Federal Legislative Members Only

2018 Inland Action Federal Issues

February 18, 2018
Sue Harrison

Inland Action 2018 Federal Legislative Issues At-A-Glance

 

Economic Development

  • Support H.R. 4115 – PARTNERS Act (Bonamici) and S. 1599 – BUILDS Act (Kaine) to meet the growing demand for career and technical education, investing in learning and apprenticeships.

Education

  • Support the continuation and full funding of education and workforce programs authorized in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and other legislation, which serve California’s students most in need.
  • Support increased funding for Individual with Disability Education Act (IDEA) Formula Grants.
  • Support enhancements to the Pell Grant Program to help more Inland Empire students complete college and earn degrees faster.
  • Support Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) while seeking a permanent solution.

Environment

  • Support for H.R. 857 (Cook), California Off-Road Recreation and Conservation Act of 2017 and S. 32 (Feinstein) California Desert Conservation and Recreation Act of 2017.
  • Support the Water Conservation Tax Parity Act (S. 1464 – Feinstein and H.R. 448 – Huffman) which provide a federal tax exemption for water conservation rebates.
  • Support California WaterFix to upgrade California’s aging water infrastructure.

Healthcare

  • Support Protection of the 340B “Drug Discount” Program and oppose H.R. 5598 (Carter), 340B Optimization Act.
  • Support Opioid-related legislation which would increase access to substance use disorder treatment.
  • Support adequate federal funding through the Housing Choice Voucher program to provide housing assistance to people with the lowest incomes, recognizing that lack of housing is a Social Determinant of Health.

Judicial

  • Support the appointment of qualified candidates to fill existing judicial vacancies in the Central District of California, especially in the Eastern Division of that Court, serving the Inland Area.

Transportation

  • Support creation of a Regional Inland Port for User-Fee Airports in the Inland Empire to efficiently and effectively address the growing demand for international travel. Currently, all Airport Customs and Border Patrol personnel are required to be deployed out of a designated International Port of Entry (LAX). Through the establishment of a Regional Inland Port, inland airports can be staffed directly within the region they serve, without impacting current staffing at LAX – all of which could be funded through existing user fee agreements.
  • Support $65 million Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Small Starts Program Grant for the West Valley Connector Project.
  • Support legislation to prevent FAA Diversion of Local Sales Tax to Aviation Improvements.

 

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Inland Action Top Four Federal Legislative Issues 2018

 

  1.  Support the appointment of qualified candidates to fill existing judicial vacancies in the Central District of California, especially in the Eastern Division of that Court, serving the Inland Area. 

 

  1. Support creation of a Regional Inland Port for User-Fee Airports in the Inland Empire to efficiently and effectively address the growing demand for international travel. Currently, all Airport Customs and Border Patrol personnel are required to be deployed out of a designated International Port of Entry (LAX).  Through the establishment of a Regional Inland Port, inland airports can be staffed directly within the region they serve, without impacting current staffing at LAX – all of which could be funded through existing user fee agreements.  

 

  1. Support the continuation and full funding of education and workforce programs authorized in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and other legislation, which serve California’s students most in need.

 

May 4,

 

 

  1. Support H.R. 4115 – PARTNERS Act (Bonamici) and S. 1599 – BUILDS Act (Kaine) to meet the growing demand for career and technical education, investing in learning and apprenticeships.

 

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Inland Action 2018 Federal Legislative Issues – Detail

 

Economic Development Issues

 

Support H.R. 4115 – PARTNERS Act (Bonamici) and S. 1599 – BUILDS Act (Kaine) to meet the growing demand for career and technical education, investing in learning and apprenticeships.  According to an industry-wide survey released by Associated General Contractors in August 2017, 70 percent of construction firms report they are having a hard time filling hourly craft positions, which is the bulk of the construction workforce.  Contractors also view the pipeline for recruiting and training new workers as broken.  While many firms are changing the way they operate, recruit and compensate, the chronic labor shortages could have significant economic impacts absent greater investments in career and technical education.

 

Work based learning, including apprenticeship, provides individuals with paid, on-the-job work training and experience.  For companies in desperate need of new workers, work-based learning immediately puts motivated hires on site.  The approach has been shown to reinforce employee engagement, leading to better morale, higher retention and lower turnover.  And, it can help increase workplace diversity by offering a structured way for community residents to build careers with local firms. Workers, meanwhile, obtain market-driven skills and can “learn while they earn.”

 

Businesses—especially small- and medium-sized businesses—often lack the infrastructure to establish apprenticeships or work-based learning programs on their own. Industry or sector partnerships can help reduce the burdens on businesses by convening local stakeholders to collaboratively develop training related instruction, support services, and on-the-job training components of a work-based learning program.

 

H.R. 4115, PARTNERS Act (Bonamici).  This act would promote registered apprenticeships and other work-based learning programs for small and medium-sized businesses within in-demand industry sectors, through the establishment and support of industry or sector partnerships. It is a bipartisan effort seeking to promote registered apprenticeships and other work-based learning programs for small- and medium-sized businesses in demand industry sectors, through the establishment and support of industry or sector partnerships.

 

Under the PARTNERS Act, industry and sector partnerships would receive grants of up to $500,000 for two years. Recipients would convene necessary partners and coordinate a set of business services to help small- and medium-sized businesses develop and run work-based learning programs.  Partnerships would also coordinate worker support services to improve worker retention and success.

 

  1. 1599, BUILDS Act (Kaine). The purpose of this Act is to promote industry or sector partnerships that engage in collaborative planning, resource alignment, and training efforts across multiple businesses, for a range of workers employed or potentially employed by infrastructure industries, in order to encourage industry growth and competitiveness and to improve worker training, retention, and advancement. This act would provide dedicated funding to partnerships among infrastructure employers, community colleges and other stakeholders to ensure that any project receiving federal funding also has the resources to upskill workers and keep projects on track.

 

Education Issues

 

May 4, 2018

Support the continuation and full funding of education and workforce programs authorized in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and other legislation, which serve California’s students most in need.  President Trump’s FY 2019 Budget Request to Congress proposes significant cuts to funding at the Department of Education, Health and Human Services, Department of Labor, and eliminates several independent agencies that support education. Many of these programs have bipartisan congressional support and received long overdue increases in funding in 2018, especially for programs serving the students most in need, like Title I, IDEA, 21st Century Community Learning Centers, Career and Technical Education, and Impact Aid.

 

For the underserved Inland Empire, the President’s budget request for our schools is especially troubling.  The Trump budget proposal hurts students by eliminating vital K-12 education programs; diverting $1 billion to fund private school vouchers; slashing federal grant aid and sending federal dollars to low-quality programs to make college more expensive; and, continuing to woefully underfund special education.

 

The budget proposal seeks an increase in the amount of Title I-A funding for disadvantaged students held at the state level, which would result in a cut to school district Title I-A grants.  It cuts $69 million from the Impact Aid Program, which supports school districts with federally connected students.  It eliminates 17 K-12 programs, totaling $4.4 billion, including Title II-A which supports teacher professional development, the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program that supports afterschool activities, Title IV-A that provides funding for STEM, arts education, student health and safety, and the Promise Neighborhoods program.

 

The budget proposal makes it more difficult for our neediest students to attend college.  It eliminates the GEAR-UP program, which supports first generation students through outreach to low income and minority middle and high school students.  It makes college more expensive by cutting $203 billion over 10 years in student loan assistance.  It slashes TEACH Grants and Federal Work Study funding that help for low-income students afford college.  It eliminates the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, which attracts our nation’s best and brightest talent to public service careers.  And it eliminates the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant program that targets campus-based financial aid to college students with demonstrated need.

 

In addition to these cuts, the Trump budget proposal plans to eliminate or cut funding for programs that support preschool, at risk youth, volunteerism, museums and libraries, and the arts.  The budget proposal eliminates the Preschool Development Grants program, which was funded at $250 million in FY18, and which provides funding to states to align and expand high-quality preschool programs. It slashes investment in Job Corps by over $400 million, which would negatively impact the number of at risk youth served by this important career development program.  It slashes funding for the Corporation for National and Community Service, which provides grants to states and communities to support volunteerism, including the AmeriCorps Program, by $908 million or 88 percent.  It eliminates funding for the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a primary source of federal support for approximately 123,000 libraries and 35,000 museums.  And, it eliminates funding for the National Endowment for the Arts, which promotes equal access to the arts in every community across America.

 

Support increased funding for Individual with Disability Education Act (IDEA) Formula Grants.   President Trump’s FY 2019 Budget Request to Congress Funds IDEA Formula Grants at the 2017 level, which is $275 million less than FY 2018, and thus fails to adjust for the cost of inflation and results in the lowest federal share of special education per student expenditure in more than a decade.

 

When IDEA was enacted in 1975, Congress promised to provide 40 percent of the average per-pupil expenditure to pay for this expanded federal mandate. Congress has never fulfilled that promise.  For California, 40 percent of the current average per-pupil expenditure is more than $3 billion per year, with the federal government providing less than half of that amount.

 

For the underserved Inland Empire, the lack of sufficient funds for IDEA continues to place an enormous burden on California schools.   The funding provided by the federal government equates to approximately 11 percent of the total amount spent in California.  Over the past ten years, the local contributions by California school agencies for special education has increased from $2.97 billion to more than $5 billion, and the cost to provide these services continues to rise due to an increase in the population of students with high-cost disabilities.

 

It is vital that Congress invest more funding into IDEA, and that legislation is passed to fully fund IDEA (i.e. H.R. 2902, IDEA Full Funding Act).  The bipartisan IDEA Full Funding Act would require regular increases in IDEA spending to finally meet the federal commitment to America’s children and schools, relieve the burden on states and local school districts, and ensure educational opportunities for all students with disabilities.

 

Support enhancements to the Pell Grant Program to help more Inland Empire students complete college and earn degrees faster.  The Federal Pell Grant program continues to be one of the best investments in our future, helping millions of low- to moderate-income students in their pursuit of college degrees and upward mobility – including nearly 12,400 students (63%) attending the local CSU San Bernardino campus, more than 11,000 (55%) UC Riverside students and nearly 1,000 (32%) University of Redlands students in the Inland Empire region alone.

 

Pell is key to raising the economic development of our region and state by increasing the number of educated and taxpaying citizens.  More than half (about 58,000) of CSU bachelor’s degrees awarded each year are earned by Pell Grant recipients.

 

Today’s maximum Pell Grant award – $6,095 – covers the lowest share of college expenses than at any other time in the program’s history.  The FY18 Omnibus spending bill included important provisions to support students with financial need; however, under this current baseline, the maximum Pell award would remain at the 2017-18 academic year level indefinitely, and inflationary adjustments would end.  Inland Action urges Congress to:

 

  • Increase the maximum Pell Grant to keep pace with inflation;
  • Continue support for Summer Pell, which helps accelerate degree completion, reduce student debt, and open seats for more deserving students;
  • Ensure eligibility for part-time students;
  • Continue certainty in the Pell Grant program’s financial health by avoiding drawing down dollars from the current Pell surplus to fund other federal programs; and
  • Permanently index the Pell Grant to inflation to maintain the purchasing power of these awards.

 

Support Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) while seeking a permanent solution.  Inland Action encourages Congress to preserve the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program while seeking a permanent solution that offers the young people DACA is meant to safeguard with a path to lawful citizenship.

 

The CSU system enrolls more than 8,300 Dreamer students, most of whom are DACA recipients.  Of the more than 20,000 students at the local CSU San Bernardino campus, more than 800 students identify as being undocumented.  The availability of legal status through DACA has been life-changing for these students, allowing them to pursue college degrees and contribute openly to their communities and country.

 

In California alone, DACA allowed 223,000 young people to step out of the shadows.  Across the country, 97 percent of the nearly 800,000 granted DACA status are either employed or enrolled in school, with most of those pursuing bachelor’s degrees.  An analysis by New American Economy, a coalition of U.S. mayors and business leaders, reports that DACA recipients earn nearly $20 billion in income annually, pay more than $3 billion local, state and federal taxes, and contribute nearly $2 billion to Social Security and $470 million to Medicare.

 

Failure to act on legislation will continue to push thousands of individuals out of our academic institutions and the workforce.

 

 

Environmental Issues

 

Support for H.R. 857 (Cook), California Off-Road Recreation and Conservation Act of 2017 and S. 32 (Feinstein) California Desert Conservation and Recreation Act of 2017.  The California Off-Road Recreation and Conservation Act of 2017 is the House Companion to Senator Feinstein’s California Desert Conservation and Recreation Act of 2017.  Together, these bills will protect critical remaining areas of habitat and landscape connectivity in the California Desert, as well as preserve access for outdoor recreation and strike balance among desert communities.

 

Inland Action supports the passage of both these bills and applauds the bi-partisan approach of these two seasoned lawmakers in working to bring the diverse stakeholders together to form a balanced coalition supporting the sensitive ecological, economic and recreational assets of the Inland Empire’s desert regions. Years of partisan wrangling have prevented development of a comprehensive plan for this region, and these two bills represent a working document for balanced development and preservation.

 

Inland Action believes the process of developing the desert areas in this manner, in this political climate, sends the right message that the good of the region is best served by legislators committed to a cohesive vision and compromise to come together with a suitable and sustainable plan for the region.

 

This bill establishes the Mojave Trails National Monument, Sand to Snow National Monument, Alabama Hills National Scenic Area, five OHV Recreation areas, allows certain increases to Death Valley and San Gorgonio Wilderness, as well as other critical environmental areas while allowing certain mining and utility access and rights of way.

 

The support of environmental groups, off-road enthusiasts, renewable energy, mining and all forms of eco-tourism reflects years of outreach.  H.R. 857 is co-sponsored by Representative Aguilar and is anticipated to be heard on the floor in the next 30 days.  S. 32 is the companion bill on the senate side, co-sponsored by Senator Kamala Harris, and is currently held in the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests and Mining.

 

Support of this comprehensive bi-partisan approach to the multiple business, environmental and recreational interests in San Bernardino and Inyo Counties is highly recommended by Inland Action.

 

Support the Water Conservation Tax Parity Act (S. 1464 – Feinstein and H.R. 448 – Huffman) which provide a federal tax exemption for water conservation rebates.  Although many local water agencies offer incentives for participation in water conservation efficiency and water runoff management improvements, these incentives are not excluded from federal gross income and are potentially taxable.  Energy rebates are not subject to tax. The Water Conservation Tax Parity Act would extend the tax exemption that currently exists for energy conservation devices to include water conservation and stormwater management devices as well.  A similar state tax exemption for water conservation incentives already exists in California.

 

Metropolitan Water District of Southern California’s SoCal Water$mart provides rebates to residential customers to encourage the use of water-efficient products.  Program rebates in fiscal year 2016/17 included high-efficiency clothes washers, high-efficiency toilets, multi‑stream rotary sprinkler nozzles, irrigation controllers, and rain barrels. Metropolitan estimates water savings of about 2,930 acre-feet annually from more than 117,800 residential conservation device rebates funded by Metropolitan in fiscal year 2016/17.

 

In January 2014, Metropolitan added turf removal to the SoCal Water$mart Regional Program, making it available to customers throughout the service area.  More than 17 million square feet of lawn were removed last year as Metropolitan’s rebate program fulfilled the remaining rebate requests from the waiting list of applicants created after the program closed to new applicants in 2016. Metropolitan estimates water savings of about 2,300 acre-feet annually from turf removed in fiscal year 2016/17.

 

Metropolitan’s commercial conservation programs provide financial incentives for water-saving devices and projects to businesses and institutions throughout Southern California. Metropolitan estimates savings of about 5,000 acre-feet annually from commercial conservation programs in fiscal year 2016/17.

 

For fiscal year 2018/19, Metropolitan has revamped their conservation rebate program and made available $50 million toward landscape transformation incentives.  This $50 million for turf removal incentives is planned to be available on an annual basis.

 

This act is critical to water conservation programs throughout Southern California:

  • Southern California water agencies have invested millions of dollars in water conservation rebates for their customers.
  • These rebates assist residential and commercial customers in reducing their water usage.
  • Continued conservation better positions Southern California for a reliable water future.
  • Unlike energy conservation rebates, water conservation rebates are not currently tax deductible.
  • This delegation supports a federal tax exemption for water conservation rebates to encourage additional water savings.

 

Support California WaterFix to upgrade California’s aging water infrastructure.  The critical supply of water that moves through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta remains vulnerable to a host of issues.  It is critical that the California WaterFix be implemented to ensure the reliability of this water source to the Inland Empire. Inland Action strongly supports administrative, legislative, and funding actions that ensure more reliable long-term water delivery for the State Water Project, including the implementation of California WaterFix (formerly called the Bay Delta Conservation Plan) and California EcoRestore.

 

Southern California imports water from Northern California and, during wet years, is able to store water for drought management.  A single wet winter in Northern California can replenish much of the Southland’s storage network.  However, the ability to reliably move water from Northern California to Southern California is at risk due to aging water infrastructure and environmental challenges.  To ensure a consistent, ongoing supply of water for Southern California, modernizing the water system and restoring the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is essential.  Federal and State agencies, water agencies and other interested parties are working collaboratively toward a comprehensive plan to protect public water supplies for California and improve the health of the Delta’s ecosystem.  A proposal advanced in April 2015 by the Brown and Obama administrations marks an evolution in these planning efforts, now called the California WaterFix and California EcoRestore. The proposal seeks to advance water system and ecosystem improvements on separate but coordinated tracks.

 

Highlights of the California WaterFix are:

  • Constructing three new intakes on the northern Sacramento River to reliably capture high-quality water where fish are not typically found;
  • State-of-the-art fish screens at intake points to better protect salmon and other fish species that do manage to find their way to these areas;
  • Twin tunnel pipelines, each 40 feet in diameter and 150 feet below the ground, to transport the water to the existing California Aqueduct system in the southern Delta; and
  • Coordinated operations with existing pumps in the southern Delta to maximize reliability and reduce environmental conflict.

 

Key benefits of the California WaterFix are:

  • Fixing aging and outdated infrastructure in the Delta that is currently reliant on earthen levees;
  • Reducing the risk of water supply interruptions from earthquakes, floods and other natural disasters;
  • Improving California’s ability to capture and store water during wet periods; and
  • Contributing to the recovery of fish and wildlife species in the Delta.

 

Key Actions and Next Steps for State and Federal Agencies:  …..  ::::::

California WaterFix made significant progress in 2017 as State and federal agencies approved key permits and water agencies from around the State committed to significant financial investment. State and federal agencies have completed a comprehensive environmental review of the project and issued the final Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Study for California WaterFix.

 

In April 2018, Metropolitan made a historic decision to invest $10.8 billion, nearly 65 percent of the project cost, to allow for the construction of the full California WaterFix project to modernize the State’s water system as originally proposed and studied.  In early May 2018, the Santa Clara Valley Water District, another State Water Project contractor, also joined in support of the project with their board voting to invest $65 million.  The estimated total cost for construction of California WaterFix is about $17 billion.

 

Metropolitan will be the primary investor in the project to modernize the State’s aging water delivery system. This investment is necessary to prevent a far more expensive, disruptive water future that would result if the ability to rely on this Northern California supply is lost due to climate change and other natural risks.  It is expected that Metropolitan would recoup some of its investment by selling or leasing capacity in the tunnels to allow water deliveries or exchanges for other parties, including Central Valley agricultural water users.

 

According to a cost-benefit analysis of WaterFix commissioned by Department of Water Resources (DWR), urban water agencies could see $2 billion – $4 billion in net benefits from the project and agricultural agencies could see several hundred million dollars in net benefits. It also found that WaterFix costs less for urban agencies than other water supplies such as desalination or recycling.  DWR intends to issue a draft supplemental Environmental Impact Report (EIR) in June 2018 and a final supplemental EIR in October 2018.  Work on WaterFix would begin once the environmental review and permits are complete.

 

State and federal agencies will continue negotiations with CVP contractors to increase their level of investment in the full 9,000-cfs twin tunnel project.

 

Moving and storing water from Northern California is only one part of Southern California’s comprehensive water supply strategy.  Southern California is committed to an increasing focus on new local supplies by investing hundreds of millions of dollars in programs such as recycled water, improved groundwater management, storm water capture, and aggressive improvements in conservation.  Investments in local supplies and supporting the California WaterFix to completion are critical to protecting the reliability of our water supply and the economy for years to come.

 

California Waterfix is critical because:

  • Modernization of the State’s water delivery system in the Bay Delta is critical to the millions of Californians who rely on it for water.
  • California water agencies stand ready to invest billions of dollars to improve the water conveyance system in the Delta to help achieve the goals of water supply reliability and restoration of the ecosystem.
  • The federal government should continue to make the California WaterFix a key Administration objective and encourage implementation of the State’s “preferred alternative” as expeditiously as possible.
  • California WaterFix will improve Southern California water supply reliability and the Delta’s ecosystem.
  • Construction of WaterFix is estimated to generate tens of thousands of jobs in California during the construction period. It will also generate billions in net economic benefits statewide.
  • The business community strongly supports California WaterFix and California EcoRestore.

 

Healthcare Issues

Support Protection of  the 340B “Drug Discount” Program and oppose H.R. 5598 (Carter), 340B Optimization Act.  With bipartisan support, Congress created the 340B drug discount program in 1992 to enable safety-net hospitals, community-based clinics and other providers that serve low-income, vulnerable patients to purchase outpatient medications at a discount from drug manufacturers.  Hospitals use the savings from this program to fund vital patient care services including mobile health clinics, chemotherapy infusion centers, Hepatitis C treatment and inner-city primary care centers.  Patients benefit when health care providers are able to offer a more comprehensive list of services that can detect and even prevent life-threatening conditions.  For some smaller and rural hospitals, savings from the 340B program can literally mean the difference between staying open and having to close.

 

No State or federal dollars are involved with this program. Drug manufacturers provide these discounts directly to hospitals and other providers.

 

Although it has operated successfully for more than 25 years, some in Congress and the drug manufacturers seek to limit the scope of the program and add administratively burdensome requirements to participating providers.  Hospitals and other health care experts disagree, noting that the program has worked well for nearly a quarter century, and additional safeguards can be put in place to maintain program integrity.  In California, there have been no findings of fraud or abuse in this program.

 

Last year, hospitals that participated in the 340B program were dealt a significant blow in the reimbursement for 340B drugs in the annual Outpatient Prospective Payment System rule.  The final rule reduced reimbursement for 340B drugs by 28.5%.

 

According to a recent study by Dobson DeVanzo Associates, the 340B drug discount program represents about 2 percent of drug spending in the U.S.  The drug industry spends four times as much in its annual advertising budget.

 

The 340B drug discount program is a lifeline for vulnerable patients and local communities.  New burdensome reporting requirements could dismantle a bipartisan federal program that has been working well and making people healthy for more than a quarter century.   Limiting this program conflicts with efforts to expand health care services to vulnerable populations.  It is a step backward, when we should be moving forward.

 

Inland Action seeks Congressional support to protect the 340B program and opposed H.R. 5598, “340B Optimization Act” (Carter).  H.R. 5598 creates additional reporting requirements for 340B DSH hospitals for outpatient charity care and outpatient revenue data.  Hospitals already report on the services they provide for low-income patients. This bill focuses only on charity care and ignores under-reimbursed.

 

Support Opioid-related legislation which would increase access to substance use disorder treatment.  Deaths due to overdoses of opioids and other drugs continue to ravage American communities. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that every day in 2016, 1,000 Americans were treated for opioid misuse in emergency departments daily, and tragically 115 Americans died from opioid misuse.  In total 42,000 lives were lost in 2016, due to opioid overdoses, which accounted for over 66 percent of all drug-overdose deaths in the country, a death rate that is even higher than deaths attributed to car accidents.

 

While the impacts to Americans’ health outcomes are staggering, the opioid crisis has also negatively impacted society in numerous ways, such as causing a contraction in the country’s labor force by almost one million workers between 1999 and 2015, which resulted in a loss of $702 billion in economic output.  In 2015 alone, the total economic burden of the opioid epidemic was estimated to be $504 billion.  One recent analysis found that the annual cost to private sector employers for the treatment of opioid addiction and overdoses has increased more than eight-fold since 2004, a figure that is expected to continue to rise as more than one in five persons aged 55 to 64 had at least one opioid prescription in 2016.

 

Patients served by Medicaid and Medicare are significantly impacted by the opioid crisis, given that the programs together will cover roughly one in three Americans this year.  As the two largest health care payers in America, both programs play key roles in identifying at-risk beneficiaries, providing treatment, and decreasing overdose deaths.

 

The following statistics for 2016 document the severe impact of opioid addiction in the Inland Empire:

  • 150 people died from an opioid overdose;
  • 430 were hospitalized due to an opioid overdose; and
  • Over 3 million opioid prescriptions were written.

 

Congress is to be commended for approving the additional $4 billion in new opioid funding as part of the omnibus spending bill, and it is recognized that there are a host of other opioid-related bills running through both chambers that seek to further help address the crisis.

 

Inland Action respectfully urges your support for measures or inclusionary language that would:

  • Increase access to substance use disorder (SUD) treatment through Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) programs and Telehealth services;
  • Increase care coordination by aligning SUD treatment record standards with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) standards; and
  • Increase the SUD treatment provider workforce through enhanced loan repayment programs.

 

Support adequate federal funding through the Housing Choice Voucher program to provide housing assistance to people with the lowest incomes, recognizing that lack of housing is a Social Determinant of Health.  Inland Action, California health plans, and hospital systems recognize the importance of housing as a social determinant of health.  Housing affordability, availability and increasing number of homeless members in the community spotlight the need for adequate funding support.

 

Recent Point-In-Time Count results show a 13% increase in the homeless population in San Bernardino County. There are several emerging and promising cross-sector initiatives that will rely on federal housing vouchers as part of the partnerships necessary to achieve better results for the people and communities we serve. Locally, health plans are partnering with public housing agencies/authorities to provide housing and supportive services to homeless people with chronic health care conditions. Through the use of the Housing Choice Voucher program, members are provided permanent housing in the community with the necessary supportive services to help them regain their health, secure sustaining employment and provide a stable housing environment for children working toward educational attainment.  Providing housing with individualized supportive services is anticipated to result in a 10-30% decrease in healthcare costs.

 

Inland Action respectfully requests your support for adequate federal funding to leverage innovative partnerships that provide coordinated housing, healthcare and social assistance to our vulnerable community members.

 

Judicial Issue

 

Support the appointment of qualified candidates to fill existing judicial vacancies in the Central District of California, especially in the Eastern Division of that Court, serving the Inland Area.  The Central District of California is the most-populous district in the county, serving approximately 19.6 million people.  Six (22%) of the Court’s twenty-seven authorized Article III judgeships are currently vacant.  The longest of these vacancies dates to August 2014.  There are no nominations pending for any of these vacancies.

 

The lack of judicial resources has caused extreme strain not only on the judges serving under greatly increased caseloads, but also on the litigants and attorneys whose cases are delayed because there are not enough judges to hear them.  Filling these vacancies with qualified judges as quickly as possible is of the utmost importance.

 

The issue is especially acute in the Eastern Division of the Court.  The Eastern Division serves the Inland area of Riverside and San Bernardino Counties, home to 4.5 million people covering 27,408 square miles.  The Eastern Division is comparable in population to the State of Kentucky, and in land area to the State of West Virginia.  Kentucky and West Virginia each have two federal districts, with nine and eight authorized judgeships, respectively.

 

By comparison, there is presently only one District Judge sitting in the Eastern Division; one of the six Central District vacancies is in the Eastern Division.  The number of cases arising in the Eastern Division far exceeds the capacity of a single judge to preside over.  The Court reassigns cases among its three divisions (Eastern in Riverside, Southern in Santa Ana, and Western in Los Angeles) to help get the Eastern Division cases heard and to keep the number of cases per judge roughly equal.  However, that means approximately 75 percent of the cases filed in the Eastern Division each month are currently reassigned to a judge in either Los Angeles or Santa Ana.  This represents a substantial burden on the parties and their attorneys, who must travel to those courthouses for hearings and trials, resulting in significant additional time and expense in resolving their cases.  Moreover, because juries are drawn from the local communities, these parties also face trial by a jury drawn not from their own communities, but the communities of the presiding court to which their case was reassigned.

 

Recent studies from the Judicial Conference of the United States show the need for additional judgeships in the Central District of California, but the first priority must be to vet, nominate, and confirm qualified candidates for the six existing vacancies, especially the current vacancy in the Eastern Division.  The good news is that there is already a well-qualified candidate who has applied for the Eastern Division position.  Sheri Pym has been a United States Magistrate Judge in the Eastern Division since 2011.  Prior to being appointed as a Magistrate Judge, she served as the head of the United States Attorney’s branch office for the Eastern Division.  She has strong community support and would be a terrific Article III judge.  Inland Action has officially supported her appointment.

 

Transportation Issues

 

  • Support creation of a Regional Inland Port for User-Fee Airports in the Inland Empire to efficiently and effectively address the growing demand for international travel. Currently, all Airport Customs and Border Patrol personnel are required to be deployed out of a designated International Port of Entry (LAX). Through the establishment of a Regional Inland Port, inland airports can be staffed directly within the region they serve, without impacting current staffing at LAX – all of which could be funded through existing user fee agreements. 

 

The Inland Empire is located in the heart of Southern California, with easy access to all of the broader region’s destinations.  As with freeway congestion in the region, demand for international travel continues to grow at a rapid pace due to the region’s large and diverse population (4.7 million people and growing) of active travelers, flying at a rate above the national average. This diverse population is serviced by User-Fee Airports throughout the region, all of which have been experiencing increased demand for international traffic and straining scarce Custom and Border Protection (CBP) personnel who must drive long distances, through increasing traffic, in order to service these areas from the LAX port of entry.

 

In recent years, greater Inland Empire User-Fee Airports have completed substantial investments in the infrastructure and facilities required to support growing international demand in the region. These include development of Federal Inspection Facilities (FIS) and capabilities at John Wayne Airport (SNA), Ontario International Airport (ONT), Palm Springs Airport (PSP), and San Bernardino International Airport (SBD).  Southern California Logistics Airport (VCV) supports cargo and military operations.  Most recently, Ontario International Airport gained local control of its operations from Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA).  As part of the transition from LAWA to an independent authority, ONT became a User-Fee Airport to secure CBP officers to support international passenger and cargo operations.  Earlier this year, China Airlines shifted a daily direct flight from LAX-Taiwan to ONT-Taiwan because of overwhelming market demand in the region.  In addition, ONT, PSP, VCV, and SBD have established seasonal and itinerant General Aviation and charter operations.  Whether general aviation, passenger, cargo, or bonded warehousing, each of these airports continues to grow their capabilities to keep up with steadily rising demand centered east of Los Angeles. Many have expressed interest in proceeding with a CBP national hiring, and potential relocation posting, to begin to fill these positions.

 

Compounding the situation is the unprecedented growth at LAX, our established Port of Entry. With multiple carriers, expansion efforts, and infrastructure programs underway and scheduled to increase over the near term, LAX CBP staff are more constrained than ever before. To address these issues, a Regional Inland Port is being proposed to efficiently and effectively support the user-fee airports located in the Inland Empire. The Inland Empire’s collective international facilities could play a pivotal role in the region, while providing much needed relief for LAX.

 

In a collaborative effort to accommodate international traffic, CBP could utilize Inland Airports such as ONT and SBD as an Inland Port.  Currently, all airport CBP personnel are required to be deployed out of a designated International Port of Entry (LAX).  Through the establishment of a Regional Inland Port, our inland airports can be staffed directly within the region they serve, without impacting current staffing at LAX – all of which are funded through existing user fee agreements.  This centralized point of deployment would provide CBP much more efficient access to areas far removed from LAX.  With compliant User-Fee facilities, CBP could support the region’s quickly growing demand at ONT, SBD, VCV, PSP, and even LAS (McCarran International Airport), while minimizing drive times of CBP personnel, and travelers from the region.

 

Inland Airports have been loyal members in CBP’s User-Fee program for years and are willing and able to provide compliant office and headquarters facilities for CBP.  A regional Inland Port, centrally located, would maximize CBP resources for the benefit of travelers entering Southern California and officers working at any one of the region’s airports.  This serves to help alleviate CBP staffing constraints at LAX and other areas over the near and long term due to scalability.

 

Multiple airports in the region are seeking to expand CBP staffing. As national recruitment programs are underway, Inland Empire Airports request the ability to utilize CBP staffing through the existing User-Fee agreements, while seeking a coordinated national hiring and relocation effort for near- and long-term sustainability across this region serving all present and proposed participants.

 

  • Inland Empire User-Fee Airports demonstrate strong support for a regional staff utilization program with existing staff. This would maximize CBP staff resources while reducing costs throughout User-Fee airports in Southern California; designed not to cannibalize current and programmed staff resources at LAX – smart growth, benefitting the region.
  • The Inland Empire has a strong record as a “model” for new entrants into the User-Fee program.
  • Major Infrastructure and Facility investments have already been made – over $130M between SBD and ONT.

 

Inland Empire Demographics.  According to the US Census Bureau data obtained from Woods & Poole, Inc., the Inland Empire has experienced significant growth in both population and economic categories.  Table 1 depicts the Inland Empire’s population, which has grown more than 43% since 2000, far outpacing that of both California and the United States growth averages. Additional economic indicators from earnings, to retail sales, to gross regional product growth have all far outpaced the growth in both California and the United States. This growth in the Inland Empire demonstrates a continued need and demand for more choice in air service, especially regarding international service.

 

 

Table 1: Inland Empire Demographics Comparison
  Inland Empire MSA   California United States
2017 2000 % Change   % Change % Change
Population 4,698,830 3,277,022 43.4%   17.0% 15.0%
Total Earnings (millions) $86,482 $55,817 52.5%   27.1% 27.5%
Personal Income (millions) $153,755 $92,758 64.8%   39.2% 36.4%
Mean Household Income $115,638 $72,684 58.2%   60.1% 54.0%
Retail Sales (millions) $61,943 $37,867 63.6%   32.9% 25.8%
Gross Regional Product (millions) $143,895 $87,971 63.6% 35.9% 35.2%

ONT is 56 miles from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), while SBD is a full 77 miles from LAX, which is the same distance from LAX as Stockton (SCK) is to SFO. Without traffic, the market is over a 90-minute drive, but regularly exceeds two and a half hours due to Los Angeles’ infamous, unpredictable traffic and gridlock. LAX is the primary international airport utilized by Inland Empire residents, but as the Inland Empire continues to grow, as well as growth in the greater Los Angeles area, the number of available seats per resident continues to be squeezed.

 

Table 2 shows the population and seat comparisons by MSA for each market in the top 20; the Inland Empire has a population of nearly 4.7 million with just 0.6 outbound seats per resident. This is by far the lowest percentage of seats per resident of any top 20 MSA in the United States. The next lowest MSA is Philadelphia at 3.0, providing six (6) times the number of available seats vs. the Inland Empire (see below).

 
Rank Metropolitan Statistical Area 2017 Population 2017 Outbound Seats 2010 Outbound Seats 2016 Seats/Person
1 New York City – Newark, NJ/NY 20,316,601 82,351,008 67,928,505 4.1
2 Los Angeles – Long Beach – Orange County, CA 13,477,854 59,152,824 44,029,847 4.4
3 Chicago, IL 9,760,037 60,689,661 53,278,031 6.2
4 Dallas/Ft Worth, TX 7,302,351 49,832,098 41,377,050 6.8
5 Houston, TX 6,770,582 34,463,160 31,272,360 5.1
6 Washington, DC 6,277,903 28,238,641 27,721,562 4.5
7 Philadelphia, PA 6,137,047 18,439,566 20,445,144 3.0
8 Miami – Ft Lauderdale – Palm Beach, FL 6,113,966 50,155,894 38,984,134 8.2
9 Atlanta, GA 5,866,725 61,410,945 54,312,644 10.5
10 Boston, MA 4,783,093 23,880,119 18,121,124 5.0
11 Phoenix, AZ 4,718,543 27,142,494 25,500,212 5.8
12 Inland Empire (Ontario, Riverside, San Bernardino, CA) 4,698,830 2,759,944 3,251,912 0.6
13 San Francisco – Oakland, CA 4,632,894 41,622,112 30,262,425 9.0
14 Detroit, MI 4,294,929 21,303,049 20,240,191 5.0
15 Seattle, WA 3,791,362 27,427,278 19,079,181 7.2
16 Minneapolis – St Paul, MN 3,609,803 22,281,803 20,256,871 6.2
17 San Diego, CA 3,344,891 13,734,411 10,690,344 4.1
18 Tampa Bay, FL 3,022,138 12,548,812 10,811,256 4.2
19 Baltimore, MD 2,856,713 16,964,659 14,470,685 5.9
20 St Louis, MO 2,845,618 9,609,860 8,337,593 3.4

 

 

Support $65 million Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Small Starts Program Grant for the West Valley Connector Project.  The Omnibus Budget Act passed by Congress in March of 2018 includes $2.54 billion for Capital Investment Grants (CIG), including $400 million for Small Starts projects.  Small Starts is the funding source that San Bernardino County Transportation Authority (SBCTA) is pursuing for the West Valley Connector project.

 

SBCTA proposes to implement bus rapid transit (BRT) in a 19-mile corridor from Pomona to Rancho Cucamonga. Currently called the West Valley Connector BRT, the project will operate as part of Omnitrans’ sbX BRT service. The project includes the purchase of 60-foot articulated vehicles, 22 new stations, a vehicle maintenance facility, and transit signal priority. SBCTA estimates the capital cost of the project is $219 million and expects to seek $65 million of that from the Small Starts program.

 

The West Valley Connector Project (WVC) is a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line located in the Cities of Pomona, Montclair, Ontario, Rancho Cucamonga, and Fontana and consists of a hybrid of alignments identified in the 2010 Omnitrans sbX System Corridors plan. The purpose of the Project is to improve the speed and quality of public transit service in the western San Bernardino Valley. The San Bernardino County Transportation Authority (SBCTA) intends to construct the WVC, which will then be operated by Omnitrans as approved by both the SBCTA Board and Omnitrans Board in January 2017. Phase 1 consists of connecting the Pomona Metrolink Station on the Riverside Line to Ontario International Airport via Holt Boulevard and the Rancho Cucamonga Metrolink Station on the San Bernardino Line via Milliken Avenue, terminating at Victoria Gardens on Day Creek Boulevard south of Main Street.

 

Support legislation to prevent FAA Diversion of Local Sales Tax to Aviation Improvements.    Support legislation or an amendment to the FAA Reauthorization bill to clarify that FAA’s interpretation of aviation fuel tax cannot divert locally-approved transactions taxes from transportation projects to aviation improvements.  Potential loss of funding is triggered by a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rulemaking finalized on December 8, 2014, (79 FR 66282) that misinterprets a statute related to taxes on aviation fuel.  As congress develops a framework to consider an FAA Reauthorization bill in 2018, Inland Action requests inclusion of language to affirm that it was never the intent of Congress to divert local, voter-approved transportation sales tax revenue to airports.  This change will preserve the trust California voters have placed in their local counties and transportation agencies when approving local voter-approved transportation tax measures. 

 

As stated in the FAA’s proposed rule (78FR 699789), “the agency interpreted the provisions of Sections 47107(b) and 47133 to apply to any state or local tax on aviation fuel, whether the tax was specifically targeted at aviation fuel or was a general sales tax on products that included aviation fuel without exemption.  Also, FAA interpreted these statutes to make no distinction between taxes imposed by a local government or state government agency.”  This interpretation of “local tax on aviation fuel” which includes any state or local sales tax is directly contrary to what Congress intended in the FAA statute.  As stated in the conference report for the 1987 amendments to the FAA statute, the requirement that local taxes on aviation fuel must be spent on airports “is intended to apply to local fuel taxes only, and not to other taxes imposed by local governments, or to state taxes.”

 

FAA’s interpretation reverses a long-standing view held by state and local tax officials alike that “local taxes on aviation fuel” is limited to fuel taxes and does not include sales taxes that extend to aviation fuel.  The impact of the FAA’s change in interpretation represents a major intrusion of federal power over state and local decision-making, including the explicit will of the voters with respect to voter-approved measures, raising significant constitutional questions of federalism.  When voters approve a tax increase, they expect all the revenue generated from that tax to be spent as described in the ballot measure.  The FAA ruling would divert significant proceeds from these voter-approved measures to purposes not authorized by the voter.

 

Lastly, the ruling imposes a significant unfunded mandate on California and its local agencies due to the fact that the sale of aviation fuel is not segregated from other taxable sources.  Consequently, compliance will require a complicated new tracking system.  Clarification is required to state that general sales taxes, particularly local voter-approved taxes, are not subject to 49 U.S.C. Sections 47107(b)(1) and 47133(a) and are consistent with the original intent of Congress that “local tax on aviation fuel” is limited to fuel excise taxes on aviation fuel.

 

Request:  Re-establish Congressional intent and 29 years of federal interpretation that state and local sales tax measures of general application are not the same as aviation fuel excise taxes and that states and localities should be able to use those revenues as approved by the voters.

Concerns: (1) This FAA rulemaking is contrary to states’ rights and is an assault on state and local control of their general application sales tax measures.  (2)  Many local governments have voter approved sales tax measures for specific purposes such as transportation funding.  This rulemaking will overturn the decision of local voters in taxing themselves for specific purposes.  (3)  Due to the fact that sales taxes on aviation fuel are not segregated from other taxable sources, the burden placed on states and local governments to implement a complicated new tracking system is onerous and unjustified.

 

Solution:  Legislation is required to clarify that local voter-approved taxes are not subject to 49 US.C. Sections 47107(b)(1) and 47133(a) and that consistent with the original intent of Congress “local tax on aviation fuel” means specific local fuel excise taxes on aviation fuel.  One vehicle to accomplish this result is to support the proposed Lowenthal Napolitano amendment to the FAA reauthorization bill which would exempt from the 2014 FAA rule voter approved general sales taxes in effect prior to enactment of this FAA bill.