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The League of California Cities is the organization that represents all of the cities in the state with State government. It has research, education and lobbying responsibilities. It has a Board of Directors, departments and divisions.
The Board of directors has representatives from each of the departments and divisions, some special “caucuses” and a few “at large” positions. It is responsible for the final, official position of the League on all matters.
There are a few special interest caucuses that have been created by the League in convention and given a seat on the Board. There was another that was denied status. There are currently caucuses for Blacks, Hispanics and Asian/Pacific Islanders.
However, the convention last year denied recognition to the Gay/Lesbian Caucus. I campaigned and voted with the majority on the basis that it has no relationship to the purposes of the League and the Board is getting too large. There was an indication during the debate that if that status were granted to the gays and lesbians there would be efforts to create new caucuses for the Catholics, Baptists, Presbyterians, Mennonites, Atheists, short people, fat people, dwarfs, etc. in years to come.
Divisions are composed of cohesive geographic areas of the state. Paso Robles is in the Channel Counties Division which is composed of all of the cities in Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.
The departments are composed of various areas of government such as City Attorneys, City Managers, Public Safety, Public Works and Mayors and City Council Members. Each of these departments has educational workshops and conferences annually to keep those in that department up to date on new laws, technological advancements, and methodologies in their respective areas of government.
The lobbying arm of the League has policy committees which develop League positions on pending or proposed legislation. There are seven policy committees: Administrative Services; Environmental Quality; Revenue and Taxation; Housing, Community and Economic Development; Community Services; Employee Relations; and Public Safety.
The policy committees sometimes create subcommittees to research, develop recommendations and report back. The sub-committees report to the full committee. The full committee makes its recommendations to the League’s Board of Directors. The Board of Directors determines the current policies and positions of the organization. The staff carries out the policies when it interacts with Assembly persons, Senators and the Governor or his staff. The League has a great deal of influence on legislation.
Within months of being elected to the City Council I became involved with the League of California Cities. I secured appointments from the President of the League to two policy committees: Employee Relations and Housing, Community and Economic Development.
During the first two years I served as a back up to Councilman Heggarty on the Revenue and Taxation committee, filling in for him when family health issues precluded him from attending. This created a conflict with the Employee Relations Committee but I did my best to cover both by picking which was dealing with the more important issues that affect our citizens and being there when possible.
After two years of substituting for Mayor Pro Tem Heggarty on the Revenue and Taxation Policy Committee the President appointed me to that committee as a regular member. Heggarty had not sought re-election and a seat was available. That same year the President of the Channel Counties Division also appointed me as the division’s representative on the Housing, Community and Economic Development Committee (HCED).
In the past four years the chairmen of both the Revenue and Taxation and the HCED committees have appointed me as one of two representatives for the mayors and council members of the State of California to sit on special study and policy sub-committees. Those committees have involved homeless shelters, half-way houses placement in cities, State issues regarding low and moderate income housing, and consideration of California’s joining the other states in the United States in a uniform sales and use tax program. In addition, at the HCED meeting I made a motion to create a Water Task Force to update the League’s decades old, previous policies. The division president then appointed me to represent the division as a voting delegate on that task force.
Many of these meetings are done via conference calls with written materials sent electronically in advance. I also conduct my own independent research prior to meetings and try to confer with local and regional people affected by, or involved in, pending legislation before participating in the meetings. I was the only task force member to submit specific amendments to League policies prior to its first meeting. They set the questions within the framework established by League staff for the task force. Those meetings are in process.
I have also been selected by the Paso Robles City Council to be the official, voting City representative at the annual League convention every year that I’ve been on the Council. The first two years I did so as the alternate for a Council Member who couldn’t attend the voting session. In those sessions we defended good planning principles, public safety and resources. For the next two years I was the selected delegate. Since then, I am the only member of the City Council who is directly active with the League in all its aspects.
In the past few years we have managed to get appropriate reforms to condemnation proceedings, avoided having the State take away a great deal of our transportation and police funds, kept rehabilitation facilities focused on integration into the community rather than isolation from it, avoided having local government lose its planning rights and gotten more sensible housing allocation figures for Housing Elements of local General Plans, frequently referred to as the RENA numbers.
Through separate, individual “lobbying” efforts conducted in conjunction with meeting days on League policy I’ve been able to get State cooperation on decisions that affect us locally regarding highway improvements, low income housing and homeless services as well as local involvement in the repurposing of State property within Paso Robles for prison facilities.
I also directly testify, in person and in writing, as an individual on plans, policies, procedures and legislation at the state level. I have submitted over 100 pages of written comment, testimony and amendments to various documents and proposals on behalf of my constituency.
The direct impact on our local finances has been a savings in excess of half a million dollars and the acquisition of additional funds, in the millions, to offset State mandated impacts upon the City.
My previous experience as a registered State lobbyist on behalf of California Homeowners and my work with the California Association of Realtors in creating the Local Government Relations Committee at the State and local levels has stood me in good stead through these efforts.