California County News

Pension Boot Camp: Reform Group to Sponsor Seminar for Elected Officials

Pension boot camp? The California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility is sponsoring a boot camp of sorts for elected officials at a day-long seminar in Irvine on February 17th.  Experts will be on hand to discuss pensions, public-employee unions and other cost-related employee issues in what is being billed as a non-partisan event.

Program notes can be viewed here. Featured speakers and their bios can be found here.

Election Security and Campaign Finance Legislation Sponsored by Sect. of St. Take Effect Jan.

California Secretary of State Debra Bowen has sponsored two new laws that will take effect January 1st, one concerning voting equipment flaws and another that will make more campaign disclosure filings available online. As it stands right now, disclosure reports must be filed online with the Secretary of State’s office if a political entity has cumulatively raised or spent $50,000. However, under Assembly Bill 1181, the threshold will be cut in half to $25,000, lowering the amount that will trigger electronic reporting requirements for state candidates, committees, slate mailing organizations and lobbying entities. Bowen stated that “This new law will provide greater transparency by putting more campaign finance information at Californians’ fingertips. It is infinitely easier to research campaign and lobbying information that is online instead of having to come to Sacramento to dig through paper files. Political spending information should be as accessible as possible.”

And then there is Senate Bill 1404, which will require voting system vendors and ballot manufacturers to notify the California Secretary of State, in writing, of every known problem in their respective systems used in California. Bowen stated the following of the legislation:

“Voters put their trust in voting systems to count their ballots exactly as they were cast. This new law requires voting system vendors to disclose defects before an incident may occur that could compromise election results. Because the voting systems used in California are also used nationally, voters throughout the country will benefit from California’s transparency. […] Manufacturers of cars, toys and thousands of other products must report defects when their product fails to meet certain standards. That same philosophy of transparency should apply to voting equipment which millions of Californians rely upon to accurately record and tally their votes.”

A press statement for Bowen notes that “Companies may be liable for civil penalties of up to $50,000 per violation for failing to disclose known product flaws.” For more on the two laws, see here.

Humboldt County DHHS Tackles Improving Education of Foster Youth w/ Multi-Agency Effort

The Humboldt County Department of Health and Human services is looking to address the large high school drop-out rates for youth in foster care with a new multi-agency effort that will improve the county’s education offerings and outcomes for such students. In order to tackle the reasons that foster youths rarely go on to college, the county’s DHHS sponsored a workshop for more than 80 people representing numerous agencies so that educational results are improved. Christopher Wilson, the presiding judge of the Superior Court of California in Humboldt County, stated the following about such multi-agency efforts: “What you're doing is important -- it's critical to our future ... in this community we're really fortunate. These efforts will give me the information I need to help foster children succeed in school.” The Times-Standard reports:

“The event was sponsored by the Humboldt County DHHS as part of the California Connected by 25 Initiative, which aims to strengthen and link services for foster and probation youth until they are 25 years old. Humboldt County will likely be used as a model throughout the state, DHHS said.  Educators, the courts, social workers, probation representatives and caregivers have been working together for about two years to develop systems that will improve educational outcomes so youth can move on to become successful adults.”

Steps for each agency to take have been outlined in an interagency education guide so that officials are more proactive in addressing students who should not end up as another stat, such as about 6 percent of foster youth go on to college, and even fewer get a college degree. A three-year $100,000 grant from the Walter S. Johnson Foundation was awarded to the county’s department back in 2008. For more on the program’s efforts, see here.

SF’s Tough Local-Hire Law Faces Opposition from St. Lawmaker & San Mateo Supervisors

We recently relayed that San Francisco Supervisors had approved a tough local-hire law, which requires at least half of the jobs on city-funded construction projects to be comprised of local residents (Los Angeles city officials adopted a similar policy recently). Under its terms, financial penalties could be imposed on contractors who fail to meet the ordinance’s hiring standards. Supporters of the measure have argued that it is one of the toughest laws of its kind in the entire nation, which is being billed as a way to supply local workers with good jobs. However, not everyone is in favor of the law, such as Assemblyman Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo. Hill is moving forward with plans that will investigate if the law’s impact and influence can be legally limited. And then there is the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, who recently voted to oppose the San Franciscan law due to concerns about its effects on the hiring of San Mateo constituents. The Bay Citizen reports:

“San Francisco has billions of dollars worth of infrastructure work planned in the coming years, including projects outside city limits and some that will receive funding from the state and federal governments. ‘San Francisco is trying to put a moat around itself,’ Hill said Monday. ‘They’ve got water on three sides so they just need to slice San Mateo off and they’ve got an island.’ […]Hill, however, said San Francisco’s tax revenue is heavily subsidized by visitors who spend money at its restaurants, sporting events and shops. ‘It’s the wrong time to do something like this,’ Hill said. ‘We need to look carefully at reining it in as best as possible for the good of the region.’ Hill said he had directed state legislative staff to investigate whether the legislation violates any state laws and whether a new law could be passed to limit its impact on projects involving state money.”

For more on opposition to the law, see here.

Ninth Circuit Backs Local Government Mobile Home Rent Control in Legal Battle w/ Owners

A three decades-old rent control ordinance was the subject of a legal battle between the city of Goleta and the owners of a mobile home park. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the city can in fact control how much the owners may charge for rentals each month without violating property rights. Daniel and Susan Guggenheim of Goleta were the owners of the mobile park and argued that such controls were unconstitutional. The case and ruling in the appeals court will undoubtedly have wider implications for other governments in the state of California. The Santa Barbara Independent notes that Guggenheim “used the City of Goleta’s incorporation in 2002 as a window to test the ordinance, which the County of Santa Barbara had enacted many years earlier.” Judge Andrew J. Kleinfeld wrote the following in the court’s ruling against Guggenheim’s claims:

“The Guggenheims bought a trailer park burdened by rent control, and had no concrete reason to believe they would get something much more valuable, because of hoped for legal changes, than what they had. The people who really do have investment-backed expectations that might be upset by changes in the rent control system are tenants who bought their mobile homes after rent control went into effect. Ending rent control would be a windfall to the Guggenheims, and a disaster for tenants who bought their mobile homes after rent control was imposed in the 70’s and 80’s.”

The land was purchased by Guggenheim five years before the city incorporated. The court’s decision was 8-3. The Times notes that “Goleta's ordinance imposes strict limits on rental increases for existing tenants and caps rent increases at 10% for new buyers of mobile homes already situated in residential clusters within the city.” For more on the ruling, see here and here.

Back in Business? Construction Jobs in CA See Largest Increase Among All States for Oct-Nov

California’s construction jobs were particularly hit hard by the recession and the poor economy. But there is good news to be had, as the industry has posted a job gain of 7,800 positions over October and November. In fact, such a job gain has helped to boost the state’s overall employment levels and California has posted a construction increase that topped all other states during the same time period. The Associated General Contractors of America released the analysis and Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist, stated that “It is encouraging that the number of states adding jobs year-over-year was higher in November than at any time since February 2008. However, the data also make clear that these gains are as spotty as they are tenuous.” Notably, while California had positive gains, it also had the largest 12-month drop—36,900 jobs, or 6.4 percent. A press released about the association’s analysis states:

“In all, 36 states lost construction jobs over the past 12 months, while construction employment was unchanged in Massachusetts. Association officials cautioned that construction employment figures were likely to fluctuate and possibly drop over the coming months as many stimulus-funded projects begin to wind down and private-sector demand remains weak. They added that newly passed legislation that prevented steep tax increases, including for many small construction firms, will help boost overall economic activity and could drive new demand for construction later next year. ‘The tax bill is a step in the right direction because it will revitalize the economy and help boost private-sector construction demand,’ said Stephen E. Sandherr, the association’s chief executive officer. ‘But Congress still needs to act on long-delayed infrastructure bills and provide businesses with relief from an increasingly costly regulatory burden.’”

You can view construction employment figures for each state here.

Imperial County Solar Project Halted after Judge’s Ruling in Favor of Tribe

U.S. District Judge Larry Burns has ruled in favor of the Quechan Indian tribe by agreeing to impose a preliminary injunction blocking Tessera Solar from moving forward with plans for the Imperial Valley Solar project, which will involve building a $2 billion, 709-megawatt array of solar dishes in Imperial County. The project would have been located on 6,000 acres of public land, but the tribe argued that it had cultural significance. According to the judge, the company failed to consult properly the tribe, and as a result, the injunction could cause the company to lose $600 million in federal stimulus funding. Imperial Valley Solar noted that if an injunction was imposed, then the project might not happen at all. In light of the ruling, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that Tessera Chief Executive Robert Lukefahr said the following in a statement:

“This ruling sets back our ability to provide clean, renewable power to Southern California and delays our ability to bring jobs and economic development to a region with the highest unemployment rate in America. It is especially troubling given the very lengthy and comprehensive permitting and consultation process that Tessera Solar and the BLM have undertaken to ensure that Imperial Valley Solar would meet or exceed all Federal and State guidelines to minimize impact on the desert land where this is located."

The judge ultimately agreed that the land was part of ancient sites that were significant to the Quechan, a tribe in Yuma with territory on both sides of the California-Arizona border. The brunt of the blame was placed upon the federal Bureau of Land Management because the tribe was kept out of the planning process. For more, see here.

Cyber Attack: East Coast Group Shuts Down Santa Cruz County’s Website; Service Disrupted

Santa Cruz County’s government website was recently shut down by a group of hackers on the East Coast who made the site temporarily inaccessible. The attack, or cyber warfare, was reportedly instigated by a group based in Massachusetts that calls itself the Peoples Liberation Front. And what was the primary reason for the group’s web attack against the county? According to an email that was circulated to several news organizations beforehand, it was the county's crackdown earlier this year on illegal campers and prosecutions of demonstrators in the so-called Peace Camp 2010. However, according to Kevin Bowling, the county's information services director, the website disruption was more of a nuisance than anything, as it did no actual damage and county systems or information were not compromised. Mercury News reports:

“Wednesday, two protestors were arraigned on charges related to illegally staying overnight at the County Government Center where the protest was held. Four others face similar charges. County officials have alerted the Sheriff's Office and the FBI of the alleged cyber attack. The Peoples Liberation Front, on its website, claims to have similarly upset Web operations at such places as credit card companies. The group also says it’s been helping mounting online attacks in support of WikiLeaks.”

In an editorial for the Santa Cruz Sentinel, the newspaper argues that such attacks are counterproductive to the ideals such outfits supposedly hold dear, because “The danger of hackers, such as the vandals who interrupted Santa Cruz County's website Thursday, is that as these acts increase, governments and the military find even more justification for regulating and monitoring the Internet, all in the name of protecting citizens against foreign attacks.” For more on the cyber attack, see more here and here.

Housing Costs: Majority of Californians Spend More than 30% of Income; County Stats

According to 2005-2009 estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey, Californians are spending more than 30 percent of their income on housing costs. When it comes to affordability, the US Census Bureau uses the following definition: “The conventional public policy indicator of housing affordability in the United States is the percent of income spent on housing. Housing expenditures that exceed 30 percent of household income have historically been viewed as an indicator of a housing affordability problem. The conventional 30 percent of household income that a household can devote to housing costs before the household is said to be ‘burdened’ evolved from the United States National Housing Act of 1937.” So based on these standards, more than half of Californians are considered to be in a position where they cannot afford their housing costs. In comparison to other states, Californians are unsurprisingly spending more on such costs, as 51.8 percent of renters spend more than 30 percent of their income on rent and utilities and more than 51.4 percent spend more than 30 percent on their mortgages. CA Watch reports:

“Housing costs in California are among the highest in the country. California homeowners spend an average $2,292 per month, compared to $1,486 nationally. Renters in the state pay an average $1,116 toward housing, compared to $817 nationally. With high housing costs come high home values. Median values of owner-occupied housing units were greater than $500,000 in 32 U.S. counties – including 17 in California. Home values in the state ranged from $160,100 in Modoc County to $880,000 in Marin County.”

You can read more about the Census Bureau’s results here. And this chart here shows the percentage of renters in each county of California that spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing, and a chart on percentages in counties for mortgage costs can be found here.

Operation Stormfront: OC Officials Target White Supremacists in Largest Gang Sweep

Out in Orange County, officials have arrested more than 34 white supremacists in a gang sweep known as “Operation Stormfront,” which reportedly stems from a supremacist Web site called "Stormfront.” Drugs and guns were major targets of the sweep, and the suspects will face charges of extortion, conspiracy and solicitation of aggravated assault and murder. The takedown is being billed as the largest ever of white supremacist prison and street gang criminals in Orange County, according to Orange County DA Tony Rackauckas. The massive gang sweep was a collaborative effort between the Orange County Sheriff's Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the District Attorney's of Orange County, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the U.S. Secret Service, and the U.S. Attorney's Office. The OC Register reports:

“Federal charges, including criminal fraud and illegal firearms and narcotics sales, were leveled against an additional 16 white-supremacy suspects, for a total of 50 arrests of reputed gang members in Orange County, said John A. Torres, special agent in charge of the Los Angeles field office of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. In addition to Huntington Beach-based PEN1, the largest white-supremacist gang in the nation, the take-down netted members of the Aryan Brotherhood, La Mirada Punks, West Coast Costa Mesa Skins, Nazi Low Riders and the O.C. Skins, prosecutors said. ‘In Orange County, we will never accept the idea that gangs are here to stay, and we will never give up the battle against gangs,’ District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said at the news conference.”

According to OC Sheriff Sandra Hutchens, in light of budget cutbacks, different agencies had to come together to successfully perform the operation and undercover investigative work. Hutchens stated, “We will continue these types of relationships to make sure we get these bad people off the streets and in jail where they belong.” And amidst the news of the sweep, the OC Weekly has rounded up a variety of reader comments that are, let’s say, colorful. For more on the sweep, see here.