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News from the Capitol - Action Requested
TO: CLA Members/ Systems/ Network Contacts
FROM: Mike Dillon, CLA Lobbyist and Christina Dillon, CLA Lobbyist
RE: News from the Capitol
I. ASSEMBLY SUBCOMMITTEE WILL HEAR LIBRARY BUDGET ISSUES ON MARCH 14th
The Assembly Budget Subcommittee Number Two on Education Finance is scheduled to hear the State Library's budget on Wednesday, March 14th at the State Capitol. As we reported to you in our January 30th memo, these six Assembly members are critical. On March 14, they will begin reviewing the Governor's proposed January Budget for the State Library - a Budget which contains: 1)a $52,000 reduction to the Public Library Foundation (which is intended to initiate the California State Library's Integrated Library System Replacement Project), and 2) no increase or recommendation regarding Transaction Based Reimbursement.
These six members will then decide to make a recommendation regarding our library issues, or defer the issue until May, when the May Revision of the Budget is released. If funding for the PLF is not included at the subcommittee level, it is almost impossible to get it included later at the larger Budget Conference Committee level. Thus, these next few months of negotiations in subcommittee will be very important, and your letters to the subcommittee are of great value. Please take a moment to write the members of the Assembly and Senate Budget Subcommittees today!
If you are writing letters on behalf of the PLF, please urge that the members support:
- Restoring the $52,000 that the Governor cut in the Public Library Foundation
- Request that the legislature continue augmenting this program that is woefully underfunded. (Full funding, according to statute would require $94,217,000 - yet the PLF baseline currently stands at $21.3 million!)
Note: CLA will also be working with the Budget Subcommittee members and staff to encourage them to reject the Governor's $52,000 reduction and create a separate Budget line item in the Budget for the State Library Integrated Library System Replacement Project - so that the project is not jeopardized, and that future funding needs for this program comes out of the state General Fund, and not the PLF baseline. (You do not need to include this in your letters if you do not feel comfortable addressing this complex issue.)
ASSEMBLY BUDGET SUBCOMMITTEE NUMBER TWO ON EDUCATION FINANCE
Assemblywoman Julia Brownley, Chair
Assemblyman Michael Duvall, Member
Assemblyman Mervyn Dymally, Member
Assemblywoman Jean Fuller, Member
Assemblyman Gene Mullin, Member
Assemblyman Sandre Swanson, Member
(Of the above listed members, Assemblymembers Brownley, Duvall, Fuller, and Swanson are newly elected Freshmen and are new to the subcommittee.)
Hearing Date: Wednesday, March 14, 2007 - Support for the Public Library Foundation: Budget Item: 6120-221-0001
Sample address:
The Honorable Julia Brownley, Chair
Assembly Budget Subcommittee Number Two on Education Finance
State Capitol
Sacramento, CA. 95814
SENATE BUDGET SUBCOMMITTEE NUMBER ONE ON EDUCATION FINANCE
Senator Jack Scott, Chair
Senator Bob Margett, Member
Senator Joe Simitian, Member
Hearing Date: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 - Support for the Public Library Foundation: Budget Item: 6120-221-0001
II. LIBRARY BOND BILL SET FOR FIRST HEARING IN SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE
Senator Joe Simitian's SB 156, a $4 billion library construction and renovation bond measure, sponsored by CLA, has been scheduled for hearing in the Senate Education Committee. The hearing will be held on Wednesday, March 28th at 9:30 a.m. in room 4203 at the State Capitol. SB 156 is the work product of an ad hoc committee of CLA members and the Proposition 14 Steering Committee. As mentioned previously, the measure is similar to SB 1161-Alpert, which failed passage on the June 2006 ballot, except for the following:
- The minimum amount per project has been increased from $50,000 to $500,000.
- The maximum amount per project has been increased from $20 million to $30 million.
- 5% of the total bond amount will be made available for joint-use projects, rather than the specific $25 million set-aside in the last bond act.
- There will be no priority given to applicants submitted, but not funded from the 2000 Bond Act (the so-called "Cycle 3" Applicant priority), as the committee felt that too much time will have elapsed with construction costs, etc. to make this provision appropriate. Thus, everyone will start on an even, competitive playing field with SB 156.
Over the last few weeks, Senator Simitian has been actively gathering names of potential co-authors to add to the bill. Many of you had excellent meetings with legislators during your "Day In the District" events, and some legislators noted that they wanted to be co-authors on the bond bill during your meetings. Thanks to several of you for passing that information on to our offices - we, in turn, gave that information to Senator Simitian.
Please take a moment today to write the members of the Senate Education Committee and urge their strong support for SB 156-Simitian. The committee will need to receive hundreds of support letters in order to make the necessary impact, as there is tremendous competition this year for bonds, including the Governor's own $41 billion Strategic Growth Plan, a massive infrastructure bond package that would complement last year's successful bond deal.
MEMBERS OF THE SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE
Senator Jack Scott, Chair
Senator Mark Wyland, Vice Chair
Senator Elaine Alquist
Senator Jeff Denham
Senator Abel Maldonado
Senator Alex Padilla
Senator Gloria Romero
Senator Joe Simitian (* Bond Bill Author)
Senator Tom Torlakson
Sample address:
The Honorable Jack Scott
Chair, Senate Education Committee
State Capitol
Sacramento, CA. 95814
Posted on March 2, 2007 9:14 AM | Permalink