CSAC Officials Travel to Washington, D.C.
February 16, 2023
CSAC leaders traveled to the nation’s capital late last week to promote the association’s federal policy priorities. Led by Riverside County Supervisor and CSAC President Chuck Washington, the full slate of officers and association staff met with key members of Congress and Biden administration officials. The officers subsequently attended the National Association of Counties’ (NACo) Legislative Conference, which brings together elected and appointed officials from counties all over the United States.
This year, CSAC’s leadership team focused its federal advocacy efforts on the following key issue areas: housing and homelessness; resiliency and emergency management; rural development and public lands; and, protecting and strengthening the social safety net. Among others, CSAC met with Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and key staff to Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA). The senators have been leading legislative efforts aimed at combatting the affordable housing and homelessness crises, including introducing a series of bills in the 117th and 118th Congresses.
For her part, Senator Feinstein on January 23rd reintroduced the Fighting Homelessness Through Services and Housing Act. The bill (S. 24), which CSAC helped to develop, would authorize $1 billion annually to help counties, cities, regional collaboratives and tribal governments address homelessness. Under the legislation, competitive, flexible grant funds would be available to meet capital construction needs and to bolster comprehensive services such as behavioral and physical health, job training, and case management.
Later this year, Senator Padilla is planning to reintroduce his comprehensive housing and homelessness bill. Known as the Housing for All Act, the CSAC-endorsed measure would authorize significantly increased investments in the Housing Trust Fund, Emergency Solutions Grants, the HOME Investment Partnerships program, and other key programs under the purview of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Across Capitol Hill, the CSAC contingent met with Representatives Salud Carbajal (D-CA), Doug LaMalfa (R-CA), Jimmy Panetta (D-CA), and Kevin Kiley (R-CA). The group discussed a range of important issues with the aforementioned House members, including affordable housing, forest management, the Payments-in-Lieu-of-Taxes (PILT) program, and the upcoming reauthorization of the Farm Bill.
At the Executive level, CSAC had a meeting with Julie Chavez Rodriguez, who serves as the Director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs (IGA) and as a Senior Advisor and Assistant to President Biden. CSAC is working closely with the White House on a number of shared priorities, including addressing affordable housing and homelessness. Looking ahead, CSAC will be collaborating closely with the Biden administration as it continues efforts to advance the president’s strategic plan to prevent and end homelessness, known as “All In.”
In addition to the White House, CSAC met with Richard Cho, Ph.D., Senior Advisor for Housing and Services at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The group discussed key elements of CSAC’s emerging comprehensive homelessness strategy, which, among other things, intends to identify gaps and barriers within the existing system while defining clear roles and responsibilities for each level of government. CSAC discussed potential policy changes at the federal level that could help bring about a homelessness system that is both effective and accountable.
Finally, CSAC leaders met with U.S. Forest Service (USFS) Chief Randy Moore. Among other things, CSAC urged Chief Moore to continue his agency’s efforts designed to increase the scale and pace of fuels reduction work and other fire prevention activities. In response, Chief Moore provided CSAC with an update on the implementation of the USFS’s 10-year strategy aimed at protecting communities from catastrophic wildfires and improving forest resilience. Specifically, the strategy calls for the Forest Service to treat up to an additional 20 million acres on national forests and grasslands and support treatment of up to an additional 30 million acres of other federal, state, Tribal, private and family lands.
With regard to this year’s NACo conference, attendees had the opportunity to hear presentations from a number of elected officials, including President Biden. As part of his remarks, the president touched on a range of topics, including ongoing implementation of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The president also pledged to avoid defaulting on the nation’s debt while at the same time highlighting the need to protect important programs during the upcoming debate over raising the debt ceiling. Also presenting at the conference was Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg; Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen; Mitch Landrieu, Senior Advisor to the President and Infrastructure Implementation Coordinator; John Podesta, Senior Advisor to the Present for Clean Energy Innovation and Implementation; and, Gene Sperling, Senior Advisor to the President and White House American Rescue Plan Coordinator.
At this year’s California Caucus event, county officials heard from the candidates running for the position of second vice president of NACo. The candidates are Ron Berry, Commissioner, Roane County, Tennessee and J.D. Clark, County Judge, Wise County, Texas. Voting for the NACo leadership position will be conducted during the association’s annual conference in Travis County, Texas. Caucus attendees also received a federal policy update from Paragon Government Relations, CSAC’s federal advocacy team. Finally, CSAC CEO Graham Knaus led a discussion on the association’s efforts to address homelessness.