While the Republicans control the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the Oval Office on the national scene, the opposite holds true in California. Not only do the Democrats control the Assembly, Senate, and Governor's office, the majorities are so large that a supermajority has been created in this fall’s election. That supermajority does not exist on the national scene.

So what does that mean for California?

“If all the Democrats vote together, they will now have enough votes to approve tax increases, place items on the statewide ballot, enact laws immediately under an ‘urgency’ provision, and/or override a veto by the governor . . . all without a single Republican vote,” explained Rob Vandenheuvel, general manager for the Milk Producers Council based in California.

“This fear is tempered by the fact that there is a range of perspectives within the Democrat party on many issues, with some holding more moderate, pro-business views and others more liberal,” said Vandenheuvel. “But it does, however, still represent significant power granted to Democrats in Sacramento (California’s capital) by the state’s voters.

“This year presented a few classic examples of how aggressive anti-business bills can be approved in the Legislature — such as the regulation of methane on dairy farm and the elimination of overtime rules tailored to agriculture — with just a vote or two over the minimum,” said Vandenheuvel.

“We (dairy farmers) must continue to pursue every opportunity we can to engage our elected officials and find ways to expose them to the impacts their decisions in Sacramento have on your ability to operate a dairy in California,” urged Vandenheuvel. “As we’ve seen, the damage they can do to our industry long term is devastating and virtually unreversible. So whether it’s inviting our local legislators out to your dairy, or attending meetings and town halls to voice our thoughts, we will need all-hands-on-deck as these folks set off with a fresh, new agenda in 2017,” he concluded.