LEGISLATIVE WATCH
Senate Bill 1617, is in the Legislature to boost Cal Fire funding. Residents would be assessed steep new fees, as high as $400 per house, added to their property tax bills.

The state is struggling to close a multibillion-dollar deficit, and lawmakers are suggesting dozens of new taxes and fees. This new fee will be particularly onerous for some residents in El Dorado County. This bill would establish a fee on buildings and structures in state responsibility areas in order to fund fire prevention and suppression activities, a firefighting fee, on residents of the foothills and forests to supplement the Cal Fire’s budget. (SRA - All lands where the state has the primary financial responsibility are designated state responsibility areas.)

The Business Alliance has not taken a position on either proposition.
Upcoming Ballot Propositions 98 & 99 both attempt to curb abuses in Eminent Domain (ED), but are radically different.

Public Comment Deadline: April 30

Since 1962, Folsom Lake has served as a premier recreation area in the State. The last major revision to the area’s general plan was made in 1979 and a new 20-year plan is in the works today. You may not be aware of this as El Dorado County was largely left out of the planning this year. Public presentation and input was received in March at Granite Bay and Folsom. After Supervisor Rusty Dupray heard that no meetings were scheduled in El Dorado County, with the majority of the shoreline is in his district, he led the push to add a meeting and extend the deadline for public comment.

Over the protest of team leader Scott Nakaji on March 11, the deadline has been extended from March 24 until April 30. On April 16, 2008, a public hearing was held in El Dorado Hills. Although the public notice did meet statutory requirements, it was functionally defective due to a long, multi-year delay, from initial stakeholder input to this plan’s release. The existing plan was written in 1979 and amended in both 1988 and 1996. The new plan was begun in June 2002, a workshop was held in late 2002 and a telephone survey of 400 of the nearly one million affected residents was also conducted. In June of 2003, a second workshop was held. It was not until December of 2007 that a final workshop was held. It is unclear what caused the apparent delay of five years. Many members of the public felt that the Plan’s team was pursuing a rush to judgment by attempting to close public comment by March 24 without any public input or explanation in El Dorado County.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the California Department of Fish and Game, have issued a written response to their ongoing discussions with El Dorado County and the Bureau of Land Management, regarding efforts to protect eight gabbro plants that occupy portions of western El Dorado County.

The eight gabbro plants include five rare or endangered species, the Stebbins' morning glory, Pine Hill ceanothus, Pine Hill flannelbush, El Dorado bedstraw, and Layne's butterweed. The Recovery Plan proposes the preservation and management of specifically targeted parcels that combined total 5,001 acres of occupied habitat distributed among five preserve areas in western El Dorado County including areas Cameron Park, Shingle Springs, and Rescue.