(I’ll be on KALW Your Call at 10AM on Tuesday morning to talk about the recent legislative session. – promoted by Brian Leubitz)

As legislative deadline draws near, bills aplenty

by Brian Leubitz

It’s that time of year again. The season for quickie news stories proclaiming one new law or another. With the legislative deadline coming at the end of the month for bills to get out of the Legislature, we will be seeing plenty more in the next few days. In fact, I’ll be on KALW’s Your Call on Sept. 2 at 10AM to talk about a few of the noteworthy bills. But before we get there, let’s take a look at a few already on the move.

Senate Bill 270 by Senators Padilla, de León and Lara, passed off the California State Assembly Floor yesterday on a 44-29 vote, after falling three votes short of passage earlier this week.

The bill now advances to the State Senate for final confirmation where it is expected to be taken up before the legislature adjourns on August 31.

“The State Assembly spent a great deal of time debating the merits of this issue over the last several months, and especially this week,” said Mark Murray, Executive Director of the bill’s sponsor, Californians Against Waste. “In the end, it was the reports of overwhelming success of this policy at the local level that overcame the political attacks and misinformation from out-of-state plastic bag makers.”

Moving to community colleges, you may have heard a bit about the mess that was CCSF’s accreditation process. Earlier this week, the accreditation commission had to acknowledge, after their attorneys failed to properly redact the information, that they did not take the recommendation of their site visit committee. That committee recommended probation, rather than the far more harsh “show cause” status. That set alarm bells off across the City and state, with the SF City Attorney suing the commission and a new law:

A bill that seeks to make the accreditation system for California’s 112 community colleges more transparent landed on the desk of Gov. Jerry Brown this week after receiving unanimous support from the state Senate and Assembly.

Brown has until Sept. 30 to veto or sign into law Assembly Bill 1942, which would require an accrediting agency to report accreditation decisions to the Legislature, such as last summer’s vote by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges to revoke City College of San Francisco’s accreditation.(SF Examiner)

One of the biggest complaints about the SF situation has been the fact that the commission has been so opaque. Few could actually understand the process, partially because they intentionally tried to make it that way. This bill, approved unanimously in both chambers, is a good step forward.

Finally, on the “sharing economy” front, Uber and Lyft dropped their objections to AB 2293, Asm. Bonilla’s insurance requirement bill. Bonilla dropped the requirement for drivers without paying customers to $200,000 from $500,000 while keeping the requirement at $1million when passengers are in the car. Without the objections from two sharing companies, the bill should sail through the Governor’s office.

Would require unambigious affirmative consent

by Brian Leubitz

The Assembly passed Sen. Kevin de León’s SB967 yesterday, requiring two-sided affirmative consent on college campuses.

A bill doing so, SB967, passed the Assembly on a 52-16 vote Monday as states and universities across the U.S. are under pressure to change how they handle rape allegations. It now heads back to the Senate for what is expected to be a final vote on amendments.

The bill by state Sen. Kevin De Leon, D-Los Angeles, changes the definition of consent for campuses investigating sexual assault cases by requiring “an affirmative, unambiguous and conscious decision” by each party to engage in sexual activity. That marks a shift from the popular sexual-assault prevention refrain, “no means no.” (CBSLA)

With rising awareness of sexual assaults across the country, this is a positive step forward. While opponents have tried to belittle this as something out of an awkward high school health class video, the truth is far from that. Sure, date rape drugs are already illegal, but in an environment like a college campus, information is key. You can’t always get into the head of a college freshman, but this legislation makes that two-way disclosure a greater part of the conversation.  

Leno bill requires anti-theft software

by Brian Leubitz

Gov. Brown signed Sen. Leno’s SB 962 today addressing the growing epidemic of smartphone theft in California. SB 962 requires all smartphones sold in California to come pre-equipped with theft-deterring technological solutions to render the devices useless if stolen. The bill is the first of its kind in the nation prompting every consumer to enable a kill switch as the default setting during the initial setup of a new smartphone. Sen. Leno then went full Colbert in his assesment of the bill:

“California has just put smartphone thieves on notice,” said Senator Leno, D-San Francisco. “Starting next year, all smartphones sold in California, and most likely every other state in the union, will come equipped with theft deterrent technology when they purchase new phones. Our efforts will effectively wipe out the incentive to steal smartphones and curb this crime of convenience, which is fueling street crime and violence within our communities.”

On a more serious side, this bill, in some ways, is just legislating what has been happening already. However, many lower end phones may not have seen this feature for several years. It isn’t any huge issue to add it at this point, but this makes it the law in the state.  And because this is California, phone makers will just end up making all phones comply with this law.

This was quite a controversial bill, but ultimately, Leno and SF DA George Gascón built a coalition that could get this law passed. It is a big step in not only protecting property, but also encouraging public safety in general.

California leaders agree to $3M for legal aid for undocumented children

While three million dollars is really just a drop in the bucket for the  the many undocumented children and their legal expenses, it sends a strong statement:

Gov. Jerry Brown, Attorney General Kamala Harris and Legislative leaders announced legislation Thursday that sets aside the money for non-profits that provide legal help to unaccompanied minors currently in California.

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“These young people have legal rights and responsibilities, but they cannot fully participate in complex immigration proceedings without an attorney,” Harris said. “It is critical that these children, many of whom are fleeing extreme violence in Central America, have access to due process and adequate legal representation.” (SF Chronicle / Melody Gutierrez)

While Rick Perry is sending the national guard to the border, California leaders are doing what they can to help these children. It is a positive step, and shows that America (and California specifically) is still a caring nation.

Bond includes additional storage money from Governor’s previous $6B proposal

by Brian Leubitz

It is a rare day in California when our Republicans are pushing for additional debt, but that is exactly what happened in the negotiations surrounding the water bond. The Legislature was pushing up against the deadline to replace the old, larger water bond on the ballot, everybody wanted to put a slimmer package on the ballot, and wanted it to pass. So, huzzah, here we are: a 2/3 majority for a bond package.

A slew of last minute changes wrought during a marathon negotiating session were key to winning support from Republican and Central Valley lawmakers who had threatened to block the bond unless it increased funding for reservoirs as the state struggles through a third devastating year of drought. The bill needed their support to muster the two-thirds majority needed to pass.

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More than a third of the bond — $2.7 billion — is dedicated to construction of dams, reservoirs and other water storage solutions. Projects to protect and restore rivers, lakes and watersheds will get $1.5 billion, or close to 20 percent of the package.

The bond will also allocate $900 million to groundwater cleanup and sustainability, $810 million to drought preparedness, $725 million for water recycling, $520 million to cleanse some small communities’ drinking water supply and $395 million for flood management.(SJ Merc)

This package could certainly be better, and we could do more to encourage conservation, but it has become clear that we need to overhaul our water infrastructure for several years now. And fortunately, this bond is “tunnel neutral” with no mention of the politically charged fight to route water around the Bay Delta.

So, if this passes, expect to see some more dam construction. Hopefully with more modern equipment than in this photo of the construction of Don Pedro Dam in 1924.

Contact Your Assemblymember to let them know you support clean elections

by Brian Leubitz

Disclosure can’t cure all that ails our political system. The problems run way deeper than that. But, given the tools we have available under the system the Supreme Court has given us, it is the best we can do for now.  SB 52, the California DISCLOSE Act, would make voters aware who is really paying for those ads they are seeing. Specifically, the measure would do the following:

Now, with some labor organizations pulling their support, the future of the bill is in question. Today might be a good day to let your Assemblymember know how you feel about disclosure.

State Continues Economic Recovery

by Brian Leubitz

State Controller John Chiang today released his monthly cash report covering California’s  for July. Total revenues for the first month of Fiscal Year 2014-15 totaled $5.4 billion, beating estimates in the Budget Act by $231.9 million, or 4.5 percent.

“Even though July is usually a weak revenue collection month, the new fiscal year is off to a strong start,” Chiang said. “While the State plans to borrow operating funds through revenue anticipation notes, the $2.8 billion needed solely for smoothing out the timing of revenues is at the lowest level since the 2006-07 fiscal year. If we can continue to reduce short- and long-term debts, we can continue to improve our fiscal condition.”

Something of a trifecta occurred, with sales, corporate and income tax collections beating estimates and coming in higher than the prior year. Income tax collections for the month of July came in $244.9 million, or 6.4 percent, above estimates. Corporate taxes topped estimates by $38.1 million, or 13.5 percent.  Sales taxes also beat estimates by $36 million, or 4.1 percent.

The State ended the last fiscal year on June 30 with a positive cash balance for the first time since June 30, 2007. That means the State had funds available to meet all of its payment obligations without needing to borrow from Wall Street or the $23.8 billion available in its more than 700 internal special funds and accounts.

To be clear, there is still a lot of work to be done on our economic recovery. We still have far too many long-term unemployed Californians as well as many of the new job development being in low-paying service sector jobs. And then there is the long-term question of revenue stability and what we do when Prop 30 sunsets in a few years.

All that being said, it is nice to have enough money to pay your bills.

Package calls for more conservation, less storage

by Brian Leubitz

For better or worse, Jerry Brown’s water bond from yesterday is still the leading candidate to replace what is tentatively scheduled to be on the ballot as Prop 43. But a coalition, mainly culled from the environmental community, has another plan:

The coalition has identified priority projects that would improve water security for all Californians, ensure fiscal responsibility in allocating bond funds and eliminate the special interest investments that are driving up costs in the bond proposals put forward to date.

The proposal corrects two major deficiencies in other proposals, including the governor’s just-released bond outline. First, it requires accountability and competitiveness for use of taxpayers’ funds. In contrast, one-third of the governor’s proposal would be handed over to unaccountable political appointees for distribution.

Second, the coalition proposal is truly neutral on the big tunnels that would remove water from the San Francisco Bay Delta. It does not include taxpayer subsidies proposed by the governor to buy water that would be diverted from rivers and streams to special interests.

Friends of the River, the League of Women Voters of California, Planning and Conservation League and Sierra Club California worked together to draft the alternative bond outline. The coalition’s plan ensures that residents in all parts of the state would benefit proportionally from the bond. It addresses water quality and water availability in both urban and agricultural communities.

Now, the big stumbling block of any deal would be to get the couple of Republican votes to replace Prop 43. That is easier said than done, with Republicans wanting more money (in the $3B range) spent on storage than even the Governor is requesting ($2B-ish). This plan calls for $1B in storage, with a much heavier emphasis on conservation.

Clearly, we need to do a lot more to conserve though, as we just got news that the odds of a good soak this winter coming from a strong El Niño have been reduced from a previous 80% estimate down to 65%:

The latest long-term forecast shows the chances of a wet El Niño weather pattern bringing drought relief to California starting this fall has decreased to about 65%, and if it does arrive it will probably be weaker than originally expected.

If an El Niño does develop, it should emerge by October and peak during late fall and early winter, according to the Climate Prediction Center and the International Research Institute for Climate and Society. (LA Times)

This latest worrying sign will not do anything to make Republicans support an even lower water storage number, but many of the ideas proposed in this package are worthy of a lot more discussion. Check out the full package over the flip.

The Near-Term Clean Water and Drought Response Act of 2014

$6 billion

This provides a framework for a rational bond measure that is responsive to fiscal constraints and addresses real needs with near-term solutions. It draws upon the best elements put forward in legislation proposed earlier this year in the Senate and the Assembly.

Clean and Safe Drinking Water — $1 billion

·         $400M to SWRCB for safe drinking water projects

·         $400M for wastewater treatment

·         $200M for public health emergency actions and drought response

·         Priority to disadvantaged communities

Regional Self-Sufficiency — $1.5 billion

·         $500M for water conservation and efficiency, both urban and agricultural

·         $500M for storm water and dry weather runoff capture and use

·         $500M for water recycling

Watershed Protection and Water Quality — $1.1 billion

·         $350M to State Conservancies, including $100M to the Delta Conservancy, for watershed protection, restoration, and water quality projects on public and NGO-owned lands or other projects approved by the local Board of Supervisors

·         $200M for watershed protection and restoration activities in watersheds outside of State Conservancy coverage

·         $50M for urban streams

·         $500M for state obligations, including Klamath, San Joaquin, Salton Sea, and wildlife refuges

·         Watershed funding may not be used to buy water or for inter-basin transfers

Water Supply Reliability — $2.4 billion

·         $900M for groundwater cleanup

·         $100M for sustainable groundwater management planning

·         $400M for Delta levees meeting the PL84-99 standard

·         $1B for competitive surface and ground storage projects, with Legislative appropriation

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