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I continue to work hard in the full committee and in the two subcommittees of the Committee on Agriculture to which I belong:

• Conservation, Credit, Rural Development and Research: responsible for soil, water and resource conservation, small watershed program, agricultural credit, rural development, rural electrification, energy and bio-based energy production, farm security and family farming matters, agricultural research, and education and extension services.

• General Farm Commodities and Risk Management: responsible for programs and markets related to cotton, cottonseed, wheat, feed grains, soybeans, oilseeds, rice, beans, peas, and lentils. Also, it is responsible for the Commodity Credit Corporation, crop insurance, commodity exchanges, and biotechnology.

In the 106^th Congress (1999-2000) I was a member of the Subcommittee on Department Operations, Oversight, Nutrition, and Forestry and the Subcommittee on Risk Management, Research, and Specialty Crops.

Key votes during the 107th Congress (2001-2002):

• I voted for H.R. 4167, which protects family farms from bankruptcy. These are bleak times for the family farm - with big losses, bad weather, droughts, floods, little to no government assistance, and cheap imports from Mexico and abroad. This bill will help small farmers keep their land during rough times.

• I voted for H.R. 8, which will end the estate tax. Many family farms have been forced out of business because of burdensome taxes, after the death of a family member. H.R. 8 will end this tax and let families keep their farms.

• I voted against amendments to the Farm Bill that would have cut off most of the environmental restoration funding that our California dairymen receive.

Farm Bill:

During this Congress the Committee on Agriculture considered H.R. 2646 - the Farm Bill. This bill provides for the continuation of agricultural programs through fiscal year 2011. The previous Farm Bill has had a disastrous effect on American farmers. Throughout the nation family farms are filing for bankruptcy and being driven out of business by cheaper foreign products, often from nations where the governments heavily subsidize agriculture. We must keep American agriculture alive and this bill is a good, although imperfect, beginning. I fought hard to increase food stamp funding, restore this benefit to legal permanent residents and to reduce the bureaucratic restrictions that people often face when trying to receive this benefit. I enthusiastically voted in favor of this agricultural bill. I fought hard for important agricultural policy changes in the Farm Bill, including those issues listed below, which are in the best interest of California farmers and dairy operators:

• Any agricultural reauthorization would have been incomplete without a well-funded nutrition title that includes the restoration of benefits for Legal Permanent Residents. Legal permanent residents work hard and pay taxes that support the food stamp program and they deserve access to these services in their time of need.

• Minority-Serving Institution Reserve Fund - The Minority Serving Institutions, including the 1890 Institutions, the Hispanic-Serving Institutions, and the American-Indian Colleges and Universities have failed to receive an equitable portion of research funds through the United States Department of Agriculture. Section 741 of the Senate Farm Bill included non-binding language that instructed the Secretary of Agriculture to reserve 10% of funds under IFAFS for the Minority-Serving Institutions. While this provided a good starting point, I believe that more should have been done. I urged the Committee Chairman to establish a mandatory 15 percent reserve fund for the Minority-Serving Institutions within the Initiative for Future Agricultural Systems in the Farm Bill.

• I urged the Committee Chairman to retain the Senate bill language relating to American Indian and Alaska Native programs during the conference on the Farm bill. The Senate provisions strengthened the delivery of services and programs to American Indians and Alaska Natives. Most of these provisions will affect existing United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs and services that include the Food Distribution Program, Land-Grant Tribal Colleges, Rural Development, and Farm Services. The Senate language also established a Tribal Relations Office within the United States Forest Service (USFS) that will oversee new tribal programs in the USFS. The President of the United States, the Supreme Court, and the Congress have long recognized Native American tribes as sovereign governments. It has been the longstanding policy of the United States to support Native American tribal self-government and the development of reservation economies. Federal programs and services that are designed for American Indians and Alaska Natives further the cause of Native American self-determination. By retaining the Senate language, Congress fulfilled its legal responsibility to American Indians and Alaska Natives by supporting educational, agricultural and rural development activities on Native American reservations.

• Federal programs should not discriminate based on size of operation. Under the Senate bill, market loss payments were capped at 400 cows. The average herd size in California is 695 cows. The Senate program would have only covered 40% of California's milk while covering virtually all of the milk produced in the Northeast and the Midwest. I urged the Committee Chairman to oppose caps on market loss payments.

• The annual funding levels and amounts available for a single year contract and a multiple year contract were lower in the Senate version-payments to producers in the House bill were $50,000 for a one year contract and up to $250,000 for a multiple year contract, while the Senate terms were $30,000 and $150,000. Additionally, the Senate limited funding to only one CAFO (Confined Animal Feeding Operation), even though a producer may own more than one CAFO. I urged the Committee Chairman to support the House funding levels and reject the Senate one-CAFO restriction.

• I urged the Committee Chairman to reject any provisions that would remove the Producer-Handler exemption for a single dairy operator and consider them discriminatory. Sarah Farms, who operates dairies and bottling plants in the Chino Basin and Southern Arizona, was being singled out unfairly. The issue was recently litigated and the United Dairymen of Arizona lost their case against Sarah Farms both in District Court and in the Ninth Circuit Court. Any provisions to overturn those verdicts and financially penalize one dairyman can only be described as discriminatory.

• The Senate Farm Bill market loss payments might result in increased milk production and increased surpluses. This might have a negative impact on California's dairy farmers. Surpluses of manufactured products will result in USDA lowering support program purchase prices, which will completely eliminate any benefit of the payments provided by the Senate Farm bill for California dairy farmers. I urged the Committee Chairman to consider the potential impacts of market loss payments to our dairy producers by promoting overproduction. I also urged the Chairman to consider the decimating effects of not reauthorizing these payments at the end of their authorization.

• In addition, I encouraged the Committee Chairman to fund the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) at the most generous levels possible.

Co-sponsored legislation:

H.R. 1985, the California Water Security Act of 2001: reauthorizes CALFED to increase water supplies in California.

H.R. 3930, the Water Quality Financing Act of 2002: funds state water pollution control revolving funds so we may clean up our water and hence have more water for residential, commercial, and agricultural use.

H.R. 4792: Reauthorizes funding for the Water Desalination Act of 1996. This would allow our state to look to desalination as a viable alternative in creating new sources of water.

H.R. 131: To amend the Reclamation Wastewater and Groundwater Study and Facilities Act to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to participate in the Inland Empire regional water recycling project, to authorize the Secretary to carry out a program to assist agencies in projects to construct regional brine lines in California, and to authorize the Secretary to participate in the Lower Chino Dairy Area desalination demonstration and reclamation project.

H.R. 2258: To amend title IV of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 to provide for the eligibility of certain aliens suffering from domestic abuse for SSI, food stamps, TANF, Medicaid, SSBG, and certain other public benefit programs, and for other purposes.

H.R. 2239: The Children's Act for Responsible Employment (CARE) of 2001: Addresses bringing the age and work hour standards for children working in agriculture up to the standards set for all other forms of child labor; establishes a private right of action holding the employer liable for compensations of lost wages and medical expenses to a child who suffers an injury or illness on the job; strengthens provisions on pesticide exposure in agriculture to take into account additional risks posed to children; establishes a school dropout prevention program to provide the services and support child farm workers need to complete their schooling.

H. R. 1949: To amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to establish a conservation security program to assist agricultural owners and operators in promoting conservation of soil, water, and related resources such as wildlife and wetlands.

In the 106^th Congress - H.R. 2962 : To provide for the issuance of a promotion, research, and information order applicable to certain handlers of Hass avocados.

In the 106^th Congress - H.R. 4136 : To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide a credit against income tax for certain charitable conservation contributions of land by small farmers and ranchers, and for other purposes.

Key federal funding requests for Fiscal Year 2003:

• This year I have asked for full funding of $20 million to Hispanic Serving Institutions for agricultural research;

• I am attempting to secure $2.5 million to the University of California - Riverside for exotic pest research. Most of us remember last year's Ontario quarantine, and we hope that with continued research these pests will become an issue of the past;

• Several studies have been published that show a direct link between farm work and certain cancers. We must protect our farmers and farmworkers. That is why I am attempting to create a study to find the reasons behind the pervasiveness of these cancers among agricultural farm workers;

• I am seeking $5 million to the Chino Basin Dairy Preserve Program;

• Our ranchers and dairymen are suffering from unusual market conditions that often cannot be explained. That is why I support funding a protein market study;

• Year after year, California is faced with the blight of Pierce's disease in our grape vine fields. A pest called the Glassy Winged Shapshooter causes this disease. I am once again seeking funds to help our state combat this serious threat to our agriculture;

• I am working to secure $4 million for an agricultural job training program for farm workers.

Key federal funding requests for Fiscal Year 2002:

• $1.4 million for the Coachella Valley Center at California State University - San Bernardino for agricultural education.

• $4 million to contain and control Pierce's disease. Pierce's disease has become a substantial problem for the California wine industry. Carried across California by the Glassy-Winged Sharpshooter, it has devastated wine and other citrus crops, causing millions of dollars to be lost.

• An additional $2 million for a special research grant to be administered by the University of California to study other near and long term alternatives for combating Pierce's disease, and to control the bacterium (Xylella fastidiosa) common to Pierce's disease and several other diseases affecting almonds, alfalfa, oleander and citrus.

• $300,000 to provide for a new USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) research position at the ARS office in Fort Pierce, Florida, in order to study the range of diseases caused by Xylella bacteria.

A total of $48 million has already been lost as a result of Pierce's disease, and millions more in losses are expected. State and local governments are already contributing to fight this disease. Under this private/public partnership, the funds will be used to implement improved monitoring for the earliest signs of infestation, for funding scientific research on the disease, for the development of a long term USDA research program, and an overall study of diseases caused by Xylella bacteria.

Legislation Sponsored in the 106th Congress:

H.R. 4533: Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to participate in the design, planning, and construction of the Inland Empire regional water recycling project, and to authorize the Secretary to carry out a program under the Federal reclamation laws to assist agencies in projects to construct regional brine lines in California.

H.R. 4691: facilitates a regional approach to acquisition of permanent conservation easements in the Chino Basin, by providing Federal matching funds if local governments come up with a plan. This assists farmers in keeping land for agricultural use, while encouraging appropriate development. By providing federal funds, the bill facilitates implementation of SB 831 (Baca, 1999).

UPDATED - September 11, 2002