BACKGROUND:
On February 16, 2023, County Administrator's Office staff were notified by the County's federal lobbyists from Thorn Run Partners that the FY 2024 Community Project Funding requests for Senator Padilla's consideration were due Friday, March 3, 2023. Senator Feinstein's deadline was established as March 13, 2023. Due to the delay in the issuance of the President's Budget, these early deadlines were not anticipated for FY 2024 Community Project Funding requests, which were formerly known as "earmarks." (The earmark process usually starts with the submission to Congress of the President's budget request, which is expected to take place in the first or second week of March.) Because of this compressed time schedule for submittal of project requests for consideration by our Senators, County staff were requested to submit projects to the County Administrator's Office by February 24, 2023.
Staff were requested to consider projects for submittal to our congressional delegation that are (or could be):
- Ready to receive funding;
- Supported by officials or others who will send letters of support;
- Projects for which a $1M appropriation could make a substantive impact;
- Projects that leverage Measure X project allocations.
The Senate Appropriations Committee guidance for project submittals (linked here) was distributed to County staff.
As a reminder, for the past two federal budgets, the County has received federal Community Project Funding projects included in FY 2022 and FY 2023:
FY 2022
| 1 |
Contra Costa Crisis Services Hub |
$ 1,000,000 |
| 2 |
Mobile Crisis Response Team Expansion |
$ 1,061,552 |
| 3 |
Collaborative Care Implementation |
$ 900,000 |
| 4 |
Just Transition Economic Revitalization Plan |
$ 750,000 |
| 5 |
Veterans Memorial Building Improvements (D-11) |
$ 700,000 |
| 6 |
Veterans Memorial Building Improvements (D-9) |
$ 300,000 |
| |
|
|
| |
|
$ 4,711,552 |
(Note, the total does not include the $1.5 million secured for East Contra Costa Fire Protection District, advanced by then-Congressman McNerney and Senator Padilla. In addition, funding for the Harmful Algal Bloom Demonstration Program for the Delta was secured in the amount of $4 million, advanced by Congressman DeSaulnier.)
FY 2023
| 1 |
Strategies for Supporting Youth in the Community |
$ 1,180,000 |
| 2 |
Transition Aged Youth Diversion Program |
$ 1,000,000 |
At the time of writing this Board Order, the following projects had been put forth by County staff for federal FY 2024 Community Project Funding:
1. Knightsen Wetland Restoration
2. Bay Point Library Project
3. Byron Airport Utility Program
4. Sea Level Adaption Plan
As projects are submitted to the County Administrator's Office, they are vetted for applicability to the federal guidelines, prioritized, and budgetarily analyzed with consideration of equity. CAO staff anticipates additional project requests coming forward prior to the deadlines.
CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:
If the County Administrator, or designee, is not authorized to submit Community Project Funding requests to the County's congressional delegation, the County will miss an opportunity to receive federal funding in the FY 2024 budget when it is enacted.