The state’s 2011 shift of criminal justice responsibility to
counties under AB 109 has generated extensive commentary and
analysis about how well it’s working. As it happens, “Smart
Justice” is the theme for the National Association of Counties’
County Government Month, and counties are indeed working smarter
to manage these new responsibilities.
Many counties are developing and expanding programs designed to
reduce recidivism. For County Government Month CSAC is
highlighting the best practices of four California counties.
At their regular board meeting earlier this month, members of the
Plumas County Board of Supervisors jokingly suggested that they
would rather go to jail than return a portion of their Secure
Rural Schools funding to the federal government because of
sequestration. According to news reports, Board Chairman Terry
Swofford asked the Plumas sheriff if he had “room for five more?”
While we don’t expect it would ever get to the extent to where we
find “boards behind bars,” it does show how sequestration will
have definitive impacts at the local level and hamper all levels
of government.
We’ve all experienced this challenge. It’s late in the day
and you’ve just been asked to speak in two days at a regional
meeting about youth and green jobs.
It all started with an idea. In 2003 a group of county
treasurers and other local finance officers came together to
discuss investment options. Looking for a safe investment
vehicle other than the state pool, a concept for a new investment
pool, created and governed by local officials, came to the
table. This idea originated the Investment Trust of
California; commonly known as CalTRUST.
A program such as CalTRUST was new territory in the public
investment world but a group of dedicated, professional, and
knowledgeable individuals decided to make it happen. For
over a year CalTRUST was c
“Big Daddy” Jesse Unruh, the man who invented the modern role of
the Speaker of the California Assembly, coined the phrase “money
is the mother’s milk of politics” back in 1966. One could easily
argue that it is still true today.
Campaign contributions and fundraisers are still a big part of
the Capitol culture in Sacramento. The online publication,
Capitol Morning Report has a section called “The Daily Bread”
listing the day’s campaign fundraisers — most of them at various
restaurants a short walk from the Capitol.
There was a lot of trash talking at the historic Crest Theater a
block from the State Capitol Monday evening – and those in
attendance are hoping there will be even more. The event,
“Talking Trash @ the Crest,” was co-sponsored by CSAC and the Los
Angeles County Department of Public Works.
California has a lot of recent experience with shortages. The
state has been short of money, short of water, short of jobs. But
there’s a new shortage looming that could spell real trouble. I
refer to a recent story in the Fresno Bee that describes a
potential statewide shortage of rocks.
There’s a county road I often take home from Sacramento to Placer
County; the scenery is idyllic – farm houses, horses, geese
heading south, the Sierra Nevada on the horizon. And then I begin
hitting teeth-jarring potholes, one after another. It’s not a
well-traveled road and I know it’s not a priority.
U.S. Communities – the Gold Standard for Cooperative Purchasing
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then U.S.
Communities ought to be blushing. It was the first – and for a
while the only – purchasing cooperative for local governments.
Now, the field is crowded with wannabes that claim to save money
and streamline purchasing for local governments. But seven key
facts distinguish U.S. Communities from the others. 1.
Significant Savings at No Cost to the Public Agencies: Since
2001, the program has saved public agencies over $1.7 billion.
More than 55,000 public agencies use U.S.
The implementation of the Affordable Care Act is a complex morass
that will impact California’s 58 counties on wide variety of
fronts – from budgetary to service delivery. For most
county officials, there are currently more questions than
answers.
The CSAC Institute for Excellence in County Government has spent
the past two days trying to answer some of those questions
through a course that is providing county officials with a
balanced, fact-based discussion on how federal health care reform
is being implemented in California and its effect on county
health, mental health and social service
As a kid living in Sonoma County, I remember being frightened by
the once-rampant rumor that the next big earthquake would split
the state at the San Andreas Fault and everything west of that
geologic line would sink into the Pacific Ocean. Our five acres
in Penngrove would suddenly be beach-front property.
San Diego, Sonoma and Yolo Counties shine as Supervisors and
county staff spotlight their local sustainability activities in
short videos produced by the Institute for Local Government.
The CSAC offices are located exactly one block north of the State
Capitol, perfectly positioned to observe that hallmark of
American democracy – the political rally. Many of them occur on
the north steps of the Capitol—a long chip shot from the side
door of the CSAC building. Today’s issue was health care – with
those gathered arguing for a single-payer health care system in
California.
As a reporter in the earlier part of my career, I covered dozens
of political rallies at the Capitol.
The California State Association of Counties and the CSAC Finance
Corporation held our Premier Forum in San Diego County late last
week. The venue was lovely and the social and recreational events
were wonderful, but the meeting was definitely the highlight of
the event.
Yesterday was the most exciting day of the year for demographers
who moonlight as futurists. For the rest of us was just a
Thursday.
But it just so happens to be the Thursday that the Department of
Finance’s Demographics Research Unit released the population
projections through 2060. The projections cover detailed
information about age, race, and gender population changes for
each county. And by detailed, I mean nine decimal places.
For instance, the projection estimates that there will be
3806.311917436 white, male, 79-year olds in Sacramento County in
2058.
I don’t know if Governor Jerry Brown, a life-long Californian,
has ever actually been surfing, but he is currently riding a wave
of political acumen, popularity and good fortune that could
qualify him to compete in the elected official’s equivalent of
the “Mavericks” big surf contest.
Some of his earlier public policy wins are well documented; 2011
realignment, pension reform, and passage of Proposition 30 come
to mind.
The Governor has called a “special session” of the Legislature to
work on implementing the Affordable Care Act (ACA). When
the ACA takes full effect in January 2014, about a million more
people will be eligible for Medi-Cal and the Governor has
outlined two possible ways to expand Medi-Cal coverage.
I have always admired the African tribe the Masai – not for their
fighting spirit or intelligence, but for their cultural
values. Their traditional greeting, passed down through
generations, is “Kasserian Ingera.” Simply translated, this
means, “And how ar
It’s not often that you hear the Bible, William Butler Yeats, and
“The Little Engine That Could” quoted in the same political
speech, but Governor Jerry Brown did just that today in a wide
ranging State of the State address that was aimed as much to
inspire as it was to inform.
The Governor told the story of Joseph interpreting Pharaoh’s
dreams about feast and famine as he talked about ending
California’s cycle of boom and bust by living within its means,
even as Proposition 30 is providing some additional revenue.
Speaking about the need for more local control in
schools Governor Brown qu
