Watch: Laura Capps Decodes Fierce Conflicts Over Oil; Offers Somber Fiscal Assessment; Warns of Looming MAGA Cuts

As county braces for impact of Trump's big bill, Board of Supervisors Chair fears food and health care scarcity distress for Santa Barbara's most economically vulnerable local citizens

Board of Supervisors Chair Laura Capps says that the “slashing and burning” of federal programs being pushed by the Trump Administration has Santa Barbara County officials braced for a grueling budget year.

“I don’t want to panic anybody, but we’re feeling it now - we’re feeling the economy constricting, we’re feeling the impact of that on programs” Capps said, amid ongoing local and global uncertainty and confusion over Donald Trump’s capricious trade policies and immigration jihad.

“And if those cuts (on Medicaid) go through it has a huge impact on the lives of people here, the most vulnerable people, and what that’s going to mean when they need basic services,” she added. “Our food programs…if those funds go away, that has real life impacts on people.”

In an expansive one-on-one conversation on Newsmakers TV, Capps on Friday set the table for next week’s budget hearings, as the supervisors consider a $1.6 billion spending proposal for the fiscal year that begins July 1. She also discussed in depth and detail:

• the local impacts of national immigration policy and the actions of Sheriff Bill Brown in navigating local, state and federal cross-pressures in the matter;

• the major shift in cannabis regulation which she has led, as pot revenue continues to dwindle and the supervisors redirect funds once targeted for the industry;

• the two contentious conflicts about oil drilling now embroiling local politics — reprobate efforts by Sable Offshore Corp. to restart the pipeline that caused the 2015 Refugio spill, and her own project to ban onshore oil drilling in the county.

“Oil is no longer this industry that is the economic engine of Santa Barbara. For us to do this, isn’t this radical idea ” Capps said of the recently-adopted plan to ban new onshore oil wells while decommissioning more than 1,000 now operating. “I feel the urgency of this climate crisis every day, so I’m motivated by that.

“But this is not a radical move to be making, because the industry is dwindling,” she added.

Check out our conversation with Laura Capps via YouTube below or by clicking through this link. Our podcast is available on Apple, Spotify and other platforms, or on Soundcloud here. TVSB, Channel 17, airs the show at 8 p.m. on weeknights, and at 9 a.m. on weekends. KCSB, 91.9 FM, broadcasts the program at 5:30 p.m. on Monday.