Tri-Valley Councils Meeting
The City Councils from all five Tri-Valley cities came together for a meeting on May 19th, and we were joined by two of our state legislators - Senator Loni Hancock and Senator Mark DeSaulnier. We were also joined by Pat Jordan, who represents all five Tri-Valley cities in Washington, D.J. as our lobbyist.
Pat Jordan discussed the success of our current legislative agenda for the Tri-Valley, including possible funding for improvements to I-580, Highway 84, and the East Bay Communications System. We also talked about important legislation that we are collectively backing such as Congressman Garamendi’s bill to allow technology transfers at the labs and the Community Access Preservation (CAP) Act to protect the ability of community television stations such as TV30 to operate.
The discussion was very lively when discussing state issues, and there wasn’t nearly the unanimous consent as we saw when discussing our federal agenda. The local elected officials stressed the importance of protecting local revenue sources from state take-aways and for suspending certain state mandates. In response, we heard directly from the legislators about the immense challenges of balancing the state budget, given the demand for both equal/lower taxes, more services, and dramatically declining revenue. Although there were a wide variety of opinions, everyone was appreciative that the two state legislators were there to have an honest and open discussion about the present and future challenges of state and local government.
As a by-product of the meeting, Senator Hancock approached me about hosting a state budget exercise in Dublin. This will be the opportunity for Tri-Valley residents to use interactive softward and work in a simulation on how to balance the budget. Participants will be be given existing revenues, constitutionally-mandates spending obligations, and the true costs of maintaining existing programs. They will then have the opportunity to figure out how to balance the budget using a variety of options. Residents will also see first-hand the consequences of any actions taken, meaning they will see the impact on households for tax increases while also seeing the impacts to all programs that would be felt by any cuts. The group will try to reach a 2/3 consensus, similar to what a state budget needs to be enacted. The event will take place on Thursday, June 17th at 6:30 p.m. in the Dublin Library, and will also be jointly hosted by Senator DeSaulnier, Senator Ellen Corbett, and Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan. More details to follow as they become available.
