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The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday walked through a detailed 2026 legislative platform, fine-tuning goals for the county’s lobbying efforts in Sacramento and Washington, D.C. While doing so, supervisors and contract lobbyists outlined the lay of the land: big budget deficits for both the county and the state and a national political landscape that’s rife with uncertainty. 

This is an annual task, the drafting of legislative positions, and while it can be tough to make plans on such unstable footing, the board managed to articulate priorities around health care, housing, climate resilience, cannabis and emergency services. 

The platform, drafted by county staff and hired lobbyists, lays out Humboldt County’s positions of support or opposition on various state and federal bills and establishes a standing wish list for funding allocations.

HR 1 and the Safety Net

Much of the board’s conversation centered on HR 1, aka President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which will shift costs and workloads onto counties by tightening eligibility rules for such programs as SNAP/CalFresh and Medi-Cal.

Karen Lange, a state-level lobbyist with the Sacramento firm of Shaw Yoder Antwih Schmelzer and Lange, warned that counties will be forced to do “more with respect to qualifying people for services” with no new resources, while also facing the return of medically indigent adults (meaning uninsured low-income folks) to county responsibility.

A federal lobbyist, Joe Krahn with Paragon Government Relations, referenced the potential for another government shutdown in the wake of the recent killings of ICU nurse Alex Pretti and Renée Good by federal border agents in Minneapolis.

“There are congressional Democrats are looking to pull out the Department of Homeland Security funding separated from other bills and trying to extract some policy changes within that, and some congressional Republicans are pushing back on that,” Krahn said. “So there’s a lot of back and forth on the budget.”

Supervisors repeatedly described HR 1’s impact as “very serious,” with Third District Supervisor and Board Chair Mike Wilson making a pointed elaboration. Referring to the Trump administration, he said, “Their attacks on rural America [are] just insane.”

He cited cuts to services related to health care, food subsidies, transportation and more and said, “The impacts to people in rural communities — in terms of infrastructure and funding for the things that keep our life and civilization together — is under attack, and it’s just terrible.”

Health, Housing and Homelessness

Deputy County Administrative Officer Sean Quincey outlined a specific list of the county’s top legislative priorities, many of which relate to health and human services. He specifically mentioned:

• Protecting funding for permanent supportive housing and homelessness programs,
• Securing state and federal funding to hire more eligibility workers,
• Protecting funding for indigent health programs,
• Preserving and fully funding Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention (HHAP) Round 6, 
• Supporting policy fixes to avoid federal and state cost shifts onto local government, and
• Maintaining Medi-Cal coverage for vulnerable residents.

The county’s public health lab emerged as a top project, with callers urging supervisors to rank it first on both state and federal earmark lists, citing a “bleak” outlook for local health care capacity.

Climate, Cannabis and Timberlands

Another major plank of the county’s legislative platform, on both the state and federal levels, is advocacy for improved climate resiliency. Just last month the county adopted its long-awaited Climate Action Plan, setting greenhouse gas emissions thresholds. Quincey said the county is requesting additional tools for reducing such emissions.

New to the county’s platform this year is formal opposition to offshore oil and gas drilling, a stand deemed necessary given the Trump administration’s stated plans to open up West Coast lease areas for that purpose.

At the same time, the county is pushing to keep aggressive timelines for offshore wind development, which Quincey framed as a major economic and climate opportunity despite “federal headwinds.” (No indication whether or not that pun was intended.) He noted that efforts on this front will require a lot of staff time, but those efforts are not eligible for federal funding under any existing programs.

In terms of cannabis, which Trump has moved to reschedule, the platform supports the long-delayed Appellations of Origin program at the state level. Ross Gordon of the Humboldt County Growers Alliance and the Origins Council called it a “significant economic development opportunity” for Humboldt County farmers if backed with financial and technical support from the state.

The document also seeks clarification on the definition of commercial timberlands. Fifth District Supervisor Steve Madrone said this clarity is crucial for supporting volunteer fire departments. He also noted the importance of emergency response services on all local highways, including 299, 101, 96 and 36.

In terms of specific budget requests, known as earmarks, Quincey identified three at the federal level: 

• $5 million for a new public health lab,
• “Complete Streets” improvements to Redwood Drive in Garberville, and
• Coastal stabilization and engineering work for Scenic Drive near Trinidad.

State budget requests mirror that list while putting offshore wind capacity-building at the top of the list and seeking $700,000-$800,000 for a document digitization project for the Planning and Building Department.

Wilson emphasized the county’s opposition to state legislation that expands state discretion over billboards at the expense of local control, and Fourth District Supervisor Natalie Arroyo voiced her support for the addition of that stance in the platform. 

Supervisors signaled broad support for the platform and directed staff to make minor additions, including clearer support for public transit. Arroyo made the motion to adopt the platform; Wilson seconded. The motion passed 4-1, with First District Supervisor Rex Bohn casting the lone dissenting vote. He didn’t explain his reasoning.

Measure S Officially Repealed

Yes, the board indicated that it repealing the county’s commercial cannabis tax three months ago, but an additional hearing was required to effectuate that decision. 

Madrone asked a question that many others have raised: “I had always understood that only the citizens could actually repeal this, because it was a citizens-based initiative. … So are we actually repealing this? Or are we just sort of setting [the tax rate] at zero until somebody changes it again?”

Deputy County Counsel Joel Blair Campbell, who was sitting next to Quincey during this part of the meeting, explained that the original language of Measure S granted the board the power to “repeal any or all” of the chapter, and that the tax could later be re-enacted so long as the amount doesn’t exceed the original rates. 

“Maybe a helpful way to think about it is: Measure S is not repealed, because the voters enacted that, but the ordinance and the county code — the chapter — is repealed,” Campbell said.

Bohn said he liked having the word “repeal” in there. “It’s for future boards to know how serious we were about it,” he said as he made a motion to make the repeal official. The motion was adopted 4-0, with Second District Supervisor Michelle Bushnell recusing herself. 

New Planning Commissioner, Same as the Old Planning Commissioner

Lorna McFarlane, past and future planning commissioner. | Screenshot.

Lorna McFarlane, a senior environmental scientist with Caltrans, has been serving as an at-large member of the Humboldt County Planning Commission since March 2024. The board recently shortened term lengths for at-large commissioners to just two years, so McFarlane’s term was up.

County staff posted notice of the pending vacancy. However, no one but McFarlane herself applied. 

Thankfully, everyone seems satisfied with her performance on that deliberative body. Addressing the board, she said she learned a lot in her first term and on multiple occasions came up with solutions that resolved disagreements among other commissioners. 

Wilson said he’s “very, very happy” with the work she’s done. Bohn motioned to re-appoint her. The rest of the supervisors voiced support, and the vote was unanimous.