Recording in progress.

Good afternoon and welcome to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors Personnel Administration and Legislation Committee meeting of Monday, October 13, 2025.

May I have roll call, please?

Supervisor Tan.

Present.

Supervisor Fournetta Bass.

Presence.

We have a quorum.

Thank you.

And we will start with the legislative update on the federal side, and we will find out from John when the federal government will reopen.

Well, I unfortunately don't have the crystal ball and won't be able to answer that question.

But you have John and Emily on the line.

Good afternoon, everyone.

Uh, to kick us off in the schedule.

Uh, the Senate is going to be in session this week.

The House will remain out of session as it has been for the past uh almost month now.

Um, the Senate was scheduled to return to Washington tomorrow, and the House again will remain out of session, regardless of the House being in recess.

House Democrat, House Democrats plan on returning to Washington tomorrow.

Um, in an attempt to try to continue uh funding for the federal government.

Of course, everyone is curious what's going on with the federal uh government shutdown.

Um, the government enters now its third week of shutdown with the 13th day in a federal shutdown with efforts to resolve the funding standoff essentially stalled in the US Senate.

After failing to pass either of the proposed continuing resolutions last Thursday morning, the Senate recessed for the weekend.

Um, and of course, today is the federal holiday, so they will not be back until tomorrow.

Senate Democrats blocked the House Bass.

The House passed uh November 21 CR for the seventh time Thursday, and set up majority leader John Thume has since blocked further votes on Democrats' October 31 CR alternative, further now narrowing the legislative maneuvering room that's provided to the Senate.

Um return tomorrow and is scheduled to take its eighth vote on the House past CR.

And we do not anticipate any additional Democrats to break from their stated position and support the bill.

So far, there are three Democratic senators that have broke ranks and voted along with the Republicans, and there's one Republican that has broken ranks with his majority party and voted with the Democrats.

Talks between congressional leaders have largely been informal.

Senate Republicans have discussed advancing a vote on the enhanced affordable care act premium subsidies in exchange for democratic support on a continuing resolution.

But Democrats have said that they need a broader guarantee on the legislative path forward, not simply a handshake agreement, which has previously been discussed.

Republican leadership have reiterated that they will not begin negotiations on those health care provisions until after the government is reopened.

Meanwhile, federal employees have started to miss paychecks as of last Friday.

One big beautiful bill act, reprogramming that money to pay the duty military personnel.

The Defense Department stated that it will utilize the unspent FY25 money for research development evaluation and testing funding to ensure the troops are paid.

Additionally, President Trump and OMB director Russ Watt did announce that the administration would begin to send written notices to federal workers on Friday, with some agencies being particularly hard hit, including the Treasury Department in HHS.

And already court cases have been filed by several of the unions representing federal workers stating uh their illegality.

In addition to the ongoing lack of progress uh in the Senate uh related to the CR last week, the Senate did pass its version of the F of the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act by a bipartisan vote of 77 to 20.

Uh the House passed its version earlier this summer with both chambers having advanced their respective NDAA bills.

The legislation now will head to a conference committee to reconcile the differences between the two versions.

Leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services panels aimed to negotiate a compromise for the Defense Authorization Act sometime before Thanksgiving.

And if a vote did not happen last week, many senators expected the chamber to abandon the effort and head straight to the conference negotiations with the House, sort of a more informal process.

A major obstacle previously was resolved when Senator Gallego, a Democrat from Arizona, dropped his push for a vote on his amendment to label Ashley Babbitt aneligible for military funeral honors after the Air Force announced in August that they would provide them to her, something that was previously denied by the Biden administration.

Some of the key amendments that were agreed to for those standalone one of the 17 or several of the 17 amendments that I mentioned previously was a vote for a Van Holland amendment, Senator from Maryland requiring the consent of the chief executive officer, such as a governor for full-time National Guard duty performed in the state territory at the District of Columbia.

The Senate also voted on an amendment introduced by Senator Duckworth of Illinois, limiting support of the armed forces to local law enforcement only after the White House submits to Congress a notification and written justification for the support of those uh federal law enforcement and National Guard troops.

And then a third amendment was offered by Senator Merkley of Oregon, which would have required law enforcement officers to display at all times identifying information in a clearly visible fashion.

All of these three amendments, of course, failed on a party line vote.

And then finally, I'll just note that last week representatives Mike Levin and Sean Caston, who are the co-chairs of the House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition, sent a letter to the Department of Energy Secretary Chris Wright, along with 163 other House Democrats condemning the termination of $8 billion for projects that were set to lower electricity costs for Americans, increase grid reliability.

And we've also included a copy of that letter for your review.

The entire Alameda congressional delegation signed the letter, including my representatives Simon Conis, Walwell, and Salt.

And I'll just stop there and uh welcome Emily to provide any color commentary that I may have missed, and of course, answer any questions you may have.

Sure.

Um, the only thing I would add, and Supervisor TAM, you know, you asked John when the shutdown went in.

I think we're all a little concerned that with President Trump erecting DOD to go ahead and pay the traits uh on Wednesday.

You know, that was kind of a big day.

And so now that Congress isn't feeling that pressure to pay the military.

I think there's a concern that this could go on for a while.

Um so I just wanted to make that comment.

Um, thank you, Emily and John.

Um let me just ask one quick question, uh, and then I'll turn it over to Supervisor Porter Nebas.

Compared to um the first Trump administration, I think that was what 36 days of shutdown.

Was there I couldn't remember whether there was more good luck back then from a partisan standpoint or more so now.

Well, the the dynamic was a little bit different um in the previous in the previous shutdown.

Um, of course, the reason why that shutdown happened was because um Congress was not willing to include wall funding in the uh regular appropriations bill, and President Trump vetoed the legislation.

In this dynamic, it's Senate Democrats that are withholding their votes to pass a bill that was passed on a partisan level out of the out of the House.

And then, but you know, doesn't the but that's but does have the consent of the other majority party in the Senate.

The other part of this is what that's interesting to note is the HHS bill and the defense bill during the previous long-term shutdown had passed.

So this question of whether or not the troops are going to get paid was taken largely off the table.

Um none of the appropriations bills for this year have passed this year.

Um so the continuing resolution is the only vehicle by which discretionary funding is going out.

Uh so the dynamics are different this time around.

The last time it was really a White House-led shutdown that was sort of peak of fancy, um, I'll say from the part of the White House and by President Trump, versus this time, you know, it's being led by Senator Schumer, it's being supported by Leader Jeffries in an effort to try to highlight an issue over health care, which is something that is, of course, strongly supported by Democrats.

So the dynamics are a little bit different in terms of politics.

Um I'll also say that this is an issue that splits the Republican conference, particularly on the House side more than on the Senate side, with the extension of these enhanced affordable care act tax credits um versus the wall funding, which did not really split the caucus, um the Republican caucus, um, but you know, couldn't get the bipartisan agreement to get it included in a continuing resolution or any appropriations bill.

So I don't know if I'd say that the gridlock is better or worse than it was last time.

Um it's kind of hard to say because the the power dynamic is different than it was as well.

Um, of course, you know, the continuing resolution last time happened when there was a changeover in Congress.

Um so when the government did reopen, Democrats had gained control of the House.

So there's kind of a it's kind of comparing apples to oranges.

Um, I don't know if I made any sense there.

Maybe you can clean up some of my comments.

No, I think I think you're right.

I mean, it's just it's just different this time.

Thank you.

Supervisor Fortonal Bass.

Appreciate the update, although I wish it was better news.

Um, given that there's no immediate end in sight, and we heard last week that uh WIC will run out of money in one more week now, and SNAP is going to end at the end of October.

Are there specific things that we should be prepared preparing for as the county?

Uh I think we should internally be preparing ourselves for the possibility that some of this funding will be delayed um by several days, if not weeks.

Okay.

At this point in time.

Because discretionary money is just not it will not be released anytime soon.

Um I would also be, and I I defer to Amy Costa on this as well.

I would be talking to our state partners to see kind of what their uh backup plans are in the event of a long-term government shutdown where these discretionary accounts are not being refilled with any sort of haste.

Okay.

Um we'll have our state update uh very soon.

It would probably be helpful next week on the 21st during our work session to have another sort of broader update when we're all together, another broad financial and budget update.

Um, one more question.

Given that we've got an airport here in Alameda County, the Oakland Airport, um, what's the conversation regarding air traffic control?

And potential issues having appropriate staffing.

I mean, I think that's just generally hitting the federal government writ large.

Um, the FAA and DOT have not been hit with the RIFs in the same way that some of the other agencies have.

They have been experiencing staffing shortages um because they don't have enough staff in the first place, and people have been calling out sick, so there's been kind of a quiet slowdown from the part of the FAA air traffic controllers.

Um I don't know if this is a form of protest or form of from the ATC, um, but that remains ongoing.

There will not be a separate standalone bill to keep funding the air traffic controllers, as there will be no standalone bills to kind of pick off different parts of the federal government's discretionary accounts.

So those air traffic controllers, like we saw in the last long term short term, will have to continue to come to work without pay.

Now the TSA is a little bit different there.

You know, they receive annual appropriations, but they also do receive uh funding from their fees that are collected on tickets.

Um, so their funding is can be stretched a little bit further than that of the FAA or the aircraft controllers, but by and large, they have to show up to work without pay like the rest of the federal workforce.

Okay.

Um, thank you.

And I did want to uh follow up from uh part of our conversation last week.

I did have um a meeting with Congresswoman Latifah Simon last week, and so she is researching the issue that came up regarding federal deployment and potential guidance around um around that.

She also is potentially interested in joining us here at PAL in the future to share a federal update.

So I can work with the chair as well as the administration around potentially scheduling that if that's amenable.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um appreciate that.

Uh um representative uh Simon did come before um what's up, uh a meeting that included several the all the department heads to prepare us for um what was happening at that time with HR1.

Uh but it's really good to get an update now from her perspective.

So uh when you mentioned um that all the discretionary funding was going to go toward the military personnel or whatever was available um because of the shutdown and and the paycheck schedule.

Um does it cover uh any like security adjacent type agencies, or is it just strictly the armed forces?

The money is just getting reprogrammed within the defense department.

Oh, okay.

So they're not cross-they're not like cross-pollinating to other agencies.

So it's reprogrammed money within the defense partner to go to military pay, and I believe it's just for active duty military pay.

Okay.

Thanks for that clarification.

Not good news, but thank you for that clarification.

Um, are there any other public comments on the federal legislative update?

There are no public comments.

Okay, let's go to the state legislative update from Full Moon Strategies.

Good afternoon.

Uh today marks the governor's final day to act upon any measures that were sent to him as part of this legislative session.

Uh, as of this morning, there are roughly about 175 measures uh remaining and pending his action, concluding uh final rush of decisions on hundreds of measures.

Uh fiscal discipline remained a defining theme throughout some of his actions and specifically veto messages.

Legislative analyst Chris McKay noted that roughly 40% of the governor's past vetoes have cited unbudgeted cost as the rationale for the veto.

McKay noted that so far, about 20% of this year's vetoes have referenced budget concerns, and we expect that number to rise with uh the final bills being acted upon today.

California, as you know, faces a projected 12 billion dollar deficit next fiscal year.

Over his tenure, Newsom has acted on more than 5,700 bills vetoing uh roughly 14 uh percent, consistent with historical averages.

With both legislative houses limiting their numbers to 35 bills per two-year session, fewer measures are expected to reach his desk next year in his final year.

Uh the governor's office, as is always, uh, has declined to comment directly on measures until he acts upon them, emphasizing in said that each decision will reflect his and the legislature's funding priorities amid uh the state's enacted budget.

Uh late last week, um, billionaire Tom Steyer announced he will spend 12 million dollars to back California demo Democrats districting uh redistricting referendum, a major late stage boost for the November ballot measure.

The proposal would temporarily replace the state's independent congressional maps to give Democrats a better chance at winning five additional U.S.

House seats, echoing some efforts by Republicans in Texas.

Steyer's guerrilla style campaign launched an ad on Jimmy Kimmel Live and aims to energize Democrats.

His funding strengthens the pro-side effort that has spent around 44 million dollars since September, compared to 27 million dollars from opponents led by Charles Munger Jr., who poured 30 million into defending the independent system he helped create also through the initiative process.

Governor Newsom obviously has endorsed the measure, arguing California must fight fire with fire.

Uh, this late infusion of cash uh by Tom Steyer had some pundits wondering last week if he was positioning himself for a run for governor.

Um, and obviously there was the news about Katie Porter um last week, and so lots of talk in Sacramento about who might be the front runner for governor and a race that is really one of the more wide open races for governor that we've had in recent years.

Um, so more to come on that.

Um, of the the bills that uh the county has taken a position on um as of this morning, there are about four that we are awaiting his action on.

And of course, when we get that at some point today, we will update our report and send it out.

Uh, with that, I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you very much.

Supervisor Ford and Abas.

Um, I guess my main question is when the state legislators made talk about plans to support uh because of the ongoing shutdown.

Yeah, so there has been some question about this, and um we actually did have a uh issue come up uh regarding um TANF and Title 4B funding.

Um the state has a couple of different options.

Some of the programs allow for the state to have a reserve fund.

Um we found out from the Department of Finance, which is stands to reason because the state's in a deficit, they don't have a lot of these discretionary reserve funds.

And so that particular program, they are anticipating that the state has enough funding to kind of float it through the end of October.

Um, and so there'll be a wide variety depending on sort of the program.

Um, there's a couple of options.

The governor can always call a special session.

There was some you know hubbub about that towards the end of session, whether or not he may call them back.

Sometimes, depending on the particular program, there is some discretion within the budget for the administration to put forward transfers as long as it's approved by the joint legislative budget committee.

Um, and so I think in part this will be driven by how prolonged uh the shutdown is and the impacts on some of these programs.

But certainly the governor could call them back, um, but he would need to call them back because they are officially not in session right now.

Thank you.

Um, can you refresh my memory on SB 63 from Senator Aragine and Scott Wiener and the transit bill that affects the five A area counties on the sales tax measure?

Yeah, um, that has not been acted on yet.

It's an enrollment, which means it is before the governor right now.

Um it passed both houses, and so this will be one of the handful that we're waiting for, you know, what he does today.

Um, but um it passed, you know, with very little opposition.

Um, and so he has until today at midnight to act upon the measure.

Uh thank you.

Appreciate that.

I have no other questions.

Are there any public comments on the state legislative update?

There are no public comments.

Thank you.

Are there any public comments on items that are not on today?

I'm sorry, there is there's public comment.

Elvia, go ahead, please.

You have two minutes.

Do you have a public comment?

You have two minutes.

Uh yes, this is Elvi Quiroga with the Alameda County Tax Collector's Office.

Um, I had brought up the issue last uh time we you met in regards to the uh possibility of an executive order uh with the government shutdown related to property taxes.

We are getting that question.

Um someone indicated they'd get back to me, and I haven't heard back.

Is there any talk about a potential executive order to grant an extension for those federal workers who are on furlough right now?

I have not heard of any of those.

I mean, we can certainly ask the Department of Finance.

Um, there have been obviously dispensation given to, you know, for example, wildfire victims or other folks that had unforeseen circumstances, but we can reach out to the Department of Finance and see if they've heard anything along those lines.

But I have not heard of anything personally.

Supervisor Cham, there are no more public comments.

Thank you.

That's an important question.

Appreciate it.

Um, are there any public comments on items that are not on today's agenda?

There are no public comments.

Thank you.

Will those online um please identify yourselves so we can appreciate your participation.

Good afternoon, Valerie Yarkin, Supervisor Miley's office.

Good afternoon, Jessica Blakemore, Alameda County Health.

Good afternoon, Michelle Starrett, Alameda County's housing and community development department.

Amy Shrago, Supervisor Car.

Oh my God.

Sorry, I'm home and confused.

Amy Shrago's CAO's office.

Thank you all for your participation and for the updates.

This meeting is adjourned.