By Melissa Barton
A new year, a new Governor and a historical super-majority, with a fiscally conservative budget proposal to boot.
2019-20 Legislature
On January 7, the California Legislature officially began its 2019-20 legislative session. Several bills have been introduced to the Assembly and Senate, and new legislators were announced.
A historic Democrat supermajority now occupies nearly three-fourths of the seats in both houses. There are 17 new members of the legislature: 8 new assembly members and 9 new Senators. Out of the 17 new members, 10 are women. Among the new members are several former county supervisors, former city council members, and former members of the legislature. Legislative leaders have declared priority issues for the new session including climate change, homelessness, housing and education.
The AIA California (AIACA) advocates have strong relationships with individuals inside and out of the Capitol whom they will reach out to and promote the AIACA advocacy agenda to represent the interests of the profession as Governor Gavin Newsom appoints individuals to leadership positions within various state departments, boards, and commissions.
Advocacy depends on Member involvement and interest in civic engagement and serving on commissions and boards. Please let the AIACA know if you have a relationship with your district leader or are involved in Citizen Architect activities– we are interested in discussions happening at the local level and, could perhaps be of assistance if needed – or if you would like to serve on a state board or commission.
Hundreds of legislative bills have been introduced which AIACA is reviewing daily. The majority of bills will be introduced a week or two before the February 22, 2019 deadline. To date, there are many new housing initiatives and disaster proposals that have been put forth. We will actively review and provide analysis for the respective AIACA committees to make their position recommendations to the Board of Directors to consider at their May meeting.
California’s Governor
Governor Newsom was sworn in as California’s 40th Governor on Monday, January 7. His broadly focused inaugural address “California for All” was accentuated by his belief in the California dream. Newsom committed to addressing economic and opportunity inequality by hitting the contributing problems head on, while also retaining the state’s fiscal reserves. Newsom advises that aggressive proposals were coming that could affect local land use authority. He promises an open arms approach
for legislature and local government officials to find solutions that work for all communities and empowers local officials to lead the way.
Governor Newsom’s Budget Proposal
Governor Newsom’s proposed budget was released January 10th; most of which is focused on continuing the responsible fiscal legacy of his predecessor. Given federal political uncertainty, the budget proposes to pay down state debts, while building reserves and offering one-time payouts to safeguard programs beneficial to Californians in the event of an economic downturn. Education, housing, supporting families, and health and human services are paramount priorities of the new Governor. Many of the funds are one-time allocations and released from bonds as the Governor intends to have the most endowed budget reserves in state history.
The AIACA has reviewed the 2019-20 budget proposal and highlighted some areas of professional relevance:
* HOUSING AFFORDABILITY
$7.7 billion one-time allocation from the General fund to spur housing development to address the state’s affordability crisis and promote economic growth. The Budget also expands state tax credits to further develop both low- and moderate-income housing. Lastly, it proposes new innovative housing on excess state property.
* SCHOOL FACILITIES BOND FUNDS
The Budget proposes to release of $1.5 billion Proposition 51 bond funds to support school construction projects. These funds will support new construction, modernization, retrofitting, career technical education, and charter school facility projects. The Budget also includes additional funds, and 10 positions for the Office of Public School Construction to support the increased processing of applications and program workload.
* EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS AND RESPONSE
This proposal does not directly call out design or construction services. But, it does, however, make additional investments in prevention, forest management, critical emergency response systems, and builds up the state’s firefighting capabilities and supports local recovery efforts. The California Disaster Assistance Act (CDAA) will be issued one-time funding to be used to repair, restore, or replace public real property damaged or destroyed by a disaster, and to reimburse local government costs associated with certain emergency activities in state of emergency.
* AGING PRISON INFRASTRUCTURE
The proposed budget includes substantial infrastructure investments for deteriorating prisons and includes a new funding methodology for annual maintenance, and other specified repairs. It also allocates funds for accessibility improvements for disabled inmates.
* TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE
SB 1 (2017)funding will be dispersed over a ten-year period for the purpose of state and local transportation and infrastructure projects. It is anticipated that hundreds of thousands of new jobs will be created to support these efforts. A five-year infrastructure plan will be released later this year that will give an insight on how these projects will be carried out. Several state departments were specified for one-time payouts to address deferred maintenance including Department of Corrections, Department of State Hospitals, Department of General Services, Housing and Community Development, and California Office of Emergency Services and others.
The full summary of the Governor’s budget proposal can be found here.