3A Presentation 2015 1207 - Laserfiche WebLink

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2015 State Legislative Summary Page 6 of 7 Legislature’s intent that funds from a tax enacted pursuant to this section must be used to support the purposes of the ETHD, including support of nonprofit and public hospitals and other health care providers in the communities served by the district. It was expressed that this bill allows ETHD to provide vitally-needed financial support to hospitals that serve district residents by seeking voter approval of a parcel tax measure. The bill was heard in the Senate Governance committee and made it out, yet was ultimately held on the Senate floor and will be revisited next legislative year. Transportation Funding The Legislature has postponed discussion of Cap and Trade expenditures until January of next year after not being able to reach an agreement on how to spend available funding, including how much should be dedicated to transit projects, rail, and affordable housing, among other priorities. The administration estimates about $1.2 billion in cap-and-trade money is available, with another $500 million in reserve. Governor Brown had offered to put up $500 million annually in cap-and-trade revenue as part of a transportation deal, but that deal was unable to come to fruition before the end of session. A special session solely on transportation has been called by the Governor and will likely convene in the coming weeks. It is speculated that the governor’s office has a proposal totaling $3.5 billion. TPA has been working with various stakeholders, trade groups and others to identify then lobby the needed votes to move this forward. Climate Action SB 350 (de León) passed in the final hours of the Legislative Session and is expected to be signed by the Governor. The measure will enact the Clean Energy and Pollution Reduction Act of 2015, which establishes targets to increase retail sales of renewable electricity to 50% by 2030 and double the energy efficiency savings in electricity and natural gas uses by 2030. The bill was amended in the final week of session to remove the provision that would have established a statewide goal to codify the Governor’s Executive Order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by reducing the state’s petroleum use from cars by 50 percent. The petroleum provisions were the source of significant opposition from outside interests, as well as from members of the Assembly. Even though the petroleum provisions have been removed, the Governor indicated that he will work with the Air Resources Control Board to take administrative actions that can lower California’s usage of petroleum. This bill was signed into law by the Governor. New funding opportunities TPA worked on two upcoming funding opportunities to help support seismic safety, which is one of the City’s priorities. First, working with a handful of Bay Area cities, $3 million was secured in the State budget for cities to utilize as part of their local seismic safety program to better prepare structures for the next earthquake. Additionally, we have been supporting legislation that would provide tax credits to residents in cities with seismic retrofit mandates. AB 428 reached the Governor's desk and Mayor Cutter joined other Mayors from throughout the state in seeking the Governor’s signature. Unfortunately the Governor vetoed this bill though we are working with the author’s office on next steps. Another funding bonus was in the 2015-16 Budget, which included full repayment of the pre-2004 mandate debt owed to cities and the first payment in lieu of taxes (PILT) funds made in twenty years. A total of $765 million in pre-2004 mandate debt was repaid statewide to local agencies. In addition, $9.6 million in Public Records Act mandate reimbursement was included in the budget for local agencies statewide. Weekly Updates