 On Wednesday, July 13, California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara will convene an Investigatory Hearing to gather facts and information about what improvements need to be made to the California Fair Plan in order to better meet the needs of property owners across the state, recognizing that insurance remains a critical and often desperate issue for residents.
I feel privileged that Commissioner Lara's office reached out, asking me to attend the hearing in Oakland to share my personal experience and offer insights to improve insurance access and coverage for both residential and commercial properties. I look forward to representing El Dorado County and raising the voice of rural residents at the Hearing next week.
This hearing will also be open to the public. To increase public participation, interested parties are invited to attend virtually or in-person, and offer comment, if they so choose. Click here to register virtually or in-person.
I also ENCOURAGE YOU TO SUBMIT WRITTEN COMMENTS to the Commissioner on your insurance concerns and challenges with the FAIR Plan. Comments are due by July 13, 2022 to:
Abigail Meraz
Staff Services Analyst
California Department of Insurance
300 Capitol Mall, 17th Floor Sacramento, CA 95814
Email: Abigail.Meraz@insurance.ca.gov
Click here for more information on the Hearing
Project Roomkey operated for 26 months during the Pandemic and ended at the end of June. During that time, 107 homeless clients went through the program in Pollock Pines and 69% had a successful exit to a housing destination or treatment setting, which is a remarkable accomplishment.
This success would not have been possible without the extreme care and dedication of EDC Health and Human Services staff, teams of volunteers (including the Upper Room) and the remarkable owners of the Pollock Pines hotel. I am deeply grateful to all for making this creative solution work so well in addition to ensuring that the participants who found stability and success in the program also found their next path forward.
On April 25, 2022, the Board provided direction to staff to negotiate with the owners of the 1940 and 1970 Broadway properties for use of the sites as potential short term, non-congregate, homeless shelters.
Staff have been unable to reach acceptable terms with the owners, so on June 28, the BOS unanimously approved negotiations be discontinued for these properties. Staff continues to pursue a congregate site at Perks Court and will return to the Board on July 26th with a progress report on the status of a homeless shelter at that site. Stay tuned...
JULY 18-29: Camino Safety Project
 NEW DATES FOR CLOSURE! We are now looking at July 18-29 for the closure of Carson Road to minimize long-term staging disruptions and significantly expedite the work on the new undercrossing. Note: Weather, equipment issues or other unexpected events may delay the work so check the link below for the latest information.
Click here for Caltrans project website.
 According to Climatewire, as many as 3 million Californians could lose electricity with no advance warning this summer, as the nation’s biggest utility expands a system that automatically cuts power after potential wildfire-triggering events.
Pacific Gas and Electric Co. said it has increased the system to include 1,000 circuit breakers, up from 170 circuits last year. Such circuits are outfitted with safety triggers that shut off power instantly if vegetation falls on a power line or during similar incidents that could trigger a wildfire.
The expanded program will affect 1 million customer accounts, comprising homes where about 3 million people live, according to PG&E. That’s nearly one-fifth of the utility’s electric customers.
“When we stop ignitions, we stop wildfires,” Mark Quinlan, vice president of transmission and distribution operations for PG&E, said in a statement. “We work every day to prevent outages and to expedite restoration if they do happen.”
Expansion of the program — which was a pilot last year — comes as San Francisco-based PG&E works to cut the number of wildfire ignitions in the Golden State. Since 2017, the utility's equipment has ignited more than 30 wildfires that destroyed more than 23,000 homes and businesses and killed more than 100 people, the Associated Press has reported.
The expanded circuit breaker program is in addition to power shut-offs the utility does in response to “red flag” warnings of high winds during dry conditions that increase the risk of wildfire. Those blackouts typically include about 48 hours of warnings. The newer program is an automatic system.
PG&E said a trial of the automatic blackout program last year reduced ignitions that could trigger a wildfire by 82 percent, compared with the average for 2018 to 2020.
In the last year, the system has triggered nearly 600 power shutoffs. The average outage lasted 3.5 hours, PG&E said. The circuits in the program are part of 25,000 distribution line miles in high-fire-risk areas, as well as approximately 18,000 line miles in adjacent portions of the system, according to the utility.
Residents can learn whether they’re in the automatic shutoff zone by checking the PG&E site.
 (Photo courtesy of Apple Hill Growers Assc.)
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On June 28, 2022, it was the BOS' pleasure to recognize and celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Boeger Winery. |
The Boeger's have a remarkable story in that they are the first post-prohibition commercial winery in El Dorado County which effectively launched our wine industry. As equal partners and modern-day pioneers, Greg and Sue built their business side-by-side (on a Gold Rush homestead), and they joined with other original wineries (Madrona, Lava Cap and Sierra Vista) to achieve the official AVA designation known as the "El Dorado" American Viticultural Area. Additionally, Greg was instrumental in creating our Agricultural Commission, which is not a feature in every California county, as well as helping craft the Ranch Marketing and Winery Ordinances which help protect our rural ag economy.
This is just a glimpse into Boeger Winery's significance in our County, and even beyond their accomplishments, the Boeger family are amazing people who are deeply devoted to our community. Cheers to the past 50 years, and cheers to your enduring legacy and ongoing success!
Proclamation
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