THE COST OF SUCCESS By Matthew Allen, Vice President, State Government Affairs
At the time of this writing, we are not even halfway through 2025 and yet the year has already proven to be one for the record books across several issues. This is common when a new federal administration takes office; however, the divergent views over air quality policies between the Trump Administration and California came into full view very early on and the results to date have been both substantively and extraordinarily beneficial for the agricultural industry. First, California realized that the state would not be successful in having the federal Environmental Protection Agency approve the waiver request that is required for implementation of the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) Advanced Clean Fleets regulation. Thus, reading the tea leaves, the state decided to rescind their waiver request. This regulation would have created significant costs for those growing operations classified as having high-priority fleets because it would have mandated a transition to zero- emission trucks. Notably, CARB did not also submit a waiver request for their new Zero-Emission Forklift regulation. These two regulatory rollbacks are both big wins for our industry due to cost concerns and the obvious problem of there not being ample charging infrastructure in place to reliably support the new equipment mandate. So why, with all of this great news, is this column titled “The Cost of Success”? Well, not surprisingly, California responded to these federal roadblocks by going back to the drafting table to find new pathways that would allow the state to regulate further emissions reductions. One of these was a policy proposal in the
proposed state budget that would have given CARB unprecedented authority to impose fees on the regulated community. Western Growers immediately worked with a broad coalition in opposition to this proposal arguing that, if approved, the Legislature would be delegating their essential legislative discretion over appropriations and expenditures to CARB. We also raised the concern that CARB would be incentivized to create more regulations in order to increase their own revenues. Fortunately, this proposal did not move forward as originally proposed. In addition, two bills were introduced that also would have given CARB additional authority. AB 914 would require CARB to promulgate regulations to control emissions from indirect sources (warehouses, buildings, etc.) and also would grant CARB additional fee authority. SB 318 would give CARB the authority to override local air district decisions on permitting Title V facilities. Local air districts would no longer be able to take into account local economic conditions and what is feasible when they are conducting the permitting. WG was an active coalition partner in opposing both of these bills. Due to heavy opposition, both bills failed to move out of their respective houses this year. WG staff will continue to oppose efforts that unnecessarily expand CARB’s regulatory and fee authority. Our members are already overly regulated and face a bevy of various fees. We have had a successful year to date but we will continue to be on the lookout for the next legislative or regulatory attempt that makes it burdensome for you to grow your business.
8 Western Grower & Shipper | www.wga.com July | August 2025
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