcoming workshops, and other grant-related announcements, subscribe to the SGM Grant Program mailing list. If you have any questions, please submit to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
FDA Signs Mutual Reliance Agreement With California
This past week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) entered into domestic mutual reliance agreements with California, as well as Florida, Utah and Wisconsin. Mutual reliance agreements mark a coordinated effort between the FDA and individual states with goals to reduce human foodborne illness outbreaks, reduce duplication of regulatory oversight, and increase public health protection by focusing on areas of higher risk. These new mutual reliance agreements help the FDA to work in cooperation with the states of California, Florida, Utah and Wisconsin to rely on, coordinate with, and leverage one another’s work, data, and actions to achieve a safer national food supply. The FDA will collaborate with partner states on data sharing, risk prioritization, inspections, outbreak investigations, development and monitoring of key metrics, and laboratory capacity, among many other key focus areas. The domestic mutual reliance framework provides opportunities for the FDA and partners to jointly identify needs to better protect the public and leverage work from other regulatory programs.