Free Small Business Seminar and Resource Expo for Veterans Comes to Region
Veterans who own a business or would like to start one are invited to attend a free Small Business Seminar and Resource Expo in Roseville on Tuesday, February 28, 2017. Attendees will learn how to comply with California’s often complex tax laws.
California State Board of Equalization (BOE) Member George Runner is sponsoring the event with Senator Jim Nielsen, Assemblyman Kevin Kiley, California Department of Veterans Affairs (CalVet), City of Roseville, Roseville Area Chamber of Commerce, and Advantage Roseville.
“We honor our veterans for their service and sacrifice,” said Member Runner. “It’s the least we can do to help them be successful in business by ensuring they’re aware of available tax benefits and resources.”
Those looking for assistance with state and federal tax laws, as well as those who want to expand their business knowledge, will benefit from the informative presentations. Topics include veterans’ property tax exemptions, the Work Opportunity Tax Credit, forms of ownership, CalVet services, and marketing and social media for veterans. Representatives from the BOE, Employment Development Department, Franchise Tax Board, CalVet, Governor’s Office of Business & Economic Development (Go-Biz), and California Capital Women’s Business Center will conduct the presentations and answer questions.
Exhibitors include the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of General Services, Veterans Resource Center–Sierra College, American Legion Post 169, and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1487.
Time: 8:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (Check-in begins at 7:30 a.m.) Location: Tower Theatre, 417 Vernon Street, Roseville, CA 95678. Free parking is available. Registration: 1-888-847-9652.
Sacramento County Employees Raise Funds for Charities
In the County’s annual employee campaign to raise funds for charitable organizations, project coordinator Terrie Porter, Director of the Child Support Services Department, reported to the Board of Supervisors that nearly $252,000 was raised in the 2016 campaign.
Employees held fundraisers, bake sales, a 5-K Walk/Run and a charity golf tournament to raise funds as well as making personal pledges to have one-time or ongoing payroll deductions withdrawn from their paychecks towards charities of their choice. Charities included a wide variety of services including veterans, youth programs, local and global organizations.
The golf tournament, spearheaded by Chief Information Officer Rami Zakaria and the Department of Technology, raised $63,500. This brings the total raised by the tournaments held over the last four years to $215,000. Proceeds are donated to the Sacramento Children’s Home, Children Receiving Home of Sacramento and the Courts Appointed Special Advocate.
The campaign continues the long-standing tradition of Sacramento County employees generously helping others. Each and every contribution will help improve the quality of life for everyone in the community, as well as people throughout the nation and the world.
Spirit Halloween Employees Raise Over $40,000 to Support Shriners Hospital
Patients arrived in the central activity area of Shriners Hospitals for Children — Northern California dressed as princesses, storm troopers and adorable little monsters. Child life specialists dressed as superheroes guided them in a cupcake decorating activity. Even though it was the first Wednesday in February, Halloween was the inspiration.
The Therapeutic Recreation & Child Life team organized the Halloween party as a thank-you to the Spirit of Children Campaign, which raises money to support activities that allow hospitalized children to engage in play.
Representatives from the Spirit of Children Campaign arrived for the party at the Northern California Shriners Hospital with a giant check for $42,752, representing money raised and donated to support the therapeutic recreation and child life programs. The funds were raised by Spirit Halloween stores in the Sacramento area. In the weeks leading up to Halloween, Spirit Halloween employees organized activities ranging from bake sales to face painting to support the Spirit of Children Campaign.
“We are extremely grateful to Spirit of Children for supporting opportunities for play and self-expression so kids can be kids even when they are hospitalized,” said Melissa Grialou, manager of the Therapeutic Recreation and Child Life program at the Shriners Hospital in Sacramento. “We have enjoyed working with the Spirit of Children team. Through their community service and fundraising activities, they have brought a generous spirit of fun to the children here at Shriners Hospital.”
Shanda Pierce, who owns and operates 21 Spirit Halloween stores in Northern California, said the goal of the Spirit of Children Campaign is to help make a child’s hospital experience positive – not scary.
“It is important to us that every dollar raised by local Spirit Halloween stores stays right here in our community,” says Pierce. “It takes an immense amount of heart to ask strangers to donate to a cause. I am very proud of our Spirit employees. They have amazing hearts,” she adds.
Solar Company to Bring Jobs to County
China Sunergy Co., Ltd., a specialized solar cell and module manufacturer, announced today that Sunergy America LLC (a subsidiary of China Sunergy Co., Ltd.) entered into a lease agreement with McClellan Business Park in Sacramento County.
The new plant will be located in a 140,000 square-foot building in McClellan Park and will be the company’s first U.S. facility. Expected to begin operations in May 2017, the company will create more than 200 new jobs locally.
“The arrival of CSUN Solar to McClellan Park is outstanding news for the region,” said District 1 County Supervisor Phil Serna. “CSUN could have chosen any site in the United States for their manufacturing and assembly operations, and they recognized the value of doing business in Sacramento County. This signifies real progress as our business community continues to grow.”
Sacramento County’s Office of Economic Development partnered with other area organizations, such as the Greater Sacramento Economic Council, Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD), the Sacramento Employment and Training Agency (SETA) and the California Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) to assist in completing the lease transaction.
The new plant will have fully automatic production lines and will aim to serve customers across the United States.
Governor Brown Announces Recent Appointments
Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. recently announced the following appointments:
Cindy Messer, 48, of Sacramento, has been appointed chief deputy director at the California Department of Water Resources, where she has served as assistant chief deputy director since 2016. She was deputy director of the Planning, Performance and Technology Division at the Delta Stewardship Council from 2012 to 2016 and assistant executive officer at the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Conservancy from 2010 to 2012. Messer served in several positions in the Division of Environmental Services at the California Department of Water Resources from 1999 to 2010 including senior environmental scientist, environmental program manager, section chief and environmental scientist. She earned a Master of Science degree in conservation biology from California State University, Sacramento. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $162,948. Messer is a Democrat.
John Mann, 50, of Sacramento, has been appointed deputy director of legislation at the California Department of Technology. Mann has served as communications director in the Office of California State Senator Tony Mendoza since 2014. He was communications director at the Alex Padilla for Secretary of State campaign from 2013 to 2014 and in the Office of California State Senator Alex Padilla from 2011 to 2014, at the Pedro Nava for Attorney General campaign from 2009 to 2010 and in the Office of California State Assemblymember Pedro Nava from 2006 to 2010. Mann was a consultant for the California State Senate Democratic Caucus from 1999 to 2005 and in the Office of California State Senator Jack O’Connell from 1995 to 1998. He served as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in Niger from 1988 to 1991. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $102,000. Mann is a Democrat.
Open Letter to Northern Californians From Senator Jim Nielsen
On Sunday, North State residents were alarmed by the alert from the Department of Water Resources about the potential failure of the auxiliary spillway at Lake Oroville.
Within hours, the great people of the North State, from Plumas Lake to Oroville, peacefully evacuated their homes due to the damaged spillways at Lake Oroville. Nearly 200,000 people loaded their most valuable possessions, pets and essential needs into vehicles and headed on to crammed highways.
In heavy traffic, North State residents - fearing the unknown and dealing with anxiety, no doubt - evacuated without incident.
Law enforcement officials and social workers helped steer citizens to where they needed to go. Hundreds of first responders assisted and transported those who were most vulnerable. Residents of neighboring regions opened their homes to strangers.
Construction crews filled bags of rocks overnight so helicopters could drop them into the spillway at first sunlight. Workers continue to watch water levels around the clock.
In this time of high stress and unease, the citizens of our region held their heads up high and behaved admirably.
These are amazing actions of kindness, cooperation and patience.
The world’s eyes are upon us. Thank you for showing the world how great Americans are.
Sincerely,
Jim Nielsen
Senator, Fourth District
NASA Report: San Joaquin Valley Land Continues to Sink
New NASA radar satellite maps prepared for the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) show that land continues to sink rapidly in certain areas of the San Joaquin Valley, putting state and federal aqueducts and flood control structures at risk of damage.
“The rates of San Joaquin Valley subsidence documented since 2014 by NASA are troubling and unsustainable,” said DWR Director William Croyle. “Subsidence has long plagued certain regions of California. But the current rates jeopardize infrastructure serving millions of people. Groundwater pumping now puts at risk the very system that brings water to the San Joaquin Valley. The situation is untenable.”
A prior August 2015 NASA report prepared for DWR documented record rates of subsidence in the San Joaquin Valley, particularly near Chowchilla and Corcoran, as farmers pumped groundwater in the midst of historic drought. The report released recently shows that two main subsidence bowls covering hundreds of square miles grew wider and deeper between spring 2015 and fall 2016. Subsidence also intensified at a third area, near Tranquillity in Fresno County, where the land surface has settled up to 20 inches in an area that extends seven miles.
Additional aircraft-based NASA radar mapping was focused on the California Aqueduct, the main artery of the State Water Project, which supplies 25 million Californians and nearly 1 million acres of farmland. The report shows that subsidence caused by groundwater pumping near Avenal in Kings County has caused the Aqueduct to drop more than two feet. As a result of the sinking, the Aqueduct at this stretch can carry a flow of only 6,650 cubic feet per second (cfs) – 20 percent less than its design capacity of 8,350 cfs. To avoid overtopping the concrete banks of the Aqueduct in those sections that have sunk due to subsidence, water project operators must reduce flows.
The California Department of Water Resources (DWR), which operates the State Water Project, is analyzing whether the subsidence-created dip in the Aqueduct will affect deliveries to Kern County and Southern California water districts. If the State Water Project allocation is 85 percent or greater, delivery may be impaired this year due to the cumulative impacts of subsidence in the Avenal-Kettleman City area.
The NASA analysis also found subsidence of up to 22 inches along the Delta-Mendota Canal, a major artery of the Central Valley Project (CVP), operated by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The CVP supplies water to approximately three million acres of farmland and more than two million Californians.
Also of concern is the Eastside Bypass, a system designed to carry flood flow off the San Joaquin River in Fresno County. The Bypass runs through an area of subsidence where the land surface has fallen between 16 inches and 20 inches since May 2015 – on top of several feet of subsidence measured between 2008 and 2012. DWR is working with local water districts to analyze whether surface deformation may interfere with flood-fighting efforts, particularly as a heavy Sierra snowpack melts this spring. A five-mile reach of the Eastside Bypass was raised in 2000 because of subsidence, and DWR estimates that it may cost in the range of $250 million to acquire flowage easements and levee improvements to restore the design capacity of the subsided area.
There are thousands of groundwater wells near state infrastructure that could be contributing to the subsidence recorded by NASA.
In response to the new findings, and as part of an ongoing effort to respond to the effects of California’s historic drought, state officials said they will investigate any legal options available to protect state infrastructure. DWR also will investigate measures for reducing subsidence risk to infrastructure, including groundwater pumping curtailment, creation of groundwater management zones near critical infrastructure, and county ordinance requirements.
DWR is conducting its own study of the effects of subsidence along the 444-mile-long California Aqueduct and other State Water Project features and in coming months will identify potential actions to remediate damage. A comprehensive rehabilitation to restore the full California Aqueduct to its original design capacity would likely cost in the hundreds of millions of dollars. A focused triage to address conveyance losses in the most affected portions of the canal may cost tens of millions of dollars per location.
In addition, DWR will work with local water managers to identify specific actions to reduce long-term subsidence risk and consider whether to incorporate further emphasis on reduction of subsidence risk into the ongoing implementation of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA).
An historic package of laws enacted by the Governor in September 2014, SGMA requires local governments to form sustainable groundwater agencies that will regulate pumping and recharge to better manage groundwater supplies. The Act requires groundwater-dependent regions to halt overdraft and bring basins into sustainable levels of pumping and recharge by the early 2040s. Groundwater supplies between 30 percent and 60 percent of the water Californians use in any year. Bringing basins into balance will eliminate the worst effects of over-pumping, including subsidence and the dewatering of streams.
San Joaquin Valley land subsidence due to groundwater extraction was observed as early as the 1920s. The most extensive monitoring and research related to subsidence in the Valley was carried out in the 1950s through the 1970s because of concerns about subsidence-related damage to the state and federal water projects. The SWP’s 444-mile-long California Aqueduct was designed to take into account subsidence risk. Since the 1960s, subsidence has required repairs such as the raising of canal linings, bridges, and water control structures on the Aqueduct and on the CVP’s Delta-Mendota and Friant-Kern canals.
Besides aqueducts, the increased subsidence rates have the potential to damage levees, bridges, and roads.
Long-term subsidence already has destroyed thousands of public and private groundwater well casings in the San Joaquin Valley. Over time, subsidence can permanently reduce the underground aquifer’s water storage capacity.
There has been no comprehensive estimation of damage costs associated with subsidence. Due to the gradual nature of the impacts, costs will often be covered as part of normal operations and maintenance. Subsidence-related repairs have cost the SWP and CVP an estimated $100 million since the 1960s.
Read NASA’s latest report, “Subsidence in California, March 2015-September 2016.” Sources: NASA and DWR