Thank you for your patience as we work to eliminate the glitches we’ve been having with our website.

Let me clarify what transpired on September 10th and since regarding Allensworth.

Although Governor Schwarzenegger announced on September 10th that the State had purchased the diary rights from the Etchegary family for $3.5 million, the actual contract must still be approved by the Board of Public Works. The Board is scheduled to review the contract on October 15th.

The Chair of the Board of Public Works is Michael Genest, please send a letter to him asking for his support of the Etchegary contract at:

Michael Genest, Chair
State Public Works Board
915 L Street, 9th Floor
Sacramento, CA 95814

O (916) 445-9694
F (916) 322-0717 " " cris.sanford@dof@ca.gov

However, this contract will stop these particular dairies, but will not stop other dairies from starting up next door. The importance of AB576 is that it will permanently protect the entire perimeter of the town and the park from any other such ventures.

On September 6th, the Governor met with Assemblywoman Carter and confirmed what he had been circulating informally for months – that he does not want to see Bill 576 reach his desk. His tactic involved pushing the legal department of Parks and Recreation to finalize the deal with the Etchegary family, while at the same time encouraging the Tulare County Board of Supervisors to take action to secure the remaining borders of Allensworth. In short, he wants to establish the same protection provided by AB576 without actually being presented with the bill itself. This is because the bill presents the Governor with what he regards as a no-win situation: If he signs it into law, he will lose substantial financial support from the dairymen and cattlemen lobby; if he vetoes it, he’ll lose a significant number of Black votes; if he does nothing, it will become law anyway. In short, if this bill gets to his desk at all, he will suffer a major political loss on some front. His only way out is to try to replicate the protection that the bill establishes without the bill itself.

When AB576 passed in the Senate (23 to 15) on August 30th, it was then sent back to the Assembly for concurrence, meaning that the Assembly needed to approve the amendments made by the Senate before the final bill went to the Governor. The Black Caucus’ plan was to get the Bill to the Governor’s desk before the end of the legislative session (September 14th), but the Governor’s own plan was to announce the State’s contract with the Ethchegary family as the resolution of the crisis, thereby eliminating the need for the bill – a course of action we know would not permanently solve the problem.

Soon after the bill passed the Senate, the lobbyist for the Tulare County Board of Supervisors made it known that Tulare County was passing a resolution to assure the protection of the town and park by establishing a “mitigation bank,” which would rezone the remaining land surrounding Allensworth exclusively for wild life preservation. The problem with this approach is that although it would effectively protect Allensworth from dairies, it would also prevent future commercial development within the community.

Assemblywoman Carter did not send the Bill to the Governor's desk, she is holding it until January when the Legislative Session resumes. AB576 is now what is called a two year Bill, in that it spans 2007 into 2008.

On September 18th, the Tulare County Board of Supervisors met to pass a resolution that would put a 45-day moratorium on all special use permits around Allensworth while they consider how to best structure the mitigation bank. They did not act on the resolution on the 18th, but rescheduled it for the October 9th agenda.

Following the Board of Supervisors’ meeting, several stakeholders with members of the Allensworth community council met at the community center in Allensworth and decided that we would independently develop our own vision and plan for the community. We further determined that we would present this vision – at least in its broadest sense – at the October 9th Tulare County Board of Supervisors meeting.

So, the battle of the Etchegary dairies is 90n – but the war is still waging. Stay on board