This week, CSAC is distributing a new, annual publication to
county leaders titled the “2010 & 2011 Member Benefits &
Participation Review.” This piece was developed by CSAC to
provide our members with insight into what programs and services
their specific county is taking advantage of and how they are
benefiting the county and its leadership.
The county-specific reports look at six areas:
Finance Corporation program participation, including programs
utilized and their benefits to the local community.
Advocacy benefits, including fiscal relief from specific
legisl
Become the change you want to see – that was a common theme among
the two speakers who highlighted this morning’s General Session.
CSAC 1st Vice President and Yolo County Supervisor
Mike McGowan set the stage when he told the packed house that in
2012, “there is an opportunity for us to make change and seize
the day. Our chances for success lie within ourselves.
The 117th CSAC Annual Meeting kicked off in grand
style this afternoon with an engaging, insightful and humorous
address by former Assembly Speaker and San Francisco Mayor Willie
Brown.
There has been a lot of media attention this week focused
on Penn State – its administration and its football
program. Who knew what, and who told whom, and when. Of course,
lots of whys.
Perhaps instead of football coaches, the story that deserves to
be discussed – in fact, must be discussed – is the prevalence of
sexual abuse of children in the United States. Researchers
estimate 15-25 percent of girls and 5-15 percent of boys
are sexually abused in this country . Let me rephrase: as
many as 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys. Those figures are
astounding.
This week the federal government released a new “Supplemental
Poverty Measure.” It doesn’t replace the current calculation, but
it “provides us a different angle on who is in economic need,”
according to Rebecca Blank, U.S. Commerce Department
undersecretary for economic affairs.
The official poverty measure – developed nearly 50 years ago –
took one analyst’s guess at a family’s cost for food and
multiplied it by three. Simple, right? Maybe…too simple?
Unemployment is up for the third month in a row. More sectors are
losing jobs than gaining them. The government sector in
California has shed 27,300 jobs over the past year. State
revenues are coming in below budgeted amounts. Baseball season is
almost over. There’s bad news everywhere you turn these days.
But there is good news, and you don’t even have to do much
digging, you just have to know where to look for the real story.
Let’s start small.
The number of non-farm jobs rose from last year to this for the
eleventh straight year.
The CSAC Institute for Excellence
in County Government is reaching two milestones this month.
Not only have county officials from all 58 counties now attended
Institute courses, but more than 1,000 different county officials
will have taken at least one course.
Each and ever day, California counties meet increasingly complex
challenges associated with providing vital services to our
state’s 38 million residents.
CSAC’s First Vice President and Yolo County Supervisor Mike
McGowan and Second Vice President and Del Norte County Supervisor
David Finigan joined Governor Brown and law enforcement
officials today at a news conference where the Governor pledged
“maximum state support” as local officials begin California’s
historic realignment to comply with the U.S. Supreme Court’s
prison-reduction order on October 1.
Governor Brown reiterated his strong support for a constitutional
Several California Counties will lose critical federal funding to
keep our schools open and roads paved, unless the federal
government reauthorizes their decades long commitment to
communities with federal forest land. The Secure Rural
Schools and Community Self Determination Act may be little known,
but it is a key fixture in a county’s ability to provide the most
basic services to those that work and live in a rural area.
You can get involved now by contacting Congress and urging them
to support this vital program for America’s rural
communities.
You might notice something new in the
CSAC Annual Meeting registration brochure this year: QR
codes. We’ve put one on the back cover and you can also find them
on the printed registration pages.
Another CSAC Annual Meeting is nearly upon us. For the past 116
years, California county officials have been coming together to
learn, plan and shape policy.
The CSAC Executive Committee met yesterday and engaged in lengthy
discussion about the 2011 realignment. The Committee focused its
discussion on the opportunity, path, and timing to secure a
constitutional amendment to afford counties protections. In
addition, the group discussed the fiscal structure for 2012-13
and beyond. Please recall that when the Legislature passed and
the Governor signed the budget, there was recognition that
additional work to refine the financing structure would take
place over the remainder of the legislative session.
One of the most popular exhibits at the California State Fair year in and
year out are the County Exhibits – and 2011 is no different. An
estimated 750,000 fairgoers are projected to tour the Counties
Exhibits Building this year.
Below you will find a visual look at the top county exhibits to
be honored this year. On July 30, the “People’s Choice” award
will be presented.
This decade, California’s population will grow by 11.5 percent —
about 4.3 million people — according to a
report the Department of Finance released last month. That
would put California’s total population at 41.7 million, higher
than the current populations of all but 30 countries in the
world.
