The CSAC Bulletin: March 4, 2016

The CSAC Bulletin for March 4, 2016

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March 4, 2016

Headlines

- Registration Open for CSAC Legislative Conference
- MCO Fix Signed Into Law

Policy Reports
- Secretary of State Champions Funding for New Election Systems
- Electronic requests for vital records back on the agenda
- Hope, Concerns Over Drug Formulary for Workers’ Compensation
- Health Special Session Heats Up: First MCO, Now Tobacco
- Deadline Soon for Federal Victims Assistance Funding
- Marijuana in the Capitol and on the Coast
- CSAC Comments on Proposal to Change Transportation Impact Analysis
- Policy Briefs
- Other Bills of Interest

CSAC News
- From our Blog: MCO Fixed – Now How About Our Roads?

Job Openings

Registration Open for CSAC Legislative Conference

Registration is now open for CSAC’s 2016 Legislative Conference, scheduled for May 18-19 in Sacramento. Coming just days after the release of the Governor’s May budget revision, the conference provides the perfect forum to get the latest information from CSAC staff, issue experts and lawmakers as we work to ensure county priorities are part of the final budget deal in June.

Attendees will have an opportunity to discuss important issues with legislative leaders, as well attend workshops focusing on homelessness and the November ballot. Key CSAC priorities, including public safety, transportation, Medi-Cal administrative costs, infrastructure, medical marijuana and tree mortality, will also be discussed during the two-day conference.
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MCO Fix Signed Into Law

Governor Brown, after more than a year of effort, signed a new Managed Care Organization (MCO) fix package into on March 1, 2016.

CSAC supported the main piece of the package—the MCO fix as outlined in SBX2 2 (Hernandez-Bonta). The tiered tax proposal is the product of months of negotiation between the Brown Administration, health plans—including local and county-run health plans—and the Legislature. It restructures the MCO tax in a way that meets federal standards. It raises between $1.3 and $1.7 billion annually and will be in effect for three years, until 2019.
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Secretary of State Champions Funding for New Election Systems

County elections officials and Secretary of State Alex Padilla made their case this week before the Legislature for more elections funding, not as a matter of convenience but to uphold the integrity of elections in California. Counties, as the elections administrators for the state and local agencies, bear the greatest burden for election-related costs. Stakeholders from State agencies, voter advocate and good government are working together to secure critically needed resources to meet current and future needs of California elections.
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Electronic Requests for Vital Records Back on the Agenda

AB 2636 (Linder) would allow counties the option of providing an entirely electronic process for requesting one’s own vital records.
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Hope, Concerns Over Drug Formulary for Workers’ Compensation

AB 1124 (Perea; 2015) was the subject of a recent joint hearing of the Senate Labor and Industrial Relations Committee and the Assembly Insurance Committee (materials available here). The bill, passed by a large majority in 2015, requires the Administrative Director of the Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) to establish a formulary for use in the workers’ compensation system by July 1, 2017.
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Health Special Session Heats Up: First MCO, Now Tobacco

After a rare Leap Day show of bipartisanship on the MCO fix, Democrats and Republicans retreated to their separate camps on Thursday with a heated Assembly floor debate on a raft of anti-tobacco measures.
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Deadline Soon for Federal Victims Assistance Funding

All counties qualify for the Victim Services Program, which supports counties in providing direct services to victims, but RFPs are due April 12, 2016.
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Marijuana in the Capitol and on the Coast

Marijuana policy was front and center in the Golden State this past week, with the state Assembly holding an informational hearing on banking and the medical cannabis industry and six north coast counties holding their second summit on marijuana to get the latest information about new laws and regulations.
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CSAC Comments on Proposal to Change Transportation Impact Analysis

As we previously reported, the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research issued a revised proposal to quantify the transportation impacts of projects based on vehicle miles travelled (VMT) instead of level of service (LOS), which is a measure of traffic congestion. CSAC submitted comments on the revised proposal on Monday focusing on the potential difficulties of implementing the change from LOS to VMT statewide.
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CSAC Policy Briefs

California Debt Commission Offers April Seminars

From Our Blog: MCO Fixed – Now How About Our Roads?

In this election year, we’ve heard a lot of rhetoric about how politicians from different parties cannot work together. However, this week in Sacramento, Republicans and Democrats alike voted for the “MCO Fix” that addresses what could have been a billion-dollar hole in the state budget and Governor Brown has already signed the three-bill package. Hopefully, that spirit of cooperation will extend into other areas — especially transportation funding.
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Other Bills of Interest

A roundup of bills from all policy areas of interest to counties that are not included in this week's Bulletin articles.
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Job Openings

Click here to see the latest county and local government job postings.