Economic Development

SB 1156 (Steinberg) – Support
AS Enrolled on August 29, 2012

SB 1156, by Senate President Pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg, would create a structure for continuing redevelopment-like activities in certain areas, mostly those in areas with ready access to transit services.

The foundation of our support is allowing counties a clear option whether to financially participate in tax increment financing for economic development purposes. We believe an approach that encourages collaboration between counties and cities will best serve Californians. This approach would not only allow counties appropriate control over their own general funds, but requires discussions about what kinds of development benefits the community as a whole.

Both houses have passed SB 1156 and it is on its way to the Governor’s office.

Taxes

SB 1030 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review) – Support
AS Enrolled on August 31, 2012

SB 1030, by the Senate Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review, would remove a paragraph from law that inadvertently reduced property tax allocations for some counties.

Among many other complex issues surrounding the dissolution of redevelopment agencies is the redistribution of property taxes. As successor agencies pay off their obligations, billions of dollars will return to counties, cities, special districts, and of course school districts. No one disputes that these property taxes should be returned exactly as they would have been absent a redevelopment agency’s diversion of the tax increment.

Unfortunately, one provision of the laws passed in redevelopment’s wake inadvertently reduced property tax allocations to local agencies in counties where ERAF payments exceed the amount needed to fulfill school districts’ minimum funding requirements. This situation is known as “excess ERAF,” and when it occurs, the ERAF payments are returned to taxing entities in the proportion they were paid.

Removing this language will restore property tax allocations to their rightful levels, ensuring fairness and predictability.

Both houses have passed SB 1030 and it is on its way to the Governor’s office.

AB 1126 (Calderon) – Support
As Enrolled on August 31, 2012

AB 1126, by Assembly Member Charles Calderon, would clean up the codes to ensure that local agencies can utilize their recently granted authority to raise transaction and use tax rates — with voter approval — in increments of one eighth of a cent.

Last year’s AB 686, which CSAC supported, changed statute to allow this finer parsing of transaction and use rates, but the Board of Equalization has since identified two other code sections that the Legislature should change so that the code is consistent.

Both houses have passed AB 1126 and it is on its way to the Governor’s office.

Elections

SB 1272 (Kehoe) – Support
As Enrolled on August 30, 2012

SB 1272, by Senator Christine Kehoe, would extend the term of central committee members to four years from two. This change, though minor on its face, would be a major benefit for county election offices, for two main reasons.

First, under the new top two primary system, the only partisan races remaining on the ballot are for U.S. President and for central committee members. Therefore, in years of gubernatorial elections, with no presidential contest, central committees would be the sole partisan contests, and would force major cost increases associated with preparing and printing partisan ballots.

Second, central committee candidates constitute a disproportionately large percentage of the candidates to whom election officials must provide service. In most counties, they constitute at least half of candidates, and in several counties they are about two-thirds of the total. Many central committee contests do not end up on the ballot because the number of candidates is fewer than the number of available spots. However, the central committees still have the option of forcing the question on the ballot, requiring the space for listing the candidates and a number of write-in spaces.

Furthermore, counties are required to pay all the costs of central committee elections with county general funds, even though central committees are private entities.

Both houses have passed SB 1272 and it is on its way to the Governor’s office.

AB 216 (Swanson) – Support
As Enrolled on August 30, 2012

AB 216, by Assembly Member Sandre Swanson, would give county registrars another option for updating voters’ addresses.

County registrars check voters’ addresses before elections to make sure election mail, including ballots, reaches the right people. Currently, they can do that by sending postcards to all registered voters and requesting a response, or by checking their information against the U.S. Postal Service and sending postcards only to those the USPS says have moved.

Unfortunately, many people do not officially tell the USPS when they move, so while the first method is inefficient, the second method is incomplete.

It turns out that credit bureaus are very good at keeping up with people, and their contact data is the best around. Under AB 216, county registrars could check their data against the information maintained at these credit bureaus instead of the USPS before sending postcards. There is no need to send anything other than the names and addresses of the voters back and forth, so no sensitive information would be shared in either direction.

Both houses have passed AB 216 and it is on its way to the Governor’s office.

AB 2080 (Gordon) – Support
As Enrolled on August 30, 2012

AB 2080, by Assembly Member Rich Gordon, would allow all vote-by-mail voters to have another member of their household return their ballot for them if they are unable.

Under current law, a voter must be ill or physically disabled in order to designate someone else to return his or her marked ballot. However, Californians, who are increasingly voting mailed ballots, seem to be unaware of this law and frequently give their ballots to spouses or other family members to return for them. Practically, poll workers have no way to verify the voter’s illness or disability.

Both houses have passed AB 2080 and it is on its way to the Governor’s office.

Telecommunications

SB 379 (Fuller) – Support
As Enrolled on August 30, 2012

SB 379, by Senator Jean Fuller, would help support technology deployment to rural California by modifying the state’s High-Cost Fund- A (CHCF-A) program to comply with federal regulations. 

Specifically, SB 379 would amend the statutes governing the CHCF-A program to reflect the reforms of the Federal Communications Commission. Last year, the FCC changed the focus and goals of the Universal Service Fund to recognize that telephone and broadband have become unified systems. As part of that change, the FCC will require that rural telecommunications companies achieve broadband speeds of 4Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps upstream, and higher speeds in future years, as a requirement to receive federal high cost support. To achieve that goal, the CHCF-A governing statutes must be revised to conform to the federal program or California’s efforts to provide basic phone service to residents in hard to reach areas could lose roughly $25 million annually in federal support. 

Affordable telephone and other telecommunication rates are vital to both residential and business customers in our member counties. Losing $25 million annually of federal support could potentially cause rate increases for all telephone customers and ensure the delay of broadband deployment. State programs and policies are updated to support the goal of residents throughout all of California having access to broadband services.

Both houses have passed SB 379 and it is on its way to the Governor’s office.