El Dorado County – Sierra Pacific Industries’ sawmill in Camino closed its doors last Thursday, once again raising debate over the future of forest-based industries in our region and across the country. Sierra Pacific estimates 160 mill workers and 450 workers whose jobs depend on the Camino mill will lose their jobs. After recent closures in Quincy and Sonora, this becomes the third shutdown in the region, bringing the total direct and indirect job loss to almost 1200 jobs, according to Mark Luster, Community Relations Manager for Sierra Pacific Industries. As many as 25 mills have shut down through the last half-century in the Mother Lode region. “Today is a sad day for El Dorado County. The closing of Sierra Pacific’s mill is a great loss to the entire community,” said Senator Dave Cox, who represents this region. Sierra Pacific officials said the “difficult lumber market combined with reduced timber harvests on nearby national forest lands and state regulatory burdens were the primary drivers behind the decision to close the plants.” Luster said about 40 percent of the lumber needed to supply Sierra Pacific’s sawmills comes from the United States Forest Service and other private landowners. “The Forest Service has been under litigation for the last two decades or so, and their supply of timber has dropped about 90 percent in the last 20 or 30 years. That means that we don’t have the log supply to run our sawmills with,” said Luster. Some local officials, like Calaveras District 2 Supervisor Steve Wilensky are pushing for fundamental changes that will allow forest based industries to survive in the future. “It’s a boom-bust cycle that we’ve learned about in the foothills from the Gold Rush to timber to housing. We’ve really hitched our wagon to ponies that tended to go off a cliff,” said Wilensky in an exclusive TSPN interview. Wilensky traveled to Washington, DC, on May 21 to testify before a Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands in an Oversight Hearing. Wilensky is pushing for a sustainable forest economy partly based on restoration, watershed protection, and carbon sequestration. “Those things can be wrapped into an economy and could put a lot of people back to work,” he said. Senator Cox is taking a different approach to dealing with these closures. He met with the Governor and legislative leaders earlier this year to ask that the state revise its timber harvest laws with a Timber Harvest Plan/Forest Conservation Plan to allow professional foresters to manage California’s forests. “Had the Governor and Legislative leaders adopted Cox’s request, jobs in the timber industry would have been saved,” wrote one Cox spokesperson in a press release. Cox has also introduced Assembly Bill 1066, which would extend the effective period of a timber harvest plan from three years to five years. Wilenksy says that “every time we have a housing market drop we have a big argument about environmental regulations, but overall, statistically, housing starts dictate the number of board feet in this country, and the housing starts are down to nothing.” He added that “occasionally there will be places where environmental regulations keep people out of certain areas…but we’re looking to treat the Sierra as a whole so those distortions need to be balanced out.” Story by Alex Lane This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

State - Legislation to increase government transparency by Assemblymember Alyson Huber passed the Assembly Appropriations Committee with bipartisan support late last month. The bills have now passed all necessary Assembly committees and will move to the Assembly floor. “AB 1181 and AB 1274 are good reforms that will help make campaign contributions and lobbying activity details more accessible to the public, not just insiders,” said Assemblymember Huber. “Both Democratic and Republican legislators recognize the need for these reforms and more transparency, and I look forward to moving these bills closer to the Governor’s desk.” AB 1181 would require all state candidate committees, ballot measure committees and slate mail organizations to file contributors online with the Secretary of State’s office. AB 1274 would address the need to easily identify who is lobbying on a specific issue by requiring the Secretary of State to display online a breakdown of all lobbying interests seeking to influence each proposed law. This list would be updated quarterly. Huber's bills are a long way from becoming law. Both were introduced late last month and have not yet been considered in legislative committees, their next step. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – During Tuesday’s meeting, the Jackson City Council discussed its preliminary budget review and a proposed resolution finding a severe fiscal hardship if additional city property tax funds are seized by the state. In a memo to the council, City Manager Mike Daly wrote, “most indicators point to continued economic struggles and an unlikely increase in total general Fund revenues anytime soon.” He attached a resolution declaring “severe fiscal hardship” and wrote its purpose was to “send a message to the Governor and legislators to keep their hands out of local governments’ pockets and to create a responsible state budget that does not harm local taxpayers receiving local government services.” City of Jackson finances are segregated by three primary fund categories: General Fund, Enterprise Fund, and Special Revenue Funds. According to Daly, the focus of the Fiscal Year 2009-2010 budget process is the wide-reaching General Fund, the primary source of funding for Police and Fire services, as well as streets, parks and facilities maintenance. Much of the General Fund includes Jackson’s most vulnerable source of revenue: sales taxes. “Over the past two years, the City’s sales tax revenues have dropped from a high of $1,344,108 to this year’s estimate of $590,000,” wrote Daly. Considering declining sales tax revenues, he said a “conservative projection of $550,000 (for the General Fund reserve balance) is projected for Fiscal Year 2009-2010.” This reduction has the greatest impact on salaries and benefits, which represents approximately 73 percent of General Fund expenditures. “Clearly, this is all going to have a direct impact on the services we’re providing,” said Daly. The city has reduced spending in most areas and is taking other steps to retain levels of service, such as applying for a Federal COPS grant that would fund approximately of the salary and benefits for one police officer position. Faced with a State Department of Finance recommendation to borrow property tax from local governments in order to “help bail itself out of trouble,” Daly recommended Jackson support a movement by the League of California Cities to reject this proposal. Daly wrote that “continuing the cycle of borrowing to patch holes in a current year budget is not an acceptable budget solution and only delays the inevitable.” Councilman Keith Sweet noted that since June of 2008, Jackson has spent $2 million more than it’s taken in. “We’ve been borrowing from our reserves, and we’re going to have to make some tough decisions before going any further,” he said. The council unanimously approved the resolution. Story by Alex Lane This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County - Amador County Sheriff Martin Ryan joined a panel of law enforcement officers who testified in Sacramento last week in support of legislation to crack down on methamphetamine dealers. Assembly Bill 640, written by 10th District Assemblywoman and Amador County representative Alyson Huber, passed its first major hurdle when it was subsequently approved by the Assembly Public Safety Committee after the hearing last Thursday. “There is no mandatory jail time for sellers of methamphetamines under current law,” said Huber. Huber says meth is the largest drug problem in California and putting meth dealers behind bars is a top priority. Under current law, there are mandatory minimum sentences for the sellers of cocaine, heroine and PCP but not methamphetamine. “We’ve got 60,007 treatment admissions in California and less than 700 in the state of New York. That tells you that we’re not doing enough in California to fight this methamphetamine use,” said Huber. More than 40 percent of methamphetamine abusers nationwide come from California. Ryan said that “in 2008, out of 118 investigations conducted by our Narcotics Task Force, 46 of those involved methamphetamine- 39 percent. By contrast we had 8 heroin cases, 1 cocaine case.” Assembly Bill 640 would increase current sentences by imposing a minimum jail time of 120 days as a condition of probation. The Assembly Bill was approved by the committee and goes on to seek final approval through the Legislature. (end) am Story by Alex Lane