OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Alameda County Board of Supervisors PAL Committee – March 23, 2026

Board of SupervisorsMonday, March 23, 2026
BodyAlameda County, California
SessionBoard of Supervisors
DateMonday, March 23, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record

STREAMING COPY IN PREPARATION — RECORDING AVAILABLE FROM THE ORIGINAL SOURCE

Transcript — Verbatim
0:31

Testing one, two, three.

0:38

Good afternoon and welcome to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors Personnel Administration and Legislation Committee meeting for Monday, March the 23rd, 2026.

0:49

May have roll call, please.

0:51

Supervisor Portalado Bass.

0:54

Present.

0:56

Present.

0:57

We have a quorum.

0:58

Thank you.

0:58

May I have instructions on participation?

1:02

Of course.

1:02

For all public commenters, please state your name prior to your presentation for their record.

1:07

If you wish to speak on a matter not on the agenda, please wait until Supervisor TAM calls for public input on non-agendized items.

1:15

Only items within the committee's jurisdiction may be addressed.

1:19

In person participants, please fill out a speaker card at the front and hand it to the clerk.

1:28

If you're dialing in, please dial star five to raise your hand to notify the clerk you wish to speak.

1:34

For all participants, the clerk will call your name and either allow you to come up to the podium and um and present your comment and online participants.

1:43

The clerk will unmute you.

1:45

Thank you.

1:47

Thank you.

1:49

Let's start with the legislative update on the federal side from CJ Leak.

1:55

Good afternoon.

1:56

You've got Emily Bakay DeSilva here and John Assini as well.

2:01

Both the House and Senate are in session this week.

2:04

And then they're both supposed to go uh out of session for two weeks.

2:09

They'll be in the district or in the state uh for what they call the spring recess.

2:15

So hopefully they will get some things done this week, including potentially uh funding DHS, but they are um both in session this week.

2:24

Um one thing I know we've been reporting on is the beginning of the FY27 appropriations process, and of course the House side had issued their appropriations guidance a few weeks ago.

2:37

The Senate uh just released their guidance at the end of last week.

2:42

Um, even though uh Senators Schiff and Padilla had already issued kind of their own guidance.

2:48

We now know the um appropriations subcommittee deadlines, which um most begin in April.

2:56

Um also kind of what kicks off the appropriations process is when the president sends uh their budget request to Congress.

3:05

Uh it seems like it gets later and later.

3:07

Uh it's it should be kind of that first uh I believe Tuesday in February.

3:12

I can't tell you the last time that has happened.

3:15

Um John and I were both on the hill last week talking to appropriators.

3:20

Um they were hearing that it could come as soon as next week.

3:24

So again, they said that could slip, but I think we're expecting it to uh be released um uh hopefully by the end of next week.

3:33

And again, even though no matter the president, uh, you know, people say it's dead on arrival when it gets to Congress, it at least gives you an idea of the priorities for the administration, and so you can look at kind of what they are hoping to do um with various accounts and agencies.

3:50

So um hopefully we'll see that next week, and then that will kick off kind of appropriations hearings in both the House and Senate that would start when Congress comes back um after the April recess.

4:03

Um top of mind right now is homeland security funding and uh getting a homeland security secretary.

4:11

Uh the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee advanced uh Senator Mullins nomination uh last week and the Senate held a procedural vote uh over the weekend, and so the full Senate is expected to approve his nomination tonight, um, which I think is uh good because at this point uh as it relates to DHS funding, um, you know, negotiators have remained uh far apart and the white house has now signaled they want to hold off on any further negotiations with Senate Democrats until Senator Mullen is confirmed.

4:52

So hoping that happens tonight, um, then you know there's potential for you know some sort of breakthrough this week.

5:01

Um, but up until now, we you know, different uh bills have come up.

5:06

The idea to pull out uh TSA and fund that it hasn't gone anywhere, fund everything, but ICE that hasn't gained any traction.

5:15

So again, hoping that once they get um a secretary in place, maybe things will be kick started.

5:21

John, I'll pause there.

5:22

I can turn it over to you uh for the remainder, but that's kind of where things stand on those issues.

5:29

And John, jump in on kind of the negotiations, et cetera, if you're hearing different things.

5:35

Yeah, the one thing that I would just add to that is there was an offer that was made by Democrats to fund all of the DHS bill with the exception of ICE and then leave ICE for a future reconciliation package.

5:49

It would allow the agency to still operate because of the funding that they received in HR one and then provide political cover um for Democrats for the rest of the package while also providing the essential services provided by TSA and other agencies to operate and end the shutdown.

6:06

This offer was um welcomed by a lot of the Republican senators, including Mr.

6:12

Thune.

6:13

Mr.

6:13

Thuon brought this proposal to the White House and the White House rejected it.

6:17

Um Mr.

6:18

Trump indicated that he wanted to continue the Senate's uh actions on the Save America Act and indicated that he would not sign a bill unless the Senate passes the Save America Act, which is still being considered by the full chamber um throughout this week.

6:35

Um so they are kind of in a holding pattern right now in between um the executive calendar and trying to get Mr.

6:43

Mullen um confirmed, which we expect he will be by a slightly bipartisan margin.

6:48

I won't say a full-throated bipartisan margin.

6:51

Um, and also their ongoing activity on the Save America Act, um, which will continue this week.

7:01

Um, do you want to keep going or you want me to?

7:04

Oh, yeah, I can get I can keep going.

7:06

Um speaking of the of the Save America Act, the Senate uh stayed in session over the weekend to continue procedural measures on the measure, and they're expected to continue voting um on amendments this week.

7:21

It's possible that the Senate will remain in session next week and cancel their the first half of their Easter/slash Passover recess if President Trump continues to demand additional action on the Save America Act.

7:38

Um the Senate so far has been in session.

7:40

They're going on their fifth week and they just worked over the weekend.

7:44

Um the senators are getting a little testy.

7:46

They all want to go home and continue to do either campaigning or spend some time with family over the holidays.

7:52

Um by they staying them staying in another week, uh, it does not necessarily going to yield any different results.

8:00

But this is the attempt of President Trump to essentially grind down the Senate to a cede to what he wants, which is a massive overhaul of the voting system in the United States.

8:13

Um conditions on the ground in the Senate remain essentially the same, with Democrats not supporting um the measure.

8:21

And so they won't support it on the procedural level.

8:24

And then Republican senators being unwilling to change the filibuster rules so that they can consider the measure under a simple majority threshold.

8:32

Um the bill is still considered is still considered under a 60 vote threshold, as are the amendments.

8:37

Um the likelihood of passage remains next to zero, unless they decide to change the rules, which is still unlikely to happen.

8:46

Um additionally, uh outside of the Save America Act, the the Hill is still waited, waiting with bated breath on uh a supplemental request being uh likely made by the defense department and OMB in the near future.

9:03

Um early discussions have referenced a potential 200 billion dollar request, um, which will likely include um significant funding to restore many of the munitions that have been expended um in the first four weeks of the conflict with Iran.

9:22

Um Senate Republicans have raised questions about using budget reconciliation process for defense funding, citing additional procedural constraints and the need to identify uh particular offsets.

9:34

You'll remember that last year in the one big beautiful bill act, there was a significant amount of funding to DOD for a whole litany of issues.

9:44

Um, but to get that money, there was also um some of the offsets that we saw through SNAP through the Medicaid program, through some changes in the Medicare program and other places in order to pass a partisan piece of legislation with thin margins, the likelihood that they would have to come up with additional pay fors is still high.

10:02

However, there aren't very many payfores left that have not been already expended by the one big beautiful bill act.

10:09

Um, as a result, defense spending discussions are expected to remain a central focus for Congress in the near term.

10:15

The NDAA is also being considered.

10:17

The FY27 defense appropriations bill is also being thrown together um as we speak.

10:23

Um there'll be hearings in the near future, and that's also the president's budget request is likely to be a 1.5 trillion dollar budget request for the regular appropriations process for FY27.

10:35

So there's still a lot of unknowns um about this potential uh supplemental, uh, and in addition to the the path forward if they decide to go through this reconciliation route.

10:48

Um happy to keep going, Emily, if you want, or if you want to do the housing piece um how you do that as well.

10:54

Yeah, I can jump in on housing.

10:56

Not much new.

10:57

I know we've been talking about kind of these bipartisan house and senate bills, uh, but they there are some differences, and um the house really wants to go to a conference.

11:08

The Senate uh in typical Senate fashion was hoping to just kind of jam the House and send their bill over, um, which happens from time to time.

11:18

And I think the House is trying to push back both uh the House Financial Services Chair and the ranking member.

11:25

So both the Republicans and Democrats have concerns with the Senate bill.

11:29

So we just put a little bit in our notes to say there's there's really no update there, but uh the House is hoping for a formal conference.

11:38

Um and trying to think if that was it.

11:43

Oh, both the health and health care piece.

11:45

Yeah, and then just you know, Republicans are um you know trying to focus at least on the Hill on kind of affordability.

11:54

And so last week the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health convened a hearing examining kind of the drivers of health care costs um with testimony from provider organizations and employer stakeholders.

12:07

I think this is maybe like the third hearing they've held on it.

12:11

Um members also focused on the downstream impacts of uh recent and potential federal policy changes, including Medicaid coverage shifts um and the expiration of the ACA subsidies um with attention to increasing uncompensated care and delayed patient access.

12:29

So um just want you to know those hearings are happening.

12:32

I know again, John and I have been on the hill uh a lot the last uh few weeks, even though they're holding hearings.

12:40

I don't know that anything was actually, you know, I don't know that they're gonna put forward um and pass legislation, but they are holding hearings.

12:47

So um, John, I know you've been talking with ENC in Ways and Means, so not sure if you have anything to add there.

12:54

No, I think that the likelihood that many of the provisions that were talked about during the hearing are still pretty low in terms of passage.

13:00

Many of the items have been discussed in previous health reform packages, some of which were initially included in the House version of the OBBBA.

13:08

Um, other items have been included in bipartisan measures that pass under the Biden administration.

13:13

So it's increased transparency rules for providers, site neutral payments, um, 340B reform, um, stark law changes, so allowing physician-towned hospitals to uh eliminate the cap on physician-towned hospitals and provide additional um competition for independently owned physician facilities.

13:33

Um Emily's point, this was the this is the third of three hearings on health care affordability.

13:40

Kind of each segment of the industry has kind of seen a piece of this.

13:44

So there was first one on pharma, there was another one on the insurers, and other providers are uh got their hearing as well.

13:51

Um it's anticipated that House Ways and Means Committee will hold a follow-up hearing on providers sometime in April.

13:58

Um, of course, they have jurisdiction over the Medicare program.

14:00

EMC is jurisdiction over the 340B and the Medicaid program.

14:04

So they split jurisdiction on health.

14:06

Um, but we'll follow similar themes about consolidation, um, the lack of reimbursement from the Medicare program and additional cost pressures that have been put both on providers and also from individuals um that are paying uh very high cost for health care um with and without insurance.

14:26

And that's um our report for this week.

14:29

Happy to answer any questions.

14:32

Thank you very much.

14:34

Appreciate that report and update.

14:35

Um, Supervisor Fortune have asked questions or comments.

14:41

Thank you for a very thorough update.

14:44

Uh just a couple quick clarification clarification questions.

14:49

Uh the supplemental request for the Department of Defense, although I think Trump renamed it the Department of War, right?

14:57

Well, did you say that's 200 billion dollars?

15:01

It's sure I heard properly.

15:04

Yes, you did.

15:06

We haven't over what oh go ahead.

15:10

Over what time period?

15:12

One year.

15:14

One year.

15:15

Wow.

15:15

And we're they're having hearings on affordability in the House while this is potentially coming forward.

15:21

Well, I hope folks are meaning voters are smart enough to see all these mashine uh mass machinations and and what the White House's priorities appear to be.

15:33

Um secondly, we're all reading in the newspapers that uh because of the partial DHS shutdown and TSA workers not getting paid.

15:43

There's a lot of frustration uh among air travelers and uh the president has apparently sent, or I guess DHS or whoever's in charge has sent ice to 14 airports, is what I have read.

15:59

Is there potentially a scenario whereby there is a bipartisan agreement to just pay TSA so that there is more time to conference on the totality of the DSA D S DHS and ICE issues?

16:18

I mean, I that is one option, yes.

16:21

And Democrats have offered that a few different times.

16:26

Um and have said, you know, let's get that funded and then we can worry about the rest.

16:31

I think it just remains to be seen.

16:34

I think as John mentioned, uh Senate Republicans seemed uh open to that when Democrats brought up this proposal over the weekend.

16:46

Um, and then President Trump basically said, no, we're not gonna move DHS approbes until the Senate takes up the SAVE Act or passes the SAVE Act.

16:57

Um, so we seem to be in a holding pattern right now, and again, I think the hope is once Senator Mullen is confirmed tonight, maybe some things will get jump started.

17:08

But I mean, that is an idea that folks have been tossing around.

17:13

Okay, I mean, the situation at our airports with TSA workers not getting paid and calling in sick and people leaving their jobs, that really seems very dangerous in terms of public safety in our in our air.

17:29

Um, I guess we'll see what happens tonight and then the next day.

17:35

Thank you.

17:38

Thank you.

17:39

Um, we have ICE agents who are not trained being TSA agents.

17:47

But uh in terms of um uh the uh confirmation for Senator Mullen, do you know?

17:56

Because I haven't kept track of all the various hearings.

17:59

Is he receptive to the reforms that are being proposed for ICE agents?

18:09

I mean, that will ultimately be a White House call.

18:12

You know, Mr.

18:13

Mull isn't is not going to be brought to the table or be given the pen on spearheading negotiations.

18:18

That is being largely delegated to Tom Homan, who is the immigration border czar um in the White House.

18:27

Um, and of course, anything that moves to the White House would have to ultimately get the okay from Stephen Miller, um, who is really heading up the interior enforcement um policy at the White House as well.

18:39

Um so despite the fact that Mr.

18:41

Mullen is going to be the titular head of the Department of Homeland Security, he won't really have much of a say on what ultimately gets agreed to between Senate Democrats and the White House.

18:49

Um normally have an impact on the conversations happening in Congress.

18:55

Okay.

18:57

You had mentioned and and we've heard uh repeatedly that um the president is holding the Save Act as the threshold before entertaining any other major forms of legislation, but that does not include his 200 billion dollar request for the Iran more.

19:18

Is that correct?

19:20

Not yet.

19:21

Um we haven't seen the proposal made by the White House or the Department of Defense on the 200 billion dollars.

19:29

This is something that's been kind of informally talked about between reporters, statements issued by the White House, uh members of Congress have heard about this, but in terms of the itemization that comes from the Office of Management and budget on how that 200 billion dollars could be spent by DOD, that formal documentation has not yet been transmitted to to Congress.

19:52

Um a lot of and a major reason why is because the path to get that across the finish line is pretty limited.

20:00

Um, you know, reconciliation has been kind of bandied about as a potential option, but that also requires near unanimous consent from all members of the Republican conference about the House and the Senate.

20:10

Um, with the attendance issues that the House has been facing recently and the health issues that some Republican members are facing.

20:20

Um, getting that across the finish line is going to be very difficult if they move through a reconciliation process.

20:26

Um their uh threshold is just much shorter or much lower than um it was even last year.

20:35

So I think we just kind of have to wait and see for that 200 billion dollar or another number to come out before we can kind of attach um any sort of likelihoods to it, but um, it's just not hasn't hasn't come out yet.

20:50

Okay.

20:51

Thank you.

20:52

I guess there are um something to be said about having uh stalemates at the moment.

21:01

Appreciate that report.

21:02

Do we have any uh public comment on our federal legislative report?

21:08

I see no public commenters on the federal legislation report.

21:13

Thank you very much for your updates.

21:15

Um, our next item on the federal legislation site is a request from my office to support HR 5356, the National Infrastructure Bank Act of 2025.

21:29

And we have um Mr.

21:32

Don Seifkus from the Coalition of National Infrastructure Banks to speak for about three minutes uh on this issue.

21:39

This is something that is important to help uh nationally, but also in particular the disadvantaged communities in our county, like the unincorporated areas when it comes to providing incentives for uh funding infrastructure.

21:55

Mr.

21:56

Cyprus?

21:57

Supervisor Temp.

21:58

It appears we have a hand from Jeff Beeman.

22:01

I'm unsure if it's on the last item or this item.

22:06

Do you mind if I check?

22:08

Okay.

22:12

Oh, no, yeah.

22:13

Sorry.

22:15

Jeff Beaman, are you raising your hand to speak on the federal legislation update or on the HR HR 5356 item?

22:28

You're able to unmute.

22:29

Uh I'm for the um infrastructure bank item.

22:33

Thank you.

22:34

Okay, got it.

22:35

Thank you.

22:35

We'll call your name after this.

22:37

Thank you.

22:38

Go ahead.

22:39

All right.

22:40

Can you hear me okay?

22:41

Yes.

22:42

You have to press the button so it's green.

22:44

You got it.

22:45

There, how's that?

22:47

All right, very good.

22:47

Hi, I'm John Cis.

22:49

Thank you very much for having us.

22:51

I'm from San Leandro.

22:52

I am a retired General Motors design mid-level executive with an engineering background.

22:57

I'm a member of the advisory board of a nonprofit group called the Coalition for the National Infrastructure Bank.

23:05

I'm here because I strongly support Supervisor Tam's legislative position request regarding HR 5 5356 bill we have in Congress to re-establish a publicly owned national infrastructure bank.

23:23

Why do we need this?

23:24

We need this because according to the American Association of Civil Engineers, uh Civil Engineers, we have at least four trillion dollars of unfunded infrastructure projects ready to go in the United States.

23:40

There is absolutely no way that local city, county, and state governments are going to obtain that amount of funding through the budget and the appropriations process.

23:50

It just isn't going to happen.

23:51

The federal budget deficit is like two trillion dollars.

23:55

This is a new finance.

23:56

This is not a new, this is a financial, an additional financial tool that would let Alameda County go directly to a bank for 100% loan for local infrastructure projects.

24:09

We've done this four times before in the history of the United States.

24:12

The last national infrastructure bank we had was called the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, the RFC here in Northern California.

24:20

It did a large number of things.

24:22

It financed the Richmond, California shipyards, it built all those Liberty ships.

24:27

It financed the first two bores of the Comticott Tunnel.

24:30

It financed this beautiful, stunning building, the Alameda Courthouse right next door.

24:35

It financed the San Leandro City Hall.

24:37

And the big one, it finance the San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge.

24:41

People never ask the question how'd that bridge get out there?

24:44

Well, it got out there because we had a national infrastructure bank between 1932 and 1957.

24:51

So what can this bill do for Alameda County?

24:55

Well, we need low-income housing tremendously.

25:00

On the BART trip up here today, I saw these right alongside the tracks that are starting to rebuild those homeless encampments.

25:05

This is a sin.

25:06

In my opinion, that we tolerate people living on the streets in the United States in the year 2026.

25:12

The bank cannot help you with where to put this low income housing, but we can finance any amount of low-income housing that you need.

25:19

San Francisco seawall needs to be rebuilt.

25:21

They only have 10% of the money that they need.

25:24

They have 450 through one bond issue.

25:27

They're not going to get another bond issue.

25:28

They need $4 billion to do that if they don't get it.

25:31

Downtown San Francisco is going to be underwater in within 10 years.

25:36

There's a lot of lead abatement that still needs to be done in Alameda County and older homes.

25:41

This bank can finance an entity to finally get rid of all these lead things.

25:48

So there is absolutely no downside to this bill, only up.

25:52

And I would like to urge the Board of Supervisors to support this position request by Supervisor Tan.

25:59

Thank you very much.

26:00

Thank you.

26:03

Jeff Beaman.

26:06

Yeah, hello, County Supervisors and others.

26:09

My name is Jeff Beaman.

26:10

I'm a retired scientist after 35 years at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab.

26:14

And then now work on supporting the creation of the infrastructure bank that Don just talked about.

26:19

That may seem like an odd retirement choice, but here we are.

26:21

I'm here because Alameda County has critical housing and transportation problems.

26:26

California has a water problem.

26:28

The world has a carbon problem, and we all have utility bill problems.

26:32

Unfortunately, the gridlock in Washington, as we've just heard from Emily and John, has very little chance of helping with any of these major issues.

26:40

But there is a social and financial mechanism that will be able to help.

26:44

And that's this infrastructure bank, like we had during the WPA in the 30s and 40s.

26:49

It works outside of the usual gridlocked political channels to make money available for things like affordable housing, upgrading the electricity grid, providing clean transportation projects, everything from California high speed rail to electrifying the Capitol Corridor.

27:03

Caltrain on the peninsula has taught us that if we can make transportation clean, fast, and frequent, we can move people from hopefully the new affordable housing to self-sustaining jobs.

27:13

So it checks many boxes in our goals.

27:16

When we build infrastructure, we create good paying local jobs that will help invigorate our community, but we need a sizable chunk of new infrastructure capital to do it.

27:25

So Alameda County really has nothing to lose by supporting this and has a lot to gain by endorsing the creation of this bank.

27:33

So let's do it and hopefully get something positive in motion.

27:36

And I'll just end there.

27:37

Thank you very much for your time.

27:42

Thank you for your comments.

27:45

There are a number of public commenters on this item.

27:49

Thank you very much.

27:51

Do we have concurrence on moving this support position to the full board?

27:56

Yes, absolutely.

27:57

I'm very supportive.

27:59

Just one quick question.

28:01

Good to see that our East Bay delegation of representatives is supporting.

28:06

Who is the author or the co-authors of the bill?

28:13

I'm just curious.

28:17

I can I can answer that.

28:19

Oh, go ahead.

28:21

The main sponsor is Danny Davis of uh Illinois.

28:24

And right Danny Davis of uh Illinois.

28:28

Illinois.

28:28

He's the main sponsor.

28:29

We have 57 co-sponsors as of yesterday, unless Emily knows someone else that signed up.

28:35

We have nine California representatives on the bill, seven from Northern California, Garamende, Simon Swabo, O'Connor, Lofgrun, Panetta, and uh Kevin Mullen from across the bay.

28:47

And if any of you, after studying this stuff, we can I can send you copious amounts of detail.

28:54

No Sam Licardo or Nancy Pelosi.

28:58

We would love to get those two on the bill.

29:00

We don't have either one yet, although Sam's staff has been pretty encouraging about this, but he hasn't signed on yet.

29:08

Thank you.

29:09

Thank you.

29:10

And I'm happy to make a motion to advance HR 5356 to the full board for support.

29:17

I will second the motion.

29:19

Rocong.

29:20

Supervisor Porter Bass.

29:22

Aye.

29:22

Supervisor Temple.

29:24

Aye.

29:24

We have a motion passed.

29:26

Thank you.

29:27

We will be moving HR 5356.

29:30

Thank you for your presentations today.

29:33

Let's move the state legislative update from Full Moon Strategies.

29:38

Good afternoon, Supervisors Gil Dent is here with Full Municipio to provide a few updates on your estate legislature.

29:46

Starting with the legislature, we'll start its 10 days spring recess on this Thursday, March 26th, and we'll reconvene on Monday, April 6.

29:56

This is a short recess and is a chance to reset before the legislature pace picks up.

30:03

Once they are back in Sacramento, policy committee activities will ramp up with the key deadlines approaching.

30:10

Fiscal bills must be uh must be clear uh from the policy committees by April 24, while the non-fiscal bills face May 1st deadline.

30:21

Attention right after this deadlines will turn into the May revision uh of the state budget, uh which is expected to happen on May 14th, followed by suspense file hearings and a critical uh first house deadlines before the end of May.

30:38

So we have a lot coming up in the uh upcoming follow uh months.

30:43

Uh from last week, the California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a MICUS brief supporting a federal case, challenging the conditions uh at the Lando ICE processing center, uh signing you know, some uh inhumane treatment, uh medical neglect, and also some civil uh rights violations based on inspections conducted under AB 103, which was a policy from uh 2017 that allows the attorney general to inspect the immigration detention centers in California.

31:17

The the brief highlights uh some issues as understaffing, uh inadequate medical care and sanitary conditions and excessive use of force.

31:29

Uh Attorney General Bonta noted that uh this conditions has become even worse with the increase of deportations, and he urged uh the court to act to prevent further harm.

31:42

Uh on the immigration topic, uh Supervisor Fortunato Bas was uh sharing some comments.

31:49

Uh lawmakers in California, they are starting responding to uh to um to the case in San Francisco where ICE ICE agents detained a woman in the San Francisco airport in front of her daughter, uh Governor Gavin Newsom on Sunday criticized President Trump uh over the deployment of ICE agents to airports.

32:15

In a statement, the governor uh he said that this move shows that ICE has become lawless and uh and an under trained force used to serve the president's agenda rather than uphold the law as officials move to use the agency to address and go and uh travel disruptions.

32:35

We saw from earlier this morning and throughout the day some members of our delegation and the leadership in California coming out with some private releases, and uh uh we're happy to share this in our report.

32:48

Also last week, the California Attorney General Rob Bonta and the 18 state attorney generals are urging the Congress to act after the Trump's tariffs were struck down, calling for an automatic refunds with the interest for the 166 billion dollars paid by consumers and businesses.

33:10

They warned that without action, people might face complex claims process despite the tariffs having raised uh costs, uh hurt small businesses, and uh cost California billions of dollars and uh thousand of jobs.

33:25

Uh lastly, last week, the Senate budget subcommittee three health and human services held a nearly six-hour uh hearing on March 19th took over some of the impacts of uh the federal HR 1 on California Safety Net with the testimony from uh state agencies, the legislative analyst office, LAO counties, and the providers.

33:50

Uh, most of them they highlighted the major coverage losses, administrative uh strain and the fiscal challenges that we all uh can see that's going to happen.

34:02

Uh officials projected on that hearing that 1.6 billion uh in laws in cow fresh uh uh benefits and 1.4 million Californians losing medical coverage due to the new work requirements, while the LAO warned that this can reach nearly to 2 million by 2030, which technically would increase right the uninsured population.

34:29

Uh we uh was very debated throughout the hearing that counties would be at this point expected to absorb much of this impact with up uh to one million uh nearly uninsured uh residents turning into uh turning into the already challenging indigenous system alongside with some significant revenue losses and raising administrative burdens for the counties.

35:00

was very debated throughout the hearing that counties would be at this point expected to absorb much of this impact with up uh to one million uh nearly in assured uh residents turning in uh turning to the already challenging digent care system alongside with some significant revenue losses and a raising administrative burdens for the counties uh this is one of the multiple budget hearings that we are having right now ahead of time if they may revise uh uh Alameda County is fully engaged with the process you know with our delegation and making sure that we're sharing our priorities with the legislature with that I'm happy to answer any questions thank you for that update uh supervisor fortunate questions or comments thank you for the update um I did want to share some information from our rapid response network um you know ICE uh has not been deployed to Bay Area airports that's the information that we have currently however um it is still advisable to make sure that uh if you are a family member have an immigration concern and plan to travel to talk to an attorney before flying to understand your risk and again uh a Clip is our rapid response network here in Alameda County they've been sharing good information to make sure folks know their rights and so before you travel plan extra time keep key documents handy remember you have a right not to disclose your immigration status and don't sign anything you don't understand so there is a lot happening and it's always important that people remember to know your rights and I'm happy the county has provided resources to ensure that uh these services and this information is accessible thank you thank you for that update on the alerts very important right now um I don't have any other questions I I know we've covered um the issues around HR1 we're still working through that here at the county um I'm just hoping that the state uh doesn't penalize the county of Alameda for having planned and being able to deal with um some of the shortfalls that might come about because of HR1 because we do have challenges that the state imposed with proposition one in terms of prevention and mental health care and early intervention and that's something that we're hoping to use some of our measure W funds to offset as well.

37:20

So I appreciate that knowledge um so we have I'm sorry are there any public comments on our legislative update there are no public comments on the state legislation update okay we have um four support position requests um the first on AB 1606 from Supervisor Mali's office to provide tax credits for um cleanup costs and the second is to um basically put criminal penalties on illegal dumping under a b 2310 also from supervisor money's office and then um s b 1230 is the solid waste illegal dumping the penalties for um for to basically enforce existing law by adding consequences um that deals with solid waste dumping and then the last is a request from our social services agency on AB 1660 which is public guardians and public administrators to require financial institutions and third parties to comply with lawful requests particularly when there's um a request from probate courts in terms of making sure we have adequate and accurate information um that will enable public guardians and public conservatorship processing I have um I have concurrence on the support positions yes I support all four of these pieces of legislation and the position so I'm happy to make a motion to forward these four pieces of legislation to the full board okay I second the motion supervisor fortunate Abbas aye supervisor cap aye motions passed thank you very much um do we have any public comments on items that are not on today's agenda I don't see any hands raised for public comment on agendaized items online or do I have speaker cards in person thank you very much this meeting is adjourned

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
State Legislation█████████████████████████████████████████████64%
Engineering And Infrastructure███████10%
Economic Development████6%
Healthcare Services████5%
Affordable Housing███4%
Immigration Policy███4%
Homelessness██3%
Public Safety2%
Public Comment2%
Summary of Proceedings

Alameda County Board of Supervisors Personnel Administration and Legislation Committee – March 23, 2026

The Personnel Administration and Legislation Committee convened on Monday, March 23, 2026, to receive federal and state legislative updates, hear public testimony, and consider several support position requests for pending legislation. Key topics included the ongoing partial DHS shutdown, the SAVE Act, a potential $200 billion defense supplemental, and state impacts from federal HR 1. The committee advanced five support positions to the full Board.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • Don Seifkus (Coalition for the National Infrastructure Bank, San Leandro) – Expressed strong support for Supervisor Tam's request to back HR 5356 (National Infrastructure Bank Act). Described the need for a new financing tool to address the $4 trillion infrastructure funding gap, citing the historical Reconstruction Finance Corporation. Argued the bank could fund affordable housing, lead abatement, and the San Francisco seawall.
  • Jeff Beaman (retired scientist, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab) – Voiced support for the infrastructure bank, highlighting its potential to finance affordable housing, grid upgrades, clean transportation (e.g., California high-speed rail, Capitol Corridor electrification), and create local jobs. Stated Alameda County has nothing to lose and much to gain by endorsing the bank.

Federal Legislative Update

  • Emily Bakay DeSilva and John Assini (CJ Leak) provided the update.
  • DHS Funding & SAVE Act: House and Senate in session; spring recess expected. DHS funding negotiations remain stalled. White House rejected a Democratic proposal to fund all of DHS except ICE and to handle ICE via reconciliation. President Trump insists the Senate must pass the SAVE Act (voting system overhaul) before any DHS deal. The SAVE Act has near-zero chance of passage under a 60-vote threshold; Senate Republicans are unwilling to change filibuster rules. Senate may cancel part of recess if Trump demands further action.
  • Appropriations Process: FY27 appropriations guidance released by Senate; House guidance earlier. President's budget request (expected ~$1.5 trillion for regular appropriations) may be released next week. Hearings will begin after April recess on both chambers.
  • Defense Supplemental: Early discussions reference a potential $200 billion defense supplemental request for FY27, largely to replenish munitions expended in the Iran conflict. The formal request from OMB has not yet been transmitted to Congress. Using budget reconciliation is complicated by limited offsets after the “one big beautiful bill” and thin Republican margins.
  • Health Care Affordability: House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee held third hearing on cost drivers, covering provider transparency, site-neutral payments, 340B reform, and Stark law changes. No immediate legislation expected.
  • Supervisor Fortunato Bas asked clarifying questions about the $200 billion request (one-year timeframe), the possibility of a standalone TSA funding bill (Democrats have offered it but White House rejected), and the role of incoming DHS Secretary Mullen (will not lead immigration negotiations; Tom Homan and Stephen Miller will). Noted the public safety risk at airports due to TSA sickouts.

State Legislative Update

  • Gil Dent (Full Moon Strategies) provided the update.
  • Legislative Calendar: Spring recess March 26–April 6. Fiscal bills clear policy committees by April 24; non-fiscal by May 1. May Revision expected May 14, followed by suspense file hearings and first-house deadlines.
  • Immigration: CA Attorney General Bonta filed an amicus brief supporting a federal case challenging conditions at the Lando ICE processing center (understaffing, medical neglect, excessive force). Governor Newsom criticized Trump’s deployment of ICE agents to airports, calling ICE “lawless.” Supervisor Fortunato Bas noted that ICE has not been deployed to Bay Area airports and urged residents to know their rights and consult attorneys before traveling.
  • Tariffs: AG Bonta and 18 other state attorneys general urged Congress to mandate automatic refunds with interest for $166 billion paid under struck-down Trump tariffs, warning of costs to California businesses and jobs.
  • Federal HR 1 Impact (State Budget): Senate Budget subcommittee held a six-hour hearing. Officials projected 1.6 million loss in CalFresh benefits and 1.4 million Californians losing Medi-Cal due to new work requirements; LAO warned it could reach 2 million by 2030. Counties expected to absorb up to 1 million newly uninsured residents, with significant revenue losses and administrative burdens. Alameda County is engaged with the legislature on budget priorities.

Support Position Requests

  • HR 5356 – National Infrastructure Bank Act (from Supervisor Tam) – The committee voted unanimously to advance a letter of support to the full Board. Main sponsor: Rep. Danny Davis (IL-7); 57 cosponsors including nine California representatives. The bank would provide 100% loans for local infrastructure projects. Motion by Supervisor Tam, seconded by Supervisor Fortunato Bas. Voice vote: Aye – Supervisors Porter Bass and Temple.
  • AB 1606 (Supervisor Miley) – Tax credits for cleanup costs.
  • AB 2310 (Supervisor Miley) – Criminal penalties for illegal dumping.
  • SB 1230 (Solid waste illegal dumping – enhanced penalties).
  • AB 1660 (Social Services Agency) – Public guardians and administrators: require financial institutions and third parties to comply with lawful requests from probate courts.
  • The committee voted unanimously to forward all four state bills to the full Board. Motion by Supervisor Tam, seconded by Supervisor Fortunato Bas. Voice vote: Aye – Supervisors Porter Bass and Temple.

Key Outcomes

  • Approved for full Board: Support letter for HR 5356 (National Infrastructure Bank Act).
  • Approved for full Board: Support positions for AB 1606, AB 2310, SB 1230, and AB 1660.
  • No action taken: Federal and state legislative updates received without formal vote.
  • Public comment: Two speakers in support of the infrastructure bank; no other public comments.

Meeting Transcript

Testing one, two, three. Good afternoon and welcome to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors Personnel Administration and Legislation Committee meeting for Monday, March the 23rd, 2026. May have roll call, please. Supervisor Portalado Bass. Present. Present. We have a quorum. Thank you. May I have instructions on participation? Of course. For all public commenters, please state your name prior to your presentation for their record. If you wish to speak on a matter not on the agenda, please wait until Supervisor TAM calls for public input on non-agendized items. Only items within the committee's jurisdiction may be addressed. In person participants, please fill out a speaker card at the front and hand it to the clerk. If you're dialing in, please dial star five to raise your hand to notify the clerk you wish to speak. For all participants, the clerk will call your name and either allow you to come up to the podium and um and present your comment and online participants. The clerk will unmute you. Thank you. Thank you. Let's start with the legislative update on the federal side from CJ Leak. Good afternoon. You've got Emily Bakay DeSilva here and John Assini as well. Both the House and Senate are in session this week. And then they're both supposed to go uh out of session for two weeks. They'll be in the district or in the state uh for what they call the spring recess. So hopefully they will get some things done this week, including potentially uh funding DHS, but they are um both in session this week. Um one thing I know we've been reporting on is the beginning of the FY27 appropriations process, and of course the House side had issued their appropriations guidance a few weeks ago. The Senate uh just released their guidance at the end of last week. Um, even though uh Senators Schiff and Padilla had already issued kind of their own guidance. We now know the um appropriations subcommittee deadlines, which um most begin in April. Um also kind of what kicks off the appropriations process is when the president sends uh their budget request to Congress. Uh it seems like it gets later and later. Uh it's it should be kind of that first uh I believe Tuesday in February. I can't tell you the last time that has happened. Um John and I were both on the hill last week talking to appropriators. Um they were hearing that it could come as soon as next week. So again, they said that could slip, but I think we're expecting it to uh be released um uh hopefully by the end of next week. And again, even though no matter the president, uh, you know, people say it's dead on arrival when it gets to Congress, it at least gives you an idea of the priorities for the administration, and so you can look at kind of what they are hoping to do um with various accounts and agencies. So um hopefully we'll see that next week, and then that will kick off kind of appropriations hearings in both the House and Senate that would start when Congress comes back um after the April recess. Um top of mind right now is homeland security funding and uh getting a homeland security secretary. Uh the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee advanced uh Senator Mullins nomination uh last week and the Senate held a procedural vote uh over the weekend, and so the full Senate is expected to approve his nomination tonight, um, which I think is uh good because at this point uh as it relates to DHS funding, um, you know, negotiators have remained uh far apart and the white house has now signaled they want to hold off on any further negotiations with Senate Democrats until Senator Mullen is confirmed. So hoping that happens tonight, um, then you know there's potential for you know some sort of breakthrough this week. Um, but up until now, we you know, different uh bills have come up. The idea to pull out uh TSA and fund that it hasn't gone anywhere, fund everything, but ICE that hasn't gained any traction. So again, hoping that once they get um a secretary in place, maybe things will be kick started. John, I'll pause there. I can turn it over to you uh for the remainder, but that's kind of where things stand on those issues. And John, jump in on kind of the negotiations, et cetera, if you're hearing different things. Yeah, the one thing that I would just add to that is there was an offer that was made by Democrats to fund all of the DHS bill with the exception of ICE and then leave ICE for a future reconciliation package. It would allow the agency to still operate because of the funding that they received in HR one and then provide political cover um for Democrats for the rest of the package while also providing the essential services provided by TSA and other agencies to operate and end the shutdown.

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