Wildfires and COVID impacted legislation as much as they impacted wine production this year. Lauren Noland-Hajik, Attorney and Lobbyist at Soares & Conway coves some of the major changes seen in 2020 and what is coming up in 2021. The March shutdown of the legislature due to COVID resulted in the handing off of power from the legislature off to governor to make executive orders. This is a scenario that has not been seen in a long time and was still in place as of the end of 2020.

With the extended tax deadline, the legislature passed baby budget and filled in details in August. As a result, many programs were gutted. New programs and one time funds were taken off the table including programs like upgrading diesel engines, healthy soils program, and air quality plans that help agriculture.

Lauren covers new and upcoming policies including how ag can be a solution for wildfires; a bill to create consistent training for M95 mask use; AB685 defining a COVID outbreak and the notification procedure; SB1159 defining where COVID cases are presumed to be contracted; SB1383 to expand protected family leave; and Prop15 impacting property taxes.

In 2021 Lauren anticipates more bills on employee protection, legislation around recycling, and the codification of CalOSHA emergency regulations into bills.

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99: New Regulations – from COVID to Wildfires

Sustainable Winegrowing