News from the Capitol

September 20, 2023

TO:                 CLA MEMBERS/ SYSTEMS/ NETWORK CONTACTS

FROM:           Christina DiCaro, CLA Lobbyist

RE:                 News From the Capitol

1. ACA 1 WILL APPEAR ON NOVEMBER 2024 BALLOT:55% VOTE FOR LOCAL CONSTRUCTION BONDS AND SPECIAL TAXES

    

   The California State Legislature adjourned the 2023 Session for the year on September 14^th, but before they departed, the Assembly and Senate passed a constitutional amendment that seeks to lower the local vote threshold for construction bonds and special taxes from the current two-thirds vote to a 55% vote of the local electorate.  ACA 1, by Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D-Winters), was sponsored by the California Professional Firefighters and was supported by numerous cities, counties, special districts, transit agencies, affordable housing groups, the California Library Association, and others.  ACA 1 will appear on the November 2024 statewide ballot and must be approved by the voters before it can go into effect.

   In championing this effort, Assemblymember Aguiar-Curry has repeatedly argued that since schools have the ability to pass local construction bonds by a 55% vote of the local electorate, the same vote threshold should be available for water, sewer, roads, libraries, affordable housing, flood control, parks, etc.  Public libraries are specifically included in the text of ACA 1.

   For several years, Assemblymember Aguiar-Curry has been attempting to move a similar version of ACA 1 forward but could not get her measure beyond the Assembly Floor, due to opposition raised by taxpayer and business groups.  Opponents have suggested that the bill seeks to raise taxes and they indicate, among other things, that “higher sales taxes increase the cost of home construction and everyday necessities...”   CLA ran into similar challenges when we introduced and sponsored a series of constitutional amendment bills three different times over the last two decades (by Senators Jackie Speier, Lois Wolk, and Bill Dodd). Those measures would have lowered the vote threshold for library construction to a 55% vote (the Wolk bill also addressed special taxes), but CLA could not get the measures beyond the Senate Floor and over to the other house for consideration due to opposition.

   This year there are approximately 30 new members of the Assembly and Senate with many of them having previously served in local government, and Assemblymember Aguiar-Curry thought the time might be right to move ACA 1 again.  Since constitutional amendments do not need to adhere to the same bill deadlines as standard legislation, Assemblymember Aguiar-Curry was able to wait a few months and move ACA 1 later in the summer, where it was heard in its first Assembly policy committee on July 12.  During her presentation, Assemblymember Aguiar-Curry noted that ACA 1 was merely a “tool for local governments and communities to make their own priorities.  There is nothing in this bill that proposes taxes.”  ACA 1 then subsequently passed the policy committee, the Assembly Appropriations Committee, and ultimately the Assembly Floor on a vote of 55 “ayes” to 12 “noes” and 13 abstentions. 

   As ACA 1 headed over to the Senate side, Assemblymember Aguiar-Curry added some additional accountability provisions to her bill, such as a 5% cap on the amount that can be used for administrative purposes from the bond, and a further requirement that local committees established for the oversight of the bond or special taxes “must receive educational training about bonds and fiscal oversight.”  Close to 50 groups, including CLA, were able to add their support on the record at the bill’s hearing on September 11 in the Senate Elections Committee, where the bill passed.  When the measure was heard on the Senate Floor for its final step in the process on September 14^th, Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) presented the bill on the floor on behalf of the author and said that “fundamentally, ACA 1 is about Democracy.”  The Senator cited a recent instance where a local fire district obtained 64% of the vote for a special tax but was unable to get beyond the current 2/3rds vote threshold.  Senator Wiener stated, “Any of us would be thrilled to get 64% in our re-election.  We would think of that as a voter mandate.  But that’s a failure in California because of the absurd two-thirds vote.”  The bill passed on a vote of 29 “ayes” to 10 “noes” and one abstention. 

   As mentioned, ACA 1 will appear on the November 2024 ballot and voters will be asked to decide if locals should have the authority to approve future bonds and special taxes with a 55% vote.  A special “thank you” to Assemblymember Aguiar-Curry for her great work and tenacity on this issue.  The following legislators also served as joint authors:  Assemblymembers Berman, Haney, Lee, and Wicks.  Principal co-authors include:  Assemblymember Gipson and Senator Wiener.  And co-authors include:  Assemblymembers Addis, Alvarez, Arambula, Bennett, Boerner, Bonta, Bryan, Juan Carrillo, Wendy Carrillo, Connolly, Friedman, Gabriel, Garcia, Grayson, Hart, Holden, Jackson, Kalra, Low, Lowenthal, McCarty, McKinnor, Stephanie Nguyen, Ortega, Papan, Pellerin, Luz Rivas, Robert Rivas, Rodriguez, Blanca Rubio, Santiago, Ting, Villapudua, Ward, Weber, Wilson, Wood, and Zbur, and Senators Blakespear, Gonzalez, Susan Rubio, Skinner, Umberg, and Wahab.

    

2. BILL SEEKS TO INCREASE LIBRARY CARD OPPORTUNITIES FOR THIRD GRADERS

A bill supported by CLA – SB 321 by Senator Angelique Ashby (D-Sacramento) - which seeks to get more public library cards into the hands of third grade students in California, is currently sitting on Governor Newsom’s desk. Senator Ashby, who previously served on the Sacramento City Council, wanted to replicate – on a larger scale - the success that one of her schools and the public library had achieved in establishing library cards for third graders in her district.  She noted in her letter to the policy committees regarding that program:  “That same year, summer reading rates skyrocketed for participating students…It is vital that we expand literacy programs with proven success statewide and give our students the resources they need to succeed.”   

CLA and the State Library were very involved in discussions regarding the policy and amendments with both Senator Ashby’s staff and the Senator herself as the bill proceeded through the legislative process.  Senator Ashby called this bill a “top 3 priority measure” for her this year and she was able to secure Senate President pro Tem Toni Atkins to serve as a co-author on the bill.  Senator Ashby, a new freshman member of the Senate, repeatedly stated to CLA in our discussions that libraries will remain a large focus for her during her time in the legislature, which is encouraging news. 

Specifically, if signed by the Governor, SB 321 will task the State Library with creation of a new program to:  

…“facilitate partnerships between local public libraries and local educational agencies (LEAs) that would provide a library card to every pupil by the third grade.”  By January 1, 2026, the State Librarian would be required to “ensure that local public libraries and LEAs have formed partnerships to enable each pupil to be issued a library card known as a ‘student success card’ by the third grade.  In addition, the bill requires the State Librarian to offer resources to assist each local public library to identify effective strategies to dispense student success cards in their communities.  The bill also requires the State Librarian to coordinate with each local public library to determine the most effective way to provide student success cards to each pupil by the third grade.”  (Source:  Assembly Appropriations Committee analysis, Aug.16, 2023)  Finally, the State Librarian would provide a report to the legislature regarding the program and its efforts by January 1, 2029, and each year after. 

Because the bill does not have corresponding State Budget funding attached to it for implementation costs, CLA may wish to work with the author and the State Library in the coming months to try to appeal to the Governor for new funding, as he and his Administration begin crafting the 2024-25 State Budget this fall.  CLA thanks Senator Ashby for her leadership on this issue and for her commitment to libraries and literacy.  And personal thanks to Crystal Miles, Migell Acosta, Scott Love, Carol Frost, and Gary Shaffer for their hard work on this bill.

Note:  While SB 321-Ashby does need to be signed by the Governor by the deadline of October 14^th for it to become law, ACA 1 does not need to be signed by the Governor.  (As mentioned, ACA 1 will appear on the November 2024 ballot.)