RULES COMMITTEE: 6/11/2025
Item: B.1
File ID: ROGC 25-210
TO: Honorable Mayor & FROM: Toni J. Taber, MMC
City Council City Clerk
SUBJECT: The Public Record DATE: June 11, 2025
May 29, 2025 June 5, 2025
ITEMS FILED FOR THE PUBLIC RECORD
Letters from Boards, Commissions, and Committees
Letters from the Public
1. Letter from Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), dated May 30, 2025, regarding:
Forecast Application (A.25-05-011).
2. Letter from Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), dated May 30, 2025, regarding:
Electric Demand Growth and Invest in Safe, Reliable, Clean Energy as Part of its 2027 General Rate Case Application (A.25-05-009).
3. Letter from Lita Kurth, dated May 31, 2025, regarding: Suggestions on homeless issue.
4. Letter from Mike Wagner, dated June 1, 2025, regarding: SJACS - Lack of Adult Cats for Adoption.
5. Letter from California Department of Food and Agriculture (Stephanie Jacobs), dated June 2, 2025, regarding: Important ACP Proclamation of an Emergency Program 2025-01 for Morgan Hill and San Jose, Santa Clara County, 5/30/25.
6. Letter from M. Martin, dated June 2, 2025, regarding: Reformatted Open letter regarding herbicide use at Alum Rock Park (now 351 cosigners).
Rules and Open Government Committee
, 2025
Subject: Public Record
City Clerk
TJT/tt
CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF FOOD AND AGRICULTURE
OFFICIAL NOTICE
FOR COMMUNITIES OF MORGAN HILL AND SAN JOSE IN SANTA CLARA COUNTY
PLEASE READ IMMEDIATELY
PROCLAMATION OF EMERGENCY PROGRAM FOR
ASIAN CITRUS PSYLLID
Between April 9, 2025 and April 22, 2025, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) confirmed the presence of the insect, Asian citrus psyllid (ACP), Diaphorina citri Kuwayama, which feed on citrus plants and can spread the disease huanglongbing (HLB), a devastating disease of citrus. ACP were collected in the cities of Morgan Hill and San Jose in Santa Clara County, necessitating survey and treatment in these areas. ACP presents a significant, clear, and imminent threat to California’s commercial citrus production, residential citrus plantings, natural resources, and economy. Unless emergency action is taken to disrupt the ACP life cycles, there is high potential for sudden future detections in Santa Clara County.
To determine the extent of the infestation and to define an appropriate response area, CDFA conducts delimitation trapping and surveys. ACP traps are placed at a maximum density of 50 traps per square mile in a four-square mile delimitation area centered on each detection site.
Traps are serviced weekly for one month. If no additional ACP are detected, traps are serviced monthly for one year past the date the ACP was identified. Additionally, unless the survey area triggered by a detection overlaps with an existing survey area, visual surveys take place in areas consisting of the ACP find sites and adjacent properties.
In accordance with integrated pest management principles, CDFA evaluated possible treatment methods and determined that there are no cultural, physical, or biological control methods available to adequately control ACP in this area. The Proclamation of Emergency Program is valid until April 22, 2027, which is the amount of time necessary to determine that the treatment was successful. Asian citrus psyllid is most easily detected when the plant is in “flush,” which is when the plant is growing new leaves. The two-year period past the date of the last detection allows three to four flushing cycles of citrus, thereby enabling a detectable increase in nymph-feeding populations if nymphs are present.
The detection of ACP described above requires immediate action to address the imminent threat to California’s commercial citrus production, residential citrus plantings, natural resources, and economy. More specifically, in addition to a variety of commercial citrus crops, ACP threatens loss and damage to native wildlife, private and public property, and food supplies. Due to ACP being a vector for the bacteria that causes HLB and the rapid reproductive rate of ACP, there is a high potential for ACP to establish and spread, resulting in sudden future detections of ACP and HLB in the cities and communities listed above.
Therefore, the Secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture is invoking Public Resources Code Section 21080(b)(4) to carry out immediate emergency action to prevent the aforementioned loss and damage to California’s resources.
The surveillance and treatment plan for the ACP infestation will be implemented within the ACP find sites and adjacent properties, with property owner or occupant consent, as follows:
ACP and HLB surveillance including ACP delimitation traps placed at a maximum density of 50 traps per square mile in a four-square mile delimitation area centered on Asian Citrus Psyllid
Official Proclamation
Program SA-5047
the detection site. Traps are serviced weekly for one month. If no additional ACP are detected, the traps are serviced monthly for one year past the date the ACP was identified. Additionally, unless the survey areas triggered by the detections overlap with existing survey areas, visual delimitation surveys are conducted in areas consisting of the ACP find sites and adjacent properties. All plant and ACP samples collected from visual delimitation surveys shall be tested for the presence of Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus, the bacteria that causes HLB.
ACP treatment activities to eradicate or control incipient infestations. All ACP find sites and adjacent properties with hosts are treated. Treatments are in accordance with the following protocol to control ACP:
o Tempo® SC Ultra (cyfluthrin), a contact insecticide for controlling the adults and nymphs of ACP, will be applied from the ground using hydraulic spray equipment to the foliage of host plants; and
o Merit® 2F or CoreTect™ (imidacloprid), a systemic insecticide for controlling the immature life stages of ACP, will be applied to the soil underneath host plants. Merit® 2F is applied from the ground using hydraulic spray equipment.
CoreTect™, which is used in place of Merit® 2F in situations where there are environmental concerns about soil surface runoff of liquid Merit® 2F, is applied by inserting tablets into the ground and watering the soil beneath the host plants.
Public Notification:
Residents of affected properties shall be invited to a public meeting or contacted directly by CDFA staff. Consultation with the California Department of Pesticide Regulation, the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, and the county agricultural commissioner’s office will be provided at the public meeting or upon request to address residents’ questions and concerns.
Residents are notified in writing at least 48 hours in advance of any treatment in accordance with the Food and Agricultural Code sections 5771-5779.
Following the treatment, completion notices are left with the residents detailing precautions to take and post-harvest intervals applicable to the citrus fruit on the property.
The following treatment information and additional resources are posted on CDFA’s website:
Treatment Maps: http://cdfa.ca.gov/plant/acp/treatment maps.html ACP Pest Profile: https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/citrus/pests diseases/acp/PestProfile.html ACP/HLB Work Plan:
https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/citrus/pests diseases/ACP HLB Work Plan.pdf Integrated Pest Management Analysis:
https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/citrus/pests diseases/ACP HLB IPM Analysis.pdf Press releases, if issued, are prepared by the CDFA information officer and the county agricultural commissioner, in close coordination with the program leader responsible for treatment. Either the county agricultural commissioner or the public information officer serves as the primary contact to the media.
Asian Citrus Psyllid
Official Proclamation
Program SA-5047
Information concerning the HLB/ACP program shall be conveyed directly to local and State political representatives and authorities via letters, emails, and/or faxes.
For any questions related to this program, please contact the CDFA toll-free telephone number at 800-491-1899 for assistance. This telephone number is also listed on all treatment notices.
Attachments
FINDINGS REGARDING AN EMERGENCY PROGRAM FOR
ASIAN CITRUS PSYLLID
Morgan Hill and San Jose, Santa Clara County
Program SA-5047
Between April 9, 2025 and April 22, 2025, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) confirmed the presence of the insect, Asian citrus psyllid (ACP), Diaphorina citri Kuwayama, which feed on citrus plants and can spread the disease huanglongbing (HLB), a devastating disease of citrus.
ACP were collected in the cities of Morgan Hill and San Jose in Santa Clara County, necessitating survey and treatment in these areas. Unless emergency action is taken to disrupt the ACP life cycle, there is high potential for sudden future detections in Santa Clara County and other areas.
Coinciding with the dates of the detections, CDFA conducts delimitation trapping and surveys. CDFA conducts these activities to determine the extent of the infestation in Santa Clara County and to define an appropriate response area. ACP traps are placed at a maximum density of 50 traps per square mile in four-square mile delimitation areas centered on the following detections in 2025:
Morgan Hill (one detection on April 9); San Jose (nine detections on April 18 and seven detections on April 22). Additionally, unless the survey area triggered by a detection overlaps with an existing survey area, visual surveys take place in areas consisting of the ACP find sites and adjacent properties. Based on pest and disease surveillance, pest biology, findings and recommendations from California's HLB Task Force, the Primary State Entomologist, the Primary State Plant Pathologist, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) experts on HLB and ACP, county agricultural commissioner representatives who are knowledgeable on HLB and ACP, and experience gained from USDA’s control efforts in the southeastern United States, I have determined that an incipient ACP infestation exists and it poses a statewide significant imminent danger to California’s commercial citrus production, residential citrus plantings, and natural resources, and the economy. For example, the expansion of ACP into new areas of the state may transmit HLB to other areas and would severely impact both the citrus industry and the urban landscape. The bacterium that causes the disease, Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (CLas), blocks the flow of nutrients within the tree and causes the tree to starve to death within two to five years of infection. California is the top citrus-producing state in the U.S., with total citrus production valued at $3.63 billion. A recent study estimated that a 20% reduction in California citrus acreage would cause a loss of 8,213 jobs, $214 million in employee income, and reduce state GDP by $569 million. Another recent study concluded that if steps are not taken to combat HLB, the total loss in production value could be up to $2.7 billion over 20 years. Studies in Florida have shown that the presence of HLB increases citrus production costs by up to 40 percent and has resulted in a loss of over $7 billion and 6,600 jobs.
Additional surveys also indicated that the local infestation is amenable to CDFA’s ACP emergency response strategy, which includes chemical and biocontrol treatments. These options were selected based upon minimal impacts to the natural environment, biological effectiveness, minimal public intrusiveness, and cost.
ACP is an insect pest native to Asia. It has appeared in Central and South America. In the United States, ACP has been detected in Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas. In California, ACP has been detected in thirty counties.
ACP feeds on members of the plant family Rutaceae, primarily on Citrus and Murraya species, but is also known to attack several other genera, including over forty species of plants that act as hosts and possible carriers. The most serious damage to the environment and property caused by ACP – the death and loss in value of host plants – is due to its vectoring HLB. In addition, ACP also causes injury to their host plants via the withdrawal of large amounts of sap as they feed and via the Asian Citrus Psyllid
Findings of Emergency
Program SA-5047
production of large amounts of honeydew, which coats the leaves of the tree and encourages the growth of sooty mold. The sooty mold blocks sunlight from reaching the leaves.
Due to the rapid reproductive rate of ACP, there is a high potential for ACP to establish and spread, resulting in sudden future detections of ACP/HLB in the cities and communities listed above.
ACP is the vector for the bacteria that causes HLB, and HLB is considered one of the most devastating diseases of citrus in the world. There is no cure for HLB. Symptoms of HLB include yellow shoots with mottling and chlorosis of the leaves, misshapen fruit, fruit that does not fully color, and fruit that has a very bitter and rancid taste, which makes it inedible for human consumption.
These symptoms often do not appear until a minimum of two years after infection, making this disease particularly difficult to contain and suppress. These undesirable symptoms of HLB-infected plants result in the plants’ loss of commercial and aesthetic value while at the same time such plants are hosts for spreading the bacteria that causes HLB.
If unabated, the establishment of ACP in new areas of California would harm the natural environment as commercial and residential citrus growers would be forced to increase pesticide use.
It could lead to enforcement of quarantine restrictions by the USDA and California’s international trading partners. Such restrictions would jeopardize California’s citrus exports, which are valued at over $7 billion in economic revenue.
CLas was first detected in Los Angeles in 2012. It has subsequently been detected in Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, and Ventura counties.
Infected host plants are mechanically removed as soon as they are discovered. However, due to the length of time it takes for symptoms to appear on infected plants, which is two to five years, new infestations continue to be discovered. If the current infestation is not abated immediately, ACP will likely become established in neighboring counties and could pave the way for a statewide HLB infestation.
CDFA evaluated possible treatment methods in accordance with integrated pest management (IPM) principles. As part of these principles, I have considered the following treatments for control of ACP:
1) physical controls; 2) cultural controls; 3) biological controls; and 4) chemical controls. Upon careful evaluation of each of these options, I have determined that it is necessary to address the imminent threat posed by ACP using currently available technology in a manner that is recommended by the HLB Task Force.
Based upon input from the HLB Task Force, the Primary State Entomologist, the Primary State Plant Pathologist, USDA experts on HLB and ACP, and county agricultural commissioner representatives who are knowledgeable on ACP and HLB, I find there are no cultural, physical, or biological control methods that are adequately effective against ACP and allow CDFA to meet its statutory obligations, and therefore it is necessary to conduct chemical treatments to abate this threat. As a result, I am ordering delimitation surveillance and insecticide treatments for ACP using ground-based equipment within the ACP detection sites and adjacent properties.
Asian Citrus Psyllid
Findings of Emergency
Program SA-5047
Sensitive Areas
CDFA has consulted with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s California Natural Diversity Database for threatened or endangered species, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Marine Fisheries Service, and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife when rare and endangered species are located within the treatment area. Mitigation measures for rare and endangered species will be implemented. CDFA shall not apply pesticides to bodies of water or undeveloped areas of native vegetation. All treatment shall be applied to ACP-host plants on residential properties, common areas within residential development, non-agricultural commercial properties, and rights-of-way.
Work Plan
The proposed delimitation surveillance and treatment area encompasses the ACP find sites and adjacent properties within Santa Clara County. The Proclamation of Emergency Program is valid until April 22, 2027, which is the amount of time necessary to determine that the treatment was successful. Asian citrus psyllid is most easily detected when the plant is in “flush,” which is when the plant is growing new leaves. The two-year period past the date of the last detection allows three to four flushing cycles of citrus, thereby enabling a detectable increase in nymph-feeding populations if nymphs are present. Maps of the treatment boundaries are attached. The work plan consists of the following elements, which will be implemented where property owners or occupants’ consent:
1. Surveillance
a. ACP Delimitation Trapping. ACP traps are placed at a maximum density of 50 traps per square mile in a four-square mile delimitation area centered on the detection site.
Traps are serviced weekly for one month. If no additional ACP are detected, the traps are serviced monthly for one year past the date the ACP was identified. Subsequent detections may increase the size of the delimitation survey area and restart the oneyear duration of the trap servicing requirement. b. ACP and HLB Visual Survey. Unless the survey areas triggered by the detections overlap with existing survey areas, visual delimitation surveys are conducted in areas consisting of the ACP find sites and adjacent properties. c. HLB Disease Testing. All symptomatic host plant tissues, and ACP life stages shall be tested for the presence of CLas.
2. Treatment. All ACP find sites and adjacent properties with hosts are treated. Treatments are in accordance with the following protocol to control ACP:
a. Tempo® SC Ultra, containing the contact pyrethroid insecticide cyfluthrin, shall be applied by ground-based hydraulic spray equipment to the foliage of host plants for controlling the adults and nymphs of ACP. Treatment may be re-applied up to three times annually on additional ACP detection sites and adjacent properties. b. Either Merit® 2F or CoreTect™, containing the systemic insecticide imidacloprid, will be applied to the root zone beneath host plants for controlling developing nymphs and providing long term protection against reinfestation. Merit® 2F is applied as a soil drench, while CoreTect™ tablets are inserted two to five inches below the soil surface Asian Citrus Psyllid
Findings of Emergency
Program SA-5047
and watered in to initiate tablet dissolution. CoreTect™ is used in place of Merit® 2F in situations where there are environmental concerns about soil surface runoff of the liquid Merit® 2F formulation, such as host plants growing next to ponds and other environmentally sensitive areas. Treatment may be re-applied once annually on additional ACP detection sites and adjacent properties.
Public Information
Residents of affected properties shall be invited to a public meeting or contacted directly by CDFA staff. Consultation with the California Department of Pesticide Regulation, the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, and the county agricultural commissioner’s office will be provided at the public meeting or upon request to address residents’ questions and concerns.
Residents shall be notified in writing at least 48 hours in advance of any treatment in accordance with the Food and Agricultural Code (FAC), sections 5771-5779.
Following the treatment, completion notices are left with the residents detailing post-treatment precautions.
For any questions related to this program, please contact the CDFA toll-free telephone number at 800-491-1899 for assistance. This telephone number is also listed on all treatment notices. The following treatment information and additional resources are posted on CDFA’s website:
Treatment Maps: http://cdfa.ca.gov/plant/acp/treatment maps.html.
ACP Pest Profile: https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/citrus/pests diseases/acp/PestProfile.html ACP/HLB Work Plan:
https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/citrus/pests diseases/ACP HLB Work Plan.pdf Integrated Pest Management Analysis:
https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/citrus/pests diseases/ACP HLB IPM Analysis.pdf Press releases, if issued, are prepared by the CDFA information officer and the county agricultural commissioner, in close coordination with the program leader responsible for treatment. Either the county agricultural commissioner or the public information officer serves as the primary contact to the media.
Information concerning the HLB/ACP program will be conveyed directly to local and State political representatives and authorities via letters, emails, and/or faxes.
Findings
HLB and ACP pose a significant, clear, and imminent threat to California’s natural environment, agriculture, public and private property, and its economy.
Unless emergency action is taken to disrupt the life cycles of recently detected ACP, there is high potential for sudden future ACP and HLB detections in Santa Clara County.
The work plan involving chemical control of these pests is necessary to prevent loss and damage to California’s natural environment, citrus industry, native wildlife, private and public property, and food supplies.