Because those of you who subscribe to these “Updates” follow the news closely, you likely know that earlier today Governor Newsom issued a multi-pronged Executive Order calling upon the state’s urban water providers to activate 2^nd level (20%) drought contingency plans, consider bans on the irrigation of all “ornamental” turf, and limit permits for groundwater extraction in certain basins.

We look forward to a day when we don’t have to “update” you with such frequency. Sadly, that day is not today. The 1^st of the two Assembly policy committees that will hear the 3^rd iteration of the Public Golf Endangerment Act (AB 1910) has set a hearing date. The Assembly Housing & Community Development Committee will hear the bill Wednesday March 23 at 9:30 AM.

The SCGA’s initial targeting of club presidents/delegates along with similar targeted efforts from allied partners like the Southern California PGA Section has yielded a healthy number of organizational letters in opposition to AB 1910 (Public Golf Endangerment Act). A second broader targeting is set to go out Monday in the form of SCGA’s “Club Digest.”

How clubs and organizations in particular can help in the 1st phase of the game’s allied effort to beat back this bill for a 3rd and final time.

As expected, at 9:00 PM Wednesday night Assembly Member Cristina Garcia (D-Bell Gardens) refiled most of the contents of the AB 672 iteration that died in Appropriations just a few weeks ago.

For those of you who have been confused by contradictory reports about the fate of AB 672 (Garcia; D-Bell Gardens), there’s good reason for that. Well after AB 672 died in the Assembly Appropriations Committee (January 20) the Sacramento Bee ran a story that was subsequently picked up by the Southern California News Group and other media consortia that led readers to believe that AB 672 was quite alive and well. This wasn’t true when the stories ran; it isn’t true now.

The Public Golf Endangerment Act (AB 672) died in the Assembly Appropriations Committee today in large part due to the thousands of SCGA members who took the time to send letters and make calls to their legislators – that and the usual behind the scenes work and solid argumentation that always accompanies any successful effort in the public arena.

AB 672 moved out of both of its two Assembly Committees of reference yesterday – on a 6-2 vote out of Housing & Community Development and a 5-2 vote with one abstention out of Local Government. We fully anticipated this result.

When AB 672 author Cristina Garcia (D-Bell Gardens) announced over the Holidays that she would be leaving her Assembly seat at the end of 2022 in order to pursue a run against Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia for the newly created 42^nd Congressional District, we waited to see whether her enthusiasm for continuing to pursue the “Act” might be diminished.

SCGA’s “Save Public Golf” campaign – “save” it from the Public Golf Endangerment Act (AB 672) – rolled out phase 1 last week with an E-blast to its membership, an “SCGA News” spot, a “Club Digest” offering, and a social media campaign. All points leading to the “Save Public Golf” landing page on the Association website homepage -- Public Golf Endangerment Act -- a landing page that allows persons to type in their name and be immediately directed to their Assembly and Senate members along with a few sample letters that can be easily copied and pasted into those members’ E-mail portals. So far, so good in terms of member engagement and use thereof.