Sun Staff

• U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) applauded President Joe Biden for proposing a $300 million increase in funding to agricultural research and innovation in his 2024 budget—an investment pushed by Carbajal and a bipartisan group of lawmakers, according to a March 10 statement from the congressman’s office. As Congress is set to craft the […]

• Disaster Loan Outreach Centers opened at the Solvang Superior Court offices and at the Orcutt Union School District office to help meet the ongoing needs of businesses and community members impacted by the January storms, according to the Santa Barbara County Office of Emergency Management. The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) established the centers […]

• U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) led 15 members of California’s congressional delegation in calling for a federal investigation by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission into recent spikes in home energy costs, according to a Feb. 22 statement from the congressman’s office. “With unexpectedly high home gas prices, we have heard stories from our […]

• U.S. Sens. Alex Padilla (D-California) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island) reintroduced legislation to crack down on Big Oil taking advantage of Americans at the gas pump and provide relief to consumers, according to a Feb. 16 statement from Padilla’s office. The Big Oil Windfall Profits Tax Act would require large oil companies that produce […]

• U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) denounced a measure put up for a vote that would “hamstring” the executive branch’s ability to release oil from the United States’ strategic reserves, despite evidence that previous releases have helped offset gas price spikes over the past year, according to a Jan. 27 statement from the congressman’s […]

• The California Department of Water Resources announced that recent storms will allow the State Water Project to boost deliveries to 29 public water agencies serving 27 million Californians, according to a Jan. 26 statement from the department. Based on the amount of water captured and stored, the state now expects to deliver 30 percent […]

• Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office is reprioritizing its groundwater recharge, stormwater capture, and reservoir storage efforts, along with water conveyance improvements and ambitious targets to build water resilience, according to a Jan. 19 statement from the governor’s office. The state has committed more than $8.6 million to build water resilience in the last two budgets, […]