CCCA Newsletter

2021 Newsletter

President's Message

Dear Contract Cities Family,

This past year, our cities have faced countless challenges but, together, we continue powering through the pandemic. Our Contract Cities staff is working diligently to support and develop programming that directly addresses the most pressing issues facing our cities. I appreciate those of you who have been participating in our virtual events, including Board of Directors Meetings, City Managers Meetings, the Fall Educational Summit, and the recent Sacramento Legislative Tour. These events featured industry experts to discuss Project Roomkey, COVID-19 and vaccine distribution, homelessness, and public safety. Our discussions helped broaden our knowledge and strengthen collaborative partnerships between city leaders and key decision-makers. In these conversations, we identified priority challenges, developed workable solutions to solve them and strengthen regional and statewide partnerships.

This January, our virtual 54^th Annual Sacramento Legislative Tour provided a unique opportunity to engage with elected leaders in Sacramento whose work is directly impacting our communities. State legislators gave a preview of the upcoming session and discussed their legislative priorities. We were honored to host Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis, Speaker Anthony Rendon, State Controller Betty Yee, and key legislators representing diverse California communities. We also received a special message from Governor Gavin Newsom. (For those who missed it, all sessions are available on our YouTube channel!) The tour was a valuable opportunity for municipal officials to hear directly from decision-makers and for legislators to gain city leaders’ perspectives as they craft policy. The Legislative Committee is continuing to review proposed legislation and the implications it might have on our cities. I urge you to join these robust conversations (see a full list of upcoming events below) and learn about the policy-making process!

Since its inception, the Public Safety Working Group (PSWG) has met with Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva, Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón, representatives from the Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs (ALADS), and Los Angeles County Professional Peace Officers Association (PPOA), in addition to hearing from key leaders and community members who have shared their experience and advice on working to improve and reimage law enforcement and public safety in our cities. These groups and individuals provided PSWG members with diverse expertise to formulate a set of public safety recommendations that the Association will be making to the LA County Sheriff's Department, the LA County Board of Supervisors, and the office of the LA County District Attorney. We are finalizing our recommendations and will continue to share our progress with each of you. Our goal is to create meaningful improvements in transparency and delivery of services related to public safety for the benefit of our residents and community stakeholders.

The CCCA Housing Subcommittee of the Legislative Committee has developed a housing proposal that will deliver solutions to tackle California’s housing affordability crisis. The proposal calls for the establishment of a Regional Housing Trust Fund, where all local governments can participate and procure funds for the creation of affordable housing. We have met with legislators and regional stakeholders to develop a proposal to introduce the bill and garner necessary support during this legislative session. I am grateful to our Legislative Chair, Stacey Armato, and all the members of the Housing Subcommittee for their unwavering efforts with this undertaking.

This year has been one that we never would have imagined, and yet I am humbled by the camaraderie and collaboration we have been able to maintain, even at a distance. Until we can meet again in person, Contract Cities will continue to work for you, your city, and the people who make your communities special. Your voice is crucial as we advocate for our cities and protect local control.

Thank you for your membership and dedication to Contract Cities.

Yours in Service,

Lindsey P. Horvath

President

Executive Director's Message

With 2020 behind us, we are looking forward to seeing you all again in person someday very soon. Unfortunately, we’re not quite there yet so we’re going to have to continue our virtual sessions until we get the all-clear.

We’re already conducting our Virtual Local Advocacy Days which focus on our partners in Los Angeles County. We are planning for a Virtual Annual Municipal Seminar with our second-ever Virtual Installation Banquet. We are planning some surprises for this year to make the event more fun than just sitting in front of a computer screen for an hour. Stay tuned for announcements on sessions and some fun activities that I’m sure you’ll all like!

Our staff has been hard at work to provide you all with informative, educational, and relevant sessions over these past few weeks. It’s no easy task to plan this many events but it’s our obligation to you all to ensure you are getting the most value of your membership. As such, I will be giving them a small break this summer once we complete our Virtual Annual Municipal Seminar. We will still host our standard meetings but will take a short hiatus from some of our other virtual events as we plan for an in-person Fall Educational Seminar.

Finally, I want to personally thank each of you for being so engaged during these difficult times. We are almost out of the woods but there is still a lot of work left to do. As we transition back to some semblance of normalcy, we will continue to rely on every one of you to be engaged as we move into the later months of 2021 and into 2022. You are the reason we have been so successful. Until we meet again, please stay safe and healthy.

Marcel Rodarte

Executive Director

Upcoming Virtual Events

Legislative Updates

Upcoming Legislative Deadlines and Key Hearings:

03/18/2021 - SB 9 Senate Housing Committee

03/25/2021 - Spring Recess begins upon adjournment.

04/05/2021 - Legislature reconvenes from Spring Recess.

04/30/2021 - Last day for policy committees to meet and report to fiscal committees’ fiscal bills introduced in their house.

05/07/2021 - Last day for policy committees to meet and report to the floor non-fiscal bills introduced in their house.

Bill Counts by House of Origin

2021 Assembly – 1,630 bills

2021 Senate – 842 bills

2021 Total – 2,472 bills

One of those 2,472 in the legislature, we are happy to report, is a California Contract Cities Association sponsored bill. SB 809, authored by Senator Ben Allen went into print on Friday, February 19^th as a spot bill, and the official language was submitted to the Legislative Counsel on Friday, February 26^th. Following is what was submitted on Friday: (We will keep our membership posted once the language is published and request your assistance in securing more co-authors and endorsements.

Government Code Section 65583

(a) A local government shall participate in a regional housing trust fund, managed by a regional joint powers authority, a regional council of governments or a non-profit benefit corporation. The regional housing trust fund shall comply with eligibility requirements so it may receive state matching funds as set forth by Chapter 13 (Sections 50842.1 – 50843.5, inclusive) of the Health and Safety Code.

(b) A local government may satisfy part of its requirement to identify a zone or zones suitable for residential development pursuant to paragraph (3) by adopting and implementing a multijurisdictional regional agreement.

(c) The multijurisdictional regional agreement shall clearly outline which jurisdiction is contributing suitable land for residential development and which jurisdiction or jurisdictions are contributing funding for that development.

(d) Each member jurisdiction of a multijurisdictional regional agreement shall describe in its housing element the following:

(1) How the proposed agreement will meet the jurisdiction’s housing need for a designated income level. No more than half of the development capacity shall be given to each jurisdiction as credit towards its housing needs.

(2) The jurisdiction’s contribution to a housing development, including the amount and source of the funding that the jurisdiction contributes.

(e) The aggregate capacity claimed by the participating jurisdictions in their housing elements shall not exceed the actual capacity of the development.

(f) The Legislature finds and declares that ensuring the adequate production of housing is a matter of statewide concern and is not a municipal affair as that term is used in Section 5 of Article XI of the California Constitution. Therefore, this section applies to all cities, including charter cities.

(g) These provisions shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2030, unless a later enacted statute deletes or extends that date.

Associate Member Spotlight

CCCA would like to thank our Platinum and Gold Associate Members for their partnership and support of Contract Cities! Members provide invaluable services that improve the vitality of our cities.

Platinum