Final Legislative Report – Governor Signs, Vetoes Bills Affecting Counties
October 6, 2016
Governor Brown’s pen is likely out of ink after a busy month of signing and vetoing the 1,059 bills the Legislature sent him, and now counties are left to figure out how their operations are affected.
Many of the bills counties were watching most closely affect county finances. For instance, AB 1618 and AB 1628 implement one of the most talked about issues of the year, the No Place Like Home Program, which leverages up to $2 billion to build or refurbish permanent supportive housing for homeless individuals living with a serious mental illness.
Another high-profile bill, SBX2 2, is the main piece of the MCO fix. The tiered tax proposal in this bill is the product of months of negotiation between the Brown Administration, county-run health plans, other health plans, and the Legislature. It restructures the MCO tax in a way that meets federal standards. It raises between $1.3 and $1.7 billion annually, and will be in effect for three years, until 2019.
AB 2299 and SB 1069 were both passed in an effort to promote the development of additional units in existing residential neighborhoods. These bills require counties to update their ordinances to ministerially approve second units in specific residential zones by January 1, 2017. Moreover, if a county’s zoning code conflicts with the bill’s standards for local ordinances, then projects must be approved based solely on the specific provisions included in state law.
Several bills that the Governor vetoed would have cost counties significant dollars. SB 1157, for example, would have required local correctional facilities to provide a specified number of in-person visits per year. Those that currently only provide for video visitation would have required significant construction costs.
Likewise, SB 897, which the Governor also vetoed, would have provided an additional year of leave with full salary (also known as “4850 benefits”) to certain peace officers who have been temporarily or permanently disabled as a result of a catastrophic injury. While well-intentioned, CSAC opposed the measure because it would have created additional burdens for local agencies without a corresponding benefit. Local agencies already have authority to extend benefits on an individual basis if it makes sense in certain particular cases.
SB 1029 increases costs somewhat by requiring any state and local agency issuing debt to report certain information annually to the California Debt and Investment Advisory Commission. While the bill as signed duplicates certain requirements, CSAC was able to negotiate extensive amendments to limit the reporting.
Of course, some bills go the other way and give counties new funds or allow counties to streamline their operations. AB 120 appropriates over $16 million dollars in one-time funding to counties for elections administrative duties related to conducting the June 2016 primary and ballot measure signature verification for the November 2016 general election.
AB 2636, which CSAC sponsored, allows local jurisdictions the option to accept online requests for vital records. Counties that choose to offer this option would provide a multilayered remote identity authentication method to establish the identity of the requestor to ensure the highest level of privacy security for the applicant while still allowing the county to save money and catch up to current technological standards.
AB 1853, which CSAC opposed and the Governor vetoed, would impinge on counties’ authority by allowing a retirement system under the County Employees Retirement Law of 1937 to elect to be an independent district without any county input.
Finally, two bills, SB 815 and AB 1568, implement different portions of California’s new Medicaid Section 1115 “Medi-Cal 2020” Waiver. The new waiver—approved on December 30, 2015—builds on the successes California has achieved in expanding coverage, transforming care, and improving health outcomes.
Counties can find a complete rundown the Governor’s actions on bills of interest to counties at the links below.
Agriculture, Environment, and Natural Resources