In the News
Democrats call on IRS to review right-wing group’s ‘church’ status
by Jack Jenkins
Congressional House Democrats are asking the IRS to review the tax-exempt status of a prominent conservative advocacy group recently reclassified as a church, arguing the organization may be exploiting the designation to avoid scrutiny. Forty Democratic lawmakers, led by U.S. Reps. Suzan DelBene (Wash.) and Jared Huffman (Calif.), outlined their concerns about the Family Research Council in a letter sent to the head of the IRS and the secretary of the Treasury on Monday. … Continue Reading
August 02, 2022
Rep. Jared Huffman tours HTA hydrogen-powered bus facility
by Austin Castro
EUREKA, Calif. — On Monday, Rep. Jared Huffman visited an upcoming facility for 11 new hydrogen-fueled buses on the North Coast. Huffman's visit to the Humboldt Transit Authority comes after a nearly $39 million grant was awarded to the agency, which will be used in part for the new buses. "This grant started out just to follow the innovative clean transport rule that by 2030, we won't be able to purchase any more diesel buses," Humboldt Transit Authority General Manager Greg … Continue Reading
August 02, 2022
A Right-Wing Think Tank Claimed to Be a Church. Now, Members of Congress Want to Investigate
Forty members of Congress on Monday asked the IRS and the Treasury to investigate what the lawmakers termed an “alarming pattern” of right-wing advocacy groups registering with the tax agency as churches, a move that allows the organizations to shield themselves from some financial reporting requirements and makes it easier to avoid audits. Reps. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., and Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., raised transparency concerns in a letter to the heads of both … Continue Reading
August 01, 2022
Talks on Highway 37’s future underway as sea-level threat looms
by Will Houston
For generations, the 21-mile route linking Marin County and Vallejo has been essential for commuters and travelers. Now Highway 37 has become something more — a centerpiece in a growing debate on how the Bay Area and California should respond to climate change and when politicians should bite the bullet to spend the billions of dollars needed to deal with it. Caltrans is studying a plan to widen a traffic-prone, 10-mile stretch of the highway at a cost of nearly half a billion dollars … Continue Reading
July 29, 2022
House clears drought, wildfire package
by Annie Snider
The House approved a sprawling package of bills aimed at addressing worsening droughts and wildfires in the West on a 218-199 vote Friday evening. The details: The Wildfire Response and Drought Resiliency Act, H.R. 5118 (117), compiles four dozen individual measures, including those to boost wildland firefighter pay and benefits, spell out which types of forest management projects are subject to federal environmental review and create strike teams to swiftly complete those … Continue Reading
July 28, 2022
Dem bills would ban whale capture for public display
by Rob Hotakainen
New legislation introduced in both the House and Senate this week would prohibit whales from being captured or bred for public display. “The science and tragic real-life experiences have shown us time and again that marine mammals suffer from being in captivity, often being exploited and abused, but our laws and practices don’t reflect that,” said Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), chair of the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Oceans and Wildlife. Huffman … Continue Reading
July 28, 2022
Climate crisis hawks have questions about energy policies in Democrats’ new bill
by Jennifer Haberkorn
Climate crisis hawks are raising significant questions about Democrats’ emerging legislative deal to address healthcare, energy and taxes, a potential roadblock to swift passage of a key portion of President Biden’s agenda. If approved, the bill — an agreement cut in secret between Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) with the White House’s blessing — would include $369 billion for climate provisions and reduce … Continue Reading
July 27, 2022
‘Holy s--t’: Surprise Senate deal sets stage for record climate change package
by Zack Colman
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Joe Manchin salvaged a deal on Wednesday for a bill that includes the biggest climate spending package in U.S. history, devoting hundreds of billions of dollars to clean energy technologies. Their agreement, which came after Manchin had rejected climate and energy measures two weeks ago under the Democrats’ reconciliation package, is aimed at slashing carbon emissions an estimated 40 percent from 2005 levels … Continue Reading
July 27, 2022
'What The Hell Are We Waiting For?' Democrats Urge Climate Emergency Declaration
by Jessica Corbett
Progressive leaders in Congress and activists on Wednesday came together to call on U.S. President Joe Biden to declare a climate emergency, which would give his administration more resources to take on the global crisis. "It couldn't be clearer that the climate crisis is here and needs to be addressed urgently," said Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), who kicked off the event a day her district endured extreme heat. "We, together, are … Continue Reading
July 27, 2022
State allocates $2 million to headwaters conservation
by Josh Cozine
A project to conserve 11,000 acres of Trinity River headwaters received a $2 million allocation in this year’s state budget. The funds were announced alongside another $9 million in total for the region from Congressional District 2 Rep. Jared Huffman’s office. Pacific Forest Trust, a forest conservation nonprofit with offices in Northern California and Oregon, is listed as the entity receiving the funds. The nonprofit says it hopes to bundle the money with other funding … Continue Reading
July 26, 2022
Leading Force for Animal Rights in US Supports Federal Bill to End Capture and Breeding of Whales for Public Display
The SWIMS Act is the first federal legislation the Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP) has helped develop as it begins to work with members of Congress WASHINGTON, July 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The only organization in the US dedicated solely to securing legal rights for nonhuman animals today announced its support for a new bill that would end the future capture and breeding of whales for public display. Introduced by Representatives Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), and Suzan … Continue Reading
July 25, 2022
Humboldt County airport gets $13M for runway rehabilitation
The Federal Aviation Administration is providing $16.1 million for upgrades at District 2 airports like the Humboldt County airport near McKinleyville. Rep. Jared Huffman announced on Monday that the funding package includes more than $13 million will repave and stabilize the runway at the Humboldt County airport, which hasn’t been done since the early 1990s. The project will give the runway another 10 to 20 years of life and the ability to better handle the larger aircrafts that now … Continue Reading
July 25, 2022
Crescent City's Front Street Project Could Get $750,000 Boost From the Feds
by Jessica Cejnar Andrews
Crescent City’s efforts to rebuild Front Street may get a financial boost from the federal government in the form of $750,000 in Community Project Funding dollars, Congressman Jared Huffman announced last week. Included in the first appropriations bill of the 2023 fiscal year, the allocation for Crescent City and Elk Valley Rancheria’s Front Street Complete Street and Cultural Inclusion project isn’t the $7 million city officials asked for when Huffman visited the area a few … Continue Reading
July 25, 2022
Marin projects stand to gain $4.5M from federal bill
by Will Houston
The House of Representatives has passed a federal spending bill that would earmark $4.5 million for projects affecting Marin County, including housing for homeless veterans, transit extensions and more electric vehicle charging stations. The spending package, which now goes to the Senate, would allocate $2 million to allow MCE — the electricity provider formerly known as Marin Clean Energy — to add more electric vehicle recharging stations and rebates to help low-income residents … Continue Reading
July 22, 2022
Ocasio-Cortez, House lawmakers urge Biden to declare national climate emergency
by Jared Gans
Three House Democrats are calling on President Biden to declare a national climate emergency, a move they say would grant him additional powers to address climate change. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Jared Huffman (Calif.) and Earl Blumenauer (Ore.) said in letter addressed to Biden that the president should use the "full power" of the executive branch given the "scope and urgency of the crisis." "A national emergency declaration will allow the United States to mobilize domestic … Continue Reading
July 22, 2022
Solution in the works for Last Chance Grade
by Daniel J. Schmidt
A “unified front” of elected public officials, finance administrators, project engineers, scientists and public land managers provided project updates for Del Norte County’s notorious Last Change Grade along Highway 101 between Crescent City and Klamath. Sponsored and organized by State Senator Mike McGuire, this annual progress report was presented in a livestream Town Hall format last Tuesday, July 12, and gave the public an opportunity to question the … Continue Reading
July 22, 2022
House Republican questions bill to ban 'cyanide bombs'
by Michael Doyle
| A bill outlawing use of so-called cyanide bombs on public lands triggered painful memories but only a muted debate yesterday. For Idaho resident Mark Mansfield, a family physician, a hearing on the devices that federal land managers use to kill wolves and other predators spurred thoughts of his son's late dog. The yellow lab, Kasey, died in 2017 when Mansfield's son accidentally set off one of the bombs. "This M-44 cyanide bomb, set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services … Continue Reading
July 20, 2022
Biden’s tepid climate moves
by Josh Siegel
President Joe Biden is announcing executive actions to tackle climate change, but his moves are unlikely to appease liberals who are pushing for him to declare an “emergency.” BIDEN GOES SOLO ON CLIMATE: President Joe Biden is planning to announce executive actions to combat climate change Wednesday, but he’s expected to stop short of declaring a national emergency that would unlock new tools for driving down emissions. Biden will deliver remarks at a … Continue Reading
July 20, 2022
USPS will make 40% of its new trucks electric, up from 10%
by Jacob Bogage
The U.S. Postal Service pledged Wednesday to electrify at least 40 percent of its new delivery fleet, an increase that climate activists hailed as a major step toward reducing the government’s environmental footprint. The Postal Service had been set to purchase as many as 165,000 vehicles from Oshkosh Defense, of which 10 percent would have been electric under the original procurement plan. Now it will acquire 50,000 trucks from Oshkosh, half of which will be EVs. It will also buy … Continue Reading
July 18, 2022
Dems grapple with climate defeat, search for path forward
by Nick Sobczyk
West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin left his party in a climate bind, as Democrats prepare to move ahead this week on a budget reconciliation bill without the clean energy provisions they negotiated for nearly a year. President Joe Biden on Friday called on Congress to pass a narrow bill that includes only an agreement on drug pricing and Affordable Care Act subsidies after Manchin said he would not vote on climate provisions and tax hikes this month in the wake of another round of high inflation … Continue Reading