Amador County – Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association President Jon Coupal responded last week to the Governor’s proposed budget for 2012-2013, saying taxpayers are being “held hostage” by a “sham budget.”

David Wolfe, Legislative Director of Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, said he helped draft Coupal’s column, which ran Friday on Flash Report. Wolfe said it is “a good update on the fiscal state of California,” and shows the “obvious contrast of what will be on the November ballot, namely taxes v. spending cap.”

Coupal in the column said Gov. Jerry Brown made a “ransom demand to Californians” as if to say: “Vote for more in taxes or I’ll cut $5 billion from education.” Coupal wrote: “Upon hearing the threat, citizens across the state yawned and then went about their business knowing that the gun pointed at their wallet wasn’t even loaded.”

He wrote that “Brown’s proposed tax hike wasn’t really a surprise as just a few weeks ago he laid out the plan to increase income and sales taxes on Californians by $35 billion over five years. If this sounds familiar, it should. These are the very same taxes voters rejected less than three years ago by a two-to-one margin,” and “voters have rejected the last seven tax hikes dating back to 2006.”

Coupal said the “Governor not only assumes that voters will approve taxes, but he is so confident of this that he built the revenue into his budget. Brown envisions a 7 percent hike in spending for 2012-2013, the largest annual increase in six years.”

Coupal said “revenues have increased more than 3 percent and the unemployment rate has declined to 11.3 percent, the lowest level in nearly three years,” and Brown would “choke off this fledgling economic recovery with taxes” because “California politicians lack the intestinal fortitude to live within their means.”

Coupal said “the Governor talks a good game” of paying down the state’s “wall of debt,” but “he followed that up with asking for a $12 billion water bond,” and continued to support the High Speed Rail program “and a cap-and-trade” that will “drive Californians’ energy costs through the roof.”

Coupal said “vast sums of their taxpayer dollars are being wasted” and “voters will be reminded” by his group that “they are not under-taxed” but “our government leaders simply are not good stewards of their tax dollars.”

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – The U.S. Forest Service last week announced opening of a nomination period for a newly-forming advisory committee to guide management of national forests and grasslands.

Sacramento Regional Representative Mike Chapel last week announced the nomination period and asked recent forest dialogue participants to “please let us know if you, or others from your organization, apply for the advisory committee.”

Jessica Call, Forest Planning Specialist said: “We want to get a broad and diverse applicant pool” and said “it would be great to have some California representation on this.” Members selected to serve on the “National Advisory Committee for Implementation of the National Forest System Land Management Planning Rule” will “advise and give recommendations to the Secretary of Agriculture and the Chief of the U.S. Forest Service on matters related to the implementation of the new planning rule.”

Call said the committee will be comprised of up to 21 members with diverse backgrounds, who represent the full range of public interests in management of National Forest System land and who “represent geographically diverse locations and communities,” within each of three categories of interests. Up to seven members will represent one or more categories including the affected public at-large, or will hold state-, county, or locally elected office, or represent American Indian Tribes or youth.

Up to seven members will be selected from one or more groups, including national, regional, or local environmental organizations; conservation organizations or watershed associations; dispersed recreation interests; archaeological or historical interests; or the scientific community.

Up to seven representatives will be selected from industry groups, including timber; grazing or other land use permit holders or other private forest landowners; energy and mineral development; commercial or recreational hunting and fishing interests; or developed outdoor recreation, off-highway vehicle users, or commercial recreation interests.

The committee will provide advice and recommendations on issues such as planning rule directives for implementation, best practices, effective monitoring practices and ongoing collaboration efforts. Call said the announcement of this committee builds on the Agency’s efforts to develop a new Land Management Planning Rule for the National Forest System.

The 45-day nomination period closes Feb. 21. Additional details on the committee and application form are available at the Forest Service planning rule website, or by calling (202)205-0830 or (202)205-1056.

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – The Governor’s budget proposal last week included a plan to reorganize 12 state agencies into 10, and eliminate 39 state entities, and 9 programs.

Gov. Jerry Brown in the transcript said $15 billion dollars in cuts to the state budget last year eliminated 15,000 positions in 2011-2012. The proposed 2012-13 budget cuts would have the Department of Finance conduct “department-by-department review to identify additional positions for elimination and permanently reduced positions to reflect the smaller size of state government.”

Brown said the budget “keeps the cuts made last year and adds new ones” and “without some new taxes, damaging cuts to schools, universities, public safety and only our courts will increase. That is why I will ask the voters to approve a temporary tax increase on the wealthy, a modest temporary increase in the sales tax and to guarantee that the new revenues be spent only on education.”

He also asked “that the voters guarantee ongoing funding for local public safety programs” in a ballot measure, which “will not solve all of our fiscal problems, but it will stop further cuts to education and public safety and halt the trend of double-digit tuition increases.”

Brown’s proposals include eliminating California Emergency Management Agency and making it an office reporting directly to the governor. Agency restructuring would creating one “Transportation Agency,” combining Caltrans, DMV, the “High Speed Rail Authority,” CHP, the California Transportation Commission and the Board of Pilot Commissioners.

Another reorganization would create the “Government Operations Agency,” combining departments of General Services, Human Resources, Technology, Administrative Law, Public Employees Retirement System, State Teachers Retirement System, State Personnel Board, and Government Claims Board, with a newly restructured “Department of Revenue.”

Brown’s budget would create a “Business and Consumer Services Agency,” made up of departments of Consumer Affairs, Housing and Community Development, Fair Employment and Housing, Alcoholic Beverage Control, and a new Department of Business Oversight.

The budget would transfer Infrastructure Bank, Film and Tourism commissions, Small Business Centers, and the Small Business Guarantee Loan Program into a new Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development.

The budget would eliminate the Departments of Mental Health and alcohol and drug programs, dividing those responsibilities among departments of health services, public health, social services, education, and health planning and development, and the Mental Health Services and Oversight Accountability Commission.

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – The Ski Area Citizen’s Coalition (SACC) recently released the yearly Ski Area Environmental scorecard for 2011 placing Kirkwood Mountain Resort among the top ranked facilities, with an overall “A” rating and score of 80.1 percent.

Kirkwood was the fourth best rated among 19 California resorts, and held the 12th best rank among 83 ski resorts rated nation-wide by SACC.

Kirkwood Vice President Michael Dalzell announced the ratings last week, saying that the Coalition “releases their scorecards grading ski resorts nationwide on the environmental impact from operations. Scores are based on strict criteria including: preserving land, renewable energy usage, community sustainability and more.”

Ski Area Citizens Coalition categorical rankings showed Kirkwood scored the best in protecting watersheds, and water quality, at 94 percent, and also received “A” scores in addressing global climate change and environmental policies and practices, and a “B” in habitat protection.

Mike Richter, Director of Environmental Affairs at Kirkwood Mountain Resort said it was “great to be recognized for our environmental efforts.” Richter said “environmental stewardship and minimizing our impact on the environment has been an area of focus for Kirkwood over the past five years and our efforts are having a positive impact.”

Dalzell said a prime example of a program “undertaken since 2006 is Kirkwood’s operational philosophy focused on conservation programs that have resulted in cutting the resort’s water and energy usage by nearly 50 percent.”

Other notable initiatives Kirkwood has taken over the past few years includes a very successful employee and guest car-pooling and ride share program. Dalzell said they are also “being a leader” in supporting organizations that protect the environment such as National Forest Foundation and Bonneville Green Tag program in which Kirkwood is one of North America’s top contributors.

Kirkwood’s score of 80.1 percent was fourth best among the 19 California resorts graded by SACC. Squaw Valley was the best ranked in the country, and in the state, with a 92.1 percent grade. Kirkwood also had the 12th best grade of the all 83 resorts graded, among the 11 states in the rankings.

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.