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Looking Ahead: 2019 California Legislative Session The Legislature officially convened the 2019 Legislative Session on Monday, January 7. The first day of session was mostly ceremonial and was led by Governor Newsom taking his oath of office to become California’s 40th Governor. The legislature will  get to work quickly in advance of its first major [...]

CASA Submits Comments on State Water Board Toxicity Provisions On December 21, CASA submitted comments on the State Water Board’s toxicity provisions. The provisions will impact dischargers to inland surface waters, estuaries and bays. Most notably, the provisions would impose numeric water quality objectives and limits for toxicity and mandate use of the test of significant [...]

CASA Winter Conference Features Expert Political Analysis CASA is pleased to welcome two respected political figures to our winter conference January 23-25! John Ashford, chairman and CEO of The Hawthorn Group, an international public affairs and public relations firm, will speak on Friday morning. Ashford formerly worked on Capitol Hill for members of the U.S. [...]

First Woman General Manager to Lead West County Wastewater District The West County Wastewater District Board of Directors announced the district’s new general manager is Lisa Malek-Zadeh. Malek-Zadeh is the first woman to lead the organization in the District’s 97-year history. She was selected as general manager after a nationwide recruitment process involving community members, [...]

Asset Management Expert Sam Paske to Speak at CASA Winter Conference We're pleased that the upcoming CASA Winter Conference on January 23-25 in Indian Wells offers another strong conference. The Thursday morning session will feature a presentation from Sam Paske, assistant general manager of the Environmental Services Division of the Metropolitan Council (Minneapolis/St. Paul). For those [...]

Sean Maguire Appointed to California State Water Board Governor Brown has appointed Sean Maguire to the California State Water Resources Control Board. He replaces Steve Moore, who is now general manager at Ross Valley Sanitary District, in the sanitary engineer seat on the board. Maguire has been supervising water resources control engineer at the State Water [...]

Key Initiatives Identified at Board Strategic Planning Session The CASA Board of Directors met in late September for its annual strategic planning session to assess the association's effectiveness and identify 2019 priority actions. Based on input from the planning session, staff developed a business plan to focus on several key initiatives: Explore development of a [...]

Save the Date This is a friendly reminder that the CASA Washington D.C. Policy Forum is February 25-27, 2019. The conference will once again take place at the St. Regis. We have an impressive slate of speakers to discuss how the midterm elections impact key committee leadership, infrastructure and wastewater priorities and what to expect [...]

Millennial Engagement Expert to Keynote CASA Winter Conference The CASA Winter Conference is around the corner - January 23-25. We are happy to announce our exciting lineup of speakers and panelists. This year’s conference theme, “Connecting to the Future,” will be highlighted by our keynote speaker, consultant and millennial engagement expert, Farah Habad. Farah offers [...]

Excellent Fiscal Forecast Reported by Legislative Analyst’s Office The non-partisan LAO, which exists to provide objective analysis of public policy to the Legislature, recently released its annual report outlining California’s fiscal outlook in advance of the 2019-20 legislative and budget season. This report is intended to inform the legislature of revenue expectations in the coming [...]