LEGISLATION COMMITTEE
Meeting Date: September 11, 2023
Subject: State Legislation of Interest to the County
Submitted For: Legislation Committee
Department: County Administrator
Referral No: 2023-01
Referral Name: State Legislation
Presenter: L. DeLaney and Nielsen Merksamer
Contact: L. DeLaney (925) 655-2057
Referral History:
The Legislation Committee of the Board of Supervisors regularly receives reports on State legislation of interest to the County and provides input and/or direction to staff and its state advocates from Nielsen Merksamer.
Referral Update:
The County's state lobbyists from Nielsen Merksamer, Michelle Rubalcava and Geoff Neill, will attend the meeting via Zoom and provide the Committee with an update on progress of the County's sponsored bills as well as other significant bills of interest including:
AB 505 (Ting)
AB 592 (Wilson)
SB 511 (Blakespear)
ACA 1 (Aguiar-Curry)
ACA 13 (Ward)
SB 326 (Eggman): Amendments to the bill do not significantly address county concerns. Key concerns identified by CSAC include:
* Mitigate significant impact to funding for core services by expanding the definition in the housing interventions category to include onsite services.
* Provide greater flexibility and clarity to shift a percentage of funds between program categories to allow counties the ability to meet the unique needs of their communities and unexpected changes in the economic landscape.
* Secure county fiscal protections, including but not limited to clarifying that SUD-only is permissive outside of the Medi-Cal entitlement, and added due process for sanctions.
* Simplify what goes to the voters. New requirements outside of MHSA can and should be considered separately and with additional time to work through unintended consequences.
* Address volatility and a reasonable reserve level.
The Legislature has returned from their summer recess, and there are only two weeks left in the 2023 legislative session, which concludes on Septemb...
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