Friday 6 February 2009

CATCH THE BUZZ California Budget Holds Up Bees, Maybe

CATCH THE BUZZ

Furlough Impacts to Migratory Apiary Industry

From Chris Heintz, Project ApisM

To All Beekeepers -

 The Governor has ordered furloughs that will result in the closing of general government operations on the first and third Friday of each month beginning February 6th, 2009, and projected to end on June 30, 2010.  CDFA headquarters and field offices, including our Plant Pest Diagnostics Laboratory, will shut down operations on the days specified.

 CDFA facilitates quick movement of bee colonies at border inspections by providing identification services Monday through Friday, and as deemed necessary on weekends and holidays. Due to the furloughs and inability to schedule overtime, CDFA is forced to reduce the hours of identification services to Monday through Thursday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. during the weeks with a furlough day. Please note that border stations will remain open.


Find out what’s new at Mann Lake www.mannlakeltd.com/catchthebuzz/index.html

 This new schedule may cause delays beyond our control. The Governor and CDFA are committed to do everything possible to continue to facilitate timely movement of bee colony shipments. We will relay pertinent information as it becomes available. Please visit our site at http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/phpps/pe/InteriorExclusion/bees.html for updates.

The scheduled closures are as follows:

2009

February 6 and 20

March 6 and 20

April 3 and 17

May 1 and 15

June 5 and 19

July 3 and 17

August 7 and 21

September 4 and 18

October 2 and 16

November 6 and 20

December 4 and 18


This message brought to you by Bee Culture, The Magazine Of American Beekeeping

www.BeeCulture.com