The CSAC Board of Directors endorsed three of the 10 initiatives
on Tuesday’s ballot. Voters approved two of these measures, which
will now become state law, while one measure is likely to be
rejected.
The Legislature returned from summer recess last week and began the full sprint towards the end of the 2023-2024 Legislative Session. There are several important legislative deadlines before the Legislative Session ends at midnight on Saturday, August 31, including the infamous “Suspense File” process of the Senate and Assembly Appropriations Committees.
The Secretary of State has released the official proposition
numbers and titles for the November 2024 ballot measures. June
27th marked the final deadline for proponents of
citizen-led initiatives to withdraw their ballot measures from
appearing on the November ballot. Since
the last update from CSAC, two late-breaking bond
measures passed out of the legislature just before the break for
summer recess.
Amidst the second significant heat wave in Sacramento in 2024,
the temperature of negotiations over the state’s spending plan
for the 2024-25 budget also increased this week.
In the days following the release of the
Governor’s 2024-25 May Revision budget proposal, CSAC
advocates have worn out their walking shoes with trips to the
Capitol Building and Annex Swing Space to testify before budget
subcommittees on behalf of California’s 58 counties regarding the
impacts of proposed state budget cuts on county governance and
service delivery.
As we reported
last week, Friday, May 17 is the deadline for the Senate
Appropriations Committee and the Assembly Appropriations
Committee (collectively referred to as “the fiscal committees”)
to hear and report bills with fiscal impacts to the floor of that
house (Senate or Assembly) for a vote of the full house.
As the curtains close on policy committee hearings in the first
house, our legislative spotlight now shifts dramatically towards
the fiscal committees. In the weeks ahead, bills will navigate
through a labyrinth of legislative deadlines, each more critical
than the last. Amidst this intricate dance of governance, the
fate of many bills hinges on a pivotal distinction: their fiscal
impact on the state as determined by the Office of Legislative
Counsel.
The Governor’s Office announced it will release the revised
2024-25 budget proposal on Friday, May 10th at 11 AM.
The Governor will begin a press conference around that time,
which will be broadcast on the Governor’s
YouTube channel.
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 budget
release, highlighting the most significant impacts to counties.
In December, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) ruled that AT&T California shall provide notice to its customers of a series of public participation hearings.
Following our reporting on
combatting disruptive behavior during public meetings in
November 2023, we asked counties to share their best practices
and policies for managing public meetings. This includes rules of
civility, codes of conduct, scripts used to respond to meeting
disruptions, and other resources that counties have found useful
in conducting effective meetings during conflict.
Remote participation options for public meetings have been a
breakthrough in facilitating public engagement in local governing
boards. For many working parents, people with disabilities, or
simply those whose lives make it difficult to carve out the time
to attend a meeting in person, remote participation in public
meetings has allowed them to engage in their community decisions
for the first time. However, the tool has been challenged by some
alarming trends.
In early 2022, on the heels of an unprecedented,
ceiling-shattering budget surplus, the Governor’s Administration
first introduced an economic talking point that continues in 2023
to be a mantra in press releases and budget documents: expect
continued, but slowing economic growth that stops short of
assuming a recession.
Cybersecurity Awareness Month continues! The Cybersecurity and
Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA), and the Department of Homeland Security
(DHS) recently approved California’s initial
State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program (SLCGP) Cybersecurity
Plan.
A little more than a month after the grant application period
opened, the National Telecommunications and Information
Administration recently announced having made grant awards of
$3.5 million across seven trial entities nation-wide for the
Internet For All initiative’s
Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program. The Awardees are
located in New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Washington.
Let’s get funding to California!
Last week, the U.S. Department of the Treasury (U.S. Treasury)
released an
interim final rule that provides counties additional
flexibility to use American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds for
transportation and infrastructure projects, relief from natural
disasters that have already occurred, projects to mitigate the
risk of natural disasters, and eligible projects under the
Community Development Block Grant program.
