News Archive

July 7, 2014 - Mandate Repayment Announced - Last week, the Department of Finance sent a memo to both budget chairs and to the counties notifying them of the instructions for the $100 million mandate repayment authorized in the 2014-15 Budget. The schedule was derived by allocating funds proportional to the amount of total outstanding pre-2004 mandate claims approved for payment. The memo notes that the payment shall be made by the Controller no sooner than 30 days from the date of the memo.

See the attached memo and chart for the specific allocations to counties, cities and special districts. The total amount allocated to urban counties is $54 million.

June 20, 2014 - Governor Signs State Budget - This afternoon the Governor signed the state budget. Attached is the summary along with the veto messages. Please click here to view.

June 16, 2014 - Budget Conference Committee Meets - The Budget Conference Committee met and closed out items last night. Attached is a spreadsheet with the final actions as we understand them. Major actions include:

• Cap and Trade Plan - 35% to transportation, sustainable communities; 25% to high speed rail; and 40% to energy and resources.
• CalWORKS - 5% grant increase, $20 million for housing and homeless.
• CSEC (Human Trafficking): Reduced allocation to $5 million this year and $14 million on-going for training (CWDA proposal). This was originally $50 million.
• IHSS Overtime – Approved overtime to IHSS workers with language to avoid excessive overtime payments.
• IHSS 7% reduction – Compromise to reject the restoration by both houses – Administration indicated that there would be a legislative solution soon.
• Solar Tax Exemption – Approved 8 year extension on program.
• Transportation – Adopted 70/30 allocation of transportation loan repayments to local government with additional $142 million to cities and counties.

May 19, 2014 - May Revise – The Governor’s May Revise was released on May 13, 2014, with state revenues forecast to increase by $2.4 billion. However, the Governor noted that the costs of health care, drought and other programs have increased by essentially the same amount. The May Revise also maintains the Governor’s principle of paying down debt, reducing long-term liabilities, including a plan to shore up the teacher pension system.

Some of the major proposals include:

• Rainy Day Fund agreement and Continue Paying down Wall of Debt.
• Additional $100 million in mandate repayment to local governments.
• Funding for reentry programs and county probation to address the court-ordered population cap.
• No changes to the proposals in the Governor’s Budget related to Public Safety Realignment including additional jail funding, split sentencing, fire camps and other proposals.
• Changes to the Governor’s proposal on Infrastructure Financing Districts.
• No changes to Cap and Trade proposal.

• Additional funding for counties regarding the Katie. A settlement which affects Medi-Cal costs and services.

For more details, click here for UCC’s Summary of the May Revise.

February 10, 2014 - 3 Judge Panel Update - Today, the 3-Judge Panel extended the deadline to fix the prison overcrowding issue to two years, (February 2016), agreeing with Governor Brown's request for more time to resolve the inmate population cap. With this extension comes strict guidelines from the federal judges on compliance, including limits on the number of inmates that can be moved to out-of-state prisons. Per the Administration, this two year extension will help put into place the proper reforms that will provide a permanent solution to the prison overcrowding problem.

The 3 Judge Panel has instructed the state to immediately carry out a series of measures to either release or move inmates from state prisons, which include:

• Increasing credits for non-violent second-strike offenders and minimum custody inmates.

• Set earlier parole eligibility for some nonviolent offenders.

• Determine suitability parole for inmates who are older than 60 who have already served 25 years in prison.

• Expand alternative custody programs for female inmates.

The panel also appointed a compliance officer to ensure that California is on track with the population cap and also barred prison officials from exceeding the current 8,900 inmates in out-of-state prisons.

February 11, 2014 - Proposition 41 – Support – APPROVED - On February 5, 2014, the UCC Board of Directors voted to support Proposition 41. UCC had been asked by the proponents of Proposition 41 to support and be listed as support in campaign materials.

Background Information:

Last year, UCC took a position of support on AB 639 (Perez), which would restructure the $600 million of existing Proposition 12 bond to construct and rehabilitate multifamily veterans’ housing. AB 639 would allow California voters to amend the Veterans Bond Act of 2008 to better respond to the housing needs and changing demographics of the current California veteran population.

The full $900 million remains unspent from Proposition 12 due to the fact that it is restricted to single family housing. Funds that were approved by Proposition 12 have not been utilized and this bill would allow the funds to be used.

See attachment for more background material on Proposition 41.