Special Notice / Hearing: None__
Vote Required: Majority
To: Honorable Board of Supervisors
From: Michael Callagy, County Manager
Connie Juarez-Diroll, Legislative Officer
Subject: 2021 State and Federal Legislative Update #5
RECOMMENDATION:
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Accept this informational report on the 2021 State and Federal legislative sessions.
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BACKGROUND:
On July 14th, the Legislature faced a deadline to pass bills out of policy committees in the second house. The State Legislature is currently on Summer Recess until August 16th. Their next major deadline is the Appropriations Committee deadline of August 27th. Subsequently, both houses will have until September 10th to pass all bills.
In addition, throughout mid-June and into the start of the Summer Recess, the Legislature and Governor continued their piecemeal process of advancing additional components of the 2021-22 State Budget.
At Federal level, discussions continued on the development of a national infrastructure package.
DISCUSSION:
2021 State Update
Legislative Update - The Legislature has advanced a variety of bills aimed at closing the digital divide. The bills would modify the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF), which is a fund administered by the California Public Utilities Commission to fund broadband infrastructure in unserved areas. The California State Association of Counties has advocated in support of all the following broadband-related bills. Notably, these bills complement the State's recent budget actions that invest approximately $6 billion in broadband infrastructure:
* AB 14 (Aguiar-Curry) would make a number of efforts related to closing the digital divide, including authorizing the ability to issue a revenue bond of up to $1 billion, and allowing for Boards of Supervisors to approve the construction and operation of broadband infrastructure and services.
* SB 4 (Gonzalez, Lena) would modernize and increase the CASF in multiple ways, including enabling l...
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