Good afternoon and welcome to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors Personnel Administration and Legislation Committee meeting for Monday, April the 27th, 2026.

May I have road call, please?

Supervisor Portonato Bass present.

Supervisor TAM.

Present.

We have a quorum.

Thank you.

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Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Let's start with the federal legislative update from CJ Lake.

Good afternoon.

We are all hearing.

Try again, please.

Thank you.

Hi, this is finally with HJ Lake, AJ Lake, AJ Lake, and the link and live and could we try John maybe to see if we're still experiencing the echo.

Sure, test.

Rebecca?

Yeah, you're good.

There's no echo when you speak.

Okay.

Emily, I can I can take over in case it's on your end.

Um in terms of the schedule, both chambers are in session this week.

Um the Congress will recess on Friday, May 1st, and then return for legislative business on May 11th.

Um the House in particular has a very crazy week with three big ticket items that they'll be trying to consider um before they recess at the end of the week.

The first of which is the uh DHS funding bill or the budget resolution um that passed the Senate last week.

Um after a six-hour vote of Rama, the Senate adopted a budget resolution um on Thursday morning, allowing Republicans to use the party line reconciliation process to fund ICE and CBP for essentially the next three and a half years.

That vote was 50 to 48 with Senators Lisa Markowski and Rand Paul joining all Democrats in opposing the measure.

On Friday, Speaker Johnson announced his plans to act this week on the Senate bill with the goal of finally ending the more than 70-day shutdown uh for the Department of Homeland Security.

Um it was revealed to lawmakers through a letter from Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen that DHS is expected to run out of money to pay its employees by April 30th, which is if you can believe it, in three days, to bring along skeptical, skeptical members who want a broader DHS bill.

Republican leadership is also planning to unveil a framework for potential third reconciliation package.

This is largely designed to reinsure conservatives that leadership has not abandoned uh their priorities.

Um, and this will potentially include additional defense spending.

Um, several influential House Committee chairs, including Jim Jordan, who is chair of the Judiciary Committee, Jody Arrington, the chair of the budget committee, and Jason Smith, chair of the Ways and Means Committee are still pushing colleagues to expand the current bill rather than wait for that third future package.

I'll remind you that if they do do a third future package, they'll also have to go through the budget resolution process, which will require a vote of rama in the Senate, and then they have to provide allocations uh to the various committees and go through that whole process all over again.

And they go through a second process by using a different budget resolution.

They'll have to just use that single process and then send it over to the Senate.

Speaker Johnson and his team are working to contain that sentiment that was expressed by those committee chairs before it reaches contagion and spreads throughout the rest of the caucus, and then really provides a more difficult path for them to get this budget resolution over the finish line.

Even if leadership does hold the line, passing the budget resolution could still take a few weeks and would put Speaker Johnson in the uncomfortable position of deciding whether to move the FY26 DHS funding bill before the new reconciliation blueprint is finalized, which could aggravate many of the House conservatives who want to see the reconciliation bill pass and then the DHS bill funding pass.

Over the weekend, Leader Thune uh signaled that the Senate may pivot to a budget reconciliation measure tied to DHS immigration enforcement immediately after the FY26 budget resolution is adopted by the House, which would continue the momentum on moving the bill forward.

In addition uh to the budget resolution and the subsequent reconciliation package, House Republican leadership is also uh pressed to pass the FISA Section 3702 reauthorization bill.

Um House leadership released a three-year reauthorization bill over the weekend, um, and they are trying to pass it before the program expires next Thursday.

The legislation includes new penalties for FISA abuses and additional oversight measures, but stops short of the warrant requirements that many uh members have been demanding.

This is an interesting one because both uh uh hardline conservatives and most of the Democratic Party agree that warrant requirements are necessary to get their vote.

So uh Speaker Johnson is likely having to go to more conservative Democrats uh in order to get over the finish line and pass the bill.

Um Speaker Johnson is bringing the bill to the floor under a rule, which means that he'll need to clear a procedural vote with Republican votes alone, which is of course a tall order given conservative dissent.

Um they may have to pull some Democratic votes who have passed or have voted for the Section 702 reauthorization bill in the past.

There are a handful of Democrats that did this five years ago during the Biden administration.

Um, but that was a very contentious, um, a very contentious reauthorization process.

A handful of members continue to remain dug in on this issue.

One is still pushing for a ban on central bank digital currency.

Another won't support any rule without unrelated legislation that's attached, and a third is opposed to Pfizer reauthorization altogether.

If Speaker Johnson can't wrangle enough Republicans, his fallback is bringing the bill under suspension of the rules, which would of course require 290 votes and make democratic support and democratic leadership support essential.

That's going to be a challenging proposal because uh House Minority Leader Jeffries has opposed previous versions of the bill, and they would essentially want a rewrite, which would prove difficult for the majority of Republicans to support.

At this point, leadership from the Democratic Party's message is clear.

Pfizer will not be allowed to expire on their watch, or the Republican Party rather, uh Pfizer will not be allowed to expire on their watch, but the path to passage remains narrow and the margin for error remains thin.

Additionally, a third issue that they have to deal with this week in the House is advancing their version of the farm bill.

But as you can probably tell by now, it faces an already crowded floor schedule along the budget resolution and Pfizer reauthorization.

Divisions within the Republican coalition and near unified democratic opposition are adding further complications to the passage of the farm bill.

Regardless, it's a five-year reauthorization of the USDA programs to through 2031.

Um, and overall, the legislation would authorize uh the commodity title, the conservation title, crop insurance, trade, nutrition, role development, forestry, energy, horticulture, and research.

The bill does nothing to blunt the damages to SNAP that were enacted as part of HR one, which continues to be a sticking point from the majority of the Democratic Party in the House.

Um, additionally, there are no conversations that are happening in the Senate that would lead to believe that there's some sort of bipartisan compromise coming out of the House pass package.

Um, and without with so much on leadership's plate, it remains to be seen how much attention and floor time the farm bill actually gets this week.

And it's possible that they pull consideration of the farm bill from the floor altogether.

And then finally, um, just a quick note on Iran, Republican lawmakers continue to delay any formal action on Congress's warm making authority as United States conflict with Iran stretches on.

Most GOP members are pointing to procedural timelines and ongoing ceasefire talks as reasons to hold off on an AUMF or a war powers resolution.

The 60-day mark under the war powers act is very quickly approaching.

And while a formal war authorization has been discussed, nothing has been drafted or introduced yet.

Meanwhile, there continues to be turmoil in the Pentagon as Defense Secretary Hegsath fired Navy Secretary John Phelan last week in the latest of a series of high military department high-level military departures during the conflict.

The reason why Mr.

Phelan was fired was because of his current inaction on the Trump class battleship that has not seen enough uh progress to be completed in the near future.

Um of course the Trump Trump class battleship does not have even a design phase, and the uh American shipbuilding capacity would not be able to construct it in a um short or even a long amount of time.

Um but nonetheless, uh Mr.

Trump got aggravated with his um slow walking of the project and subsequently fired the Navy secretary.

Navy undersecretary Hung Cao, uh, who uh was a Navy veteran and former candidate for both the House and the Senate in Virginia, is now the acting secretary until his former confirmation process, which remains to be seen.

So I'll pause there.

Um I'm not sure if we'd be able to uh uh fix Emily's issue, but happy to answer any questions.

Do you want to try Emily again?

Hi, can you hear me?

All good, no echo.

I think it was user error, and I apologize.

I think I was signed in twice.

Um the only thing I would add is that um as John mentioned, I mean, the House has a really busy week this week, and I think a lot of folks feel like um a lot of things could fall apart before the end of the week.

So, you know, they're supposed to vote on uh the FISA extension tomorrow, the um budget resolution on Wednesday, and then the farm bill on Thursday.

Um, and the rules committee uh started meeting today, uh, I think around 12 or one o'clock, and it is still going.

And basically, they're trying to get a rule for all three of these bills.

So I think a lot could happen later today.

Um, and I know the one that probably we're following um the most closely will course the Senate budget resolution, but the farm bill because of SNAP, and that one seems to be the one that could really fall off just because FISA and the Senate uh budget resolution, I think will take up more floor time, and we could always see, as John and I have said, kind of the farm bill getting pushed out even further.

So that was the only thing I wanted to add.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

A lot happening.

Um Supervisor Fortunately, questions, comments.

Uh thank you, John.

That was very, very comprehensive.

I appreciate it.

Um, I actually don't have any questions.

Uh I just had a clarification question.

Uh for the DHS uh funding that passed with the um party line.

Did that include any of the reforms that were discussed?

You're shaking your head.

That's a no.

Okay.

No.

So what passes the budget resolution, which is just instructions to the committee to draft legislation at a certain funding level.

So it's not really a piece of legislation, it's an instruction to the committees.

So now it falls to the Judiciary Committee and the Homeland Committees to then draft their bills, which will then go through the budget reconciliation process.

This is the same process that we saw for HR 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act last year.

And you'll remember that those bills uh are subject to uh the birdbath, the bird rules, uh, which limit the kind of um policies and funding bills that can be included.

So a policy matter that makes certain changes to DHS would not really would not be eligible to be passed in a budget reconciliation bill because it has a policy impact and the impacts would be merely budget incidental on the federal budget.

So even if that was included in the reconciliation, it would be nixed during the bird bath process in the Senate.

Okay, that's very helpful.

I didn't realize it was a processing issue.

Um the uh other question I had is uh I mean, a lot of these votes that you're talking about are on a very slim margin, whether it's 50 to 49 or 48.

Um you have a sense in terms of timing um for this fall, how the Congressional District 14th race um might influence or not influence that uh slim margin.

In terms of the vacancy.

Yeah, this is the vacancy created by Congresswoman, Congressman Eric Swalwell.

So there's been a couple of vacancies because there's been some also high-level departures on the Republican side and on the Democratic side.

So, in terms of the uh the balance of power is remained essentially the same.

There may be a vote here or there that uh Speaker Johnson have been able to get an edge on, but because of uh the resignations of other members as well, they remain basically in status quo.

Uh Emily, I don't know if you know the exact breakdown now that there's been a couple of departures and a death as well.

So things have kind of haven't really changed too substantially.

No, um I think right now it's 217 to 212, one independent caucusing with the Republicans, and then five vacancies.

Um, I mean, I know that there was a sense that if it goes through the primary to a general, of course, that wouldn't happen until August.

And so, you know, usually there are some big votes in July.

Um, and so I know you know, leadership was hoping to have that seat filled, but I would need to look honestly at the other when the other elections are and get a sense of when those are filled.

And we can do that for you.

Um, not a problem.

Thank you.

Appreciate that.

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

There are no public comments on our federal legislative update.

Thank you both very much.

Uh, let's go to our state legislative update from Full Moon Strategies.

Good afternoon, Amy Costa with Full Moon Strategies here with the state legislative advocacy report.

Uh last week was a big week in Sacramento and a critical point in our 2026 legislative uh session as the legislature worked through its first major deadline.

Over four days, nearly 50 committee hearings were held, and approximately 850 measures were considered.

Uh, and this was because April 24th was the deadline for policy committees to hear and report any fiscal bills to fiscal committees, while May 1st is the deadline for non-fiscal bills to be heard in policy committees and reported to the floor.

Um, among those goals, the county sponsored measure SP 1400 past the Senate local government committee on April 15th with a vote of five to one.

Thank you to Supervisor TAM for joining us and providing her testimony.

Uh, the measure was subsequently heard and passed unanimously by the Senate House Committee on April 22nd, and now the measure is headed to the Senate floor.

Uh your board voted last week to oppose SB 1193.

Uh that measure is a non-fiscal measure and is scheduled to be heard in Senate local government this Wednesday, April 29th at 9:30 a.m.

The committee analysis was released, and we're linking it in our TAL report, and it suggests several amendments to the measure.

Um, those include exempting awards below 25,000, removing the requirement that all discretionary funds have a contract award with enforcement mechanisms, an exemption for awarding funds to the Alameda Health System, limiting contract conflict of interest disclosures to supervisors and executive level staff, and allowing supervisors to uh who are running in an election to vote on discretionary awards that benefit the county as a whole, or that are for outside of their supervisorial districts.

Um we're also entering kind of prime time for the state budget.

Uh the Department of Finance released their April finance bulletin.

Uh general revenues were 1.5 billion above the governor's budget forecast in March and 8.6 billion above the fiscal year-to-date estimates.

The margin fiscal year-to-day overage was due largely to receipts from corporation tax and personal income tax.

The other thing that they noted, which was interesting is year over year gasoline inflation is around 18%.

Also, uh the Senate Democrats released their budget framework uh for 26-27 titled Foundations for the Future.

It centers on three priorities, responsible budgeting, protecting essential programs, and improving the state's long-term fiscal stability.

A major focus is addressing county and community impacts related to HR one, including higher medical costs, financial challenges for our public hospitals, and increased administrative demands on county health and human service departments.

It's important to note, however, that the Senate plan is able to backfill several of the administration's proposed cuts by assuming revenues are around 20 billion higher than what was included in the governor's budget.

The Senate proposes a new revenue measure, which they're calling a fair share contribution, which would require corporations to contribute towards health care costs for workers who rely on public programs.

The plan also preserves key health and human service investments by maintaining IHSS supports, uh funding 44,000 child care slots, protecting Medi-Cal coverage and Medicaid dental benefits, delaying clinic reductions and medical premiums, and providing additional support for legal aid and for local food banks.

The plan also makes significant investments in public safety, housing and homelessness.

It includes 100 million for Prop 36 implementation and on how housing and homelessness, excuse me, housing and homelessness, the Senate proposes $1 billion for homelessness response through HAHAP with a commitment for another $1 billion in the following round, along with major investments in home ownership and affordable housing programs.

The framework also includes $5 billion in permanent ongoing program reductions.

Together, these proposals provide an early picture of what budget negotiations may look like when the May revise is released between at least the Senate and the administration.

With that, I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you very much.

You've also been very busy.

Questions, comments?

Thank you for the update, Amy, and I look forward to the follow-up report as well.

So just to make sure I uh heard you correctly, it sounded like the um the state budget is potentially going to receive $1 billion additional in revenue, and it and the Senate's proposed budget is assuming additional revenue of 20 billion and 5 billion in reduction.

So there's a pretty significant gap between the Senate proposal and what the I assume it's the LAO is is projecting.

Is that correct?

Uh it thank you for the question, Supervisor.

It's actually the 1.5 billion is just the monthly projection.

So year to date, what the Department of Finance is saying compared to governor's budget, is they're up about eight $8.6 billion.

Um, and so uh and that really follows some of the revenue um reports that we're getting with some uh receipts from both corporation and personal income tax coming in this year higher than anticipated okay and any um any idea where some of this might go, especially some of the things that would help backfill the impacts to the county in terms of health and human services.

That's a great question.

I think one of the key questions for policymakers will to be really looking at the nature of the revenues and whether or not this is a one-time surge or whether or not they believe this is a longer-term revenue trend.

Um the LAO has certainly cautioned that much of this revenue is being um driven by AI and tech companies, and so it may not carry through into budget year plus one.

Um, and as we know, um that's interesting because many of the HR one impacts, although bad in budget year actually grow even more in budget year plus one and beyond.

Thank you.

Um let me start with uh a couple of things.

On um SB 1400, were you able to um connect with assemblymember Bonta's office because that they had called asking for some information about the bill?

We did speak with them preliminarily, but we're happy to follow up, supervisor at any time.

Okay, that would be helpful.

I think uh they were just asking uh questions the other day, and um with respect to um SB 1193, you know, it's hard to really talk about distinguishing projects that benefit the county as a whole, because like for example, um our last board meeting.

We in my district in particular, we allocated uh EV 2026 funds to the the Will Watchan Family Resource Center to provide mental health care, especially for an area that is but um that's been uh impacted in the unincorporated areas.

Even though that may be in a borderline district between myself and district two, it does benefit the county.

So would programs like that be subject to the election timeline as well?

Willichan Family Resource Center to provide mental health care, especially for an area that is but um that's been uh impacted um in the unincorporated areas even though that may be in a borderline district between myself and district two it does benefit the county so would programs like that be subject to the election timeline as well an interesting question uh I think it's important to note that um we don't have the actual amendments quite yet that the committee is proposing nor do we know um if the author will accept the committee amendments within their discretion to accept the amendments or not I see okay um then the next question I had is along the lines of um supervisor fortunato passes comments earlier so we have a request from the urban counties of um California which is basically through CSAC uh to ask the state to help mitigate um a lot of the cuts because of HR one and the one I'm focused on is really the state directed payments because that affects so much in terms of the medical arena especially the with the Almeida Alliance for Health do you know where that request is in the context of what you just described as um the overage in the budget uh from the governor's proposal we'll know a lot more when he releases the May revise um which has to be released no later than May 14th I would say within budget year because revenues are coming in above projection there's a likelihood that some of these cuts will be backfilled I think the concern for the county is whether or not they'll be ongoing in nature and we know that many of the costs are absolutely ongoing for us so that'll be what a lot of us will be looking at in the May revise and of course when they begin negotiating with the legislature um I think I've reported previously um that HR1 is dominating the budget hearings on both the assembly and the Senate side and so clearly it's a top priority for both houses.

Okay that's fair enough I understand that uh because the May revise will come out on May 14th we are moving our budget and work group meeting I think that was scheduled on that day to May 18th I think that's the hope right now but I appreciate that update uh do we have any public comments on our state legislative update there are no public comments on our state legislative update okay so we have a series of requests from the departments uh the first one is as I mentioned is this the support a state budget request to mitigate the impacts of HR one from the urban counties uh of California's budget requests it's a support position requested by both social service and uh Alamite County Health as it affects our CalFresh program and MediCal the second is a request for support on AB 2214th to um essentially designate uh excuse me funding support for small businesses and home buyers in uh underserved areas through the local agency investment fund the community reinvestment account the next one is a support position on SB 1313th on drinking water it's to um place some funds in a special fund to mitigate the impacts of PFOS sponsored by uh Senator McNurney and the next is a request from Alameda County Health to uh essentially uh provide funding support for um the California children's services in terms of staffing and then the last is a request from Alameda County Health to support AB 1659 the juvenile school pupils uh joint transition planning policy it's to ensure coordination on individualized services for juvenile justice pupils do we have uh concurrence on those propositions supervisor tan I hate to interrupt but I did just have one process note for the committee um which is one of the bills AB2214 before you um it's actually failed the deadline that I spoke about earlier um this bill did not pass um as part of the the fiscal deadline so I just want to make sure you're aware of that okay so we will remove that uh request from consideration a B 2214 the support position requested by um our treasurer is removed from consideration because it missed the deadline uh chair Tam I am very supportive of these items and so I'll make a motion to move items um one three four and five uh the legislat these late legislative position requests to the full board I will second that motion roll call vote please supervisor fortunatabas aye supervisor tam aye motion passed thank you very much um do we have any public comment and items not on today's agenda but within the preview

Uh Chair Tam, I am very supportive of these items, and so I'll make a motion to move items um one, three, four, and five.

Uh the legisl these late legislative position requests to the full board.

I will second that motion.

Roll call vote, please.

Supervisor Fortunata Boss.

Aye.

Supervisor Tam.

Aye.

Motion passed.

Thank you very much.

Um, do we have any public comment and items not on today's agenda, but within the purview of PAL.

There are no public comments on non-agendized items, Chair.

Thank you very much.

This meeting is adjourned.

Thank you.