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NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Congressman Mike Thompson (CA-05) has introduced a bill to deliver temporary tax relief to survivors of the California fires.

“The fires that tore through our California were the worst in our state’s history, leaving communities devastated. The bill I’m introducing today would bring important tax relief to those communities, giving them more tools to begin the process of rebuilding and recovering,” said Rep. Thompson.

“Among other things, this legislation will make it easier for people to claim tax deductions for the cost of destroyed property, provide penalty-free access to retirement funds, and give tax credits to disaster-affected employers for wages they’ve paid to employees from disaster areas,” Thompson said. “This is a great first step to help our community rebuild and I look forward to working with my House colleagues on longer-term relief for the communities hit by these fires.”

The bill takes the following targeted actions to help families and communities impacted by the fires.

Deduction for personal casualty losses:

– With respect to uncompensated losses arising in the disaster area, eliminates the current law requirements that personal casualty losses must exceed 10 percent of Adjusted Gross Income to qualify for deduction.
– Eliminates the current law requirement that taxpayers must itemize deductions to access this tax relief.

Penalty-free access to retirement funds:

– Provides an exception to the 10 percent early retirement plan withdrawal penalty for qualified fire relief distributions.
– Allows for the re-contribution of retirement plan withdrawals for home purchases cancelled due to eligible disasters.
– Provides flexibility for loans from retirement plans for qualified fire relief.

Encouraging charitable giving:

– Temporarily suspends limitations on the deduction for charitable contributions associated with qualified fire relief.

Disaster-related employment relief:

– Provides a tax credit for 40 percent of wages (up to $6,000 per employee) paid by a disaster-affected employer to an employee from a core disaster area.

Special rule for determining 2017 earned income tax credit and child tax credit:

– For 2017, allows taxpayers to refer to earned income from the immediately preceding year for purposes of determining the earned income tax credit and child tax credit
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Congressman Mike Thompson represents California’s 5th Congressional District, which includes all or part of Contra Costa, Lake, Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties.

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – The Trump Administration has appointed Colusa County Supervisor Kim Dolbow Vann as the new state director for USDA Rural Development in California.

Dolbow Vann will begin her new role on Nov. 27.

“California’s rural communities are the backbone of our state’s thriving, diverse agriculture industry that helps feed the world, yet they often lack economic development opportunities,” said Dolbow Vann. “I am honored and humbled to serve in this position, and will work hard to ensure rural communities, and the families, businesses and farms that call them home, have the resources they need to succeed.”

Dolbow Vann brings more than 20 years of experience and dedication to economic development and the improvement of rural life.

Most recently, Dolbow Vann spent 11 years as a Colusa County supervisor representing the first district.

During her tenure she served as the chair of Rural Counties Representatives of California, and led the charge on all federal and state issues that affect rural counties.

In addition, for the past two years Dolbow Vann served as the chair of Sites Reservoir Joint Powers Authority, leading the new public private partnership in creating an above-ground water storage facility in rural Colusa County.

Dolbow Vann also ran for Congress in 2012, seeking to represent the Third District in the House of Representatives. She eventually lost the race to John Garamendi.

As state director, Dolbow Vann will use her leadership experience to oversee Rural Development programs in a customer-focused manner to restore prosperity in rural California.

USDA Rural Development provides loans and grants to help expand economic opportunities and create jobs in rural areas.

This assistance supports infrastructure improvements; business development; homeownership; community services such as schools, public safety and health care; and high-speed internet access in rural areas.

For more information, visit www.rd.usda.gov/ca.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Seniors represent the fastest-growing segment of drivers, with current projections suggesting a quarter of all drivers will be over age 65 by 2025.

To help address the issues that arise with older drivers, the California Highway Patrol has implemented the Age Well, Drive Smart program to provide older drivers with tools to remain safe on the road.

Senior citizen drivers represent a wide range of abilities and skills. However, some of the skills necessary for safe driving – such as vision, reflexes, flexibility, and hearing – may deteriorate with age.

“Our senior driving class will help refresh driving skills,” CHP Acting Commissioner Warren Stanley said. “One of the most critical assets for safe driving is experience, and experience does not decline with age.”

The CHP invites California’s older drivers to attend a free Age Well, Drive Smart class to learn the tools to driving safer and driving longer.

The class is approximately two hours and is offered at local CHP offices as well as many senior centers within the community.

The class is a way for seniors to educate themselves, evaluate their driving abilities, and improve their driving skills.

More information about this free class is available from any local CHP office. Call the Clear Lake Area office in Kelseyville at 707-279-0103.

Funding for this program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – As the Sulphur fire cleanup and recovery process moves forward, the marine portion of the work is now under way.

On Tuesday afternoon, boats and equipment that contractor Seal Marine Salvage of Discovery Bay will use in the lake portion of the cleanup underwent examination by two special four-legged inspectors.

California Department of Fish and Wildlife officers Brian Patrick and Timothy Bolla and their K9 partners, Karma and Luna, respectively, met county officials and the contractor’s staff at Thompson Harbor at Redbud Park in Clearlake to inspect the barges.

Karma, a Belgian Malinois, and Luna, a German Shepherd, are specially trained to check for invasive quagga mussels, their handlers explained, as shown in the video above.

Although the marine contractor’s equipment previously had been used in salt water and drydocked, the county was still taking the extra precaution of using the quagga-sniffing dogs to inspect it before allowing it to be put into Clear Lake, according to Lake County Water Resources Director Phil Moy.

“It’s going to protect the lake as well as help with the fire cleanup,” Moy said.

Moy said the inspections went well and the boats and materials were clean.

He said Seal Marine Salvage has a 10-day window to do work along three-quarters of a mile of shoreline burned in the fire last month.

The work on the lake will include removal of fire debris and any burned pilings, Moy said, adding that the pilings won’t just be cut off but completely pulled out.

In other fire-related news on Tuesday, during the Board of Supervisors meeting county staff and representatives from state and federal agencies gave reports on the fire recovery.

Lance Harbour from the Federal Emergency Management Agency said just under $500,000 has been approved so far for housing in Lake County.

They’re still looking at long-term housing needs, and may once again contract with Clearlake Resort – as FEMA had after the Valley fire – for locating temporary housing units and travel trailers. Harbour said they’re not yet sure of the exact needs, but estimates range between five and 20 housing units.

Dana Ellis of the California Office of Emergency Services said the disaster recovery center in Clearlake will remain open for a few more weeks. The center is located at the Clearlake Community Center, 3245 Bowers Ave.

She also reported that the county has made good progress on collecting rights-of-entry, or ROE, forms for the government-run fire debris cleanup program.

“Of all the counties, Lake County has the highest percentage of ROEs collected,” she said.

County staff reported that so far ROEs have been collected for 118 of the 137 fire-damaged properties.

That’s an 86-percent rate compared to other counties in the debris cleanup program, where ROE percentages range between 50 and 60 percent, it was reported during the meeting.

Lake County Environmental Health Director Ray Ruminski said his office already has received indications that five or six of the remaining properties will have private cleanups, and he expects several more ROEs also will be submitted.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A well-known Lake County attorney has become the first person to declare his candidacy in next year’s judicial race.

J. David Markham announced his candidacy for the position of Lake County Superior Court judge for Department 4, the seat currently held by Judge Stephen Hedstrom.

Hedstrom this week announced he will not seek a fourth six-year term next year. His current term will expire in January of 2019, as Lake County News has reported.

“For many years, Judge Stephen O. Hedstrom has provided the people of Lake County with integrity and professionalism from the bench. Now that he is retiring, I am seeking the office of Lake County Superior Court judge, Department 4, to continue his outstanding legacy of service to our communities,” said Markham.

Markham said he is committed to providing equality under the law and access to justice for all residents – regardless of income.

He said that’s why he serves as a partner at Lake Indigent Defense LLP, the firm that administers the county’s indigent defense contract, in order to help protect the legal rights of the neediest and most vulnerable Lake County residents.

“As a Superior Court judge, I pledge to protect public safety while upholding the highest standards of fairness, integrity and justice in the courtroom. I want crime victims to have their voices heard and make sure that those convicted of violent crimes receive a just punishment for their actions,” Markham said.

“I will bring a broad and balanced range of experience in criminal, family, civil and real estate law to our Superior Court. My extensive service as both a prosecutor and a defense attorney will help to ensure all parties receive a fair trial in criminal cases. And I will use my experience in the area of family law to provide a fair and just resolution for all concerned when Lake County families are involved in a legal dispute,” he said.

Markham comes from a proud tradition of Lake County public service.

His father is a career law enforcement professional who retired from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office after 36 years of service, while his mother retired from the Konocti Unified School District.

Markham grew up in the city of Clearlake and is a graduate of Lower Lake High School. He earned an economics degree at the University of California at Davis and a law degree at Empire College School of Law in Santa Rosa.

Over the past 17 years, Markham has built an extensive record of leadership in the legal community, including service as a Lake County Deputy district attorney from 2001 to 2003, an associate at the local law firm of Alvord and Ewing from 2003 to 2004, and since 2004 as a sole practitioner in Lakeport.

He is certified by the State Bar of California’s Board of Legal Specialization as a Criminal Law Specialist and he has championed legal defense for the needy through his law partnership, Lake Indigent Defense, LLP.

In addition, Markham serves as an Adjunct professor at the Lake County campus of Woodland Community College, where he teaches administration of justice classes, including: introduction to criminal justice; criminal law; criminal procedure; and juvenile law.

He serves as vice president of the Lake County Bar Association and chief financial officer/treasurer of the Friends of Taylor Observatory.

Additionally, he regularly volunteers as a judge at Lake County’s annual high school mock trial and academic decathlon competitions.

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake City Council will hold a special meeting this week to discuss a short agenda of Sulphur fire-related items.

The council will meet in closed session beginning at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 16, to discuss negotiations for a property at 14141 Lakeshore Drive before the open portion of the meeting begins at 5:30 p.m. in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.

The main item of business is the adoption of the Sulphur fire debris cleanup application package deadline of Dec. 15 and a debris cleanup deadline of Jan. 15 for property owners who don’t take part in the cleanup overseen by the US Army Corps of Engineers.

Items on the consent agenda – items considered noncontroversial and usually accepted as a slate on one vote – are consideration of a continuation of a local emergency issued on Oct. 9 and ratified by the council on Oct. 12, consideration of a continuation of a declaration of a local health emergency issued on Oct. 12 and ratified by the council on Oct. 18, and award of a bid for the Ridgeview guardrail project.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.