May 10, 2018

As Californians continue to slog through the housing affordability crisis, policymakers are paying increasing attention the state’s primary tool for ensuring that local governments plan for new housing. The Housing Element law requires cities and counties to zone enough land to accommodate expected housing growth at all income levels. But who decides how much growth is needed and where? And once the land is zoned for housing, what happens if it isn’t built?

How much housing do we need?

February 22, 2018

The latest numbers show that more Californians than ever are homeless, with the biggest increases among the unsheltered. Counties and cities in California have been responding to the crisis in different ways to provide shelter beds, behavioral health services, and help keep people off the streets and out of riverbeds. A joint city-county task force has spent the last year examining local responses from around the state.

December 7, 2017

More than $55,000 in scholarship funds are now available for special district staff and elected officials to use for leadership and governance training in 2018. The scholarships were recently approved by the Special District Leadership Foundation (SDLF), a non-profit supported by the California Special District Association (CSDA) and the Special District Risk Management Authority (SDRMA.)

After years of advocating for new transportation revenues, counties finally saw the Legislature pass a deal this month. Over the next few years, as the revenues begin to phase in, counties, cities, and the state will all be able to dedicate more funding to fix roads and expand alternative transportation options.

With the money come questions:

January 26, 2017

“Uncertainty” was the word of the day at CSAC’s presentation about the effects that repealing the Affordable Care Act would have on counties.

October 27, 2016

As data becomes more available, it also becomes a more important resource for counties in making major policy and budget decisions. The problem is that county-related data is scattered. A few datasets are on this state agency’s website, another somewhere else. Some of it is available as a spreadsheet, but some is only in pdf.

September 29, 2016

Following up on their recent report on California’s stubborn “Digital Divide,” the California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF) is surveying local officials about the importance of broadband to different aspects of their communities. Please consider taking a few minutes to respond to the survey.

Feedback from the survey will be shared with policymakers as they struggle to address the issues that keep some communities from high-speed internet access.

June 16, 2016

As the Board of Equalization continues work to fix their processes and internal controls, counties are left to wonder when their budgets might be affected by a future reallocation of sales tax revenue, and how much revenue might be reallocated.                                         

February 19, 2016

For those interested in learning more about the economic data collected by the U.S. Census and how to use that data to spur economic development and help create business plans, a series of workshops across the state next month are just the ticket.

Presented by Andy Hait, an outreach liaison from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Economy-Wide Statistics Division, the workshops will feature customized local data, along with an overview of the Bureau’s economic programs, data, and how to use them.

Tax Abatement Disclosure Required by GASB 77

Counties and other government agencies must begin reporting how much revenue they lose to tax abatements for economic development and other purposes, according to a new requirement issued by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) earlier this month. The rule goes into effect for the periods beginning after December 15, 2015.

Low Turn-Out Drives Election Date Consolidation

Assembly Desk
Senate Bill 415 (Hueso) – Request for Comments

Support Sought for Online Vacation Rental Regulation Bill

CSAC supported Senate Bill 593 (McGuire) will be considered by the Senate Governance and Finance on May 6 and counties are encouraged to review the bill and support the measure.

Broadband

Funding Augmentation for Broadband Consortia
Assembly Utilities and Commerce – April 20, 2015
AB 1262 (Wood) – Support

Assembly Committees Hold Hearing on Hotel Taxes and Home-Sharing

This week, Assembly Members Ting and Maienschein, chairmen of the Assembly Revenue and Taxation and Assembly Local Government Committees, respectively, convened an informational hearing on the application and collection of Transient Occupancy Taxes (TOT) and the impact of the emerging home-sharing phenomenon.

Elections

SB 29 (Correa) – No position
Chapter No. 618, Statutes of 2014

SB 29, by Senator Lou Correa, requires county election officials to count mail ballots that they receive within three days after Election Day, as long as they are postmarked on or before Election Day or, if the postmark is missing or illegible, is signed and dated by the voter on or before Election Day.

SB 1364 (Fuller) – Support

SB 1364, by Senator Jean Fuller, would extend the sunset date for the California High-Cost Fund-A (CHCF-A) and CHCF-B until 2019.

SB 69 (Roth) – Support

Senate Bill 69 by Senator Richard Roth would provide a “Vehicle License Fee Adjustment Amount” for those newly incorporated cities that were impacted by SB 89 (2011). CSAC supports this measure, as it would provide immediate financial assistance to the four newly incorporated cities in Riverside County.

SB 628 (Beall) – Support

SB 628 by Senator Jim Beall was amended late in the session to provide for a new economic development tool, Enhanced Infrastructure Financing Districts (EIFDs). Counties will recall that the Governor had proposed the concept of EIFDs in his January budget proposal and May Revision, building on the existing infrastructure financing statutes. IFDs, like redevelopment agencies (RDAs), are economic development financing mechanisms that rely on tax increment financing.

Redevelopment

SB 1129 (Steinberg) – Oppose

CSAC has had a long-standing oppose position on SB 1129, Senator Darrell Steinberg’s measure that seeks to make changes to three components of the dissolution process: enforceable obligations, long range property management plans and compensation agreements, and use of bond proceeds for debt issued in 2011.

Gut and Amend

AB 816 (Hall) – Oppose Unless Amended
As Amended on July 13, 2014

AB 816, by Assembly Member Isadore Hall, was amended Wednesday to exempt utility companies from paying sales tax on home appliances that the utility then gives away to consumers. The appliance must meet minimal efficiency requirements to qualify for the exemption.

Elections

AB 280 (Alejo) – Concerns
As Amended on June 18, 2014

AB 280, by Assembly Member Luis Alejo, would implement a state-level preclearance system similar to the federal system effectively overturned by the US Supreme Court last year. The new state-level system would apply to about 25 counties and many more school districts, cities, and special districts for which counties run elections. A jurisdiction would be subject to the new rules if the voting-age citizen population of at least two racial, ethnic, or language groups is at least 20 percent.

Supervisorial Vacancies

AB 1862 (Melendez) – Support
As Amended on June 15, 2014

AB 1862, by Assembly Member Melissa Melendez, was recently amended to allow a county Board of Supervisors to fill a supervisorial vacancy within 90 days, at which point the power would fall to the Governor.

The bill failed to pass out of the Senate Governance and Finance Committee at its hearing on June 25.

Redevelopment

AB 2493 (Bloom) – Oppose
As Amended on June 10, 2014

AB 2493, by Assembly Member Richard Bloom, would authorize successor agencies of dissolved redevelopment agencies to use and commit bond proceeds for those bonds issued between January 1, 2011 and June 28, 3011 for certain types of projects. This would directly affect the allocation of property tax revenues, since the allocation of property tax revenues is a zero-sum game. AB 2493 would therefore have negative fiscal consequences for affected taxing entities, including counties.