Budget Victories Each year during State budget negotiations, members of the Rural Caucus work diligently to advocate for issues that will continue to enhance and protect the quality of life in rural California. 2005-2006 • Allocated 24 million in funds for the costs associated with the opening of the UC Merced campus, providing education access and opportunities for students of San Joaquin Valley. • Maintained current funding level for UC Cooperative Extension (UCCE) programs. UCCE has farm, 4-H, and nutrition, and consumer sciences advisors based in more than 50 county offices. • Funded the Governor's Career Technical Education Initiative that requires California Community Colleges to work with middle and high schools to align career technical education coursework, providing rural residents great opportunities. • Continued funding for Rural Health Care Equity Program to provide reimbursement for out-of-pocket health care costs incurred by State employees and retirees living in rural areas that are not served by HMOs. • Ensured funding for the Central Valley Rural Crime Prevention Program, used to implement new crime prevention strategies in an effort to reduce rural crimes, specifically agricultural property crimes. • Protected funding for methamphetamine prevention in the Central Valley. • Maintained funding for the replacement and enhancement of firefighting vehicles for the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. • Ensured funding for emission reduction projects to reduce air pollution and improve air quality monitoring. • Continued funding for Williamson Act agriculture tax exemption. • Provided funding for medical school loan assistance to physicians that serve in medically underserved areas for up to three years. • Increased funding for additional Rural Health Demonstration Projects providing access to health care in rural areas for underserved populations. • Allocated funding to smaller counties to reimburse private physicians, emergency physicians and hospitals more fairly for voluntary care. • Provided resources to expand Medi-Cal Managed Care into 13 counties including El Dorado, Placer, Imperial, Merced, Madera, Kings, Ventura, San Luis Obispo, San Benito, Lake, and Mendocino. 2004 • Reinstated Rural and Small County Law Enforcement Grant Program. • Repealed State Responsibility Area (SRA) fees, a duplicative property tax that unfairly burdened rural parts of the State. • Secured $70 million in funding for Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) and Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), increasing their ability to provide primary care services to the state’s most medically underserved populations. • Continued funding for Rural Health Care Equity Program to provide reimbursement for out-of-pocket health care costs incurred by State employees and retirees living in rural areas that are not served by HMOs. • Allocated additional funding to the Carl Moyer Program for replacing or rebuilding heavy-duty diesel engines with new cleantechnology engines, thereby reducing emissions of smog-forming pollutants and helping to reduce health care costs for Californians. • Eliminated timber harvest fee that would have severely threatened the viability or solvency of timber companies and impacted the economies of rural California. • Ensured $5.1 million for Rural Municipal airports construction, maintenance, and security upgrades that will be matched with $100 million in Federal money. • Ensured additional funding to help combat West Nile Virus. 2003 • Protected current funding and secured additional funding for methamphetamine prevention in the Central Valley. • Fought to reduce burdensome fees on agricultural industry. • Maintained funding for incentives for biomass energy producers to burn agricultural waste providing for much cleaner air. • Eliminated a fee on timber harvesting that would have threatened the viability or solvency of timber companies and negatively impacted the economies of rural California. • Amended various pieces of air quality legislation to decrease their negative impacts on the agriculture industry, while cleaning the air in the Central Valley. • Amended agricultural waiver discharge legislation to make it less burdensome on agriculture while maintaining clean water. • Prevented the elimination of the Williamson Act agriculture tax exemption.   Web site design by Legislative Data Center Photo Credit: Robert Holmes/California Division of Tourism