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Local officials and staff play a vital role in the wellness, health and safety of California’s children and families. To address health and social disparities, counties are looking to build upon innovative methods to maximize finite economic and human resources. Specifically, agencies and staff are using collective impact approaches to create healthier and more vibrant communities. By leveraging collaborations and partnerships for shared services, joint use or proactive program planning, counties may achieve results greater than any one agency could achieve on its own.

It’s no secret that our Sierra Nevada forests are in big trouble. We have more than 66 million dead trees in the mountains and foothills of California—killed by a prolonged drought and an onslaught of bark beetles. The images from the Southern and Central Sierra are frightening. Acres and acres of pine trees are orange and brown, dead, dying, dry. And the bark beetles are moving north. As they kill entire stands of trees they move on to new sections of forest.

This election year, election officials will have a new collection of tech tools to help them engage their communities and improve how elections are run throughout the United States. The Election Toolkit, an online library of tech resources, includes tools like a Twitter guide, a free app to measure voter wait times, tools for publishing real-time election results and a collection of civic icons.

Originally printed in the Sacramento Bee on Sunday, August 7, 2016.

“There are risks and costs to action. But they are far less than the long-range risks of comfortable inaction.” – John F. Kennedy

“Indecision may or may not be my problem.” – Jimmy Buffett

With these two quotes framing this issue, we are imploring the California Legislature to fix the crumbling roads, bridges and highways we all rely on.

Taxes touch on every issue we face in California, from funding education to addressing our growing transportation needs.

Developed more than eight decades ago during a manufacturing-based economy, our tax system fails to generate dependable revenues or to keep pace with changes in the state’s economy. Our system leaves the state budget prey to boom-and-bust cycles, in turn disrupting funding of essential public services. As the state’s chief fiscal officer, I am responsible for managing cash flow in a time of continued revenue volatility. I know counties experience these dramatic revenue effects as well.

CSAC is creating a domestic violence task force that will hold its first conference call next week on July 18. The goal is to convene a group of experts to look at the intervention programs that offenders are required to attend. This is important, because while some progress has been made in how we treat victims of domestic violence, we have not done as well dealing with the offenders.

Wildfires occur year round in California. CAL FIRE has already responded to more than 2,400 wildfires that have burned more than 98,000 acres since the beginning of the year. Despite the rain over the past winter, several previous years of drought have created the potential for a truly devastating fire season this year. As we move into the summer months the risk for wildfires grows. This week, with triple digit temperatures over much of the state, several wildfires are burning in various locations.

After 20-plus years of lobbying for counties, quite often from the perspective of a public infrastructure project proponent, I’m astounded that any public projects are built or maintained given the many hurdles thrown in their way on both sides of the financial equation. State regulatory requirements and fees can add dramatically to the cost of local public works projects. And voter threshold requirements make it virtually impossible for counties to pass local fees and charges that could help pay for the added costs.