As this year’s election year legislative session comes to a close yet another good government bill has been left stranded in Sacramento. The Senate Appropriations Committee currently holds AB 1634, authored by Assemblyman Kevin McCarthy with strong support from Secretary of State Bruce McPherson (pictured below), in suspense.
AB 1634 would fully reimburse county governments for the costs they incurred during last year’s Special Election with no impact on current or future budgets – as the money has already been set aside. When the Special Election was called, Secretary McPherson recommended that the proclamation include language to reimburse the counties for their costs. California has held a large number of elections in the last 5 years and county governments are feeling the squeeze.
If this bill does not pass, some counties are going to have to make cuts to important services such as law enforcement, health services and infrastructure to cover their costs. County governments should absolutely be reimbursed.
Yesterday, Secretary McPherson issued his second public statement this month urging on the Legislature to pass this important bill. It is attached below. I hope the legislature listens and provides our counties with this necessary funding. The legislature has only a day and half to act – and send this much needed relief to the counties.
Of course, Secretary McPherson and Assemblyman McCarthy should be applauded for their efforts to fight for the needs of county governments.
But we also have to ask ourselves, why is this bill being held up? I certainly asked myself that question, and then started nosing around.
Near as I can tell, the only reason why AB 1634 is not sitting on the Governor’s desk (where he would sign it into law) is the Democrat Senate President Pro-Tem Don Perata (to the right) is ‘holding it hostage’ — because it is something that the Governor wants, and probably because he is still holding a grudge about the fact that there was a special election in the first place.
If this is true, then Parata needs to put the reimbursement of the counties ahead of a personal, petty agenda. If it’s not true — then perhaps Parata will offer an explanation of why this seemingly non-controversial bill can’t seem to get out of "his" Senate…