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SACRAMENTO – The powerful Senate Appropriations Committee has unanimously approved a bill by Sen. Patricia Wiggins (D-Santa Rosa) to encourage the use of environmentally-safe products in state highway landscape maintenance, setting the stage for a vote by the full Senate in the near future.
SB 697, which is sponsored by the California Refuse Removal Council, would require the state Department of Transportation (CalTrans) to assess the amount of compost, pesticides, chemical fertilizers, mulch and other products for erosion control that have been used over the past five years and report its finding back to the Legislature.
Wiggins’ bill also would require CalTrans to develop a 10-year plan to increase the use of environmentally-safe materials in the state’s highway landscape maintenance program while phasing out the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers.
According to the California Integrated Waste Management Board, organic materials comprise 30 percent of the waste disposed of in landfills.
Wiggins says the goal of her legislation is to stimulate markets for markets that can be diverted away from landfills and toward productive purposes.
“Compost is an effective erosion control, it provides the same benefits as other chemical products without the dangers of polluting while being environmentally safe,” Wiggins said.
She added, “My bill would create the first step toward ensuring that our state is utilizing existing resources and is effectively recycling compost in an efficient and environmentally sound way.”
For more about Wiggins' bills or to contact her office, visit http://dist02.casen.govoffice.com/.
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SACRAMENTO – State Sen. Patricia Wiggins (D-Santa Rosa) will convene an informational hearing of the Select Committee on California’s Wine Industry Thursday, May 31, at the State Capitol.
the topic of the hearing, the committee’s first of 2007, will be “Granholm v Heald and Beyond: Retailer Direct-to-Consumer Shipping.”
Wiggins, who represents several of California’s premium wine growing regions, is chair of the 17-member committee.
The other Senators on the committee are Republican Leader Dick Ackerman (R-Irvine), Roy Ashburn (R-Bakersfield), Ron Calderon (D-Montebello), Ellen Corbett (D-San Leandro), Dave Cox (R-Fair Oaks), Jeff Denham (R-Merced), Dean Florez (D-Shafter), Dennis Hollingsworth (R-Murrieta), Mike Machado (D-Linden), Abel Maldonado (R-Santa Maria), Bob Margett (R-Arcadia), Carole Migden (D-San Francisco), Alex Padilla (D-Pacoima), President Pro-Tem Don Perata (D-Oakland), Tom Torlakson (D-Antioch) and Leland Yee (D-San Francisco).
In addition to chairing the Select Committee on California’s Wine Industry, Wiggins is carrying a bill, SB 108, which would modify an existing provision of law allowing wine orders to be taken at tasting events held by specified non-profit organizations to include three additional types of non-profit organizations: civic leagues, social organizations and voluntary employees' beneficiary associations.
SB 108 recently passed out of the Senate Committee on Appropriations and is awaiting a vote of the full Senate.
The May 31 committee hearing is scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m. in room 3191 of the State Capitol.
Wiggins represents California’s 2nd Senate District, which stretches from Humboldt County to Solano County and includes the counties of Lake, Mendocino, Napa and Sonoma.
For more about Wiggins and her legislation, or to contact her office, visit her Web site, http://dist02.casen.govoffice.com/.
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