Efforts to extend the soon-to-expire county-lead system for
commercial airline property tax assessment stalled this year.
Dueling measures included CSAC
supported AB 2622 (Nazarian) and
CSAC opposed SB 1329 (Hertzberg). AB 2622 sought to extend
the sunset on the county-lead system by three years and provide
administrative changes to help mitigate disagreements between
counties and the airlines.
A recent ruling from the Second Appellate Court adds to the case
law related to “strategic lawsuits against public participation”
(a.k.a. SLAPP) and the Brown Act. Last week’s Bulletin also
included a story about a
court case related to SLAPP and local governments. The
information below is about a different case and a
different issue.
A new
poll reveals that a large majority of Californians – 84
percent – have access to high-speed internet at home. While this
total represents a positive increase of nine points since 2014,
some potentially troubling trends emerge from the data. Certain
populations are much less likely to have access to high-speed
internet at home; for example, low-income Californians,
Spanish-speaking Latinos, and older adults lag.
A recent ruling out of the Court of Appeals delves into the issue
of which type of law enforcement investigatory records are
protected under the Pitchess case. The court
ultimately determined that if the record is not generated in
connection with an officer’s appraisal or discipline, it is not
protected by Pitchess.
Following news in January that current Chief Executive Officer
Anne Stausboll would retire on June 30, the California Public
Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) has announced the hiring
of her replacement, Marcie Frost, who will assume the position on
October 3.
The California Department of Industrial Relations Director
Christine Baker said that current claims of gender discrimination
in the workers’ compensation system are unfounded and may
undermine successful reforms. A recent
class action lawsuit alleges gender discrimination, but
Director Baker says these claims are without merit.
Public agencies must begin posting catalogs of their
enterprise systems on their websites by Friday, July 1
to comply with the requirements of Senate Bill 272 (Chapter
No. 795, Statutes of 2015).
SB 272 defined “enterprise system” as a software application or
computer system that collects, stores, exchanges and analyzes
information that the agency uses that is both:
State Controller Betty T. Yee on Tuesday updated the “Government Compensation in
California” website, which posts compensation data for more
than 5,000 public employers in California. Public employers are
required to submit compensation data for each employee and
elected officials as a result of AB 341 (2015) which amended
Government Code §53891 to require complete reports of
compensation for the previous year to be submitted to the
Controller by April 30.
The U.S. Department of Labor recently finalized a new rule on
overtime pay that could significantly impact county
payrolls.
CSAC weighed in with concerns about this new rule, which
increases the salary threshold to $47,476 per year, increases the
compensation level for highly compensated employees to $134,004
per year, and creates automatic annual adjustments for the salary
thresholds.
While SB 133 by Senator McGuire is well intentioned,
unfortunately it falls short and is premature in its efforts
to regulate transient occupancy tax (TOT) collection from online
short-term vacation rentals, such as those offered through
platforms like Airbnb. In fact, SB 133 creates more harm than
help by insulating the online platforms from aspects of
local agency audits even if the city or county chooses not to
participate in the optional program or changes their TOT
ordinance at any point.
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS)
Board of Administration on Wednesday adopted its 2017 health care
plan rates – the first-year result of CalPERS’ multi-year
revision of its rate development process.
A recent
ruling from the Fourth Appellate District Court of Appeals
illustrates some potential pitfalls with litigation related to
the Brown Act. The Brown Act “authorizes an interested person to
commence a lawsuit…. to determine the applicability of the Brown
Act to ongoing actions or threatened future actions of the
legislative body.”
AB 1940 (Cooper) would require law enforcement agencies to
develop a policy for using body-worn cameras; the policy would
have to allow peace officers to review his or her body-worn
camera recordings before making a report, giving an internal
affairs statement, or before any criminal or civil proceeding.
The bill contains many other specifications and requirements
related to body-worn camera recordings.
Legislation that would allow counties the option of providing an
entirely electronic process for requesting one’s own vital
records has made it to the Senate after a unanimous “Aye” vote
from the California State Assembly.
The CSAC Mandate Services Committee met last week for an update
on all things mandate. The group meets regularly to determine
potential reimbursement opportunities and to navigate the CSM
process and includes county, city, and special district
representatives.
The Joint Legislative Audit Committee (JLAC), headed by Assembly
Member Freddie Rodriguez and Senator Richard Roth, met this week
to discuss audit requests from various legislators.
Three ballot initiatives vying for voter support this November
were reviewed in legislative hearings earlier this week, as part
of the required review that applies to ballot initiatives that
have reached the 25 percent signature threshold. Two of the
initiatives, which address marijuana legalization and plastic bag
bans, have not yet qualified for the November ballot. An
initiative seeking to protect the federal matching funds for
Medi-Cal hospital funds has been qualified since last year.
If your county intends to seek reimbursement under
Assembly Bill 120 (Chapter 11, Statutes of 2016) for certain
election costs related to ballot initiative petition signature
verification, this Friday, May 27, is the last day for counties
to provide raw signature counts to the Secretary of State for
each statewide initiative petition filed with the county on or
before May 20, 2016.
The CSAC Government Finance and Administration Policy Committee
met on May 19 at the CSAC Legislative Conference. Supervisor
Perea of Fresno County and Supervisor Hannigan of Solano County
presided as chair and vice-chair, respectively. The meeting
packet is available here.
The Government Finance and Administration (GFA) Committee on
Thursday voted to oppose the “No
Blank Checks” Revenue Bond Approval, a proposed
constitutional initiative that has qualified to appear on the
2016 November ballot.
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) meets today to
review a
slate of items – including the proposed merger of broadband
providers. This proceeding, involving Time Warner Cable, Bright
House Networks Information Services, and Charter Communications,
is currently recommended for approval by CPUC staff.
In a case with implications for municipal governments all over
the country, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned
earlier decisions regarding a city that demoted an employee
due to an erroneous belief he violated city policy.
The employee made a civil rights claim against the City of
Paterson, New Jersey after he was demoted based on an
accusation that he was engaging in campaign activities, contrary
to standards set in city policy.
Two upcoming webinars this month feature not only informative
updates but also funding opportunities for counties related to
elections and broadband implementation.
When Governor Brown approved a supplemental budget allocation for
elections administration, he made $16.173 million dollars
available to counties through
Assembly Bill 120. Counties will be able to request funding
for duties related to conducting the June 7 primary election and
verifying petition signatures for ballot initiatives seeking to
be placed on the November ballot.
CSAC is opposing a bill that would allow retirement systems
operating under the County Employees’ Retirement Law of 1937
(known as ’37 Act counties) to essentially operate independently
from its respective county without any input from the county
Board of Supervisors. The Urban Counties Caucus (UCC) and
the Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC) are also
opposed to the bill.
A new online tool tracking elections costs was released by the
California Association of Clerks and Elections Officials (CACEO)
that will be very helpful in the elections reform conversations
by clearly tracking and illustrating elections costs by county.
This information provides comparison data plus transparency on
election costs. The data set includes a county-by-county
breakdown for statewide primary, general and special elections
dating back to 2004. It also features historical trend data on
overall costs and trends of ballot complexity.
April is a critical month for state revenue projections when
incomes taxes are filed. Unfortunately, the LAO is
reporting that collections are failing to meet estimates by
nearly $1 billion. Tracking this month is closely watched not
only for the 2015 calendar year but also 2016 because high-income
filers make estimated payments for current calendar year.
The Senate and Assembly both passed
Assembly Bill 120 on Thursday that will provide over $16
million to counties for elections administration. The Governor is
expected to sign the CSAC supported bill soon, which will provide
funding in the current fiscal year to the Secretary of State’s
Office to reimburse counties for elections costs incurred between
April 26 and July 15, 2016.
With the 2015 tax filing deadline looming on April 18, Franchise
Tax Board (FTB) is bustling with processing income tax returns
and checks, and running each day’s totals – illustrating an
up-to-the-minute snapshot about the state’s revenue status. Since
personal income tax revenue makes up about two-thirds of the
state’s general fund revenue, these numbers will be critical to
understanding the state’s fiscal standing.
Applying county transient occupancy tax (TOT), sometimes called a
hotel tax, to online short-term vacation rentals offered by
companies like Airbnb has posed a challenge for many cities and
counties. These types of lodging are growing in popularity and
taking a sizeable chunk out of TOT revenues.
Senate Bill 1102 (McGuire) is seeking to provide a solution
that ensures all local revenue stays local and that tax
collection is more consistent and effective.
SB 897 (Roth) was heard and passed by the Senate Labor and
Industrial Relations Committee on April 6. The bill would allow
public safety employees an additional year of a leave of absence
without loss of salary (commonly known as 4850 benefits) when
injured by a “severe” “catastrophic injury” at the hands of
another.
