In this Issue

The theme for the 2016 Annual Meeting is “The Power of Connection,” spotlighting the leading role California Counties play in connecting with our residents and communities, as well as state and federal government.
Read more

Senator Jim Beall and Assembly Member Jim Frazier, chairs of the Transportation Committees in their respective legislative houses, have released details and legislative language on a long-awaited compromise that could help break the logjam over transportation funding. The proposal includes new revenue to help fix crumbling streets roads and bridges, and also reforms that can help ensure the money is spent efficiently and, as intended, on transportation projects.

The Beall-Frazier package would generate $7.4 billion annually in revenue to repair and maintain state highways and local streets, roads and bridges. Some of it would come from increased taxes and fees. Some would come from redirecting state funds back to transportation—funds that had been borrowed or redirected during the recession for other priorities.
Read more

This originally ran as an Op-Ed in the East Bay Times, Friday, August 12.

By Matt Cate, Neil McCormick and Chris McKenzie

As the Legislature closes in on the end of this two-year legislative cycle, we’d like to shed some light on a particularly onerous bill that, if passed, will cost $350 million annually to taxpayers without providing any discernible benefit to employees, only the unions that represent them. AB 2835 by Assembly Member Jim Cooper is a solution in search of a problem.
Read more

Stormwater Fees and Charges
SB 1298 (Hertzberg) – Support in Concept
As Amended August 11, 2016

SB 1298, by Senator Hertzberg, would amend the Proposition 218 Omnibus Implementation Act’s definition of “sewer” to include storm drainage.