Partnership Board adopts resolution
for comprehensive water strategy

The California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley Board of Directors on June 13 adopted a resolution strongly supporting a comprehensive water plan that includes water storage; a multifaceted Delta solution that includes improved conveyance, reliability and Estuary protection and water use efficiency.

The Partnership’s Water Policy Working Group has been engaged in a structured, collaborative dialogue since September 2007 to bring the interests and regions together to develop a shared vision for reliable water supply that protects water quality and reliability and meets many, but not all, individual requirements.

A number of specific elements are included in the resolution:

• Build/reinforce the use of rock stockpiles in the Delta (both working stockpiles and those used for levee maintenance and repair);
• Installation of two fish protection diverters in the Central Delta in areas specific in a New Melones Modeling Study to create a tranquil area for smelt and other species and to protect the fish from flows that would direct them to export pumps;
• Construction of a fish protection diverter at the Three-Mile Slough to protect fish from flows that would take them away from normal river flows and to export pumps; and
• Encourage state and federal agencies to refine Delta cross-channel operations to meet the multiple convergent needs of flood control and water supply, quality and reliability for multiple beneficiaries, specifically to optimize through-channel conveyance by dredging Middle River and other major channels to move additional water when it is surplus to the environment.

Download Resolution: Comprehensive Water Plan

Valley telehealth project selects six sites
for improved health care access

Thanks in part to a $250,000 Seed Grant from the California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley, the Valley Telehealth Partnership (VTP) spearheaded by UC Merced is set to begin establishing telehealth programs in six different San Joaquin Valley communities for the improvement of local access to medical specialists.

The six initial sites are at the forefront of what is expected to become a larger regional project that will use telemedicine technologies to connect patients and physicians in some of the Valley's most rural and underserved communities with medical specialists whose services are often unavailable in these areas.

The initial six partnering sites are Castle Family Health Centers in Atwater, Mercy Hospital Family Care Clinic in Merced, National Health Services in Oildale (Kern County), San Joaquin General Hospital in French Camp, Sierra Kings District Hospital in Reedley, and United Health Center in Kerman.

"As part of the Valley Telehealth Partnership, our selected sites will bring medical expertise to Valley patients who previously would have had to incur the cost and inconvenience of traveling outside of the region to see specialists," said UC Merced's Dean of Natural Sciences Maria Pallavicini who oversees the VTP and leads planning for UC Merced's proposed medical school.

"This project will improve access to specialty care in the near term and provides a foundation for the UC Merced School of Medicine in the long term by extending opportunities for medical education throughout the Valley,” she said.

In addition to the Partnership Seed Grant, the project also received $500,000 from AT&T and $200,000 from the California Emerging Technology Fund. (Source: UC Merced news release)

Partnership sustainability bill continues to move forward

Legislation authorizing the California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley in statute on June 16 passed the Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee by a 8-1 vote and now awaits action in the Senate Appropriations Committee. The bill passed the full Assembly on May 27 by a 75-1 vote.

AB 2342, sponsored by Assemblymember Nicole Parra (D-Hanford), outlines the composition of the board as well as setting its duties.

Assemblymember Parra has called the Partnership “an innovative public-private approach to improving the living and economic conditions of all residents throughout the Valley.”

Blueprint planning process moving to completion of first stage

The San Joaquin Valley Blueprint Planning Process, a Valleywide effort to study growth-related issues to the year 2050 and beyond, is moving toward completion of its first stage.

Three counties – Fresno, Merced and Tulare – have finished the process of identifying their local scenario to be used in developing a Valleywide scenario. The remainder of the Valley’s eight counties is expected to complete the process by August – Madera and Kings should in June, Kern in July, and Stanislaus and San Joaquin in August.

Once each county has finished its blueprint process, the region’s transportation agencies and the Great Valley Center will work toward creating a regional vision.

The Blueprint planning process is designed to develop a cohesive regional framework that defines and offers alternative solutions to growth-related issues for the Valley. The process involves the integration of transportation, housing, land use, economic development, and the environment to produce a preferred growth scenario to the year 2050.

The San Joaquin Valley Blueprint Planning Process is a joint effort of transportation agencies in the eight-county region and the Great Valley Center. The Partnership’s Land Use, Agriculture and Housing Work Group also is involved in the effort. The Blueprint planning process is funded by a $4 million dollar grant from the State Business, Transportation and Housing Agency with an additional $500,000 of matching funds from the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District.

Merced County Association of Governments is the lead agency for the Blueprint planning process. For more information, visit www.greatvalley.org/blueprint.

Partnership work group changes name to 'PreK-12 Education'

The California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley’s Board of Directors on June 13 agreed to officially change the name of the K-12 Education Work Group to the PreK-12 Education Work Group.

The name change recognizes that pre-kindergarten is a significant mechanism to address the needs of children in poverty and English learners as well as English-speaking children residing in the San Joaquin Valley.

The resolution states: “Children who attend quality pre-kindergarten early childhood school and kindergarten programs perform better on standardized achievement tests in reading and math, exhibit more positive behaviors in the classroom, are more likely to graduate from high school and continue their education and be more prosperous as adults.”

Download Resolution: PreK-12 Education Work Group

Healthy Air Living Week set for July 7-13

The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District (Air District) will hold a number of activities as part of Healthy Air Living Week on July 7-13.

According to the Air District, the week will provide an opportunity to think about – and try out – everyday alternatives to common activities that produce emissions. For example, if you’ve thought about riding your bike to work, or using a push mower instead of a gas-guzzling mower, your pledge to do those types of things during Healthy Air Living Week will earn you an entry into a contest for a new Toyota Prius automobile.

If you’re an employer, taking Healthy Air Living actions during the week can gain entry in the contest for your entire workforce.

Healthy Air Living is a year-round, voluntary program that offers “tools” for every segment of the Valley’s population to make better lifestyle choices that will improve the Valley’s air quality and quality of life. The initiative focuses on providing businesses, municipalities, members of the public and organizations with tangible strategies that will produce emission reductions while also providing an economic or social benefit whenever possible.

For more information on the Healthy Air Living program, visit www.healthyairliving.com.

Emerging Clean Air Technology Forum to be held at UC Merced

The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District (Air District) will co-sponsor the California Emerging Clean Air Technology Forum at UC Merced on Wednesday, July 9, from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

The idea for the forum emerged from a meeting last summer involving officials from the California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley and the Air District with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson.

The forum is aimed at accelerating the development and implementation of advanced technology that could help achieve air quality goals. The forum’s planned areas of focus include these technology research areas: hydraulic hybrid trucks, plug-in hybrids, fuel cells for stationary and light-duty vehicles, air emission monitoring, architectural coatings, digesters, and diesel mobile sources.

Other sponsors of the forum are the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the California Environmental Protection Agency, and the Sount Coast Air Quality Management District.

For more information, visit www.valleyair.org or call Trina Martynowicz at 415.972.3474.

Meth Advisory Council meeting
to highlight local efforts to stop substance abuse

The Methamphetamine Recovery Project Advisory Council will hear presentations on local efforts to respond to the impact of substance abuse at its quarterly meeting in Madera on July 25.

The quarterly meeting also will feature reports on a series of community engagement meetings that have been held by the Advisory Council over the past two months. In addition, the Advisory Council will consider a draft outline for the final continuum of care report.

The Advisory Council is a critical element in meeting goals of the Health and Human Services Work Group to develop a comprehensive methamphetamine education, treatment and law enforcement program as outlined in the Partnership’s Strategic Action Proposal. The Advisory Council is addressing the methamphetamine issue across a continuum of care that includes education, prevention, treatment, and long-term recovery.

Meet the Board
Gary Podesto, focused on California's water

When Gary Podesto retired to La Selva Beach, Calif., it didn’t mean he was retiring from Stockton where he was born and raised. It’s just over two hours away; but distance doesn’t matter to Podesto when it comes to being concerned for the future of his hometown and the San Joaquin Valley.

Governor Schwarzenegger in January 2007 appointed Podesto to the board of directors for the California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley.

“Each of the Partnership’s initiatives affects the other’s ability to succeed, but the area I choose to focus on is water because it reaches into the rich and sometimes combative history of California,” Podesto says. “Water sustains life, and California’s life is dependent on a successful solution to our water squabbles.

“I have found the Partnership most rewarding because it has allowed me to witness the sincere efforts of formerly dueling water positions come together in the consideration of the future of California.”

Podesto was elected mayor of Stockton two terms, serving from 1997 through 2004. While mayor, he represented the council on the San Joaquin County Council of Governments, San Joaquin Partnership, Inc., Regional Rail Commission, and Auburn Dam Coalition.

He is a founding director of Crime Stoppers and of New Directions. He is a past member of the San Joaquin County Drug and Alcohol Advisory Committee and has served on the board of regents for the University of the Pacific.

As mayor, Podesto advocated for partnerships with local school districts and juvenile systems to curb juvenile crime. Because of his and his wife’s efforts on behalf of teens in the Stockton community, the new, state-of-the-art teen center in December 2004 was named the Gary & Janice Podesto IMPACT Teen Center in their honor.

Prior to being elected mayor, Podesto owned and operated in the Stockton area three price-impact supermarkets which generated $120 million in retail sales.

“In the next five to 10 years, I hope to see well-planned cities that preserve the agricultural history of our state while protecting the health of its citizens and the environment,” Podesto says. “In many cases, we have a clean slate to accomplish this; and, in some cases as with education, air and water, we must quickly solve the mistakes of the past.”

Podesto has been a member of the City Council Intergovernmental Liaison Committee; the California State University, Stockton, Center Site Authority;, the City of Stockton and Stockton Unified School District “3x3” Joint Committee; and the City-County Transit District Liaison Committee. He also is a past board member of the League of California Cities as well as the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ Arts, Justice and Urban Water committees.

Podesto and Janice are high school sweethearts and have been married 47 years. They have three children and four grandchildren who call the San Joaquin Valley home.

“It is clear that the future success of California, in every way, is tied to the appropriate development of the San Joaquin Valley,” Podesto said. “Whether it is housing, education, manufacturing linked to transportation and water, it must occur in the San Joaquin Valley so California will prosper.”

Legislative Updates

Legislation Consistent with the Partnership's Strategic Action Proposal

Land Use, Agriculture and Housing

AB 1129 (Arambula) - Housing Trust Fund

This bill would establish the San Joaquin Valley Regional Affordable Housing Trust as a voluntary organization for the purposes of fostering the regional collaboration of San Joaquin Valley cities, counties, developers, financial institutions, and community-based organizations to meet affordable housing needs in the region.

Status: Bill was amended on January 7, passed the Assembly Committee on Housing and Community Development on January 16, 2008, and the full Assembly on January 24.The bill recently passed the Senate Transportation & Housing Committee on June 17, 2008, and was referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee where it awaits action.

Transportation

AB 3034 (Galgiani) - High-Speed Rail Bond Modification

This bill modifies the Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act, as originally enacted by SB 1856 (Costa), to reflect activities and project design changes that occurred during the past six years, and to better present the bond authorization measure to voters at the Nov. 4, 2008, statewide election.

The Partnership sent a letter of support dated May 23, 2008. The Partnership board took a position at its June 2008 meeting to send an additional letter supporting the bill but expressing concern for the Senate Transportation Committee's HSR Report recommendation to fund "regional segments of the high-speed rail corridor before developing the long-distance link between the state's major urban center, e.g., Los Angeles and San Francisco."

Sustainability of the Partnership

AB 2342 (Parra) - California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley

This bill is designed to authorize the Partnership. The bill sets the structure and duties of the Partnership.

Status:The bill passed the Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee on June 16 and now awaits action in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Energy

AB 2176 (Caballero) - Energy Efficiency Block Grants

This bill requires the California Energy Commission (CEC) to administer federal funds to be received by the state pursuant to a block grant program included in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. Specifically, this bill: Requires, consistent with federal law, at least 60% of the Energy Efficiency and Block Grant (EEBG) funds to provide cost-effective energy efficiency and conservation grants to cities of 35,000 or less and counties of 200,000 or less. Requires, consistent with federal law, the remaining funds to be used for grants to entities eligible under the federal act-state entities, Indian tribes, or others designated in the federal law. Requires all grant applications to be prioritized and awarded based on cost-effectiveness. Limits administrative costs to 10% of program funds.

Status:The bill passed unanimously out of the Assembly Appropriations Committee on May 22 and passed the Assembly on May 28. The bill passed the Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee on July 17, and now awaits action in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

The San Joaquin Valley Clean Energy Organization sent a letter in support of the bill.

For more information, go to Legislative Update.

Dates to Know

July 2

California Agricultural Vision listening session
10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Agricultural Heritage Center
4500 S. Laspina Street
Tulare
Information: www.cdfa.ca.gov/agvision

July 7-13

Healthy Air Living Week
San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District
Information: www.healthyairliving.com

July 9

California Emerging Clean Energy Technology Forum
8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
University of California, Merced
Merced
Information: www.valleyair.org, Trina Martynowicz, 415.972.3474

July 22

Air Quality Work Group Meeting
10 a.m. to noon
Offices of Council of Fresno County Governments
2035 Tulare St., Ste. 201
Fresno
Information: Jennifer Johnson, jejohnson@csufresno.edu, 559.294.9199

July 25

Methamphetamine Recovery Project Advisory Council quarterly meeting
10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Madera
Location to be determined
Information: Juanita Fiorello, jfiorello@csufresno.edu, 559.294.2216

September 12

California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley Board of Directors
10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
University of California, Merced
Merced
Information: www.sjvpartnership.org