Tag Archives: California

May 15, 2013

TO:        CLA MEMBERS/ SYSTEMS/ NETWORK CONTACTS
FROM:    Mike Dillon, CLA Lobbyist
Christina DiCaro, CLA Lobbyist
RE:        News From the Capitol

SCA 7-WOLK PASSES FIRST COMMITTEE
Thank you to library community for support letters

Shortly after noon today, SCA 7 by Senator Lois Wolk passed the Senate Governance and Finance Committee on a straight partisan vote (all Democrat members voting “aye” and the two Republican members voting “no.”)  SCA 7 would authorize the lowering of the local vote threshold from two-thirds to 55% for cities, counties, or library districts to issue construction bonds or levy special taxes for library operations.  If passed by the legislature and signed by the Governor, as a constitutional amendment, it would need to be passed by the voters on the November 2014 statewide ballot.

Today’s committee agenda for Senate Governance and Finance contained 6 constitutional amendments, (including Senator Wolk’s), which each seek to lower the local vote threshold for various purposes including transportation projects, special taxes, education, and others.  To give all of the measures a fair and thorough hearing, Senator Wolk, who also Chairs the Committee, scheduled all of the related constitutional amendments for a “special order” commencing at 10:30 a.m.  In her overview remarks Senator Wolk stated that the discussion about many of the measures would, undoubtedly, center around Proposition 13, but she said that it would be unrealistic to “suggest that the 35 year old law is perfect.”  She said that Proposition 13 ultimately “shifted the financing of key public resources to more unstable options….These measures will increase local flexibility and advance the Governor’s concept of subsidiarity, which brings services closest to the people.”   Finally, she closed by asking if an “initiative approved by parents and grandparents should bind voters today.  They should have their say.”

After all of the authors had presented their measures (which each similarly passed on a straight partisan vote), Senator Wolk took up her SCA 7.  During her presentation, Senator Wolk stressed the importance of libraries to our communities, saying that they “aren’t our traditional libraries anymore.  They are offering a host of important services from literacy training to resume building classes, to students who use the after-school online tutoring programs.”  Mike Dillon testified on behalf of CLA, noting that the year 2000 marked the last time there was a statewide bond approved by the voters and it quickly was exhausted due to the overwhelming infrastructure need of communities.  He explained that it was important to give local governments and local voters the ability to make choices for their communities, such as bond construction, or helping to alleviate some of the drastic cuts that were made to library programs in the state Budget, by levying a local tax for library operations.

Patty Wong, the Yolo County Library Director, member of CLA’s Legislative Committee, and former recipient of Senator Wolk’s “Woman of the Year” award, indicated that the measure had the full support of the Yolo County Supervisors and was much needed for her county. In terms of construction needs, she noted a $5-8 million need over the next 10-12 years and added that the patron satisfaction ratings are “beyond high and we have more people than we can possibly serve.  We are the most reliable source for broadband.  We are the people’s university and their small business center, and their home away from home.”

Also testifying in support of the measure were two representatives of the Friends of the Sacramento Public Library, the California State Association of Counties, the lobbyist for the cities of Pasadena and Burbank, Alan Smith Contra Costa Library Commissioner – also representing the California Public Library Advocates (formerly CALTAC), the League of Cities, the California Labor Federation, and lobbyists for Santa Clara County and the City of San Jose.  CLA members are to be commended for their strong outpouring of letters of support for this measure, which was represented in the lengthy list in the committee analysis.  (Please see the link to the analysis for SCA 7 to view the full, impressive grouping.)

The SCA measures were not without opposition, with a group of business interests from the Chamber of Commerce to the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, to the realtor and apartment association groups and Farm Bureau, asking the members of the committee to oppose each SCA, based on the “state’s current high tax burden” and various other arguments.

SCA 7 subsequently passed out of committee on a partisan vote, as mentioned.  All of the bills are now double-referred to the Senate Elections and Constitutional Amendments Committee, but because they are constitutional amendments, they do not subscribe to the same timeline as a standard bill.  They can be taken up this year or early next year.  Once SCA 7 is officially assigned to the next policy committee, we will send you the contact information for those Senators and we will be asking you to write letters of support again.

March 15, 2013
TO:                  CLA MEMBERS/ SYSTEMS/ NETWORK CONTACTS
FROM:            Mike Dillon, CLA Lobbyist
Christina DiCaro, CLA Lobbyist
RE:                  News From the Capitol

I. SCR 14-WOLK CELEBRATES “CALIFORNIA LIBRARY WEEK”

Senator Lois Wolk (D-Davis) has introduced SCR 14, a legislative resolution celebrating “California Library Week,” from April 14 to April 20, 2013.  The measure, sponsored by CLA, seeks to highlight the positive contributions of public libraries, librarians, and all library workers for “enriching the lives of California residents.”  The week of celebration will coincide with National Library Week, wherein libraries throughout the state and the nation will be hosting special events and highlighting important local programs and services.

Senator Wolk is also the sponsor of SCA 7, the constitutional amendment that seeks to lower the local voter threshold from the current two-thirds vote to 55% for a community seeking to pass a library construction bond or a special tax for the support of the library.  This measure is also sponsored by CLA and has not yet been set for hearing in its first legislative policy committee – the Senate Governance and Finance Committee.  (However, constitutional amendments do not have the same time deadlines as bills, and there is a likelihood that SCA 7 could be set early to mid May.)

CLA is grateful to Senator Wolk for her long-standing commitment to library issues at the Capitol and for her strong support of her local libraries.

II. CALL TO ACTION CORRECTION – BUDGET SUBCOMMITTEE CHANGE

On Wednesday, you received a “News From the Capitol” report from our office, regarding a “call to action,” for this year’s so-called “Budget ask” involving the CENIC/CLA/State Library proposal to connect libraries to the CENIC backbone.  We incorrectly noted that Senator Ted Gaines was a member of the Senate Budget Subcommittee Number One on Education Finance, but he has, in fact been replaced.  Senator Mark Wyland, the current Vice Chair of the Senate Education Committee, will take Senator Gaines’ place on the subcommittee this year.

Here is the correct list for the Senate Budget Subcommittee Number 1 on Education Finance –

Senator Marty Block, Chair – Room 4090

Senator Roderick Wright – Room 2032

Senator Mark Wyland – Room 4048

We apologize for the confusion.

TO:                  CLA MEMBERS/ SYSTEMS/ NETWORK CONTACTS

FROM:            Mike Dillon, CLA Lobbyist and Christina DiCaro, CLA Lobbyist

RE:                  News From The Capitol

 GOVERNOR SIGNS BUDGET BILL – LEAVES $4.7 MILLION IN PLACE FOR PUBLIC LIBRARIES

The State Capitol has been quite busy this week, as the Legislature works feverishly to pass more than 20 Budget-related “trailer bills” to compliment the larger Budget bill that was passed and sent to the Governor on June 15.  The Budget has been sitting on Governor Brown’s desk since that date, and he had until midnight Wednesday to sign the Budget bill, AB 1464 by Assemblyman Blumenfield (Chair of the Assembly Budget Committee).   The Governor also has the ability to use his “blue pencil” authority to make reductions to the Budget bill.  Fortunately, when Governor Brown signed the Budget, at 9:30 last night, he left in place $4.7 million that we and CLA members and supporters fought so hard for, which is intended to save the public library literacy programs and the California Library Services Act from elimination.  Additionally, the $4.7 million augmentation also ensures that the State Library will be able to secure approximately $15 million in corresponding federal dollars, which will protect valuable public library grants, projects, and the Braille and Talking Books program.  (The Governor did not release details of his “blue pencil” reductions until 9 a.m. today).

When the Budget was sent to the Governor on June 15, Governor Brown indicated that there were not enough programmatic changes and reductions made to some of the so-called “safety net” programs, and he publicly opposed certain policy decisions made by the Democrats, such as a redevelopment agency “pass through” proposal.  Thus, the two Democrat leaders and the Governor were forced to head back to the table to negotiate through these final stumbling blocks.  Tuesday night, the Senate Budget Committee met to pass a series of trailer bills that acknowledge the final changes and agreements made with the Governor, including a trailer bill playfully called “Budget bill, Junior.”

The debate yesterday on the two Floors on the 20 plus trailer bills was spirited, as always, with Republicans remarking that they were left out of the Budget and trailer bill drafting process.  In fact, under the terms of Proposition 25, which allows passage of a State Budget with a majority vote, the Democrats were able to successfully move forward their Budget package, without having to obtain Republican votes.  Democrats on both Floors countered that because most Republicans had signed “no tax pledges,” and thus were likely not supporting the Governor’s November tax initiative, they had put themselves in a position of not being able to compromise.  When several Senate Republicans stood on the Senate Floor to object to the harsh cuts in the Budget to the Healthy Families program and K-12 education, the Senate President pro Tem rose and tersely stated to his colleagues on the other side of the aisle, “You can’t fool people with selective outrage.”  And so it went.  By late afternoon, much of the debate had subsided and the trailer bills were on their way to the Governor.  The Governor will likely take a few days to act on the package of trailer bills.

June 19, 2012

TO:     CLA MEMBERS/ SYSTEMS/ NETWORK CONTACTS

FROM:   Mike Dillon, CLA Lobbyist
Christina DiCaro, CLA Lobbyist

RE:     News From The Capitol

BUDGET ISSUES REMAIN – VOTES UNLIKELY THIS WEEK

While the State Budget and a few related Budget trailer bills were passed by the legislature last Friday, (during a relatively brief session in both houses), in order to comply with the June 15th deadline, many big issues remain unresolved.  The Governor has 12 days from June 15th to sign or veto the Budget bill and the 6 corresponding “trailer bills” sent to him that day.
However, as has been reported in the press, there is still a significant division between the Senate President pro Tem, the Assembly Speaker, and the Governor on several major issues related to the Budget – most specifically but not limited to, cuts to CalWORKS, state employee furloughs, and the so-called Redevelopment money “pass-throughs.”  The Budget bill, SB 1464, “scores” $250 million in “pass-through” revenues to schools, thereby offsetting a like amount of state dollars.  However, the Governor’s office is strongly opposed to this action, as are local government and education groups.

Remarkably, there are still 22 Budget trailer bills on the Senate Budget Committee agenda that have yet to be acted on.  Whether they are all needed or not is open to question, but we have received indications that a large majority of those trailer bills, in significant subject areas, such as education, resources, high speed rail, and others, will still need to be debated and sent to the Governor.  We are hearing that there are still differences of more than $800 million that will need to be resolved between the Democrat leaders and the Governor before an agreed upon “deal” will be
declared.   Likely, because of the differences that remain, there will likely
be no further action on the Budget-related items until next week.