Tuesday, July 11, 2023
Primary and Alternate Members Only- Organizational Committee Reports: Appointments, Legislative & Membership
Meeting In-Person and via ZOOM
Minutes
Present: Megan Barajas, Deborah Barmack, Carole Beswick, Mike Burrows, Ken Coate, Sam Gibbs, Otis Greer, Mark Kaenel, Mike Layne, Bill Lemann, Darcy McNaboe, Miguel Mendoza, Dan Murphy, Robert Nava, Norm Nunez, Cat Pritchett, Thomas Rice, Michael Rivera, LaShe Rodriguez, Kristine Scott, Eric Ustation, Lupe Valdez, Michael Wells, and Ray Wolfe.
Announcements: 1) San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Discus, will be the speaker at the League of Cities IE Division Meeting on Thursday, July 20, 2023, at the GHRC, ROP Classroom located at 18901 Institution Rd., San Bernardino, CA beginning at 12:30 p.m. He will discuss the Fentanyl crisis and Laura’s Law. Please RSVP to Laura at Lvarela@calcities.org 2) The first meeting after the August break (on 9/12/23) will be off site at the Garner Holt Productions facility in Redlands. Garner Holt Productions, Inc. is the world’s finest producer of animatronics, special effects, and show action systems. 3) Governor Newsom recently signed an infrastructure package called “Building More Faster” to address and streamline some CEQA issues including court processes on projects that have previously been approved. 4) SBCTA has recently secured $120M from SB1 funds and has also received $30M for widening I-10. Both will be good for our local communities in respect to air quality and freight and goods movement. 4) The San Bernardino Valley College Foundation will hold their spring gala in March 2024.
Michael Rivera, 1st Vice Chair presiding.
Motion by T. Rice/Second/Passed: Minutes from June 27, 2023
Kristine Scott Chair of the Membership Committee expressed that membership to Inland Action has exceeded the unwritten maximum of 50 members. There is. awareness of the Inland Action policy that indicates that no more than 15% of the membership may be from public agencies and that although some cities and the County have expressed interest in membership it could easily cause conflict and detract from the groups objectives. She and the Committee members are seeking a balance of membership with private business, public agencies and trade associations and organizations. A number of trade associations would benefit from membership; the Committee is focused on long-term membership rather than membership based on a single issue or focus. Membership information and personal contact has been made to Kaiser Permanente and San Antonio Regional Hospital who have inquired about membership. The Committee will reach out to Garner Holt regarding potential membership.
Appointments Committee work was discussed by Staff. There are very few meaningful appointees on state boards and commission that represent the Inland Empire, which continues to be a problem. A Napa County resident is replacing Sean Varner from Riverside on the Little Hoover Commission. Sean has served on the commission since 2016 and is their Vice Chair. It is not known if Bill Emmerson from Redlands will continue on the Commission. The boards critical to the Inland Empire include the California Transportation Commission, Water Resources Board, and Air Resources Board. It has been suggested by the state that we supply them with a list of eligible candidates that are willing to serve on any of their commissions. There is much work ahead.
Miguel Mendoza, Legislative Committee Chair, indicated that they are asked by individual members, other committees and staff to review and give feedback on many pieces of legislation. The Committee then makes recommendations to the Board for consideration to support, oppose or delay action. Requests to join coalitions also follow the same procedural path. Our input is often requested with a very fast turnaround and the Legislative and all other Committees will try to improve communication with our members on the issues well in advance of a Board vote. The Legislative Committee has been predominantly engaged around the advocacy trips and that work is mostly driven by the other Committees as issues and agendas are developed and priorities decided. In their recent meeting they discussed doing a deeper dive into where the legislation from our federal and state platforms currently stands. It is still early in the legislative sessions both in the state and federally so more information will be shared later in the year.
State
Inland Action opposed AB1000 (Reyes)-in April this bill failed in committee. A similar bill, AB1748 (Ramos), was postponed in a hearing this past May.
Inland Action supported SB75 to create additional superior court judgeships throughout the state; passed the Senate and is now pending before the Assembly. It is scheduled for a hearing in the Assembly Appropriations Committee and is moving forward.
No legislation has moved as yet to curb retail theft, but they will continue tracking this issue.
Federal- Note: Many priorities deal with funding and the appropriations process is just now beginning.
Inland Action supported the diesel reduction emissions act (DERA) and last week Senator Carper introduced legislation that would reauthorize the program for 5 more years at the $100M level. The interior bill that funds this program is expected to be released in the next two weeks.
Also subject to appropriations is our support of doubling the Pell Grant program. Results are expected before the August recess.
The nomination of Judge Kato as a district judge is moving along and is now awaiting a floor vote in the Senate and is third from the top and a decision should be made soon.
Following the meeting with the GSA there was a push for some appropriations language from Congressman Calvert, a bill is believed to come out next week.
Otis Greer reported that Senator Ochoa-Bogh has a Senate Current Resolution to name the Archibald overpass on the 210 freeway after Senator Bob Dutton.
Meeting adjourned 8:27 a.m.