G E N E R A L M A N A G E R ' S R E P O R T
August 26, 2005
TO: Board
of Directors, PBCSD
FROM: Richard
Andrews, General Manager
SUBJECT: Proposed Legislation of Interest to PBCSD
_________________________________________________________________________
Receive this report
for information and provide whatever policy direction the Board believes may be
appropriate, if any.
SUMMARY OF ISSUES
The following summarizes the remainder of
the legislative calendar and the status of the two bills that District staff is
monitoring.
·
August
15: Legislature reconvened following
summer recess
·
August
26: Last day for fiscal committees to
meet and report bills to floor
·
August
29 thru September 9: Floor sessions only.
No committees, other than conference committees may meet for any
purpose.
·
September
2: Last day to amend bills on the floor
·
September
9: Last day for each house to pass
bills, final recess and interim study period starts at end of day
·
October
9: Last day for Governor to sign or veto
bills passed on or before September 9 and in his possession on September 14
·
January
1, 2006: Non-urgency status bills
enacted on or before October 9, 2005 take effect on this date.
SB-135 (Christine
Kehoe, D-San Diego):
Summary - This bill is a thorough revision of the Community
Services District Law, first enacted in 1951 and re-enacted in 1955. The statute governs PBCSD and 316 other
community services districts that provide public facilities and services
throughout
Status - Your
Board and District staff has supported this legislation. SB 135 passed the Assembly Floor on August
22 by a vote of 76-0 (three members were absent and there is one vacancy).
Monterey County Assembly Member Simon Salinas (Chair of the Assembly Local
Government Committee) presented the bill on the Assembly floor and it passed
without debate. SB 135 now goes back to
the Senate for concurrence in the Assembly amendments. The Assembly
amendments added coauthors, corrected some drafting errors, and referenced AB
1234, Assemblyman Salinas’ local government “sunshine” bill. By your Board’s meeting date on August 26,
Senator Kehoe will have asked the Senate to concur in the Assembly
amendments. Then, the bill will be sent to Governor Schwarzenegger for
his action. At that time, it is suggested that the District prepare
another letter of support, asking the Governor to sign the bill. The
timing of the letter will depend on when the bill is forwarded to the
Governor.
One
potentially serious obstacle to the Governor’s approval of the bill is that the
State Department of Finance has taken an "oppose" position on SB
135. The Department has indicated it fears that SB 135 may result in
claims for reimbursement of state-mandated local programs. Senator Kehoe,
the bill’s primary sponsor, has responded to that view with a letter expressing
concerns for both substantive and procedural reasons. “Substantive”, because the bill attempts to
advance the very policies that the Governor has been promoting regarding
reorganization of government to make it more transparent and responsive. Also, in all of the discussions about the
bill including legislators and state and local officials, no one has suggested
that SB 135 will create any state-mandated local program(s). Senator Kehoe’s “procedural” concern is that
the Department of Finance was asked to participate in the Working Group’s
discussions, but declined to participate.
Normally, the Finance Director’s opposition would be a very serious
obstacle. However, as the Department’s
staff does not yet appear to be fully informed about SB 135, it is possible it
will withdraw its opposition after further review or, if not, the Governor may
be persuaded by the virtually unanimous legislative support in both houses that
resulted in the bill’s passage.
AB 1234 (Simon Salinas,
D –
Summary – AB 1234 is sponsored by Monterey County Assembly Member Salinas to
promote “reforms” in the areas of compensation and ethics training for local
governments. It was introduced in
response to some high profile incidents which have occurred in the past
several years involving elected directors, council members and upper managerial
staff in local government entities (special districts, cities, and
counties). AB 1234 seeks to provide more
transparency to local governments and accountability to the public by
"sun-shining" the activities of local government officials by
requiring: (1) ethics training
for local government officials and designated employees; (2) adoption of a
written policy on the duties for which governing board members may receive
compensation, other than meetings of the governing body or an advisory body or
attendance at a conference or organized educational activity; and, (3)
establishment of guidelines for reimbursement
of governing board members for actual and necessary expenses incurred in
the performance of official duties, such as travel, meals, and lodging. The written policy would also have to clarify
related requirements, including the filing of expense reports and presentation
of a report to the governing body.
Status - AB 1234 has received
bi-partisan support in both houses, passing the Assembly by a vote of 71 – 0
and unanimously passing policy committees in the Senate. There is no known opposition to the bill,
albeit some agencies may be supporting it in order to preclude legislative
consideration of a stronger more comprehensive bill proposed by Senator Diane
Ortiz (D –
RA
Aenda Item No. 16