On Wednesday, the Senate and Assembly unveiled a joint
2022-23 budget package. Titled Delivering Prosperity &
Strengthening the Future By Putting California’s Wealth to Work,
the Legislature’s version of the budget represents an agreement
between the between the leaders and budget chairs of both houses.
This budget agreement will be amended into AB 154 and SB 154 over
the coming days. The Legislature will then move to adopt this
budget prior to the June 15 constitutional deadline.
In what has become a common practice over the past couple of
years, the Legislature has reached a unified budget deal that
they will take into final negotiations with the Governor.
Governor Newsom’s new Community Assistance, Recovery, and
Empowerment (CARE) Court proposal – Senate Bill 1338 – which
is authored by Senators Umberg and Eggman, passed the Senate last
week with a unanimous 38-0 vote.
Amendments to the bill accepted by the authors in the Senate
Appropriations Committee on May 19 did little to address county
concerns regarding resources, sanctions for counties, housing,
and eligibility. The next stops for the bill are the Assembly
Health and Judiciary committees, although the two committees may
collaborate on suggested amendments to streamline the process.
The Employee Relations policy area falls under the jurisdiction
of the Government Finance and Operations (GFO) Policy Committee
and is responsible for all issues related to public employment
and retirement. Specific issues areas are pension benefits and
pension system administration; labor relations; issues regarding
county negotiations with employees; workers’ compensation; and
other risk management issues facing public employers.
“If you build it, they will come.” It’s a famous
movie misquote we have all heard numerous times. But never did we
think it would represent an innovative idea created during the
COVID-19 pandemic when the state was shuttered at a time when
county services still needed to be provided.
But that’s exactly what happened in Orange County when the County
Clerk-Recorder’s Office was faced with the challenge of how to
continue performing marriage ceremonies while protecting the
health of both staff and the public.
Despite the ongoing spread of COVID-19, the demand for marriage
services was still in high demand. For many residents,
delaying marriage until the pandemic ended was not an option.
Getting married was a necessity in order to add a spouse to
health insurance coverage or to secure other needed benefits
obtainable through marriage.
Clerk-Recorder Hugh Nguyen had other plans than putting marriage
ceremonies on hold. And so the day the state closed down,
the Clerk-Recorder began searching for an empty box office
setting and location that would provide social distancing while
allowing marriage ceremonies to continue.
