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Friday, August 11, 2006
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VOLUME 106
Issue 24
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Impending End of Session Doesn't Mean End of CSAC Action
Counties’ Involvement Needed on Crucial Issues
By James Keene, CSAC Executive Director
jkeene@counties.org
We’re coming down to the wire in the legislative session, but counties are still in the race. Your legislative delegation and the Governor need to hear from you on these key issues as we at CSAC continue to advocate for our members and residents:
- Assembly Bill 2987 (Nunez/Levine) continues to miss the mark in meeting the good public policy goal of providing quality, equitable technology services to all California communities. Scheduled to be heard by Assembly Appropriations August 14, we remain opposed to this major telecommunications bill, along with the Urban Counties Caucus, the Regional Council of Rural Counties, a number of county members, and the League of California Cities, among others. While we have come far in making changes to the bill language – and appreciate the authors’ continuing discussions with us as we try to reach resolution – as it stands now, we cannot accept this legislation without a guarantee of our residents’ equitable access to the best technologies, local governments’ access to vital emergency communications, and schools and libraries’ access to essential educational technology. This bill is truly on the fast track, so your letters and phone calls are needed immediately. See Revenue and Taxation.
- Workers’ compensation will become a significant issue during the final weeks of the legislative session. Amendments are pending for AB 3026 (Lieber), currently awaiting consideration on the Senate Floor, to mandate tens of millions of dollars in additional costs to local agencies by elimination of managed medical care for job-related injuries for peace officer employees. Also, AB 1368 (Umberg) currently awaits consideration in the Senate Appropriations Committee and would add additional millions of dollars of cost to public agencies by elimination of current law which enables peace officer employers to apportion presumptive injuries for public safety employees to that portion of the injury resulting from the most recent employment related injury. Finally, AB 2068 (Nava), currently awaiting consideration on the Senate Floor, would eliminate the sunset date and numeric limitations in current law permitting employees to predesignate their own physicians, even though the employer provides a Medical Provider Network (MPN), thus significantly eroding one portion of managed medical care provided by the most recent workers’ compensation reform legislation. CSAC asks that all counties join CSAC in opposing this measure. For detailed information, see Employee Relations.
- Reimbursement for state-mandated costs pertaining to the Peace Officer Bill of Rights (POBOR) would be addressed in SB 328 (Cedillo), which currently awaits consideration by the Assembly Appropriations Committee. This bill would replace the controversial and burdensome reporting requirements for POBOR in current procedures established by the Commission on State Mandates with a reasonable reimbursement methodology consisting of a fixed payment per peace officer employee. Please see Employee Relations.
- In the area of Elections, we are strongly supporting two bills – AB 1634 and AB 1799 – to reimburse counties for the cost of the November 2005 special election and special vacancy elections. AB 1634 (McCarthy) is currently on the Senate Appropriations Committee’s suspense file, but is slated to be heard next week on August 17. All counties are urged to submit letters of support by today (August 11) and to contact their legislators to secure their support for the bill. A sample letter of support for AB 1634 is available on the CSAC Web site. AB 1799 (Umberg) would require the state to reimburse counties for the costs associated with special vacancy elections, such as when a member of Congress passes away. AB 1799 was also placed on the Senate Appropriations Committee’s suspense file due to the potential cost to the state, but is also expected to be heard again on August 17. Again, all counties are urged to support these two fiscally significant bills.
- The fate of this session’s flood protection/land use measures remains uncertain as some are placed on fiscal committee suspense files due to cost impacts, and others continue to undergo further refinement to address stakeholder concerns. This week, Assembly Member Lois Wolk’s AB 802 and AB 1899 were placed on the Senate Appropriation Committee’s suspense file. AB 802 would require cities and counties to amend their general plans to include specific flood protection components. AB 1899 – the “Show Me the Flood Protection” bill – would require specified levels of flood protection for new subdivisions in the Sacramento River and San Joaquin River drainage area. CSAC is supporting AB 802 and is opposing AB 1899 unless amended.
- We’re supporting AB 1665 (Laird), which would help counties with mapping areas at risk of flooding in the Sacramento River and San Joaquin River drainage, Central Valley levee evaluations, and flood hazard notification to specified property owners. AB 1899 was also placed on the Senate Appropriation Committee’s suspense file this week. Other flood protection bills that we’re watching include AB 2500 (Laird) and SB 1796 (Florez). We will also be keeping an eye out for any last-minute amendments that try to impose liability on local land-use agencies for damages caused by failures of flood-control facilities.
- CSAC is also championing several bills to provide local government with tools for fighting the illegal waste dumping epidemic. These include SB 151 (Soto), AB 1688 (Niello) and AB 2253 (Hancock).
Prop. 42 Funds
In addition to legislative news, counties received $220 million in transportation revenues this past week – revenues that were prompted by letters from CSAC and League members as well as staff advocacy. Due to an on-time budget and inclusion for repayment of Proposition 42, the Controller’s office distributed payments representing both the 2003-04 and 2004-05 Proposition 42 suspensions. Cities and counties both received $220 million for much-needed street and road repair. This represents the balance of Proposition 42 loans owed cities and counties for local streets and roads, thus we will not receive additional Proposition 42 monies for this purpose until fiscal year 2008-09.
Prison Reform
Prison reform also is in the legislative mix. In late June, Governor Schwarzenegger called a special session of the Legislature to address two critical issues facing the state correctional system: recidivism and prison overcrowding. The Senate and the Assembly each has created a special committee to consider the specific legislative proposals to carry out the reform plan. As we understand it, the four key policy objectives the Legislature has been asked to consider in the special session are:
- Transferring low-level female offenders into community correctional facilities;
- Establishing secure re-entry facilities for male offenders to aid in the transition back into the community;
- Addressing overcrowding by constructing new prison facilities and undertaking infrastructure improvements on existing facilities; and
- Identifying ways to expedite and streamline the contracting and procurement process to facilitate construction and renovation projects.
For additional details on the special session, please refer to the Administration of Justice section. We expect that the special session will run concurrent with the regular session, concluding at the end of this month.
Court Facility Transfer
Also in the Administration of Justice arena, representatives from counties, courts and the Department of Finance have been working together to improve the court facility transfer process. In recent days, these parties appear to have reached consensus on a potential framework for addressing certain seismic issues that have created substantial barriers in the transfer process. Specific language to enact changes to SB 1732 (Escutia), the Trial Court Facilities Act of 2002, is being finalized now and we will share the information with you. The measure also intends to provide for greater flexibility in calculating the county facility payment — effectively a Maintenance of Effort — that will be applied to all court facilities that transfer to the state.
As with the Prop 42 repayment and so many of our successes, your county’s involvement makes a difference. We’re in the home stretch, but these upcoming weeks and major issues offer key opportunities for us to work together and keep making a difference for our counties and our communities.
PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION
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Published by
The LEGISLATIVE BULLETIN is published weekly during the State Legislative Session by the California State Association of Counties, 1100 K Street, Suite 101, Sacramento, CA 95814.
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