In the News
A bipartisan group of lawmakers are introducing legislation to expand access to agriculture conservation programs. They say the Growing Access to Environmental Sustainability Act, or GATES Act, would reduce barriers producers face.
Undocumented farmworkers in the Central Valley may soon have an easier time obtaining legal resident status now that Congress members from both sides of the aisle have pitched in to resurrect a 2021 piece of legislation. If passed, the law could speed up the time it takes for undocumented farmworkers and their families to earn temporary or permanent resident status.
A bipartisan group in the U.S. House of Representatives has reintroduced the Farm Workforce Modernization Act for the third time, seeking a workforce solution to the labor-stressed specialty crop industry and other farm sectors.
The legislation passed in 2019 and 2021 but the Senate failed to advance a corresponding bill and the effort died. The Senate’s Affordable and Secure Food Act found no traction in late 2022 and the only possibility of the legislation’s passage, inclusion in an omnibus spending bill, did not happen.
The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) is mobilizing on Capitol Hill and in Congressional districts across America to hold Azerbaijan accountable for its seven-month blockade of Artsakh and escalating anti-Armenian aggression – backing a series of targeted amendments to the Fiscal Year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA – H.R.2670) to sanction Azerbaijan, support U.S. aid to Artsakh, and advance Artsakh self-determination.
Rep. Jim Costa announced this week a $2.16 million federal grant for the Fresno County Rural Transit Agency (FCRTA) to advance construction of a bus maintenance and operations facility in Selma.
“Fresno County residents, especially seniors and those with disabilities, depend on an effective transit service to meet their daily needs,” said Costa. “Thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, this investment will help establish a clean, modern transportation hub to expand transit service, while mitigating air quality impacts and creating good paying jobs in Selma.”
A bill from a local congressman hopes to address a growing nursing shortage.
Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, proposed legislation to create a federal task force to find solutions for a coming shortage of nurses.
“The United States is at the precipice of what I believe is a devastating, potentially a catastrophic shortage of nursing in the near term and in the long term,” Costa said.
San Joaquin Valley Particularly Affected
He said a shortage of between 6,000 and 9,000 nurses is expected by 2030 in the San Joaquin Valley.
On a dirt road alongside the San Joaquin River, backed by a faint outline of the Sierra Nevada mountains, Fresno-area politicians and dignitaries gathered Monday morning to celebrate more public access to one of the region’s greatest natural features.
To be specific: Sycamore Island Park, located on the Madera County side of the river near Valley Children’s Hospital, will now be open daily, rather than Friday through Sunday. With no car entrance or trailer fees charged on weekdays.
Fresno County’s Rural Transit Agency is receiving a $2.1 million federal grant for a new maintenance/operations center in Selma, Rep. Jim Costa said on Thursday afternoon.
“Fresno County residents, especially seniors and those with disabilities, depend on an effective transit service to meet their daily needs,” said Costa in a news release. “Thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, this investment will help establish a clean, modern transportation hub to expand transit service, while mitigating air quality impacts and creating good paying jobs in Selma.”
Farm labor reform has virtually no chance of going anywhere, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be action on the workforce concerns. Many in the ag sector have turned to the farm bill to get help with automating many jobs, and a House Ag Committee task force plans to do an in-depth study of labor issues in the coming months.
FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- The local legal community laid out its case on Friday to add more federal court judges in the Central Valley.
Cases ranging from drug offenses to bankruptcy are heard inside the federal courthouse in downtown Fresno.
The US Court for the Eastern District of California covers 34 counties from Bakersfield to Redding.
"We have had six district judges assigned in this district since 1978. We have had no increases," said Anthony Ishii, a retired federal judge.
Nearly every member of the House Democratic Caucus signed onto a letter demanding an independent investigation into two fatal shootings carried out in the span of a week by officers at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
“We are calling for immediate independent investigations into both of these deaths, without interference,” the lawmakers wrote, referring to the killings of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston and Joan Guerrero in Maine.