COUNTY OF SAN MATEO

Inter-Departmental Correspondence

County Manager's Office

 

DATE:

November 26, 2002

BOARD MEETING DATE:

December 3, 2002

 

TO:

Honorable Board of Supervisors

FROM:

John Maltbie, County Manager

SUBJECT:

County Manager's Report

 

Final Legislative Report

 

Recommendation

None. Informational only

 

Background

County staff monitors hundreds of legislative bills on the state and federal level in addition to statewide popular initiatives (propositions). The Board of Supervisor's Legislative Committee reviews several legislative items for their particular impact to San Mateo County and makes recommendations to the full Board for positions.

With the recent end of the legislative sessions, a final legislative report has been issued.

 

Discussion

While the Board acted on several bills, below are comments of a few notable bills.

SB 773 (Speier) regarding financial information privacy would have restricted the ability of financial institutions to share confidential consumer information with third parties. The Board supported this legislation and enacted a similar ordinance. The bill failed on the Assembly floor.

SB 1732 (Escutia) regarding trial court facilities will allow counties and local representatives of Judicial council to negotiate the transfer of responsibility and ownership of trial court facilities. County staff worked to include in the bill amendments that would clarify responsibilities and better protect counties from costs associated with construction and rehabilitation of trial court facilities. While the County was successful in including many of its suggested amendments, continued concern during the implementation of the bill is warranted.

AB 1823 (Papan), AB 2058 (Papan) and SB 1870 (Speier) relating to Bay Area regional authorities for the construction of necessary and enumerated repairs to the Hetch Hetchy water system. The Board supported these bills which were signed into law.

AB 1105 (Simitian) regarding foster family homes and child care reimbursements would have allowed counties to develop child care assistance for foster children in the care of a licensed family home or relative caregivers receiving payments under the AFDC-FC program. This would have enabled the state to draw down additional federal funds. While the bill was defeated, gutted and amended, the Urban Counties Caucus has created a working group to examine potential federal funds not currently being utilized by California. County staff are a part of this group.

 

Vision Alignment

Support of the County's legislative program supports the County's commitment to be responsive, effective and collaborative and furthers Goals #20-22.

 

California State Association of Counties Annual Meeting Recap

 

Recommendation

None. Informational only

 

Background

CSAC holds an annual meeting at which policy committees meet, county representatives are appointed and the governing board is elected.

 

Discussion

San Mateo County delegates included Supervisor Mike Nevin, Mark Church, Rose Jacobs Gibson; John Maltbie, Mary McMillan, Barbara Pletz, and Board and other staff.

 

Budget Highlights

The issue of the State Budget gap permeated many discussions of the Annual Meeting. Ted Gibson, Senior Economic Advisor, Financial and Strategic Services Metropolitan West, noted (like many other speakers throughout the Annual Meeting) that the general volatility of the State's revenues, primarily the State's reliance on personal income tax revenues amplifies the impacts of the economy on State revenues. With the "easy" solutions expended for the 2002-2003 budget, Gibson predicts significant reductions in spending and some revenue increases for the 2003-2004 budget. While Gibson highlighted the LAO's current estimate of a $21 billion budget gap, he also noted that the structural (ongoing) $15 billion budget gap in coming years will also need to be addressed.

Betty Yee, Deputy Director of the State Department of Finance, does not have a clear economic forecast. While a slow economic recovery is obvious, the expected magnitude of the current year and following year shortfalls cannot be determined at this time. As noted in recent new articles, a mid-fiscal year special session will be convened to adjust for current year shortfalls. The special session on mid-year cuts will begin on December 9, 2002. While cuts should be expected, Yee is hopeful the cuts will be rational, but she warns, "Keep an open mind." Substantive reforms, either through the legislative or ballot process must address the revenue volatility and the structural budget gap expected in future years. Yee has indicated the department's willingness to consider new and innovative ideas that can provide services while reducing revenue demands.

Diane Cummins, from Senator John Burton's Office, is hesitant to dismantle efforts to date in the areas of education, health and human services, and preserving Vehicle License Fee backfills. As a result, Cummins would like to see a balance of increased revenue generation (more taxes) and reduced spending (cuts). Simply cutting funding or shifting costs to local government is not realistic. Collectively, Cummins asserts, we must create a priority for services and decide what services will be cut.

Jean Ross of the California Budget Project addressing the structural problems of the budget, asserts that the super majority (2/3rds) vote requirement for passage of the state budget and tax increases hamstring the Legislature's ability to operate effectively. Ross argues the budget problem is revenue-not spending-related. She notes that tax cuts in the past decade could now equal nearly $10 billion per year. Moreover, she believes the tax cutes came from "stable" (more stable than personal income taxes) sources such as the vehicle license fee and property taxes. As a result, her suggested solutions include a restoration of the VLF, increased tax rates for the wealthy and a review of sales tax and consideration of a tax on services (allowing a broader range for taxation, but, perhaps, a lower tax rate).

CSAC has created a State Budget Working Group to develop proposals addressing the budget deficit. The Group, composed of county administrators, staff and others has prepared a draft recommendations that can provide fiscal relief at the state level while minimizing the impact on counties.

 

Water Bond Legislation

Senator Mike Machado (D-Linden, SD 5) will introduce enabling legislation to allocate funding recently approved by voters through the passage of Proposition 50 in November 2002. County staff will monitor this legislation.

 

In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) Program

The CSAC Health and Human Services Policy Committee acted to adopt a policy to support legislation and budget actions that reduce the fiscal impact of the In-Home Supportive Services program on county revenues, including Realignment funds. CSAC staff issued, in November, a white paper entitled, In-Home Supportive Services: Counties at the Crossroads.

 

Probation Officers

CSAC is a member of the Probation Services Task Force, a group of court, county and probation representatives, charged with the responsibility of examining the function and role of each in the delivery of probation services. Topics under consideration have included governance, funding and services. The CSAC Administration of Justice Committee acted to direct CSAC staff to work with Judicial Council, with the goal of seeking co-sponsorship of legislation in 2003 that would create an interim process (as recommended by the Task Force) for the appointment, removal, evaluation and discipline of Chief Probation Officers. The proposal is composed of two versions, which generally involve a model of sharing authority and control over the Chief Probation Officer. The County reviewed and highlighted some of the defects in the proposals.

 

Awards and Accolades

Barbara Pletz, Director of the County's Emergency Medical Services, was awarded a CSAC Circle of Service Award for her three years of efforts to negotiate and craft an agreement on emergency medical services issues between CSAC and the League of California Cities.

 

TANF Update

 

Recommendation

None. Informational only

 

Background

Created in 1996, the Temporary Aide to Needy Families (TANF) program, which significantly altered welfare services and subsidies to families in need, was scheduled to expire on September 30, 2002. While the House passed its version of a TANF reauthorization bill (H.R. 4737), and the Senate Finance Committee approved a TANF reauthorization bill, the Senate was unable to bring a TANF reauthorization bill to the floor. The Senate worked toward a reauthorization of the TANF program but was unable to reach a compromise. As part of the reauthorization process, the President and Congress proposed and considered various policy changes to the program. With the September 30th deadline approaching but without a reauthorization proposal, Congress authorized a continuing resolution to maintain the current TANF program and funding through December 31, 2002. During the lame-duck session, Congress could not reach a compromise by the close of the 107th Congress. As a result, a continuing resolution was issued to continue the program through January 8, 2003.

While a 5-year reauthorization period has been the objective of many of the proposals, some state leaders, including the National Conference of State Legislators, have proposed a three-year extension, with potential changes to current policy, as a compromise. With the potential for a one-year extension to serve as a place holder on the issue, state leaders are concerned that a programs would be exposed to future cuts and general uncertainty about budget planning on the state level.

 

Discussion

Like other interest groups, San Mateo County continues to monitor the TANF reauthorization process. In an effort to provide San Mateo County residents with appropriate services, Human Services Agency and County Manager Office staff as well as nonprofit leaders met with Congresswoman Eshoo to urge her support for three of the County's greatest concerns-funding and eligibility formulas for child care; work hour requirements and eligible activities; and greater flexibility in program administration and implementation. In response, Congresswoman Eshoo authored, on behalf of 17 members of the California Congressional Delegation, an outline of the County's concerns. Find the letter attached.

 

Vision Alignment

Support of the County's concerns conforms with ensuring basic health and safety for all and furthers Goals #6 and 8 to help vulnerable people achieve a better quality of life and children grow up in safe supportive homes.

 
 

Disproportionate Share Hospitals

 

Recommendation

None. Informational only

 

Background

Hospitals serving a disproportionately high percentage of Medi-Cal or other low-income patients may receive supplemental reimbursements. The program was created by Senate Bill 1732 (Presley, Statues of 1988) authorized an intergovernmental transfer in order to draw down additional federal funds to ease the burden of providing care to the uninsured. In California, DSH is funded solely by public entities that operate DSH eligible hospitals - counties, hospital districts and the University of California system. After the state retains an "administrative fee" the remaining funds are distributed to eligible public and private hospitals.

 

Discussion

The Beneficiary Access to Care and Medicare Equity Act of 2002 (S. 3018, Baucus) would have provided $43 billion in Medicare "give-backs" including temporary relief of $1.3 billion in disproportionate share hospital cutbacks scheduled in the coming 2003 Fiscal Year, increased funding to low Disproportionate Share Hospital states and an increase to the federal medical assistance percentage (FMAP) and expand the 340 B program. Most importantly, this measure would have allowed states to retain unspent State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) funds. California has $750 million in unspent SCHIP funds that without this authority will revert to other states.

 

Vision Alignment

Support of the County's concerns conforms with ensuring basic health and safety for all and furthers Goals #6 and 8 to help vulnerable people achieve a better quality of life and children grow up in safe supportive homes.