Agenda

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LEGISLATION COMMITTEE

Meeting Date:	05/13/2019
Subject: State Budget and State Legislation Update
Submitted For:	LEGISLATION COMMITTEE
Department:	County Administrator
Referral No.:	2019-07
Referral Name:	State Budget and Bills
Presenter:	L. DeLaney	Contact:	L. DeLaney, 925-335-1097

Information

Referral History:

The Legislation Committee receives regular reports on the State Budget and legislation of interest to Contra Costa County and provides directions to staff as needed.

Referral Update:

May Revision Release Planned for Thursday; Governor Makes Early Announcement

In a prelude to his May Revision release, Governor Gavin Newsom on May 7 announced his "parents' agenda," a number of proposals intended to assist low-income families. Specifically, the Governor will propose to provide a sales tax exemption for diapers and menstrual products, double the proposed income tax credit for young children from $500 to $1,000, invest $50 million in CalWORKS Stage 1 child care, and dedicate about $80 million in Proposition 64 revenues to child care.

The proposed sales tax exemption for diapers and menstrual products has an estimated cost of $44 million, according to fiscal analyses of similar legislative measures pending in the Legislature. A portion of the revenue loss associated with the proposed exemption would impact county revenues - including 1991 and 2011 realignments, Proposition 172, the Bradley-Burns local rate, and local transactions and use tax rates - without specific language to backfill those losses. Further, the two sales tax exemption measures currently before the Legislature - AB 31 (Garcia) for menstrual products and AB 66 (Gonzalez) for infant and toddler diapers - include a sunset of 2025. At this time, the specific details of the Governor's proposal are unclear.

For more on this announcement, see the Los Angeles Times article here.

The Governor reportedly will release his May Revision to the 2019-20 state budget in the morning of Thursday, May 9, 2019. Summaries of the May Revision received from CSAC and the UCC will be shared with the Board of Supervisors, their staff, Department Heads and key department staff as well.

Legislature to Make Major Bill Decisions Next Week in Suspense File Hearings

The months of April and May feature several major legislative deadlines. The week of May 6 is the last week for policy committees to meet until June 3, and Friday, May 17, is the deadline for the fiscal committees to move bills out and on to the floor for their respective house's consideration. That means that before the end of next week each Appropriations Committee must make final determinations about which bills will come off the "suspense file" (the spot where high price tag bills sit until the committee determines which bills live to see another day).

Updated information about the Suspense File outcomes will be shared with the Board and key staff the week of May 20.

The Master File of bill of interest to the County is Attachment A.

Recommendation(s)/Next Step(s):

RECEIVE the report and provide direction to staff, as needed.

Attachments
Attachment A: Master List of Bills