In the News
Hoopa tribe calls for federal action to prevent fish kill
HOOPA, Calif. - The Hoopa Valley Tribe is calling on the federal government to work with them to prevent a fish kill on the Klamath and Trinity rivers. It comes after the tribe said that their proposal to the Bureau of Reclamation of the U.S. Department of Interior (BOR) was rejected after the agency outlined their own proposal. The tribe feels that the BOR proposal is inadequate to protect the salmon and want the federal government to work with them after a period of low water levels … Continue Reading
August 03, 2015
Tribes blast feds’ Klamath plan
A federal plan to prevent a potential fish kill this summer on the lower Klamath River drew criticism on Monday from Hoopa Valley and Yurok tribe officials, who condemned the proposal as a lukewarm response to the threat of rising water temperatures and deadly parasites. The public review draft of the U.S. Interior Department Bureau of Reclamation’s preventative flow increase proposal includes a month-long flow increase from a Trinity River dam and a sizeable emergency release if conditions … Continue Reading
July 29, 2015
Dianne Feinstein’s drought package splits from GOP strategy
WASHINGTON — California Sen. Dianne Feinstein introduced a sweeping drought bill Wednesday that takes a much broader approach to the state’s water shortages than her failed effort last year to work almost exclusively with House Republicans to deliver more water to San Joaquin Valley farmers. Feinstein’s new measure is important for one big reason: Feinstein introduced it. The state’s senior senator has made herself an authority on California water policy, and no bill dealing with the … Continue Reading
July 29, 2015
Debriefer: July 29, 2015
HUFFMAN ON 2016 "I've been waiting for that question for months!" So exclaimed second-term U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, last week when Debriefer got him on the phone. The question: Who are you supporting for president in 2016? The answer may surprise readers who have already taken note of the fact that there's a pretty heady battle shaping up in the Democratic Party over the presidential campaigns of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Rodham Clinton. Bernie has been getting … Continue Reading
July 28, 2015
House Votes To End All Major New Rules, Again
WASHINGTON -- A bill that critics say would make any significant new regulation all but impossible easily passed the House Tuesday. The measure, known as the REINS Act, for Regulations from the Executive In Need of Scrutiny, would require the Obama administration to first weigh the potential costs of any new significant regulation -- not just public health or other benefits -- and then give Congress the power to squash any new rule with large economic impacts, set at $100 million or … Continue Reading
July 27, 2015
Huffman wants changes to very flawed "Dark Act" bill.
WASHINGTON DC - A bill nicknamed the “Dark Act” passed today in Congress over major concerns from 2nd District Congressman, Jared Huffman. The bill would prevent local and state governments from enacting genetically modified food labeling laws and prevents the U.S. government from even developing a national labeling system. It would also void laws already set up in Humboldt, Trinity, Mendocino and Marin Counties. Huffman spoke out against the bill today and offered an amendment to ensure … Continue Reading
July 23, 2015
Report: Santa Rosa-area roads among worst in US for midsized communities
A new report ranks the Santa Rosa area as having the third worst roads in the nation among midsized urban communities, further underscoring what many motorists here already know with each jarring bump and rattle. Per local motorist, an estimated $811 is spent annually on maintenance and repairs related to poor road conditions — the fifth highest total in the nation as determined by TRIP, a Washington, D.C.-based transportation research and advocacy organization. The report found that 49 … Continue Reading
July 22, 2015
Dems Offer Changes to GMO Labeling Bill Headed to House Floor
Legislation that would keep states from issuing mandatory labeling laws for foods that contain genetically modified ingredients is headed to the floor for a vote on Thursday. The Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act, introduced by Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.) in March, would create a federal standard for companies that wish to voluntarily label their foods that contain GMOs. The House Rules Committee revised the bill Tuesday night to clarify language opponents said would have pre-empted … Continue Reading
July 21, 2015
PD Editorial: Thumbs up, thumbs down
Put Courthouse Square on fast track As Gaye LeBaron spelled out in her Sunday column (“Square has divided Santa Rosa for 160 years”), the vision of a central public space dates back to an 1854 map that clearly shows a square “plaza” in the heart of downtown Santa Rosa. As she notes, the development of this public space was somewhat organic. “General Otho Hinton, an attorney who came from Maryland and a military career, took a paternalistic interest in the space, garnering donations and … Continue Reading
July 10, 2015
Editorial: GOP water bill in Congress should be rejected
The latest version of a bill by House Republicans to override California's management of its water system and undermine environmental protections — in the name of emergency drought relief and food security — is longer and more detailed than the ones that preceded it, but much the same in its substance: It offers little in the way of actual drought relief and even in years of abundant supply would serve Central Valley agricultural interests with new taxpayer-financed dams. Like several … Continue Reading
July 01, 2015
Jared Huffman
IN COLLEGE, JARED Huffman was an all-American volleyball player; now, in his free time, he plays guitar and sings in a country and western band. Whatever 51-year-old Huffman does he seems to do well — and often he does it in front of a crowd. Now in his second term as the representative from California’s 2nd Congressional District, Huffman, a Democrat, is playing before his biggest crowd ever, and from all accounts he’s doing it quite well. Representing his district’s 685,000 people in … Continue Reading
July 01, 2015
Huffman Wants Changes to Very Flawed "Dark Act" Bill.
WASHINGTON DC - A bill nicknamed the “Dark Act” passed today in Congress over major concerns from 2nd District Congressman, Jared Huffman. The bill would prevent local and state governments from enacting genetically modified food labeling laws and prevents the U.S. government from even developing a national labeling system. It would also void laws already set up in Humboldt, Trinity, Mendocino and Marin Counties. Huffman spoke out against the bill today and offered an amendment to ensure … Continue Reading
June 29, 2015
Can Waste-Water Recycling, Desalination End California’s Water Wars?
Emphasizing practical solutions in the battle over drought relief, a congressman urged local water leaders Monday to fight for funding for projects such as waste-water recycling and infrastructure repairs. Northern California Rep. Jared Huffman came to Southern California to push his $1.4 billion drought bill and find some common ground in what he called the state’s water wars being waged in the halls of Sacramento and Washington. The San Rafael Democrat, former assemblyman and … Continue Reading
June 29, 2015
PD Editorial: Getting a Say on Congress’ Water Bill
For two years, Jared Huffman and fellow House members from Northern California have been shut out of negotiations on drought legislation in Washington. Take a look at the proposals flowing from their Central Valley colleagues, and you’ll understand why. Bills advanced by the House would weaken environmental protection and threaten endangered salmon, among other species, to further a single goal: diverting more water from the fragile Delta estuary into the aqueducts that serve Central Valley … Continue Reading
June 22, 2015
EDITORIAL: At last — Huffman bill offers a realistic view on water
San Francisco Chronicle Rep. Jared Huffman’s “crowdsourced” water bill is a radical departure from the water wars, backroom deals and water grabs of the past and reframes thinking about water. He hasn’t even introduced the bill, yet we already can tell it will be significant legislation because it recognizes this: We can no longer fight over untapped water supplies. There’s nothing left. Instead, the 120-page “discussion draft” seeks everyone’s input to find ways to stretch the water … Continue Reading
June 21, 2015
At last — Huffman Bill Offers a Realistic View on Water
Rep. Jared Huffman’s “crowdsourced” water bill is a radical departure from the water wars, backroom deals and water grabs of the past and reframes thinking about water. He hasn’t even introduced the bill, yet we already can tell it will be significant legislation because it recognizes this: We can no longer fight over untapped water supplies. There’s nothing … Continue Reading
June 17, 2015
Rep. Jared Huffman Tries Crowdsourcing to Battle Drought
After three years of failure by Congress to address California’s drought, Rep. Jared Huffman invited every Californian on Wednesday to provide ideas and comments on a big new water bill he is drafting, a novel application of crowdsourcing to federal legislation. The San Rafael Democrat introduced the legislation on his website, soliciting comments from the public and interested parties. Huffman’s approach is in contrast to secret talks that have been under way since last year between … Continue Reading
May 28, 2015
Gavin Newsom, Jared Huffman to Hold Public Forum on Pot
Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom will join North Coast lawmakers in Garberville in southern Humboldt County on Friday at a public forum to discuss the effects marijuana legalization would have in the Emerald Triangle region. Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, convened the meeting to be held with Assemblyman Jim Wood, D-Healdsburg, local law enforcement representatives, medical marijuana cultivators and advocates and environmental activists to hear community concerns about marijuana … Continue Reading
May 06, 2015
Congressman Calls for Emergency Funding for Bridge Fixes
by By Stephen Stock
Local congressman Jared Huffman is calling for emergency funding to fix Bay Area bridges. Huffman spoke at a public forum on transportation infrastructure today in San Rafael. The call comes just a week after the Investigative Unit exposed 472 bridges and on-ramps in the Bay Area that are in need of replacement or repair. The bridges were identified by Department of Transportation engineers as “structurally deficient.” “There’s obviously a critical role congress needs to play right now,” … Continue Reading
March 13, 2015
Rep. Jared Huffman: Legalize Pot to Regulate it and Save Environment
North Coast Congressman Jared Huffman on Friday reiterated his desire to see marijuana legalized nationally, saying it would help bring rational management to pot cultivation and thus reduce damage to the environment. Speaking before hundreds of scientists, wildlife officials, environmental stewards and others at an annual conference of the Salmonid Restoration Federation, Huffman said continuing down the current path is not an option, given the destructive impacts of industrial-scale … Continue Reading