In the News
Thanks to Huffman for his support for care
A heartfelt thank you is deserved to Congressman Jared Huffman for attending the Coffee and Conversation with Congress event on March 7 at Novato’s LifeLong Medical Care Marin Adult Day Health Center, sponsored by the Alzheimer’s Association. This was an opportunity for Rep. Huffman to meet with his constituents and talk about the challenges caregivers, patients and health care professionals face in dealing with this deadly disease. What was shared is staggering: • Alzheimer’s disease … Continue Reading
March 04, 2016
Bill aims to give crab industry $138 million in disaster relief
California commercial crab fishermen, many struggling to keep their businesses afloat amid an unprecedented season closure caused by a toxic algae bloom, could see more than $130 million in disaster relief under a last-ditch federal proposal to bail them out of financial doom. Bay Area Reps. Jackie Speier and Jared Huffman introduced the legislation this week, more than three months after commercial crabbing was shuttered by state officials due to dangerous levels of a neurotoxin found in … Continue Reading
March 03, 2016
Lawmakers Jared Huffman, Jackie Speier push to aid struggling crabbers
Coastal California Reps. Jared Huffman and Jackie Speier on Thursday introduced disaster relief legislation that they hope will deliver more than $130 million to the region’s sidelined crabbers and other business owners who have suffered economically from the extended and unprecedented closures of this year’s Dungeness and rock crab fisheries. The Crab Disaster Relief Bill of 2016 seeks $138.15 million, including $1 million for sampling and monitoring of domoic acid off the West Coast and … Continue Reading
March 02, 2016
Huffman backs legislation to end postal facilities’ closure
Legislation to end the closure and consolidation of mail-processing facilities — including Eureka’s — has been introduced by a bipartisan group of congressmen, including Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael. U.S. Postal Service officials have developed plans to consolidate operations, affecting dozens of mail-processing centers. Lawmakers have called on the Postal Service to postpone the changes. Postal officials call the consolidation plans their “network rationalization” program, which … Continue Reading
February 29, 2016
After nearly 30 years, Petaluma floodwall project complete
It was a familiar exercise when former Petaluma city engineer Tom Hargis was going through security at the Pentagon in 2001, the latest visit between city officials and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over an extensive, collaborative project to fortify flood protection along the Petaluma River. Recounting the story at an event celebrating of the now-completed project, Hargis recalled how the effort hit an unexpected speed bump that day. “That was Sept. 11, when the third plane crashed … Continue Reading
February 28, 2016
Marin City forum on racial justice touches on voting, policing, income and Trump
Again and again, community activists, public officials and advocates hammered home the point at a Marin City forum on racial justice Sunday: “Vote!” The Community Forum on Racial Justice, hosted by Rep. Jared Huffman with guest speaker Rep. Barbara Lee of Oakland and a panel of local leaders, gave the community a chance to talk to the representatives about how to better promote racial equity in the North Bay and beyond. “We have to restore the power of the Voting Rights Act. We must do … Continue Reading
February 19, 2016
Rep. Huffman Talks Crab Crisis
U.S. Congressman Jared Huffman came to Crescent City's Harbor District Thursday to discuss dredging the Federal Channel and the status of relief for the beleaguered crab industry. Huffman didn't have good news for crab crew members. Huffman said federal relief for hourly workers doesn't offer much hope. "The first wave of relief was the SBA loan program. In the next wave of relief there may be money for the hourly workers but I have no idea how much would be cash." Disaster aid is a … Continue Reading
February 13, 2016
State Dems’ ambitious plan to keep fossil fuels in the ground
WASHINGTON — Even as the U.S. Supreme Court dealt a huge setback to President Obama’s climate agenda by delaying rules to limit carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants, two California Democrats opened a major new front in the global warming fight in Washington. Their intention is to halt new fossil fuel development on all federally controlled public lands, which is where most of the nation’s coal, oil and natural gas is found. Rep. Jared Huffman of San Rafael introduced the House … Continue Reading
February 12, 2016
North Bay Congressman Still Looking for Answers on Rancho Recall Two Years Later
Rep. Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) is outraged that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has not explained its own employees’ role in a massive nationwide recall that hurt ranchers in his district in 2014. “We’ve really gotten nothing out of USDA,” Huffman said in an interview. “This all happened on their watch. And frankly, had they done their job, none of this would have happened.” Huffman’s remarks come as the four men who pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges tied to the recall … Continue Reading
February 11, 2016
Marin Rep. Huffman urges ban on fossil fuels extraction from federal lands
Rep. Jared Huffman introduced legislation in the House of Representatives on Thursday that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by banning all new coal, oil and natural gas drilling on federally owned lands and waters from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Circle. “This is in response to a real outpouring of support for this cause that I have seen, not just from my constituents in the north coast of California, but from all over the country,” said Huffman, D-San Rafael. He spoke about … Continue Reading
February 11, 2016
Huffman: “This land is your land”
Housing supporters and a Congressional representative last Friday morning celebrated the passage of legislation that ensures the Coast Guard housing complex in Point Reyes Station is turned into affordable housing. The legislative mandate—part of the broader Coast Guard Authorization Act, which Congress passed two weeks ago and which was signed in to law on Wednesday—requires the agency to sell the property, which includes 36 townhomes, to Marin County at fair market value for use as … Continue Reading
February 09, 2016
Gov. Brown seeks disaster declaration over Dungeness crab closure
Gov. Jerry Brown asked the federal government Tuesday to declare a fishery disaster related to a nearly three-month delay in the opening of the Dungeness crab season and closure of the rock crab fishery — a move public officials and fishermen alike hope will bring some financial relief to struggling fleets in Bodega Bay, Fort Bragg and elsewhere. In submitting the request for aid to U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, Brown said direct economic losses already had reached an estimated … Continue Reading
February 02, 2016
Passage of Coast Guard bill clears way for new affordable housing in Point Reyes Station
Passage of a bill in the House of Representatives has paved the way for the U.S. Coast Guard to sell surplus quarters in Point Reyes Station to the county of Marin at fair market value for use as affordable housing. The Coast Guard Authorization Act, which will now go to President Barack Obama for his signature, requires that the Coast Guard offer to sell its 30-acre Point Reyes Station housing site to Marin County at fair market value for use as permanent affordable housing. The housing … Continue Reading
February 02, 2016
New plan to remove Klamath River dams without help from Congress
WASHINGTON — Federal and state officials in California and Oregon said Tuesday that they had reached an agreement to bypass Congress to remove four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River to solve a chronic water dispute among farmers, fishermen and American Indian tribes. Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, an ardent environmentalist who represents parts of the river basin, said the demolitions of the four dams combined would constitute the largest such dam removal project yet. “It’s a … Continue Reading
January 25, 2016
Public at Arcata meeting unified in desire for Klamath dam removal
Though coming from different backgrounds, professions, and cultures, the nearly 30 speakers at the California Water Resource’s Control Board meeting in Arcata on Monday evening were all unified by one goal: the removal of four Klamath River dams. “Allowing Klamath salmon to go extinct because these four dams were allowed to stand would represent one of the clearest and most egregious irretrievable commitments in the history of environmental analysis, in my opinion,” Klamath Riverkeeper … Continue Reading
January 22, 2016
Removing dams ‘preferred path’
PacifiCorp is now trying to reach a quick deal with federal and state regulators to remove four aged dams on the Klamath River. The aggressive action by the big western utility follows the failure of Congress over the last four years to pass sweeping legislation aimed at ending the water wars in the Klamath Basin that straddles the states of Oregon and California. Supporters of restoring free flows on one of the West Coast’s biggest salmon rivers are cheered by the prospect of finally … Continue Reading
January 18, 2016
Congressman Jared Huffman hails Jason Rezaian’s release from Iran
Amid the joyful reunion with his family Monday in Germany, his first full day of freedom on friendly soil after 545 days in an Iranian prison, Jason Rezaian grabbed the baseball cap that came all the way from his Marin County home. The cap from Rezaian’s alma mater, the Marin Academy in San Rafael, got there in the hands of Democratic Rep. Jared Huffman, the congressman from San Rafael who had worked, largely behind the scenes, for his former constituent’s release from captivity since … Continue Reading
January 16, 2016
Congressman Jared Huffman says Iran prisoner swap would be 'a great diplomatic achievement'
U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman said Saturday it would be "a great diplomatic achievement for the United States" after hearing that former Marin resident Jason Rezaian was to be released after being detained in Iran for the past 18 months. Huffman said he was still hesitant to call the ordeal over until the Washington Post correspondent had left Iran. "From my perspective, the most important thing is physically getting Jason up in the air and out of Iranian airspace," said Huffman, D-San Rafael. … Continue Reading
January 16, 2016
Dungeness crab closure spurs aid efforts for Bodega Bay fishermen
North Coast Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, was among four members of Congress who, way back in November, wrote Gov. Jerry Brown and urged him to be prepared to help the state’s commercial crab fleet. He wanted Brown to seek a declaration of a fishery disaster from the Department of Commerce that potentially could qualify commercial crabbers for federal relief in the way of Small Business Administration loans, grants or retraining. Now, with most valuable part of the crabbing season … Continue Reading
January 15, 2016
Marin man on crusade to free brother from Iran
While tensions flared this week as Iran briefly held 10 U.S. sailors who mistakenly trespassed into its waters, a Mill Valley man continued his relentless crusade to remind the world of someone Iran has held for so much longer — his brother, Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian. But even after traveling to Washington, D.C., many times on this mission in the past 18 months, Ali Rezaian, 45, found himself someplace new and unexpected on this visit: in the House of Representatives, … Continue Reading