Proposed CA Budget Includes $7+ Billion for Issues Important to the Wine Community

Gov. Newsom released his 2022-2023 budget proposal on Jan. 10, 2022, which the legislature will now review and use to craft a final budget by June 15. The proposed budget includes several funding proposals of interest to California wineries.

Wildfire

$1.2 billion for wildfire and forest resilience, including:

• $482 million to improve forest health and resiliency.

• $100 million to reforest burned areas.

• $382 million for fuel breaks around communities.

• $44 million for community hardening.

• $284.4 million to increase firefighting resources.

• $30 million for additional technology for fire monitoring.

Drought

$750 million for drought response, including:

• $30 million for additional groundwater recharge.

• $20 million for the State Water Efficiency and Enhancement Program (SWEEP), which provides grants to farmers to implement water efficiency practices and install water conservation technologies.

Climate Smart Agriculture

$417 million for climate smart agriculture programs, including:

• $85 million for the Healthy Soils Program.

• $150 million for the FARMER Program, which funds replacement of agricultural diesel engines.

• $15 million for pollinator habitat projects.

Climate and Energy

• $85 million for the Food Production Investment Program, which provides grants to food and beverage production facilities to adopt energy efficient and renewable energy technologies.

• $250 million per year through 2024 for tax credits for businesses headquartered in California and making investments in activities and technologies that mitigate climate change.

• $65 million to improve California’s recycling efforts.

Supply Chain

• $1.2 billion for investments for port-related projects to increase goods movement capacity.

• $40 million to enhance California’s ability to issue commercial driver’s licenses to increase the supply of truck drivers for goods movement.

Unemployment Insurance

$3 billion payment to the unemployment insurance fund, which will reduce the need for future employer taxes to address pandemic related costs to the fund.

Tourism Recovery

$45 million to support tourism recovery in California.

Wine Institute will be engaged and communicate support for funds that will directly benefit California’s wineries.