April 26, 2004
| TO: | CLA Members/ Systems/ Network Contacts |
| FROM: | Mike Dillon, Lobbyist Christina Dillon, Lobbyist |
| RE: | NEWS FROM THE CAPITOL |
LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND GOVERNOR'S OFFICE DISCUSSION ON BUDGET ISSUES
At the request of CLA Executive Director, Susan Negreen, and CLA Legislative Chair, Anne Cain, we have been asked to respond to a statement that was posted on CALIX last Friday, in regards to local government discussions relative to the Budget. The posting stated that the "CSAC compromise is gaining favor with the Governor and for the most part is 'Christmas' for local government since it would be true reform for the first time since 1978, promising a return to property tax funding for local governments." The CALIX posting goes on to note that the CSAC compromise would "take $16 million from the Public Library Foundation." The posting asked if CLA was aware of the development and if "anyone was watching" on CLA's behalf.
We think the CALIX posting above makes reference to an alternative proposal that was originally offered by the Legislative Analyst's Office (including eliminating $16 million from the Public Library Foundation) back in February, and then was subsequently modified by CSAC. While the CSAC proposal was less of a property tax hit to local governments, as compared to the Governor's plan, we would not qualify any of these major ERAF shift proposals as anything resembling "Christmas" for local governments -- as, under any of these scenarios, cities, counties, and special districts would still be required to shift hundreds of millions of dollars to ERAF.
As many of you may have read, several of the major newspapers are reporting that representatives of the Governor's Office and local government officials have been having discussions, centering around the Governor's January Budget proposal to shift $1.3 billion of property taxes from local government to help balance the Budget, and the so-called "LOCAL Initiative" that qualified for the November ballot last Friday. We wanted to let you know that libraries have been represented in those discussions. The parties who have been invited to take part in the discussions with the Governor's Office are the League of Cities, CSAC, and the Special District's Association. We have been meeting regularly with one of the lead participants in the meetings, and have received briefings on the discussions almost daily. All parties involved have been asked to keep the discussions confidential until an agreement is reached, and we are honoring that commitment.
We have also been working with key legislators and staff who have been assisting us with the library components of the so-called "deal" with the Governor's Office. At issue is insulating special district and so-called "ERAF Orphan" libraries from any property tax shift, by utilizing SB 1648-Dills (statutes of 1994) -- a little known law that would prohibit the future ERAF reduction from libraries. [see "News From the Capitol" February 5, 2004]. We are also working to try to maintain the $15.8 million for the PLF Funding in the Governor's Budget. On CLA Legislative Day, the CLA leadership met with representatives from the Governor's Office regarding both of these components, and urged the Governor's strong support for protecting library funding.
While we would like to be able to share some of the components of the pending deal, the deal still remains in flux and, as referenced, we have been under a tight "gag order" since the talks began several weeks ago. Please note that CLA is looking out for your best interests and is working very hard to secure the best deal possible for the libraries, under these very challenging Budget circumstances. If an agreement is ultimately reached, it still must pass both houses of the Legislature before it would be in effect. We will provide you with all of the details as soon as the plan is fully developed and finalized by the Governor.