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Freeze. California citrus and vegetable crops were devastated by a five-night freeze from January 11 to 17, 2007. Losses of over $1.3 billion, mainly to citrus, avocado and strawberry crops, topped the $700 million loss from a December 1998 freeze but were not as high as losses incurred in a 1990-91 freeze, when cold weather killed many citrus trees.

California in 2006 had 88,000 acres of navel oranges, 62,000 acres of avocados and 36,000 acres of strawberries.

The San Joaquin navel orange crop was expected to be reduced by a third from the forecast 66 million cartons because of the freeze. Coachella-based Oasis Ranch Management, which overseas 2,400 acres of citrus, said that its harvesting company, Fresh Pic Harvest, reduced picking employment from the usual 350 to 80. Damaged oranges that would have been worth $700 a ton as fresh fruit were sold for $100 a ton to be juiced.

Federal and state legislators provided relief. About 80 percent of California's citrus trees are covered by crop insurance, which provides growers with 50 to 60 percent of the crop's market value up to a maximum of $80,000. A bill in the Senate would raise the maximum payment to a farmer for crop losses to $125,000, and provide a total of $1.2 billion in aid to those affected by the freeze.

President Bush on March 13, 2007 declared the hardest-hit counties federal disaster areas. http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/03/20070313-7.html The federal disaster declaration allows workers to receive an extra 26 weeks of federally funded disaster unemployment assistance if they lost their jobs because of the freeze (the first 26 weeks of UI benefits are covered by the regular UI program).

An estimated 5,000 field workers and 7,500 packinghouse workers lost jobs in the San Joaquin Valley. By March 20, 2007, some 5,300 freeze-related unemployment insurance benefit applications had been filed, a third in Tulare county, the heart of the winter navel orange area. After the 1998 freeze, some 9,700 UI applications were filed, which may suggest: (1) that there are far more unauthorized workers today who are not eligible for UI benefits and/or; (2) that tighter labor markets give laid-off farm workers other farm and nonfarm options.

A bill in the state legislature (SB 116) would allow farm workers to earn up to $200 a week until November 7, 2007 without losing UI benefits if their job loss was due to the January 2007 freeze, up sharply from the current $25 a week earnings set aside.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, in an effort to help farm workers displaced by the freeze regardless of legal status, provided $3.25 million in state emergency funds to Cooperativa Campesina de California for farm workers in Tulare, Fresno, Kern, Riverside and Ventura counties; the state funds can be used to pay rent, mortgages and utility bills. Another $100,000 was given to the United Farm Workers Foundation, which distributed food to those who lined up.

By March 2007, a total of $4.2 million in state funds were provided to local food banks to aid freeze victims.

Counties can take advantage of up to $85 million in federal housing funds to help freeze-affected families pay rent or repair their homes. There was talk of opening some of the 26 migrant centers to house families displaced from their usual housing by the loss of farm earnings; these centers are normally open only six months a year.

Among those who lost crops in the January freeze were Hmong vegetable farmers around Fresno. About 32,000 ethnic Hmong live in the Fresno area, and some of those with farming skills but little English farm labor-intensive specialty crops. The Fresno city council offered no interest 10-year loans of up to $20,000 for farmers who lost crops.

Tulare County supervisors in March 2007 approved a 12,000-cow dairy operation adjacent to Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park, the site of a historic all-black community founded 99 years ago. However, dairy farmer Sam Etchegaray gave the Trust for Public Land an option to purchase the 2,000 acres, so the dairy may not be built.

Ventura. Ventura is an urbanizing county of 800,000 residents, including almost 300,000 Hispanics. It ranks eleventh in California with farm sales of $1.2 billion in 2005, including $328 million worth of strawberries, $214 worth of nursery crops, $180 million worth of lemons, and $114 million worth of celery- these four crops accounted for 70 percent of Ventura county's farm sales. The 11,300 acres of strawberries produced 286,500 tons, or 25 tons an acre; farmers received an average $1,150 a ton, or $0.55 a pound. The 21,000 acres of lemons produced 397,000 tons, an average 19 tons an acre worth $450 a ton. The 11,000 acres of celery produced 381,000 tons, or 35 tons an acre worth $301 a ton.

The county's Save Open Space and Agricultural Resources or SOAR initiative, which is in force in the county and most of its 10 cities, requires voter approval for building on land designated for open space or farming. Several high-rises are proposed for Oxnard in part because of SOAR restrictions on developing farm land.

The planned city of Centennial is expected to have 23,000 homes and 70,000 residents in 20 to 30 years about 60 miles north of Los Angeles, on 11,700 acres of the 270,000 acre (426 square mile) Tejon Ranch. Los Angeles County has 10 million residents, and some urban planners prefer "infill" to new developments on the outskirts of the city.

St. Joe Company in Florida and Tejon Ranch have two of the largest land parcels on the edge of major urban areas that offer the potential for development. Tejon proposed Centennial, an industrial park, and a vacation resort area, Tejon Mountain Village, and offered to put 100,000 acres into a land conservancy if it could develop its other land.

Centennial's four development partners - Tejon Ranch, the Lewis Group, Pardee Homes and Standard Pacific Homes - have committed about $35 million to pay for the city's plan and shepherd it through the Los Angeles County approval process; they hope to begin construction in 2009. The partners say that many of Centennial's homes will be accessible to middle-class families, with prices beginning at $250,000. Winning approval to build the nearby Newhall Ranch project, which has 21,000 homes, required 15 years.

Another project along Interstate 5 is Quay Valley Ranch, a 12,000 acre development for 150,000 residents planned for southern Kings county, 50 miles north of Bakersfield. All 50,000 homes are expected to be powered by solar energy. Critics of Quay Valley Ranch question why a major city should be built far from existing valley cities. They also raised questions about whether there would be enough water- an acre foot, 325,821 gallons, supplies about two homes for a year.

Delano, the second-largest city in Kern county with 49,000 residents and two state prisons, is enjoying a building boom, with 35 projects planned. The population is growing much faster than jobs, 2.8 percent compared to 1.7 percent between 2000 and 2006, and per capita income of $11,000 is just above the poverty line. One commentator called Delano a story of "growth amid gloom."

Imperial-San Diego Water. The Quantification Settlement Agreement that provided for the transfer of up to 200,000 acre feet of water from the Imperial Irrigation District to the San Diego County Water Authority committed the IID and SDCWA to each provide $10 million to offset the negative socioeconomic impacts of land fallowing due to the water transfer, with mitigation funds spent by a Local Entity. SDCWA agreed to make additional payments to the local entity if socioeconomic costs exceeded the $20 million available.

The IID receives about 3.3 million acre feet of water a year from the Colorado river. SDCWA paid IID $258 per acre foot in 2003 and $267 in 2004 for water transferred to San Diego. Some 10,000 acre feet of water were transferred to the SDCWA in 2003, and 20,000 in 2004.

A panel of three economists assessed the impacts of land fallowing in 2003-04 and 2005, using the IMPLAN model to estimate changes in the after-tax income of third-party individuals or entitles residing in Imperial county and changes in the tax receipts of local governments in Imperial county due to land fallowing. The economists concluded that transferring water from the IID to SDCWA increased third-party after tax incomes by $1.1 million in 2003-04, that is, the multiplier effect of spending the money received for the transferred water exceeded income lost by less farm production due to land fallowing.

In 2005, IID was to make available via land fallowing 30,000 acre feet of water to the SDCWA and 15,000 acre feet for Salton Sea environmental mitigation in exchange for net payments of $9.2 million. IID paid landowners $2.2 million to remove 8,108 acres of irrigated farm land from production. A two-economist panel concluded that the expenditure of these funds increased after-tax Imperial county income by $4.3 million, and increased local tax revenues by $91,000.

If the results of the Imperial water transfers applies to other regions, agricultural counties could increase the size of their economies by selling water, fallowing land, and seeing the resulting payments circulate in the local economy in a way that creates more jobs.

Welfare. Cal-WORKS, the state's version of time-limited welfare introduced after 1996 federal reforms, requires at least 50 percent of adult recipients of cash assistance to be engaged in "work participation" activities, such as work or job training or attending college. The work-participation rate in California in 2006 was 24 percent. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed to reduce cash payments for US-citizen children in households headed by poor unauthorized foreigners who sought benefits for their US-citizen children.

The unauthorized are entitled to emergency health care at public expense, but not routine care. Some programs that receive public funds to care for low-income patients do not ask about legal status.

Schwarzenegger proposed a $12 billion play-or-pay plan to provide health-care coverage for the 6.5 million uninsured residents. Under the plan, employers of 10 or more workers who did not provide health insurance to their employees would pay a four percent payroll tax. Schwarzenegger would require all California residents to have health insurance, and funding for the program would come from a tax on doctors and hospitals as well as employers. Across the US, health care costs an average $7,500 per person a year.

California spends $54 billion a year to educate six million K-12 pupils. A series of research reports http://irepp.stanford.edu) on California schools recommended spending more money, but said that more money alone is unlikely to improve student proficiency.

Gary Polakovic, "W. Quay Hays aims to turn 12,000 acres of San Joaquin Valley dirt into a model municipality," Los Angeles Times, March 26, 2007. Victor Davis Hanson, "Mexifornia, Five Years Later," City Journal, Vol. 17 No. 1, 52-61.