• U.S. Sens. Alex Padilla and Dianne Feinstein (both D-California) announced that California was awarded more than $1.8 billion in funding for broadband access through the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program, a key component of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, according to a June 26 statement from Padilla’s office. BEAD is a federal grant program that aims to get all Americans online by funding partnerships between states or territories, communities, and stakeholders to build infrastructure where we need it and increase adoption of high-speed internet. BEAD prioritizes underserved locations that have no internet access. This funding comes from the Department of Commerce’s $42.45 billion fund to expand high-speed internet access by funding planning, infrastructure, deployment, and adoption programs nationwide. This funding will help deploy affordable, reliable, high-speed internet infrastructure to Californians through President Joe Biden’s Internet for All initiative. “This critical funding from the historic Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will be instrumental in bridging the digital divide in communities across California,” Padilla said in the statement. “Access to high-speed internet is essential infrastructure, but for too long, low-income and underserved communities have been shut out of educational and economic opportunities due to a lack of affordable and reliable access to internet. These transformative investments will help address this equity gap and ensure that all Californians—regardless of zip code—can remain connected.”
• U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) joined several of his colleagues to introduce a bill establishing a Specialty Crop Mechanization and Automation Research and Development Program within the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to support specialty crop mechanization and automation programs, according to a June 15 statement from Carbajal’s office. “Growing up, I worked summers with my father as a farmworker, understanding firsthand the back-breaking work of picking fruits and vegetables in the fields of the Central Coast. Decades later, despite the world around us being completely revolutionized by technological breakthroughs, farmworkers in California’s specialty crop fields still are using some of the same hand-picking and labor-intensive methods that my dad and I used,” Carbajal said. “As the son of a farmworker and someone who knows the difference technological improvements could make, I’m proud to introduce this bipartisan legislation to support research and development for specialty crop growing and harvesting. Undertaken in the right way, with guardrails like those included in our bill, breakthroughs in this space will improve the quality of life for our farmworkers, and ensure we have a more sustainable workforce that is prepared to cultivate the farms of tomorrow.” Specifically, the bill aims to establish an industry-derived specialty crop committee that consults annually with the USDA, ensures critical feedback, provides $20 million in annual funding, and models aspects of existing USDA grant governance structures that emphasize multidisciplinary, multi-institutional approaches.
• With California’s peak wildfire season forecasted to be similar to the dangerous and destructive 2017 season, Gov. Gavin Newsom joined state fire officials in Grass Valley to highlight the all-of-the-above approach California is taking this year to prepare and protect frontline communities, according to a June 29 statement from the governor’s office. In addition to having the largest aerial firefighting fleet in the world on standby and the most firefighters in state history, California is deploying new tools—including AI, satellites, cameras, drones and real-time intelligence—to fight fire faster and smarter. “In just five years, California’s wildfire response has seen a tech revolution. We’re enlisting cutting-edge technology in our efforts to fight wildfires, exploring how innovations like artificial intelligence can help us identify threats quicker and deploy resources smarter,” Newsom said in the statement. “And with the world’s largest aerial firefighting force and more firefighters on the ground than ever before, we’re keeping more Californians safer from wildfire. While these resources will help protect our communities, Californians need to remain vigilant for what could be an intense wildfire season this year.”
This article appears in Santa Barbara County Fair Guide 2023.
