BUDGET BATTLE CONTINUES AND CONTINUES AND....

Just when you thought there might be a return to reason in Sacramento the world gets turned on its head again. Not only are Republicans and Democrats squabbling over issues large and small within the state budget -- but there's no shortage of intraparty friction.

Both Democrats and Republicans in the Senate are upset with how the Democrats and Republicans in the Assembly just shoved a half baked budget and poorly drafted legislation to them and then left town. Republicans in the Senate are upset with the Governor who is seeking their votes on the long-overdue state budget and openly hostile to his ambitious efforts to expand health insurance.

Meanwhile the issue of AB 32 and CEQA along with budget cuts continues to take center stage in discussion in the Capitol building and as the hours passed the Senate adjourned without passing a budget and pledging not to come back until August 20th chaffing at the Assembly members who have been kibitzing from vacation spots around the state and world.

The Governor held a press conference as the last of the legislators left town and outlined what he felt needed to be done to get things done. Click here for full story . Meanwhile political insiders are shaking their heads – not seeing where any common ground can be found and concerned as the summer wears on and the temperature rises that the chance of reaching a solution seems farther and farther away!

SENATE LOCAL GOVERNMENT – 2007 “GREATEST HITS”

As the 2007 legislative cycle turns into the homestretch, California State Senator Gloria Negrete McLeod (D-Chino), Chair of the Senate Committee on Local Government, has released a memo outlining the bills that are in or have moved through that committee. Tongue in cheekily entitled the "Greatest Hits” by longtime Committee Chief Consultant Peter Detwiler, the list is an interesting summation of all the bills that impacting public finance, land use, and local governance, the list and cover memo are excerpted here to keep you informed about these issues:

“Now that the deadline has passed for policy committees to hear bills during 2007, I wanted you to know about some of the more interesting bills affecting public finance, land use, and local governance. When the Legislature returns in August, some of these bills will face votes in the Appropriations Committees and on the Senate and Assembly floors. Others are two-year bills which legislators won’t consider again until the second half of our biennial session in 2008.

“The fastest way to get copies of these bills and the Committee’s analyses, other analyses, histories, voting records, and any veto messages is from the California Legislature’s official website: www.leginfo.ca.gov.

“More information about the Committee’s work, including detailed references on land use, redevelopment, LAFCOs, and links to useful websites is available on the Committee’s own website: www.sen.ca.gov/locgov”

BILLS IMPACTING LOCAL FINANCE

SB 444 (Senate Local Government Committee) conforms standby charge statutes to the requirements of Proposition 218. Status: Signed; Chapter 27, Statutes of 2007.

SCA 12 (Torlakson) adds stormwater fees to Proposition 218’s voter approval exemption for sewer, water, and garbage property-related fees. Status: Senate Floor.

AB 239 (DeSaulnier) authorizes Contra Costa and San Mateo counties to charge $25 fees on recorded real estate documents to fund affordable housing. Status: Senate Local Government Committee; two-year bill.

AB 373 (Wolk) makes dozens of changes to the Mello-Roos Community Facilities District Law and the School Facilities Improvement District Law. Status: Senate Floor.

AB 938 (Calderon) creates new procedures that will allow local officials to charge regulatory and user fees to pay for stormwater and urban runoff programs. Status: Senate Environmental Quality Committee; two-year bill.

AB 1260 (Caballero) clarifies how local officials should comply with Proposition 218’s notice and protest procedures for property-related fees. Status: Senate Floor.

AB 1261 (Caballero) revises the statute governing public-private infrastructure agreements. Status: Senate Appropriations Committee.

BILLS IMPACTING LAND USE PLANNING & DEVELOPMENT

SB 5 (Machado) requires more planning for flood protection, including a new Sacramento-San Joaquin River Flood Management System Plan and amended general plans that result in denying subdivisions that don’t meet performance standards. Status: Assembly Appropriations Committee.

SB 167 (Negrete McLeod) allocates money from Proposition 84 to help cities and counties revise and implement their general plans and to improve regional planning. Status: Senate Appropriations Committee; two-year bill.

SB 821 (Kuehl) requires the California Research Bureau to report on the implementation of the state law that requires cities and counties to impose conditions for water availability on larger subdivisions. Status: Assembly Appropriations Committee.

SB 934 (Lowenthal) allows public officials to create up to 100 Housing and Infrastructure Zones, to be financed with property tax increment revenues. Status: Senate Appropriations Committee; two-year bill.

AB 162 (Wolk) expands the requirements for flood management in city and county general plans. Status: Senate Appropriations Committee.

AB 1066 (Laird) requires the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research to include information and advice about rising sea levels in OPR’s General Plan Guidelines. Status: Senate Appropriations Committee.

AB 1253 (Caballero) allocates money from Proposition 84 to help cities and counties revise and implement their general plans, to improve regional planning, and to fund urban greening projects. Status: Senate Appropriations Committee.

BILLS IMPACTING REDEVELOPMENT

SB 437 (Negrete McLeod) requires redevelopment agencies to report their project areas’ time limits in their annual reports and five-year implementation plans. Status: Signed; Chapter 90, Statutes of 2007.

AB 887 (De La Torre) requires redevelopment officials to give more information to property owners who are subject to condemnation and to pay higher benefits when using eminent domain to condemn small businesses. Status: Senate Floor.

BILLS IMPACTING LOCAL POWERS & GOVERNANCE

SB 144 (Senate Local Government Committee) is the annual Local Government Omnibus Act, making 23 relatively minor and noncontroversial changes to the state laws affecting local agencies’ powers and duties. Status: Assembly Floor.

SB 103 (Cedillo) requires local officials to report their economic development subsidies. Status: Assembly Appropriations Committee.

SB 233 (Cox) broadens the definition of “project” for counties’ design-build authority. Status: Assembly Floor.

SB 343 (Negrete McLeod) requires that agenda materials which are distributed within 72 hours of local legislative bodies’ meetings be made publicly available at a specified location. Status: Assembly Floor.

SB 416 (Ashburn) allows all counties to use the design-build contracting method. Status: Assembly Appropriations Committee.

SB 964 (Romero) clarifies the Brown Act’s prohibition on serial meetings and prohibits an agency from discriminating when providing writings to its local legislative body. Status: Assembly Floor.

AB 701 (De La Torre) doubles the statutory salary schedule that applies to city councilmembers and clarifies how city councils can further raise their salaries. Status: Senate Floor.

AB 1496 (Swanson) requires cities and counties with civil service systems to classify all employees, with exceptions, and imposes the same standards and procedures for temporary employees as school district merit systems. Status: Senate Local Government Committee; 2-year bill.

BILLS IMPACTING LAFCO & BOUNDARY CHANGES

SB 162 (Negrete McLeod) requires LAFCOs to consider environmental justice when they act on boundary changes. Status: Assembly Floor.

SB 819 (Hollingsworth) permanently allows LAFCOs to consolidate special districts that were not formed under the same principal act. Status: Signed; Chapter 98, Statutes of 2007.

AB 745 (Silva) makes protest petitions subject to the same requirements to disclose contributions and expenditures that apply to application petitions. Status: Signed; Chapter 109, Statutes of 2007.

AB 1744 (Assembly Local Government Committee) makes nine changes to the state laws affecting LAFCOs and local governments’ boundaries. Status: Senate Floor.

SBA SENDS MESSAGE TO BUSINESS OWNERS

Facing criticism that its new policies still allow big corporations to win federal contracts meant for small firms, the U.S. Small Business Administration has launched a campaign to reassure small businesses that it's on their side. SBA officials released a two-page fact sheet that tries to clarify its policies and explain how the agency intends to close loopholes that allowed large firms to compete for and win government contracts meant for businesses with less than 500 employees. The new policies, the SBA says, are intended to help small contractors compete for federal contracts. Click here for more information.

OFFICIALS WORRY OVER ELECTRONIC BALLOTS - 2008 ALMOST HERE!!

Dozens of California local elections officials on Monday defended electronic voting and criticized as unrealistic new University of California research showing that three computer-based systems have serious security flaws.

The latest feud over California's electronic voting future comes as Secretary of State Debra Bowen considers new election security steps that could go as far as decertifying computer-based systems such as touch-screen machines.

A UC Davis computer scientist testified at a hearing hosted by Bowen that three electronic voting systems used by California counties have serious security flaws, based on a series of state-funded hacking tests. That prompted activists to demand a ban on the voting technology in next year's statewide elections.

But voting machine officials challenged the findings as inconclusive because they said UC researchers had unusually exclusive access to voting machine codes. County registrars, who run elections, questioned the UC experiments because they were conducted in computer laboratories rather than under Election Day conditions in which local officials impose security measures. "This was not a security-risk evaluation but an unrealistic worst-case scenario evaluation limited to malicious tests, studies and analysis performed in a laboratory environment by computer security experts with unfettered access to the machines and software over several weeks," said Steven Bennett, California sales executive for Sequoia. "This is not a real-world scenario."  Click here for full story

BIGGEST WATER DEAL IN NATION'S HISTORY IN THE WORKS

Negotiators are pressing forward today on what some are calling the biggest water transfer in the nation's history, hoping to end a Central Valley irrigation dispute that's defied solution for several decades.

The sprawling Westlands Water District would gain control of the water stored in San Luis Reservoir, under the revised proposal expected on Capitol Hill. Westlands could be free of the federal acreage limits meant to preserve small family farms, and would stop repaying the government for building the reservoir and associated canals.

In return, the Rhode Island-sized water district and several others would assume responsibility for cleaning up a multibillion-dollar irrigation drainage mess. So far, the districts haven't specified exactly how they might solve the drainage problem.

The negotiators are trying to resolve a problem begun when the federal government built San Luis but never finished an irrigation drainage system promised as part of the water package. Consequently, water tainted by selenium found naturally in Central Valley soils rises up to poison plant roots.

The federal government remains flummoxed, having lost a lawsuit filed by the farmers and now being forced to come up with a solution. Fixing the irrigation drainage problem would cost U.S. taxpayers upward of $2.6 billion, according to Bush administration estimates.  Click here for full story

UNION BILL DIES IN U.S. SENATE

Backed by the US Chamber and all of the national real estate associations, the Senate dealt a major blow to the top legislative priority of labor unions by blocking a bill that would allow unions to organize workplaces without a secret ballot election. The Senate's 51-48 vote fell 9 votes short of the 60 needed to end debate and move the legislation forward.

"This is a major victory for the Chamber and businesses that are targeted by labor unions," says Randy Johnson, Chamber vice president of Labor, Immigration, and Employee Benefits. "We made this one of our top priorities this session, and we are pleased that the Senate has wisely chosen to uphold traditional American democratic ideals by preserving the right to the secret ballot process in the workplace."

The Chamber mobilized a massive, multifaceted grassroots lobbying campaign in opposition to the bill. Its successes included generating more than 40,000 grassroots contacts with congressional offices; running radio ads in 51 congressional districts; and co-chairing the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, a group of close to 500 organizations opposed to the bill. The Chamber also launched a Virtual March on Washington, with more than 6,000 business supporters adding their personalized images to a satellite image of the National Mall.

Though card check legislation passed the House in March, the Chamber's display of grassroots lobbying strength severely weakened the bill as it moved to the Senate for consideration.

H.R. 800, the so-called Employee Free Choice Act, would replace secret ballot elections overseen by the National Labor Relations Board with an open-ended card check process in which employees would be forced to make decisions on whether or not to recognize a union in front of union organizers and supporters.

"GREEN" LIGHTRAILS IN SACRAMENTO; STANDARD FOR THE STATE?

Similar to the system in popular gas-electric hybrid vehicles, braking energy from the electric-powered trains will be captured and sent back into power lines to boost the acceleration of trains as they leave the station. The technology was developed by Sacramento-based Siemens Transportation Systems.

While modest savings of $25,000 a year are expected, this move toward green technology is in line with a vision for the region held by some politicians and businesses. At a “Clean Energy Forum” in Sacramento the goal of creating 20,000 jobs directly or indirectly associated with clean-energy technologies by 2015 was unveiled. With more than 60 such companies in the region, the chamber of commerce has set its sights on turning the state capital into the “world capital” for clean energy technology. Click here for full story.

STRATEGIC ISSUES CONFERENCE: GLOBAL WARMING AND THE BUSINESS OF REAL ESTATE

Four major industry groups are combining forces to sponsor a high level discussion regarding the impacts of “global warming” policy on our industry. From AB 32 greenhouse gas regulations to the legislative focus on “green building” mandates, this conference promises to deliver the most up to date thinking about the politics driving these policies and will offer strategic discussion to set the course on how we can proactively be at the table and positively influence policy.

Joint sponsors for this event include: California Business Properties Association (CBPA), California Building Industry Association (CBIA), Building Owners and Managers Association of California (BOMA California), and Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA),

The event will be held November 1-2, 2007, at the Meritage Resort in Napa Valley. A stellar line-up of policy and decision-makers from Industry, the Schwarzenegger Administration and Legislature, as well as a respected member of the political press corps, is coalescing for the conference. Until we can announce confirmed names of speakers, here is the framework agenda:

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2007
4:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. Kick-off Reception in the Wine Caves
6:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. Dinner with Speaker TBA

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2007
8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. Breakfast with Speaker TBA
9:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Panel Presentations (2 panels TBA)
11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Luncheon with Speaker TBA

For early-bird registration information and special room rates, please contact Tracy Fujii at CBPA, 916-443-4676, or tfujii@cbpa.com.

Don’t just react – be a leader – participate in this conference and shape important issues that will affect your businesses.

BOMA CALENDAR 2007/2008

November 1 & 2 – BOMA Cal/CBIA/CBPA Fall Joint Legislative Conference
BOMA Cal Annual Meeting
Napa Valley (Meritage Resort)

January 15 – BOMA Cal Board Meeting
Los Angeles
In conjunction with IREM/BOMA GLA Forecast Breakfast

March/April (date TBD) – BOMA Cal Board Meeting
Location TBD

June 10-11 – CA Commercial Real Estate Summit – BOMA Cal Board Meeting
Sacramento (Hyatt Regency)

October/November (date TBD) - BOMA Cal Annual Meeting/20th Anniversary Event
Location TBD