Huffman Votes to Pass Funding Bill

Community Projects, Aid to Ukraine, Climate Action, Special Education Funding All Included in Comprehensive Omnibus

December 23, 2022

Washington, D.C. – Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2023, which included significant victories for California’s Second Congressional District championed by Representative Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael). The legislation includes over $12.48 million in federal funding for projects in CA-02 that the Congressman nominated as part of the Community Project Funding process. 

This government funding package also includes emergency supplemental funding to respond to the devastation that recent natural disasters and extreme weather events have left behind and emergency resources to support the Ukrainian people and protect global democracy. The investments in the bill will lower the cost of living for hardworking people, create better-paying jobs, and help communities and families in need.

“The appropriations process is one of the most consequential aspects of our work in Congress, allocating funding that supports the needs of my constituents and folks across the country. This year’s bill is truly a reflection of Democrats’ priorities: from lowering costs for hardworking people and investing in local communities to defending democracy worldwide and taking bold climate action,” said Rep. Huffman.

“For the second year in a row, I was able to secure funding for special projects right here in California’s Second District. I have worked side-by-side with folks in our community to identify projects that address some of the most pressing needs of our region. Thanks to that partnership, 14 of those initiatives will receive funding to move forward, undoubtably improving the lives of folks along the North Coast. And once again, I’m grateful to see increased funding for special education services through IDEA – a priority of mine since my first day in Congress,” he said.

“We had some hard-fought victories in this legislation, including keeping Manchin’s dirty permitting deal out of the final bill, but I know there is more work ahead. Unfortunately, the fire victims tax relief Rep. Mike Thompson has championed didn’t make it in the package. Nevertheless, we’ll keep working to get fire victims whatever support we can. I was also disappointed to see the terrible north Atlantic right whale provision that was folded in, but I’m committed to working with the Biden administration to save the right whale from extinction,”Huffman concluded.

As part of the package, Rep. Huffman secured more than $12.48 million in Community Project Funding for northwest California:

  • $200,000 for the Career Technical Education Foundation Sonoma County for whole-school transformation efforts in Santa Rosa
  • $2,000,000 for the Electric Vehicle Charger Program Expansion in San Rafael
  • $750,000 for the Ending Veteran Homelessness and Creating Workforce Housing in Marin County
  • $791,200 for the Equitable Energy Resilience and EV Infrastructure in Novato
  • $294,000 for the Fighting Climate-Driven Collapse in Coastal Habitats in Fort Bragg
  • $750,000 for the Front Street Complete Street and Cultural Inclusion in Crescent City
  • $820,000 for the Housing Mendocino Coast - Hazelwood in Fort Bragg
  • $200,000 for the Jewish Community Free Clinic for an electronic health records initiative in Santa Rosa
  • $650,000 for the Marin City Public Housing - Lighting Energy Efficiency Upgrades in Marin
  • $775,000 for the Redwoods Rural Health Center for facilities and equipment in Redway
  • $550,000 for the Sheriff’s Office Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) and Records Management Systems (RMS) Update in Crescent City
  • $1,800,000 for the SMART Rail Extension to Healdsburg - Preliminary Design in Sonoma and Marin
  • $2,000,000 for the Trinity Headwaters Forest Conservation for Community Benefit Project
  • $901,575 for the West County Health Centers, Inc. for facilities and equipment in Guerneville

Further Community Project Funding for CA-02 include:

  • $500,000 for the Hamilton Airfield Wetlands Restoration in Novato
  • $500,000 for the Marin Clean Energy Storage Program
  • $1,250,000 for the Tolowa Waste Water Infrastructure Improvements in Smith River

More information on the Community Project Funding requests can be found here.

Rep. Huffman also successfully advocated to include multiple funding and policy priorities for northwest California in the final package:

  • Special education funding increases for children with disabilities by providing $14.2 billion for IDEA Part B Grants to States, an increase of $850 million (or 6%) above the FY2022 enacted level.
  • The Fishery Resource Disasters Improvement Act, legislation championed by Rep. Huffman, which makes improvements to provide fishermen with disaster relief more quickly. The package also provides an additional $300,000,000 for fishery disaster relief.
  • A reauthorization of the Shasta-Trinity marina fee retention authority, following legislation Rep. Huffman has championed. This critical request supports the outdoor recreation economy in Trinity County.
  • Extends payments in lieu of taxes (PILT) to local governments through fiscal year 2023. Rep. Huffman co-led an appropriations request letter to extend this program.
  • $6,800,000 for the Prescott Grant Program led by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) for rescue, recovery, and rehabilitation efforts for stranded marine mammals. 
  • $68,000,000 for Sanctuaries and Marine Protected Areas. This request will help support the Greater Farallones and Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuaries. 
  • The bill provides $4.2 billion for wildland fire management, which includes $2.6 billion in cap adjusted fire suppression funding. In addition, the bill includes $1.6 billion for wildfire preparedness and suppression activities. 

Other provisions Rep. Huffman pushed to secure in the legislation include: 

  • The Driftnet Modernization and Bycatch Reduction Act, which will phase out the use of harmful drift gillnets that produce enormous bycatch, killing and entangling unintended marine life. 
  • Report language highlighting the growth in cage-free egg facilities and the importance of the Department in Agriculture in helping producers convert to cage-free housing. While serving in the California State Legislature, Rep. Huffman was the author of California's humane egg law that helped lead the nation in cage-free standards.
  • Report language highlighting concerns with chemical recycling, requesting that the EPA continue to regulate gasification and pyrolysis – two of the most common forms of so-called chemical recycling technologies – as “municipal waste combustion units,” despite an earlier move by the Trump administration to strip this provision from the Clean Air Act. Rep. Huffman led his colleagues in a letter to the EPA raising these concerns in July and introduced the Protecting Communities from Plastics Act to address the plastic production crisis.
  • A provision that Rep. Huffman co-led with Rep. Mikie Sherrill (NJ-11) that would allow civil penalties to fund remediation of environmental or public health hazards for environmental enforcement cases.
  • Support for wildfire smoke taint research on wine grapes to identify the compounds responsible for smoke taint, establish a reliable database of background levels of smoke taint compounds occurring naturally in wine grapes, develop mitigation methods to reduce or eliminate smoke taint, and study compounds that can act as a barrier between the grapes and smoke compounds. Additionally, it supports research to establish standard methodologies for sampling and testing smoke exposed grapes and smoke affected wines.
  • Report language directing the Forest Service to develop tools to monitor and eradicate illegal marijuana grows on federal lands. The language also supports drone usage by Bureau of Land Management to identify illegal marijuana grows. This is a key pillar of Rep. Huffman’s Northwest Wilderness, Recreation, and Working Forests Act.
  • Report language supporting the Forest Service’s collaboration with the Bureau of Land Management to define, identify, and complete an inventory of old growth and mature forests on Federal lands.

The bill also includes supplemental funding to address the impact of unprecedented natural disasters and to support the Ukrainian people and defend global democracy.

  • Helps communities recover: Responds to the devastation that recent natural disasters and extreme weather events have left behind and helps families, small businesses, and entire communities get back on their feet and repair damaged infrastructure
  • Supports Ukraine: Provides necessary emergency funding to support the Ukrainian people and protect global democracy in the face of Russia’s continued and grievous invasion of Ukraine. Putin’s unyielding pursuit of power has led to a grievous loss of life and humanitarian devastation. Russia has committed countless war crimes, and this bill provides the Ukrainian people with the help they desperately need. 

A detailed summary of the legislation is available here.

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