Political Quotes

“Mr. Chair, I rise in support of my amendment and the underlying bill. I thank Mr. Westerman as well as Mr. Peters for presenting the bill to us. It is a necessary fix to an ongoing challenge that we have in our national forests and in the urban-wildland interface areas. I also thank Congressman Fallon, who is the cosponsor of this amendment. Now, what we are trying to do here is to include special districts. Right now, special districts are not included in the legislation. Tribes and local governments are, and that is all to the good, however, in California, special districts often provide the necessary control of the areas in the wildland areas as well as in the urban-wildland interface. Specifically, in my district, we have the East Bay Regional Park District. Most of the wildland in the East Bay of San Francisco Bay is controlled and owned by the park district. Right now, they would not be able to participate in the programs of this legislation, so we clarified that special districts are eligible to participate in the wildfire-prevention programs authorized under the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003, as well in this new legislation, the Fix Our Forests Act. This would provide opportunities for the special districts to help reduce the wildfire risk, support responsible environmental stewardship, and facilitate emergency response and all of the other elements in the legislation. Secondly, the amendment expands the Good Neighbor Authority to include special districts.…”