This week the Senate and Assembly Budget Committees held their
first hearings to discuss the Governor’s proposed budget for
2020-21. These are just the first round of hearings. Between now
and May, when the Governor will release a revised budget
proposal, the Budget Committees will hold a number of oversight
hearings on specific topics within the budget.
The official start of the 2020 Census will take place on January
21 in Toksook Bay, Alaska. Census Director Steven Dillingham will
conduct the ceremonial first counting in the village, where
census takers get an early start counting while the ground is
still frozen, making travel easier. However, most of the country
will not begin receiving census mail until March. Beginning in
mid-March, households can respond to the census online, by phone,
or by mail.
A bill that would have restricted, and in some cases outright
prohibited, local government associations from performing many of
the services provided on behalf of counties has been pulled from
consideration. CSAC was planning to oppose the bill,
AB 315 by Christina Garcia, in the Assembly Local Government
Committee next week, but got news today that the bill is dead.
Governor Newsom signed 870 bills into law this year. To keep
counties informed of new laws that impact them, CSAC has
published a series of articles to spotlight those laws in each
policy area. For this last and final week of the series, the
Government Finance and Administration policy area provides
information on new laws affecting taxes, personnel management,
redistricting, employee relations, and more.
The new laws listed below become effective January 1, 2020,
unless otherwise noted.
For the last blog of 2019, we asked seasoned Capitol staffer
turned CSAC analyst Marina Espinoza and CSAC veteran Geoff Neill
to share their insights and perspectives on how the Legislature
and Associations like CSAC use the recess and holiday season to
prepare for the second year of a two-year legislative cycle.
Counties have a new tool for measuring and examining their local
economies. Late last week, the organization that calculates the
GDP for the nation and the states, the Bureau of Economic
Analysis, released its first ever official analysis of GDP for
every county in the United States.
In an effort to increase communication between local
decision-makers and CalPERS senior leadership, the state pension
fund has announced the times and dates for several Employer
Leadership Dialogues in small venues throughout next year.
Topics that officials could raise at the sessions include
projected pension costs, post-retirement employment issues,
paying down unfunded liabilities, and legislation related to
pensions and health care.
The DataPile is a service provided to counties and the public at
large that gives easy access to publicly available data about
counties, and a recent update means that the new version now
contains all the most up-to-date information available. Available
on CSAC’s website, the DataPile consolidates current information
about each county’s demographics, revenues and expenditures,
caseloads, and much more.
One of the big questions coming into the 2019 legislative year
was how Governor Newsom would treat the bills sent to him. Would
he prove more willing to agree to the Legislature’s wishes than
his famously tight-fisted predecessor?
Californians slightly favor a possible 2020 ballot measure that
would tax commercial property at its fair market value, while
allowing residential and small business property to retain its
current Proposition 13 protections. The increased revenue from
this split roll measure would go to primarily to schools,
counties, cities, and special districts.
The final week of the 2019 legislative session proved both
challenging and successful for the CSAC Government Finance and
Administration policy team. With the focus now on Governor
Newsom’s decisions to sign or veto bills, CSAC representatives
continue to engage on a number of important measures.
One of CSAC’s core activities is giving California’s
counties opportunities to talk with each other about the issues
that matter most to them, but it can be easy for CSAC staff to
forget that we can benefit from that same type of opportunity.
A number of controversial employee relations bills are still
pending in the Legislature that together would substantially
increase costs for public agencies. On behalf of all 58 counties,
CSAC continues to communicate outstanding concerns with two bills
in particular.
With the 2019 Legislative deadline quickly approaching, CSAC
continues to engage with legislators and fellow advocates on a
number of important measures. Two bills still pending, both of
which CSAC has been actively lobbying, would revise components of
county elections and redistricting.
Would counties that were already providing sexual harassment
prevention training to nonsupervisory employees be required to
provide that training two years in a row, instead of every other
year? Due to a drafting error in last year’s bill implementing
mandatory training, public agencies and businesses were facing
this exactly this kind of “stutter step”.
Over the past several years, California has struggled with
both preparing for and responding to hundreds of devastating
wildfires. The 2018 fires alone caused billions in property
damage and over a hundred fatalities. Even communities not
physically damaged by the wildfires experienced poor and smoky
air quality.
SB 5, by Senator Jim Beall (D-San Jose) passed the Assembly
Local Government Committee on Wednesday, with CSAC lobbyist Geoff
Neill present to offer county support of the measure. CSAC
recently adopted an official position of support for SB 5 because
it would create an ongoing funding partnership between the state
and California local governments to ensure long-term funding for
both affordable housing and the infrastructure to support
sustainable development.
Language that would severely limit the expenditure of funds by
local government associations, including CSAC, was amended into a
bill this week,
AB 315, by Assemblymember Cristina Garcia (D-Bell Gardens).
As the requirement for counties to redraw their supervisorial
district approaches, the laws governing the process are drawing
attention from state legislators. Two bills of particular
importance are SB 139, which requires many large and medium-sized
counties to create independent redistricting commissions, and AB
849, which increases transparency and outreach requirements.
Two major legislative deadlines are right around the corner, with
proposals in flux that will have significant impacts on
California counties. The most immediate deadline, the House of
Origin deadline, is tomorrow, May 31. By midnight tomorrow,
Senate bills and Assembly bills must be passed through the house
where they originated or they are considered dead for the year.
Governor Newsom recently released his 2019-20 May Revision budget
proposal. Included in the May Revision are significant changes to
the January budget proposal for the Homeless Aid for Planning and
Shelter Program. CSAC previously discussed the January proposal
and advocacy surrounding that proposal in a
March 28, 2019 bulletin article which centered on the need
for flexibility in the use of funds and flexibility in funds
being coordinated through Continuums of Care or direct,
county-led models.
The Governor’s May Revision includes an increased investment in
the program and the increased flexibility local communities need
to be successful. Specifically, the revised proposal now
includes:
An increase from $500 million to $650 million;
$275 million set-aside to be allocated directly to counties;
Flexibility in allocating funds up-front in lieu of back-end
milestone achievement funding; and
Flexibility via expanding the eligible uses of funds beyond
just shelters and navigation centers. Eligible uses now include,
but are not limited to, hotel/motel conversions, traditional and
non-traditional permanent supportive housing, rapid rehousing,
and jobs programs.
The state’s net liability for retiree health and dental benefits
has gone down to $85.59 billion, according to a
report published yesterday by State Controller Betty T. Yee.
The liability, often referred to as the Other Post-Employment
Benefits (OPEB) liability represents the present-day cost to
provide health and dental benefits to state retirees and their
dependents earned as of June 30, 2018.
The court’s decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc.
opened new pathways for California to collect use tax,
specifically the ability to impose new requirements on
out-of-state retailers with no physical presence in the state.
This is important to counties and other local government agencies
because use tax revenues fund a wide variety of both local and
state services, including public safety, transportation, health,
and human services.
The California Complete Count Office is hosting an informational
webinar at 10 a.m. on March 1, titled
“Protecting the Confidentiality of 2020 Census Statistics.” The
lead presenters are from the U.S. Census Bureau and the webinar
is free and open to the public. Interested parties must
register online.
With a number of special elections already slated to take place
in 2019, CSAC has submitted a coalition letter requesting
Department of Finance (DOF) to reimburse counties for the cost of
special legislative vacancy elections in the current and previous
fiscal years. CSAC has been shining a spotlight on this issue for
several years, given the State’s decision to stop funding special
elections in 2007 and the resultant strain on county budgets.
Tax receipts are lower than expected at this point in the fiscal
year; however, both the Department of Finance (DOF) and
Legislative Analysts’ Office (LAO) higher revenues in April to
partially offset the current shortfall. They agree this is a side
effect of the 2018 federal tax reform, causing Californians to
pay more of their total tax liability in April instead of
December. Additionally, sales tax continues to miss the mark, but
could be a product of computer delays at the California
Department of Tax and Fee Administration.
The White House recently released the
American Broadband Initiative Milestones Report, providing a
roadmap for how the federal government can increase rural
broadband access and highlighting actions that federal agencies
are taking to promote private-sector investment in broadband
infrastructure.
The report’s recommendations are grouped into three categories:
With the state budget in a surplus position, there has been
heightened attention by both the Legislature and Newsom
Administration on paving the way for local economic development.
Proposals on the topic are currently all over the map; however,
they all illustrate the desire for workable tools to finance
economic development and housing projects.
Counties that contract with CalPERS for retirement or health care
benefits are strongly encouraged to participate in their Stakeholder Perception
Survey and share feedback across a wide variety of metrics,
such as customer service, fund sustainability, and communication.
Several county budget priories passed their first hurdle this
week, as the Assembly Budget Committee approved AB
72 and AB 73. The bills would make it easier for the state to
reimburse counties for disaster-related costs and provide
property tax backfills to counties and other local
agencies for fire-related property losses. They also provide
funding to modernize the 9-1-1 system and to assist with
emergency preparedness outreach.
California Complete Count – Census 2020 invites you to
participate in a webinar about State, Federal, and local efforts
to achieve a complete count in California’s rural communities.
Participants will learn about the unique challenges facing rural
communities due to the first ever “digital census,” and other
factors impacting hard-to-count communities in rural regions.
The California Complete Count – Census 2020 Office is hosting a
special informational call next week to discuss enumeration
strategies for areas affected by wildfires. A lot has changed
since the 2010 Census, particularly the growing frequency and
severity of California wildfires. Therefore, unique tactics will
need to be deployed in order to reach fire victims and any other
individuals living in non-conventional housing.
