BAHFA In 2019, the Legislature enacted AB 1487 (Chiu), to establish the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority (BAHFA). BAHFA is authorized to raise, administer, and allocate funding and provide technical assistance in the nine-county Bay Area region for tenant protection, affordable housing preservation, and new affordable housing production. Two governmental entities provide region-wide housing planning: the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG). These entities govern BAHFA. Among its powers, AB 1487 allows its board to place various revenue-generating measures on the ballot in all nine Bay Area counties. Specifically, the bill allows the authority to approve:

• Various types of special taxes, including parcel taxes;
• A regional commercial linkage fee; and
• General obligation and revenue bonds.

If approved, BAHFA retains 20 percent of the revenue raised and distributes the remaining funds directly to counties or cities for specified housing projects, programs, and related infrastructure. BAHFA planned to put a regional financing measure on the November 2020 ballot, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced the agency to delay its plans. The Budget Act of 2021 (SB 129, Skinner) allocated $20 million to BAHFA to fund five BAHFA pilot programs.

In June, the BAHFA board agreed to ask voters across the nine counties of the Bay Area to approve an IOU of up to $20 billion dollars. The bulk of the funds would go toward the construction of new subsidized housing projects, with the rest to be spent buying up existing units (to make or keep them affordable) and on housing-related infrastructure.

But big borrowing comes with a big cost. The authority estimates that paying off principal and interest will add up to nearly $50 billion, to be paid via higher property taxes. Even for one of California’s most reliably progressive regions, that’s no sure thing. Last March, a mental health housing and treatment bond was backed by Gov. Gavin Newsom and supporters spent nearly 15,000 times more than the opponents. Still, Prop. 1 passed by less than half of a percentage point. Polling commissioned by BAHFA found that 54 percent of likely voters support the bond. That may be more than a majority, but in California, where most local bonds require the backing of two-thirds of voters, that isn’t enough to pass. That could change this November. Legislators approved a constitutional amendment to reduce the threshold needed to approve local housing and infrastructure borrowing to 55 percent. That change is headed for the November ballot, and if it passes, it would apply to any bond concurrently on the ballot, including the Bay Area bond. That means the fate of California’s largest-ever housing bond may hinge on the outcome of not one ballot measure but two.

But, and I suspect every reader saw this coming, the board concluded (after careful study, I am sure) that any money they send to local agencies to produce this vitally needed housing comes with a payout to the State Building and Construction Trades Council.

And here comes Senator Dave Cortese to the rescue. His SB 753, that was introduced to require motion picture production employers to hire a qualified set safety advisor and to be on set daily, was stripped of that language and amended to mandate that any construction or rehabilitative project receiving funding from BAHFA is a public work and subject to prevailing wage and a PLA. Who are Dave’s leading campaign contributors? General trade unions and public sector unions, of course. The Assembly Housing Committee approved the bill on a party-line vote, and it is awaiting judgment in Assembly appropriations when the Legislature returns in August.
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California Court of Appeal Thwarts Efforts to Conceal Important Driving History Information from Employers California employers are familiar with how officials continue to restrict employers' access to public records, including criminal history information. For example, lengthy delays in completing standard criminal background checks are now routine in California. Apart from criminal background checks, many employers rely on motor vehicle record checks (MVRs) to vet candidates for positions that require driving as part of the job. In Doe v. California Dept. of Motor Vehicles, the court of appeal rejected the plaintiffs’ efforts to enjoin the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) from releasing information about the reason for a driver’s alcohol-impaired driving license suspension (e.g., the driver had an excessive blood-alcohol level) when the driver has not been convicted. Reversing the trial court, the court of appeal held the disclosure of such information does not constitute the disclosure of information about a non-conviction arrest within the meaning of California’s privacy laws. This is a rare “win” for employers in the Golden State. Story
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“New PAGA” Brings Guarded Optimism to California Employers The long-awaited PAGA reform legislation (“New PAGA”) brings significant change and some clarification to the 20-year-old law. It reconciles previously ambiguous interpretations of the law and adds new provisions that will have far-reaching effects on the litigation of PAGA actions. The new law provides further guidance and new opportunities for employers regarding plaintiff standing, cure, remediation, early settlement opportunities, and adjusted default penalty amounts. Some expect these changes to generate significant future litigation regarding their scope and implementation. More
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Five + Four = Nine The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is set to consider a proposed charter amendment to increase the number of board seats from five to nine. Each LA County supervisor oversees a district of approximately 2 million people and earns about $280,000. The proposal aims to establish a governance structure that is "more representative, accountable, and efficient." The county has not released a formal estimate for the cost of the proposed changes. If the board approves the proposal, which was announced last week by Supervisors Lindsey Horvath and Janice Hahn, it will go before voters on the November ballot. If the motion passes tomorrow, it will return at least twice to the board for final votes on language. The proposal also includes two additional reform measures changing the structure of the county's government. The County Chief Executive position, which oversees the county's $45.6 billion budget, would change from a board appointment to an elected post. It would also create an independent ethics commission. Fact sheet
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JATCs Rule The Biden/Harris administration has been on a blitz promoting registered union-friendly apprenticeships. Last Thursday, it doled out more than $244 million through a pair of grant programs. White House domestic policy adviser Neera Tanden also traveled with acting Labor Secretary Julie Su to Williamsport, Pennsylvania, to tout the announcement. It was part of a two-day swing through the Keystone State for Su, also joined in Philadelphia by Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo. Treasury recently finalized regulations tying registered apprenticeships and prevailing wage requirements to lucrative clean energy tax credits. Adeyemo said his priorities are ensuring employers are aware of these incentives — and that Treasury is serious about enforcing the labor requirements. “If you're going to claim the tax credit, you have to do the right thing and make sure you're paying employees the prevailing wage and making sure you're using legitimate apprenticeship programs,” he said in an interview. DOL is also working on an overhaul of the rules for apprenticeships, with the agency targeting August to finalize them — a potentially risky move that would expose them to a possible GOP rollback depending on the elections.
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Mark Who? Democrat donors are talking up a new potential candidate: Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona. Kelly, a former astronaut and U.S. Navy fighter pilot has won two elections in a crucial battleground state, demonstrates a potential allure to undecided moderates. (He is married to Gabby Giffords, the former Arizona Representative who survived an assassination attempt in 2011.) For some Democratic financial supporters, his bio makes him the man of the moment. However, Kelly has many drawbacks that other donor wish-list names share. Those include a lack of name recognition, logistical hurdles to taking over the Biden campaign’s infrastructure, and money. Also, a lack of experience on the national and international stage and side-eye from Arizona’s Bob Bartlett.
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Taxpayers Bail Out Another Failing Union Pension Fund With $1.5 Billion On Monday, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) announced that it had approved giving $1.5 billion of taxpayer money to yet another underfunded union pension plan: The American Federation of Musicians and Employers Pension Plan (American Federation of Musicians Plan), which is based in New York City and covers 49,180 participants in the entertainment industry. Story
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PROP 36 Lindsey Cobia, a consultant with close ties to Newsom, will lead the “No” campaign on the tough-on-crime initiative. Cobia is not working on behalf of the governor. Still, the two are on the same page: Besides her new gig battling Prop 36, Cobia is a key official on Newsom’s bid to make Democratic inroads in red terrain. Newsom is expanding his offensive against national Republican figures by channeling $10 million into a new political organization that will wade into red states through the 2024 cycle.

In a glossy launch video featuring images of longtime GOP nemeses like former President Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Newsom said his newly launched “Campaign for Democracy” committee would organize and spend money in “states where freedom is most under attack.”
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More SCOC Tinkering with Voting The California Supreme Court has signaled they will consider a case asking for the removal of a November ballot measure that targets the funding of one organization, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. Late last week, the court requested briefs related to the Proposition 34 challenge on an expedited timeline, an unusual request that suggests it is open to hearing the case. If the state's highest court removes the measure from the November ballot, it will mark the second such decision in recent weeks. Last month, the court killed the Taxpayer Protection Act, a high-profile initiative that would have made raising taxes in the state more difficult. Opponents of Prop 34 have argued that it is unconstitutional because it targets one organization, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. The measure would require AHF to spend 98 percent of its taxpayer-generated revenues on direct patient care, an apparent attempt to stop the tax-exempt nonprofit from using its funding to advance its political agenda, including expanded rent control, at the ballot box. On Friday, the California Apartment Association filed a brief in support of Prop 34 — and the court asked for a reply from AHF within two business days. “It doesn’t happen often,” said Jerry Flanagan, the litigation director for Consumer Watchdog, a progressive non-profit that filed an amicus letter on behalf of AHF, about the quick timeline. “The justices are not going to push a quick turnaround if they’re not interested.”

Thank goodness we have the court protecting a voter’s right to vote!
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Matt Haney’s Boozy Campaign Fundraisers Under Investigation by State Watchdog Assembly Member Matt Haney’s mixing of business with pleasure by holding boozy campaign fundraisers at San Francisco 49ers games, Broadway shows and other sporting events has run the state assemblymember into hot water. The California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) is investigating Haney’s campaign this week after The Standard reported unusual fundraisers frequently featured on Haney’s Instagram account as he snapped pictures with family and friends. Haney spent more than $65,000 in campaign funds on 49ers tickets since the beginning of last year. His campaign also spent thousands on tickets, food and drinks while Haney watched the San Francisco Giants, Golden State Warriors and Broadway shows like “The Lion King.” Many of Haney’s recent donors said they were not invited to the games, raising questions about who attended. Story

Legislature Wants to Borrow More, Natch Politicians plan to borrow $10 billion from Wall Street for school construction and make taxpayers pay it back plus 80 percent in total interest costs. Several years ago, Gov. Gavin Newsom bragged about having a $97.5 billion surplus to expand health care, social equity, and educational programs. But facing mid-term elections in November 2022, Newsom and the State Legislature hatched a plan to give more than $9 billion of this money back to low—and moderate-income California residents. And for some reason, Newsom signed a contract with an out-of-state company instead of issuing checks to send this money as prepaid debit cards. According to recent reports, over half the cards issued still had unspent funds as of April. Some 624,000 cards had not even been activated. Hundreds of millions of dollars are being held by the state’s contractor, Money Network, benefiting no one in California. Worse, the state auditor released a report recently saying Money Network failed to answer half of the calls from residents who wanted to speak with an agent about the program or problems with their cards. Because of that, the auditor said it’s impossible to track how much fraud occurred, even though, per its $25 million contract with the state, Money Network was supposed to limit the fraud rate to 1 percent. And the state just signed another $32 million contract with Money Network to handle more benefits.

If that wasn’t bad enough, the legislation to place the bond on the ballot (AB 247) includes a “sweetener” for the State Building and Construction Trades Council. In an attempt to address concerns that poor school districts have little access to the state matching fund, because these small, primarily rural districts can’t raise the match, the state plans to increase state funding for certain districts on a sliding scale. The bill creates a sliding scale system where lower-wealth school districts will receive a higher state funding share for projects. The state grant amount for new construction would increase from 50 percent to 55 percent, and for modernization from 60 percent to 65 percent, based on the district's ability to generate local funds, the percentages of low-income, foster care, and English learner students, whether the district has fewer than 200 students, and whether the district’s project has a project labor agreement. We all know the 18 percent cost increase for a PLA will certainly help these poorer districts build new, or repair existing facilities.
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If You Are Planning on Social Security, Bob, Yeah, Well, Don’t Social Security has been known as “the third rail of American politics” since the early 1980s. Touching the program can prove deadly to a politician’s career, the thinking goes. The program is on solid footing, but the latest projections point to benefit cuts in the next decade. On the campaign trail, the presidential candidates are promising to preserve the program and protect seniors. Still, snappy lines at campaign rallies can mask the issue's complexities. “I think there's a real difficulty in talking about Social Security because there's been so much storytelling,” said Romina Boccia, director of budget and entitlement policy at the Cato Institute. “And there's so many myths out there about how the program works.” For years, the system has been paying out more in benefits than it brings in in payroll taxes, partly due to the combination of lower birth rates and an aging population. Another reason is growing income inequality. There’s a cap on the income taxed for Social Security, so the Americans who earn the most — and their employers — only pay Social Security taxes on the first $168,600 of income. Stephen Goss, the chief actuary of the Social Security Administration, explained the issue to members of Congress in testimony before the House Budget Committee earlier this month. More
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Utah To Finally Get Its Own Passport Office, After Romney Push Salt Lake City will get a permanent passport office, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Tuesday. The closest passport office to Salt Lake is currently 500 miles away in Denver. Still, after a concerted effort by Sen. Mitt Romney and other members of Utah's congressional delegation, an office will soon be open in Utah. Romney released a statement after the announcement saying he and his team had worked for more than three years to bring a passport agency to Utah: "Utah is experiencing rapid population growth as it becomes a center for global commerce and tourism - as well as a home base to thousands of Latter-day Saints who embark on worldwide religious missions each year," Romney said. "A passport agency in Salt Lake now means that Utahns will not have to travel such long distances to obtain in-person consular services. I could not be more thrilled with today's announcement." In a statement released alongside the announcement, Blinken said six new agencies will open, including the one in Salt Lake, and that the department is issuing more passports “than ever before.” Story
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Flash: Indoor Heat Rule Done For the second time in three months, the Cal/OSHA Standards Board has adopted a rule to protect indoor workers from heat illness. In contrast to the controversial and ultimately rejected March version, this one will likely pass muster with the Office of Administrative Law. It could become effective as soon as August. The new standard is General Industry Safety Orders §3396, and it closely follows the current outdoor heat regulation in many instances. Employers must provide a quart of water per hour, access to “cool-down” areas, emergency response and acclimation procedures, and training. The basic provisions trigger when the indoor temperature reaches 82ºF. More detailed requirements kick in when the temperature is 87ºF, the heat index equals 87ºF, employees wear clothing that restricts heat removal, and the temperature is at least 82ºF, or they work in a high-radiant heat area and the temperature is 82º. In those cases, employers must measure the temperature and heat index and evaluate environmental risk factors. Employees must have “active involvement” in planning and conducting these tasks. Employers then must use engineering and administrative controls and, in some cases, personal heat-protective equipment to protect employees from the heat. Prisons, local detention facilities, and juvenile facilities are exempted from the regulation and will be subject to separate rulemaking. With the standard newly adopted, the Board is requesting OAL expedite its effective date. If that happens, the standard will be in force by early August. If not, the rule will take effect on October 1st.
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Labor Commissioner Audit: At a recent hearing, state labor officials discussed an audit of the Labor Commissioner’s Office that said severe understaffing is the primary cause of backlogs in the unit handling wage theft claims. Lawmakers were skeptical that approving more positions — which they have done the past few years — would completely solve the problem. Labor Commissioner Lilia Garcia-Brower said some of her initiatives, such as assigning staff more efficiently, are promising. New positions have helped the office shave the average wait time for a wage claim hearing and decision from 1,000 days to 800 over the past two years. That’s an improvement from the 890 found in the audit, but still a far cry from the 135 required by state law — which the office has failed to reach for decades. As part of a business-union deal reached over PAGA last week, the state will soon hand the department emergency hiring authority to try to address the staffing crisis.
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Making Voting Easier... Or Harder?: Nearly a decade ago, California revamped its voter registration program to allow eligible people to register to vote when they visit the Department of Motor Vehicles. But with 4.7 million eligible Californians still not registered to vote — more than the combined population of half of the states in the U.S. — advocates are pushing a proposal to further streamline the automatic registration process. SB 299, by Sen. Monique Limón (D-Santa Barbara), would implement a “back-end” process, automatically registering people to vote if the DMV or other state agencies receive information verifying eligibility, allowing them to opt out later. Limón told POLITICO that while the bill doesn’t address voter turnout, removing the step for people to opt-in to voting allows organizations to focus on informing voters on the issues. But the bill’s opponents—the ACLU, League of Women Voters and Naleo Education Fund—argue the risks of implementing a new voter registration system outweigh the potential benefits. In an opposition letter, the groups said that while they share the goal of increasing voter registration, they believe the proposal “has significant potential to increase voter confusion, incorrectly deny eligible voters registration opportunities, create erroneous registrations and strip important voter preference information from registration records.”
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A new decision by an NLRB Regional Director may help clarify the issue. A question that has confounded many in the labor relations community for years is whether or not worker centers are, in fact, labor organizations. However, a new National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Regional Director (RD) decision may shed some light on the subject.
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EV Charging Desert  A new study led by Harvard University shows that some rural counties across the U.S. have become EV “charging deserts.” According to the study, 34 counties that once had public charging stations no longer do, and three dozen other counties have lost most of theirs. The study shows that the U.S. charging network’s reliability is at 78 percent, well below the Biden administration’s 97 percent goal. The charging network is “uneven,” according to Omar Asensio, a Georgia Institute of Technology professor doing a fellowship at Harvard’s Institute for Business in Global Society and one of the study's authors. Loren McDonald, the founder of the EV-charging data hub EVAdoption, said multiple factors could contribute to the trend. “They didn’t get a lot of use, and they got old and stopped working,” he said. “There was no motive, either by the charging network or the host, to keep them going.” Story
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Newsom Warns Of ‘Forces of Darkness’ Ahead of Presidential Debate Gov. Gavin Newsom struck a somber tone in his annual remarks to Californians last Tuesday. He warned that the state’s democratic values are at stake while castigating Republican opponents for rolling back reproductive rights and failing to pass meaningful immigration reform. He then announced he was immediately returning to Marin, which is, apparently, immune.
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Register for the July 10 virtual meeting for ADOT’s Electric Vehicle 2024 Plan Update The Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) will host a virtual public meeting on July 10 for the 2024 Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Infrastructure Deployment Plan Update. The update will include information about the additional highways being added as EV corridors, proposed station locations, and the status of implementing stations identified in the 2022 and 2023 plans.

The virtual meeting will be held:

• Wednesday, July 10 at 6 p.m.
• Visit AZDOT.gov/EVPlan to register for the meeting and receive your link to attend.

The public can provide feedback on the EV Plan update through July 17 in the following ways:

• Complete an online survey: azdot.gov/EVcomments
• Email: AZEVPlan@azdot.gov
• Call: (800) 915-4301
• Mail: ADOT EV Plan, 1655 W. Jackson, MD 126F, Phoenix, AZ 85007
• Attend the virtual public meeting

For more information about the EV plan, visit AZDOT.gov/EVPlan.
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House Appropriators Lop Off a Fifth of DOL's Budget, a Third of NLRB's House Republican appropriators are again seeking steep cuts to the Department of Labor’s budget as part of funding legislation released last week. The GOP proposed allocating $10.5 billion for DOL, a 23 percent cut from the $13.5 billion set aside for the department in the fiscal year that runs through the end of September. In March, President Joe Biden requested an additional $318 million in discretionary funding for DOL above FY24 levels. House appropriators attempted to slash DOL’s budget by about 30 percent last year, only to see their efforts dashed by their Senate counterparts amid White House pushback to such heavy cutbacks. GOP appropriators want to slice $75 million from DOL’s two main worker-protection arms, the Wage and Hour Division and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, a combined 12 percent cut to their budgets. The funding bill would bring the WHD budget down to $235 million and provide nearly $557.8 million for OSHA. In contrast, the Biden administration requested a $121 million boost for the two branches in its FY25 request. Separately, Republicans revived their bid to strip the National Labor Relations Board of a third of its funding, bringing its budget down to $200 million. Earlier in Biden’s term, the NLRB received its first increase in years, staving off impending furloughs. The White House had requested that the independent agency be brought up to $320 million, a 6.9 percent increase for FY25.
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Arizona State Legislature Refers 11 Measures to The General Election Ballot, Most Since 1984 The Arizona State Legislature adjourned earlier this month, referring 11 measures to the ballot—five state statutes and six constitutional amendments. This is the most legislatively referred measures on the ballot since 1984, when 13 measures were on the ballot. This is also the third-highest year on record in the state. Some measures did not make the ballot—an additional 15 amendments and five statutes passed one chamber but not the other. Arizona has a divided government. Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) was elected in 2022. This is the first time since 2008 that Arizona had a Democratic governor. Meanwhile, the Republican Party has controlled both chambers of the Legislature since 2003. In April, Hobbs set the record for the most vetoes of any governor in Arizona history, vetoing 185 bills since taking office in January 2023. In Arizona, legislatively referred measures do not require gubernatorial approval to go on a statewide ballot for a popular vote of the people, so they provide a different approach for the legislature to enact policy potentially. Story
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Court Rejects Phoenix and Tucson Prevailing Wage Ordinances A Maricopa County Superior Court judge on Monday ruled that attempts by Phoenix and Tucson to establish prevailing wage ordinances for public works projects violated state law. Attorneys from the Goldwater Institute successfully argued on behalf of the Associated General Contractors (AZAGC), the Arizona Builders Alliance (ABA), and the Associated Minority Contractors of Arizona (AMCA). Story
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Does Arizona Have Enough Water? Phoenix-Area Cities Are Spending Big To Make Sure It Does The Biden Administration has poured money … allocating $4 billion from the Inflation Reduction Act for Colorado River projects. … The Biden administration framed the spending effort as “water conservation,” but Arizona’s municipal water leaders aren’t using it to make changes traditionally considered conservation. Instead of paying for small tweaks to water use – like encouraging residents to install low-flow showerheads or rip out their thirsty lawns – many are thinking bigger, putting their multimillion-dollar checks towards billion-dollar infrastructure projects to keep taps flowing for decades. Cities like Peoria are planning to engineer their way out of the problem. Story