February 8, 2024

The 2024 Legislative Session – How’s it going so far?

The second year of a two-year legislative session began on Wednesday, January 3, 2024. January included a flurry of legislative deadlines in quick succession. Ultimately, Wednesday January 31 was the last day for each house to pass bills that were introduced in that house in 2023 (i.e. the house of origin deadline). There was little time to mourn the bills that did not pass the house of origin deadline, as dozens of new bills are introduced daily ahead of the bill introduction deadline of Friday, February 16.

Complete Senate and Assembly legislative calendars for 2024 are available on their respective websites.

CSAC maintains reports on legislative advocacy on the Government Finance and Administration policy committee webpage. Please use the links below to access reports of legislation relevant to government finance and administration:

• All tracked bills for the CSAC GFA policy portfolio (excludes Chaptered, Vetoed, or Dead bills).
• Bills with active positions for the CSAC GFA policy portfolio.  

CSAC staff work diligently with legislators and their staff, as well as with local government partners to help shape the bills that impact counties. Throughout 2024, CSAC will engage with the Legislature and advocate on behalf of counties to empower and elevate our collective county voice.

Changes to Legislative Leadership

On Monday, February 5, Senator Mike McGuire was sworn-in as the new Senate President pro Tempore. Senator Toni Atkins, the former Senate President pro Tempore, announced last year that Senator Mike McGuire had been selected by the Senate Democratic Caucus as the next pro Tempore. We are anticipating several changes to the leadership of Senate Committees to be announced soon. For the Assembly, since Assemblymember Robert Rivas became the new Speaker this past July, Speaker Rivas made several changes committees with jurisdiction over a significant portion of GFA bills, such as moving Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry from her longstanding role as Chair of Assembly Local Government Committee to Majority Leader, with Assemblymember Juan Carrillo becoming the new Chair of Assembly Local Government Committee. He also replaced Assemblymember Ash Kalra with Assemblymember Liz Ortega as the Chair of Assembly Labor and Employment Committee.

State Fiscal Condition

Governor Newsom announced his proposed budget for 2024-25, along with the state’s updated revenue forecast, on January 10, 2024. The CSAC team issued a Budget Action Bulletin update following the Governor’s release, highlighting the most significant impacts to counties.

Shortly thereafter, CSAC submitted letters to the Governor and Legislative leaders detailing how CSAC and California’s counties are ready to partner with the Legislature and the Governor’s Administration to collectively address the state budget problem in the best interests of California’s vulnerable populations and to preserve core county services. CSAC’s letters regarding the 2024-25 proposed budget are available here:

• CSAC’s 2024-25 proposed budget comments letter to Governor Newsom
• CSAC’s 2024-25 proposed budget comments letter to Senate Leadership and Assembly Leadership

CSAC Executive Committee Ratifies Leadership Appointments

The CSAC Executive Committee approved Chair and Vice Chair appointments to the organization’s policy committees. The 2024 leadership appointments for the Government Finance and Administration police committee are:

• Supervisor Mani Grewal, Stanislaus County, Chair
• Supervisor Ryan Campbell, Tuolumne County, Vice Chair
• Supervisor Nathan Magsig, Fresno County, Vice Chair 

We are very grateful for the leadership of Past Chair Amy Shuklian, Tulare County, for serving for the past two years.

Virtual GFA Policy Committee Meeting – Friday, March 8

A special virtual meeting of the Government Finance and Administration Policy Committee will be held on Friday, March 8, from 1:00pm to 3:00pm via Zoom. This meeting is convened for county officials to discuss two constitutional amendments introduced in the Legislature that are eligible for the November 2024 statewide ballot (ACA 1, Aguiar-Curry and ACA 13, Ward) and a vote by committee members (any County Supervisor per county) will be conducted before bringing these measures before the CSAC Executive Committee. 

Please contact Kalyn, Eric, or Jessica with any questions or feedback.