LEGISLATION COMMITTEE
Meeting Date: May 27, 2025
Subject: State Legislative Updates of Interest to Contra Costa County: Sponsored Legislation
Submitted For: Legislation Committee
Department: County Administrator’s Office
Referral Name: Federal Update
Presenter: M. Rubalcava and G. Neill, Nielsen Merksamer
Contact: E. Struthers (925) 655-2045
Referral History:
The Legislation Committee regularly receives reports on the State Budget and bills of interest to the County and provides direction and/or input to staff and the County’s state lobbyists.
Referral Update:
This session, the County has two sponsored bills:
1. Sales tax cap legislation, to allow the County to enact a five-year, 5/8 cent general purpose sales tax, subject to voter approval requirements.
Legislative leadership, in coordination with the County’s delegation, provided direction to combine Contra Costa’s legislation with LA County’s measure, AB 1768 (Bryan). Senator Arreguin and Assemblymember Wicks were particularly instrumental in this effort.
The bill was moved as an urgency bill. After passing through policy committees and the floor of both houses, the bill was sent to the Governor on May 20. A signature request letter is enclosed.
The Committee will receive updates, as available, during this item.
2. AB 2278 (Ávila Farías): Initially, this bill would develop a 5-year pilot project for the County of Contra Costa for the purpose of improving IHSS eligibility and processing times through the use of innovative technologies. Under the bill, the project would be designed with a focus on decreasing IHSS application processing times for recipients participating in the CFCO program. The bill would require the county to post annual reports on project progress and outcomes.
The bill was heard in two policy Committees, and was in the Appropriations suspense file due to its fiscal concerns.
During the same time, the County’s Aging and Adult Services Bureau within EHSD has made significant strides in improving the IHSS CFCO processing times. This is a positive development, but also made it so that the bill would not be as useful. With other concerns emerging related to broader AI policy discussions at cost considerations at the state level, a decision was made to discontinue the sponsored legislation.
The author and her team have been very responsive to the County’s evolving circumstances, and amended the bill to make the bill a study bill to better understand the magnitude and fiscal impacts of these penalties on counties. The revised analysis is attached. Staff request that a support position is considered on the amended bill.
Recommendation(s)/Next Step(s):
RECEIVE the report and provide direction and/or input to County staff and the County’s state advocates, as needed.
Fiscal Impact (if any):
None.