Last week, the California Supreme Court declined to review a
state appellate court decision that allows local government
special taxes to be increased by a simple majority, rather than
two-thirds, if the tax increase is placed on the ballot by
initiative petitions and not the governments themselves. This
comes as a victory for those in favor of making tax increases
easier to pass, as well as groups who might not seek taxes to
benefit their causes via local initiative.
CSAC’s Government, Finance and Administration policy
committee tracked a number of bills this legislative cycle. Here
is a summary of the outcomes for a number of notable bills.
A new budget trailer bill,
SB 815, would give county assessment appeals boards
additional time to work through their backlogs and clarify that
they are allowed to hold hearings remotely.
On July 2, the U.S. Treasury Office of Inspector General (OIG)
released its reporting and retention requirements for the
Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF). These requirements were updated
on July 31 and a new
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document was released this
week. The FAQ has two main updates worth noting:
This week the Census Bureau
announced that they will end all counting efforts on
September 30, one month earlier than anticipated. The Bureau had
previously extended their timeline to count until October 31 to
help make up for time lost due to COVID-19 lockdowns. This
reduction in counting efforts has left many concerned about
whether or not the Bureau will have time to get a complete and
accurate population count.
This week, Governor Newsom signed
Executive Order N-72-20 – his 44th COVID-related executive
action – which extends until January 31, 2021 the deadline to
hear property tax assessment appeals filed on or before March 4,
2020.
The U.S. Department of Labor has two Requests for Information for
stakeholder comments on leave provisions outlined under recent
COVID-19 response legislation. Please note these are two separate
requests and dockets.
Please see the following information on comment submission:
In a case closely watched by public agencies, their unions, and
pension hawks, the California Supreme Court this morning
unanimously upheld the “California Rule” that prevents most
reductions to pensions for existing employees. However, the
decision itself found in favor of the pension systems and against
the union plaintiffs, by finding that the changes in question
served “the constitutionally permissible purpose of closing
loopholes and preventing abuse of the pension system.”
This week the California Secretary of State released its
county-by-county allocation numbers for CARES Act funding
dedicated to elections. The allocations are split into funding
for outreach and communication and for general COVID-19 funding
to cover costs due to the emergency, such as increased costs for
vote-by-mail, PPE, and polling locations.
This week, the California State Library announced the launch of
the California Grants
Portal. The Portal allows users to browse nearly all grants
and loans hosted by state agencies and departments, as well as to
subscribe to email updates for new opportunities. The new Portal
can be found at grants.ca.gov.
The Governor’s Task Force on Business and Jobs Recovery has
announced a new website and campaign, Calling All
Californians: #ShopSafeShopLocal, which provides
resources to small business on how to make modifications to
protect against the spread of COVID-19. The website also
encourages Californians to support small businesses in their
communities.
Governor Newsom signed
Executive Order N-71-20, which addresses a number of ongoing
issues related to COVID-19 and amends a several previous
Executive Orders.
The Government, Finance and Administration Policy Committee is
requesting feedback on the following bills. Please send comments
to Geoff
Neill or Ada
Waelder.
AB 398 (Chu) – Local Government and School Recovery and
Relief Act
This week, Governor Newsom signed Executive
Order N-67-20, which provides guidance for county election
officials with regards to the November 3, 2020 General Election,
and clarifies that EO
N-64-20, which directed vote-by-mail ballots be sent to all
California voters, does not apply to inactive voters.
County costs for hearings to designate someone a sexually violent
predator (SVP) are once again reimbursable after a
hard-fought, long-awaited decision
from the semi-obscure, quasi-judicial Commission on State
Mandates. This represents a big win for counties in an area that
is often a cause for frustration.
Should property taxes be refunded to landlords because of state
regulations related to COVID-19? That’s the question at the heart
of
SB 1431, by Senator Steve Glazer.
On Tuesday, Democrats from the California State Senate released a
budget proposal with recommendations to address the economic
fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. The plan is headlined by two
specific recommendations, one which would address renter-landlord
stabilization and one to establish a new $25 billion Economic
Recovery Fund.
Governor Newsom issued an
Executive Order requiring counties to send vote-by-mail
ballots for the November election to all registered voters, while
also retaining options for in-person voting opportunities. The
order will ensure that all registered voters have a chance to
vote without risking their health by congregating at polling
places.
Responding to impact of both the coronavirus itself and the
government actions taken to lessen the resulting economic
effects, CSAC today sent the Governor
a letter outlining a variety of urgent county fiscal
stability and budget needs, including backfilling deferred sales
taxes, issuing an executive order on property taxes, and
assisting any counties with critical cash flow needs.
The federal government has issued several important updates of
interest to California counties. Read on for information on
Essential Critical Infrastructure Workforce guidance as well as
the much-anticipated guidance on “necessary expenditures”
approved for reimbursement in the CARES act.
A closely watched ballot measure proposal, which would amend the
historic Proposition 13, submitted 1.7 million signatures last
week, far exceeding the 997,139 verified signatures needed to
qualify for the November ballot and likely assuring its placement
on the November statewide ballot. The effort is being run by the
Schools & Communities First campaign, which has already qualified
a similar measure to be placed on the ballot, but is trying to
replace that one with a modified version to exempt more small
businesses from the tax increase.
Businesses will be able to “layaway” up to $50,000 of sales tax
liability pursuant to an announcement by the Governor today.
The deferral, which could come to as much as $3 billion statewide
and provide relief for up to 300,000 businesses, would have a
significant effect on county budgets, relying as they do on sales
tax revenues to fund 1991 and 2011 realignment programs,
transportation projects, public safety, and of course general
fund programs broadly.
This morning, the California Office of Emergency Services (Cal
OES) hosted the first in a series of daily webinars to train
local governments on how to apply for Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) Public Assistance. The webinar
specifically focused on federal procurement under FEMA’s
grant standards, which is a requirement of receiving FEMA Public
Assistance to help pay for the cost of responding to the COVID-19
Pandemic.
CSAC and a broad coalition of local agency associations—including
CACTTC, RCRC, UCC, the League of Cities, CSDA, CSBA, CASBO, and
ACSA—have voiced strong opposition to any postponement of the
April 10 property tax deadline and sent
a letter to policy makers Saturday afternoon.
This week California Public Employees’ Retirement System
(CalPERS) Chief Executive Officer Marcie Frost sent a letter to
stakeholders on how CalPERS is handling operations during
COVID-19. Here are some key takeaways:
Last week’s news was all bad for the municipal bond market, but
actions by both the Federal Reserve and Congress have restored
normalcy, at least for now.
The Governor’s executive orders to this point have granted much
needed flexibility to counties in a number of areas. However, as
the COVID-19 crisis lengthens and broadens, a growing number of
county employees are working from home, taking sick leave, or
being redirected to deal with the emergency.
The Census Bureau announced this week that it will be suspending
all field operations from March 18 until April 1, 2020. However,
the public will still be able to submit their census forms online
at 2020census.gov during
this time. As of March 18, more than eleven million households
had responded.
Counties from Trinity to San Diego had measures on the ballot
this week, some placed there by the Board of Supervisors, some by
initiative, and two by referendum. Across the 58 counties, the
March 3 ballot featured 13 questions about taxes, two bonds, five
measures to expand or limit development, and a handful of others.
The results across the board were notably mixed.
(Please keep in mind that there are many ballots left to count,
which could swing the outcome considerably. All results below are
preliminary.)
