Posted May 18, 2009
The Governor and The Legislature are right on the budget challenges. The deficit is growing and despite what the outcome is with the ballot measures, the State will continue to impose more mandates on local government without providing funding. This is a practice that has gone on for decades even though it is a violation of State governance.
The National Alliance for Health Communities has been successful over the years in assisting communities in protecting their financial resources and in most cased improving funds from the State and federal government. The first step is always to protect what you already have.
Key elements in protecting what you have are demonstrated through programs that we have developed that establish the needs for liveable communities and regional assets. The key is always in the documentation or the “facts”.
Please note, statements and opinions expressed are solely those of their respective authors and may not represent the views of The National Alliance for Healthy Communities or its employees thereof. The National Alliance for Healthy Communities is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information.
Posted May 7, 2009
On Tuesday May 5, Robert M. Levy was invited to join the League of California Cities and other local government stakeholders in a conference call with the Governor’s Office during which the Governor’s staff discussed options they are considering for the 2009-10 May Revision to address an $8 to $14 billion budget hole. Under consideration is a proposal to borrow an estimated $2 billion from local government under Proposition 1A (2004).
The Governor’s staff was immediately reminded that this plan is completely irresponsible and does nothing to solve the state’s long-term budget issues. It is a short-term maneuver that will have long-lasting consequences. Suspension of Proposition 1A undermines any effort to restore the state to fiscal stability and will devastate counties and the people we serve.
Irrespective of what happens in the May 19 special election, it appears that all options will be on the table as the state grapples with its growing deficit. Tuesday’s call is just the start of the budget debate and what will likely be another long summer at the Capitol.
Other key points about the suspension proposal:
· Counties are struggling with day-to-day operations, while dealing with an unprecedented demand for human services due to the economic downturn. Services will be significantly disrupted under this borrowing plan and many counties simply will not be able to provide the levels of services our constituents depend on. Counties have made drastic cuts to health and human services programs, public safety, and other vital services due to declines in local revenues and funding cuts by the state. Those cuts and disruption of services will only become more severe under this plan.
· The state has a constitutional obligation to repay this “loan” within three years with interest. That deadline will hit at the same time taxes and fees approved under the state budget in February will expire, if the May ballot measures fail - making it even more difficult for the state to meet its obligation to repay local governments.
· Local governments will have difficulty borrowing against the state’s obligated repayment due to the poor condition of the credit markets. In these unprecedented economic times, counties do not have the ability to simply borrow our way out of this problem.
We will keep you apprised of any developments that materialize. In considering this particular series of events, though, one must take into account the timing of these discussions, the May 19 Special Election and the May Revision, expected to be released on May 28.
For more information please contact us at (310)440-8606.
Posted May 4, 2009
Vice President Joe Biden today announced $300 million in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for state and local governments and transit authorities to expand fleets of clean vehicles and the fueling infrastructure necessary to support them.
Biden acknowledged the commitments state and local governments have made to reducing green house gases and carbon emissions. “From advanced battery cars to hybrid-electric city buses, we’re going put Recovery Act dollars to work deploying cleaner, greener vehicles in cities and towns across the nation that will cut costs, reduce pollution and create the jobs that will drive our economic recovery,” he said.
The Clean Cities program offers $300 million to support at least 30 alternative fuels or advanced vehicles projects and requires a 50 percent participant cost share. Technologies eligible to be funded include a number of different light and heavy-duty vehicles, including hybrid, plug-in electric hybrid, hydraulic hybrid, electric, fuel cell, and compressed natural gas vehicles. In addition, projects can support refueling infrastructure for alternative fuels, including biofuels and natural gas. Other efforts eligible for funds include public awareness campaigns and training programs on alternative fuel and advanced technology vehicles and infrastructure.
The Clean Cities program is a government-industry partnership led by the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy that promotes the growth of alternative fuels and showcases the potential of advanced fuels and vehicles. The existing program has helped put more than half a million alternative fuel vehicles on the road and played a role in the construction of thousands of alternative refueling stations.
Applicants to the program must be state governments, local governments, or metropolitan transit authorities, that partner with a designated Clean Cities coalition. Once awarded, these funds will help local and state government agencies make investments in clean transportation vehicles and fuels that they may not have the resources to do otherwise.
Please note, statements and opinions expressed are solely those of their respective authors and may not represent the views of The National Alliance for Healthy Communities or its employees thereof. The National Alliance for Healthy Communities is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information.
Posted
The budget that just passed both houses of Congress has given the prospects for health-care reform this year a big boost. With the inclusion of procedural language that would make it impossible for opponents to filibuster, it will now take a simple majority to pass the Senate, rather than 60 votes, simplifying the political arithmetic considerably.
But that is only the beginning. As hard as it will be for lawmakers to navigate the political and philosophical minefields to get to 51 votes for health-care reform, the most difficult challenge of all may be the number on the bottom line. Under the budget rules, any reform scheme will have to pay for itself within six years.
Trying to meet that ambitious goal in such a short time frame may make it hard for lawmakers to make the wisest policy choices. Though advocates say that fixing the health system promises big savings over the long haul, it will take some big, up-front investments - in technology and preventive care, for instance - whose benefits will not begin to take effect for years. And most of the savings will accrue not to the Federal Government - whose direct costs for health care are felt largely through the Medicare and Medicaid programs - but to the economy writ large, where health care now accounts for about 17% of all spending, more than double its percentage in 1970. “Ironically, the things that may wind up being the most important are the things that we will get little or no credit for” under the budget rules, says White House Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag.
So daunting is the prospect of passing a bill that fits the confines of a pay-as-you-go budget that a coalition of 30 organizations pushing for health-care reform - including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, organized labor, the drug lobby, AARP and organizations representing hospitals, doctors and patients - wrote a letter in March asking lawmakers to suspend the rule with respect to health-care reform. But officials at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue say that would be political suicide at a time of record deficits - and a guarantee that Republicans and fiscally conservative Democrats would not support the plan.
So where will lawmakers find the money? President Obama proposed a $634 billion “reserve fund,” paid for by higher taxes on the wealthy, but even if that passes, experts say it won’t be enough to cover even half the cost of comprehensive health-care reform over the next 10 years. Hospitals and doctors are also bracing for what they expect will be efforts to cut the reimbursements they get for treating patients under Medicare and Medicaid.
One of the biggest ways to raise money to pay for health-care reform is also the most politically delicate: taxing employer-provided health benefits. It’s an idea that Obama criticized when his opponent John McCain proposed it during last year’s presidential campaign, but one that his top White House advisers now say should remain on the table. And it is an approach that Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus says he is considering.
It’s easy to see the appeal, if you look at the numbers. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that fully counting employer-provided health benefits as taxable income could bring as much as $246 billion a year into federal coffers. But the politics of taxing something that workers now believe they get for free would be treacherous. More likely than a total elimination of the favorable tax treatment is the prospect of putting some kind of limit on that deduction - forcing workers to pay taxes, for instance, if their employer offers a particularly lavish plan. Or lawmakers may come at it another way, curbing the tax deduction that companies can take for offering those benefits.
Such choices get to the real truth behind the cold hard numbers of health-care reform. Every one of them is a political calculation, one that pits one constituency against another. Can lawmakers really balance the books on health-care reform? “You can do it,” says former Senate majority leader Tom Daschle, a leading voice in the health-care-reform effort. “It’s just a matter of how much pain you want to endure.”
Please note, statements and opinions expressed are solely those of their respective authors and may not represent the views of The National Alliance for Healthy Communities or its employees thereof. The National Alliance for Healthy Communities is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information.
Posted
Two groups targeting California politics for extreme makeovers have made enhancing revenue streams for local government a focal point of the argument for supporting drastic change.
California Forward and the Bay Area Council both think the state has fallen into a rut, dressing the same tired budgeting tricks in tacky clothes and parading it around like a new solution.
They want a transformation starting at the city and county level, but they are selling different paths to slimming down big government-style budgeting.
“We need to move government closer to the people,” said Robert Hertzberg, former Democratic speaker of the state Assembly and now California Forward co-chair, at a Sacramento Press Club lunch while on a multi-media promotional tour.
California Forward (www.caforward.org), a bipartisan group funded largely by foundations, wants to change the way budgeting works in California.
The group started with a legislative study group to improve state spending plans and hopes to convince the legislature to put proposals for tax reform on the 2010 or 2012 ballot.
“We want to restore flexibility for local governments by giving them more control over their budgets,” explained Jim Mayer, California Forward executive director.
How much flexibility?
“They should have authority over raising and lowering taxes and managing programs. The state’s role is to set minimum standards and then let cities and counties - counties in particular - decide how to provide services.”
Allowing councils and boards of supervisors to decide whether to move some law enforcement funds into social services or the other way around based on the city’s individual situation and administrator preferences can be a compelling argument.
The Bay Area Council (www.bayareacouncil.org), another bi-partisan group, funded mainly by business, has called for a Constitutional Convention to overhaul the budget process and wants to put the idea to a statewide vote as early as 2010.
Last year, the group hired Oakland-based Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin & Associates to conduct a poll on public attitudes toward the idea.
Of the 800 people interviewed, 82 percent said the state is headed in the wrong direction.
Almost that many (80 percent) were extremely, very seriously or somewhat seriously concerned with how the state collects and distributes funds to local governments and schools.
Of the specific reforms polled for possible inclusion in the ballot initiative, the one that received the most support was the local control question.
Pollsters asked if the respondents would support “permitting local governments to keep locally collected taxes instead of sending them to Sacramento and having them redistributed back to local governments.” A total of 68 percent responded positively.
“More locally-collected funds should stay local,” concluded John Grubb, Bay Area Council senior vice president of external affairs.
How either of these groups will specifically make that happen will have to wait until the big reveal, probably after the May special election results show just how bad the state is in need of a new ‘do.
Please note, statements and opinions expressed are solely those of their respective authors and may not represent the views of The National Alliance for Healthy Communities or its employees thereof. The National Alliance for Healthy Communities is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information.
Posted
With the economic crisis deepening and unemployment rising, attention is turning to the nation’s immigrant workers.
President Obama’s recent stimulus package included a provision in which banks receiving bailout money were limited from hiring foreign workers. Senators Dick Durbin of Illinois and Charles Grassley of Iowa are introducing legislation in Congress that would tighten enforcement in granting H1-B visas for skilled foreign workers.
In the Silicon Valley, this conversation is especially significant.
On one side of the debate, there is the area’s tech industry, which is peopled by large numbers of skilled foreign-born workers in the engineering, research and innovation departments at companies like Google, Yahoo and Hewlett-Packard.
On the other side are labor groups who claim these H-1B visa holders are displacing U.S. workers.
While the recession has spurred a greater tendency towards protectionism, Silicon Valley business leaders maintain that in order to continue the area’s legacy of innovation and progress, increasingly stringent immigration caps must be relaxed.
In 2001, the cap on H-1B visas reached 195,000. Since 2004, the number has decreased to just 65,000, according to a recent New York Times report.
The Silicon Valley Leadership Group has long advocated for raising the cap on H-1B visas. The group, made up of 290 member companies including Apple, Google and Intel, regularly works with local government to improve the economic health and quality of life in the Valley.
The group is headed to Washington next week to speak to members of Congress and the administration about the immigration issue for highly skilled workers, among other topics. The group is not pushing for a defined number of H-1B visas per year, but believes that the cap should fluctuate based on demand.
“It’s a mistake to think there is just a fixed number of jobs. Someone gets a job; someone else doesn’t get a job. That’s true for only an immediate period of time,” says Phil Yost, a spokesman for the group. “When companies get the best people, they grow, they prosper, and the total number of jobs available expands.”
Top Silicon Valley executives including the chiefs of Sunpower, Serious Materials, Wyse Technology and Brocade will lead the two-day trip, which starts on May 4.
Yost says that while the group does not expect much action on the immigration issue this year, they will continue to advocate for elements they believe should be part of national immigration policy.
The group will also speak to federal legislators about other local projects including funding via the Federal Transportation Reauthorization Bill for the BART extension to Silicon Valley and advocating for federal money to support a housing trust in Santa Clara County.
On immigration, in addition to talking about raising the H-1B visa cap, the group will speak about exempting foreign advanced degree graduates from the cap, and increasing the number of green cards granted.
Please note, statements and opinions expressed are solely those of their respective authors and may not represent the views of The National Alliance for Healthy Communities or its employees thereof. The National Alliance for Healthy Communities is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information.
Posted
Yolo County officials and local business owners expect federal stimulus-funded runway upgrades to the Yolo County Airport to not only make things safer for pilots, but also boost the surrounding economy.
The 40-acre rural airport located just outside of Woodland, Calif. was recently approved for $1.35 million from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to resurface the runway that was once used as flight support during World War II in the case of an enemy attack.
The airport is now utilized by several local agriculture operations, parachuting businesses, transportation for entertainers to Cache Creek Casino Resort and rest stops for aviators.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 granted the FAA $1.3 billion for projects and programs nationwide, with $474 million of that going toward runway improvements.
The total Yolo County Airport project, including design, is expected to cost $2 million, with the rest of the funding coming from separate local and federal grants, said Terry Vernon, Yolo County deputy director of General Services.
Vernon said the resurfacing has needed to be done for quite some time and the last airport improvement plan was completed six or seven years ago. Because the airport is an enterprise fund - supporting itself through leasing of hangers and land - it receives no funding from the county. Though a small county staff is used for regular upkeep, funding for upgrades can be difficult to come by outside of grant monies.
“It takes a while to do things, especially when you don’t have anybody specifically assigned to do that type of work,” Vernon said.
A few months ago, after the Reinvestment Act was passed, Vernon said the county discovered the FAA would have the appropriate funding available to secure, and finalized the long-awaited resurfacing project that will both smoothen and deepen the landing pad.
Larger Aircraft
The increased depth of the runway will make it safer and allow for larger aircraft to land by increasing the depth.
“We’re not talking a C-141 or anything, but we’re talking basically the type of aircraft that people would charter or carry six to 12 people in a Lear jet,” Vernon said.
One of the many aviation businesses that lease a hanger at Yolo County Airport is Davis Flight Support - a fuel and maintenance general aviation and corporate jet company. Davis Flight, which has leased hangers and land at the airport for a year-and-a-half, and its sister company Woodland Aviation located about eight miles from the airport, provide aircraft maintenance, discounted fuel, limo services from the airport to entertainment venues such as Cache Creek Casino Resort and resting amenities such as showers and a place to sleep for pilots.
Gary Pelfrey, vice president of Davis Flight Support and Woodland Aviation, says the upgrades will drastically increase his business and surrounding businesses such as hotels, restaurants and rental car companies that will all benefit from more air traffic coming into the area.
“It’s nice to see other business activity coming into Yolo County that’s not agriculture-related, it diversifies the money coming into the county,” Pelfrey said. “The more airplanes we bring in, the county makes property taxes off the ones that are in a hanger here and they also make revenue and taxes off the fuel and services we provide.”
When the runway upgrades are complete (by the end of June or early July), Pelfrey plans to move the maintenance operations of Woodland Aviation to the Yolo County Airport, purchase an additional 20,000 square-foot hanger and expand his employee base (he currently has 36 employees).
“This will let me go ahead and pull the trigger on that,” he said.
Pelfrey said that even though he expects his business to be more successful and efficient because of the resurfacing, he is glad the county was successful in obtaining the federal stimulus money for safety reasons.
“You want to provide a safe environment for your pilots,” he said. “At some point, if you don’t maintain [the runway], then the cost becomes pretty substantial if you let things degrade.”
Federal Spending
John Munn, president of the Yolo County Taxpayers Association, said that while he doesn’t know the details of the project at the airport, he is worried about the amount of money the federal government is handing out.
“Personally, I think it is going to create us huge problems in the future; spending all of this money now,” Munn said.
The Yolo County Taxpayers Association is a local nonprofit, nonpartisan group of local citizens and agricultural, business, industrial and professional organizations that meets once a month to takes positions on county issues that will effect taxpayers. The association is currently coming up with positions on Propositions 1A-1F, which will appear on the ballot in the California Special Election on May 19.
Munn did say that the entire association has reservations about the federal stimulus package.
“Most of the members are concerned about the effects of economic stimulus spending,” he said. “It has the potential of creating future inflation that will be just another problem to solve that will be painful to everybody instead of the people that are more directly effected by the current downturn.”
Terry Vernon said the federal stimulus money has allowed the county to complete a project that could not be funded in any other way, while helping to improve the surrounding business climate and infrastructure.
“If there is funding available from the federal government to cities, counties or state government, we’re interested in that because we want to put something on the street to make an improvement in Yolo County that will stimulate the economy,” Vernon said.
The FAA expects to have more than $550 million obligated by June 17 and the final balance of $1.3 billion supplied by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 obligated by September 30.
Please note, statements and opinions expressed are solely those of their respective authors and may not represent the views of The National Alliance for Healthy Communities or its employees thereof. The National Alliance for Healthy Communities is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information.
Posted April 14, 2009
Friends - as you know, the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee recently announced its time frame and process for requesting Member High Priority Projects (HPP) in the SAFETEA-LU reauthorization legislation.
If the requesting entity received funds in SAFETEA-LU or previous appropriations, please account for that funding (spent/not spent) in a separate document. This is an internal office requirement.
Like the appropriations process, all requests must be posted on the official website. Please note that as we did for the appropriations requests, we will comply with this requirement and in addition, post the original request letter from the entity as a pdf along with the required information.
The committee has indicated the online form for offices to submit HPPs will be available from April 27 - May 8. That means we have a very short window of time to gather all the necessary information for project submission. Please indicate if you intend to submit a project for consideration by responding to this email by COB, Thursday, April 9. All forms and supporting documentation will be required by COB, Friday, April 24. Please submit the form in a Word document, and provide all required letters on letterhead in pdf form. If there is a reason why you can not meet these deadlines, please let me know immediately.
Please do not hesitate to call/email should you have any questions or concerns. Thank you in advance and I look forward to working with you throughout the reauthorization process.
Posted
President Obama has continued to stress the importance of spending stimulus money not just quickly but well.
In a memo released last week , the president said it is imperative to spend the money on worthy projects.
“‘We must not allow Recovery Act funds to be distributed on the basis of factors other than the merits of proposed projects or in response to improper influence or pressure. We must also empower executive department and agency officials to exercise their available discretion and judgment to help ensure that Recovery Act funds are expended for projects that further the job creation, economic recovery, and other purposes of Recovery Act and are not used for imprudent projects.’”
“‘Decisions about how Recovery Act dollars are spent will be based on the merits,’” Obama told the National Conference of State Legislatures. Initiatives that maximize job creation, make health care affordable, rebuild crumbling roads and bridges, or provide other ‘enduring benefits’ to taxpayers must take priority, he said.”
Posted
The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) and the White Collar Crime Center (NW3C) are reporting a 33 percent increase in the number of Internet crimes reported to the IC3 in 2008 over 2007. The number of reported Internet crimes actually declined between 2006 and 2007. Despite that decline, the value of reported crimes grew more in 2007 than in 2008. According to the report, the total dollar amount of reported internet fraud increased by 40 percent from 2006 to 2007, while total reported losses grew by less than 11 percent between 2007 and 2008. Between 2005 and 2006 the total number of complaints received by the IC3 actually declined by 24,000, while the total monetary value of the loss grew by less than 8 percent, the slowest growth since 2004.
E-mail is the most common method scammers use to contact victims while contact made through Web pages is second, according to the report. The majority of reported fraud concerned non-delivery of goods and auction fraud. Credit/debit card fraud constituted 9 percent of reports while 2 percent of complaints concerned identity theft.
Geographic analysis of where scams originated and their victims showed two-thirds of attacks originated and affected victims in the United States with California, New York, Florida and Texas being the top four states for the incidence of both attackers and victims.
Posted
The U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs announced a list of more than 40 open solicitations for grants. The grants include funding for programs aimed at Internet crimes against children, rural law enforcement, corrections, courts, forensics and more.
Virginia Adds Competitive Grants Resources Info
Virginia Governor Timothy Kaine today announced the addition of competitive grants resources information to the commonwealth’s stimulus site, and users may now sign up for economic recovery e-mail updates. According to a release from the Governor’s Office, Virginia will receive about $4.8 billion through the ARRA, but only a limited amount of that money will be available for projects chosen by the state. However, additional federal stimulus funding is available through the ARRA competitive grant process.
Entities that submitted proposals to the original stimulus are encouraged to stay current on the ARRA federal grants opportunities and apply for any appropriate grants as they become available. The Governor’s Office recommended that those interested in researching or applying for a competitive grant register with the federal government as soon as possible to avoid delays in processing applications. More information on the federal grant application process is available through Grants.gov.
Posted
The U.S. Treasury Department/Internal Revenue Service issued guidance on April 3, on several new types of bonds created under the recently enacted American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Guidance (Notice 2009-26) is provided on the Build America Bonds program, which will assist state and local governments in lowering their borrowing costs on capital improvement projects. Build America Bonds are taxable and state and local governments are given the option of receiving a direct federal payment subsidy equal to 35 percent of the borrowing costs on these bonds. According to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, “Build America Bonds is an innovative approach to augment the ailing tax-exempt bond market and shows the Administration’s commitment to economic recovery for Main Street.”
Guidance (Notice 2009- 35 and Notice 2009-30) is also provided on Qualified School Construction Bonds and Qualified Zone Academy Bonds. These tax credit bond programs allow state and local governments to finance authorized public school construction projects and other eligible costs for public schools with interest-free borrowing. For Qualified School Construction Bonds, the guidance provides for the division of $11 in billion national bond volume authorizations for 2009 among the states and the 100 largest local school districts based on federal school funding. For the Qualified Zone Academy Bonds, the guidance provides for the division of the $1.4 billion in national bond volume authorizations for 2008 and 2009 among the states based on poverty levels.
Posted April 1, 2009
EPA recently announced Requests for Applications (RFAs) for the competitive portion of the $300 million in funding from the American Recovery and REinvestment of 2009 through the Diesel Emission Reduction Act (DERA).
This funding will be available through three separate funding assistance programs:
1. National Clean Diesel Funding Assistance Program ($156 million)
2. SmartWay Clean Diesel Finance Program ($30 million)
3. National Emerging Technology Program ($20 million)
The National Clean Diesel Funding Assistance and the SmartWay Clean Diesel Finance RFAs will be open for 40 days and will close on April 28, 2009. The National Emerging Technology RFA will be open for 47 days and will close on May 5, 2009.
Of particular use to local governments, the $156 million in competitive grants slated for distribution through the National Clean Diesel Funding Assistance Program can be used in municipal diesel vehicle fleets, such as waste haulers and school buses for :
- Exhaust controls
- Engine upgrades
- Cleaner fuel use
- Idle reduction technologies
- Engine re-powers
- Vehicle or equipment replacement
For more information concerning Diesel Emissions Reduction Grants, as well as other Economic Recovery opportunities, please contact us.
Please note, statements and opinions expressed are solely those of their respective authors and may not represent the views of The National Alliance for Healthy Communities or its employees thereof. The National Alliance for Healthy Communities is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information.
Posted
Part of nearly $8 billion in Recovery Act funding for energy efficiency efforts nationwide that will create 100,000 jobs and cut energy bills for families.
Washington DC — Vice President Joe Biden and Energy Secretary Chu today announced California will receive $411,904,061 in weatherization and energy efficiency funding - including $185,811,061 for the Weatherization Assistance Program and $226,093,000 for the State Energy Program. This is part of a nationwide investment announced today of nearly $8 billion under the President’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act - an investment that will put approximately 87,000 Americans to work. “This energy efficiency funding for states is an important investment in making America more energy independent, creating a cleaner economy and creating more jobs for the 21st century that can’t be outsourced,” said Vice President Biden.
The funding will support weatherization of homes, including adding more insulation, sealing leaks and modernizing heating and air conditioning equipment, which will pay for itself many times over.
“Even as we sieze the enormous potential of clean energy sources like wind and solar, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act makes a major investment in energy efficiency, which is the most cost effective route to energy independence,” Chu said.
The Weatherization Assistance Program will allow an average investment of up to $6,500 per home in energy efficiency upgrades and will be available for families making about $44,000 a year for a family of four.
The State Energy Program funding will be available for rebates to consumers for home energy audits or other energy saving improvements; development of renewable energy projects for clean electricity generation and alternative fuels; promotion of Energy Star products; efficiency upgrades for state and local government buildings; and other innovative state efforts to help save families money on their energy bills.
The DOE’s Weatherization Assistance Program allows low-income families to reduce their energy bills by making their homes more energy efficient, reducing heating bills by an average of 32% and overall energy bills by hundreds of dollars per year.
The State Energy Program (SEP) provides grants to states and directs funding to state energy offices from technology programs in the DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. States use grants to address their energy priorities and program funding to adopt emerging renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies.
States often combine many sources of funding for their projects, including DOE and private industry. The State Energy Program plays a role when:
the state energy office is involved in the project,
the State Energy Program provides funding, or
the state uses petroleum violation escrow funds for part of the project and it is in the state’s SEP plan.
Please note, statements and opinions expressed are solely those of their respective authors and may not represent the views of The National Alliance for Healthy Communities or its employees thereof. The National Alliance for Healthy Communities is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information.
Posted
Today the Department of Justice announced that it is now accepting applications for $1 billion in Recovery Act Funds for the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Program. Funds awarded to law enforcement agencies by the COPS Office provide 100 percent of entry-level salary and benefits for each officer for three years. All jurisdictions that receive funding must plan to retain COPS-funded officer positions for at least one year after the grant ends.
The COPS Office is a federal agency responsible for advancing community policing nationwide. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (H.R.1) includes $4 billion in Department of Justice grant funding to enhance state, local, and tribal law enforcement efforts, including the hiring of new police officers, to combat violence against women, and to fight internet crimes against children. Similar to the JAG awards, COPS Recovery Act funds can also be used to hire new officers or rehire recently laid off officers, fill unfunded vacancies and help prevent scheduled layoffs within law enforcement agencies.
Please note, statements and opinions expressed are solely those of their respective authors and may not represent the views of The National Alliance for Healthy Communities or its employees thereof. The National Alliance for Healthy Communities is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information.
Posted
Local government and others can’t get the necessary permits from the South Coast Air Quality Management District due to a November court decision that many are just learning about.
This could mean that the Whittier police station or Los Angeles County fire station on the border of La Mirada and Habra - both under construction - can’t open.
Other types of new businesses affected are auto body shops, service stations, printers, and even car dealerships.
The fight stems over how new pollution-generating facilities are allowed in Southern California. Before any such plant can be opened, emission credits to offset the anticipated pollution from the new building or facility are needed.
It is believed that the whole point of the offset process is to ensure no net increase in pollution levels and air quality is upheld across the region. The AQMD issued these permits free for facilities that produced less than four tons per year of pollutants.
However, several years ago citing the energy crisis, AQMD decided it also wanted to make them available for power plants. Some think it would be prudent under a temporary basis to allow power plants access - in this case to purchase emission credits at $92,000 per pound.
Four environmental groups sued saying these credits were going to go to polluters at too low a cost. They also felt that the district sold these scarce credits to facilities that earned millions of dollars.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ann I. Jones in November 2008 struck down two AQMD rules, one allowing the issuance of credits to power plants and another its credit-tracking system. Jones ruled that AQMD hadn’t done an adequate job of environmental analysis.
AQMD plans to readopt its rule on the tracking system minus the power plant provision. That could take nine to 12 months to do and would allow them to be issued to the same low-polluter facilities.
The word is just now getting out to local cities and others. Some still aren’t even aware of it.
Please note, statements and opinions expressed are solely those of their respective authors and may not represent the views of The National Alliance for Healthy Communities or its employees thereof. The National Alliance for Healthy Communities is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information.
Posted
Having just “closed” an estimated $42 billion budget deficit in February through a combination of spending cuts and tax hikes, the State of California now faces an additional $8 billion deficit for fiscal year 2009-10, as projected by the Legislative Analyst’s Office.
Californians should be disturbed by the magnitude of the ongoing problem. Losing so much revenue in such a short time frame illustrates just how detrimental state government has been to California’s economic prosperity. State government was living a whopping 33% above its means.
The $50 billion deficit spans two fiscal years (2008-09 and 2009-10), translating to an average shortfall of about $25 billion a year. With annual general fund expenditures now hovering around $100 billion, the deficit suggests that California’s budget should be sized at a more reasonable level of $75 billion a year.
Consider the following: Most economists now agree that the United States as a whole entered the current recession over a year ago, back in December of 2007. But, interestingly, not all states experienced this same fate. Six states actually managed to avoid slipping into the recession as late as January 2009. This analysis suggests that California’s recession began in March 2007.
California is a high tax state.
Please note, statements and opinions expressed are solely those of their respective authors and may not represent the views of The National Alliance for Healthy Communities or its employees thereof. The National Alliance for Healthy Communities is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information.
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The political happenings in Los Angeles when the President came to town and was greeted by the governor at a town hall meeting.
President Obama spoke positively about the initiatives supported by Governor Schwarzenegger in California’s May special election. The main initiative creates a spending limit. So the President is praising the idea of a spending limit at the time he is offering record setting trillion dollar budgets and enormous spending packages through his stimulus program.
At the same time, Governor Schwarzenegger heaped warm praise on the President and his handling of the economy. Part of the president’s economic package includes tax cuts for many Americans. Governor Schwarzenegger’s recently passed budget included tax increases for all Californians.
One thing that was figured out is how to easily pass a tax increase by a two-thirds vote and have the public agree. Get the legislators angry at one group of people and make sure the voters are just as angry at those same people. The tax on the AIG executives who received bonuses passed by an overwhelming 328 to 93 vote.
So who are the people angry enough at in California that the Legislators could get the two-thirds vote to tax and get no protest? Well, there’s the Legislators themselves. Legislators got only about 20-percent approval ratings in recent polls. Imagine the Legislators passing a tax increase and getting no protests.
Please note, statements and opinions expressed are solely those of their respective authors and may not represent the views of The National Alliance for Healthy Communities or its employees thereof. The National Alliance for Healthy Communities is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information.
Posted March 31, 2009
The National Alliance for Healthy Communities does not want to create fear or rain on the parade of funds that have and will becoming available for communities to do public works projects.
The reality is that the responsibilities, significant responsibilities or association with accepting any funds that are either Federal, State or Regional. The oversight this time around will be greater than ever before.
In the recent meetings we had in DC, it was made very clear to us that the federal government will be monitoring the investment of federal dollars by local government agencies. The federal government agencies that will monitor the dollars have been given a very strict structure and protocols for oversight. The rationale is fairly simple: restore public trust in the federal government and the funds become a true stimulus rather the a bailout.
Through the Stimulus package you and your city have great opportunities. At the same time you face extreme challenges in accountability. Most communities will be trying to do the right thing for the right reasons, but often times that is not enough. Much like the IRS at audit time, if you look hard enough and deep enough you will find a financial error, be it intentional or negligent. In the case of the federal dollars, whether it comes out of the 2009 budget or the Stimulus funds, one misstep could result in a loss of all your community’s federal funds. In addition, the budget for 2010 is now on the table and your community could face challenges in the upcoming budget.
The Alliance staff has spent decades working with government agencies on accountability issues and what we have learned to avoid errors. We all need to focus on what we do best. The projects in communities are significant and manageable. But, what studies have shown is that the key is to bring in project managers who know and understand the funds process, protocols and regulations. City staff can do an amazing job, but with the protocols the feds have, you need micro-management and the ability to fully understand the nature of the regulations and guidelines.
Through our research, we have found only a few firms that actually can manage the full spectrum of a public works project from the shovel to the auditing; and the always present politics. The Alliance has completed the auditing of these companies from a past performance perspective, and in a short time certified one or more of these firms.
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The President’s plan for the average community is similar to the legislation proposed in years past by Democrats. We are not here to editorialize or criticize, we are here only to provide you with the facts to prepare you for whatever action you need to take for your community .
The plan provides significant new opportunities for the small and medium size farmer, but takes away certain funding for a larger business. This change in funding can greatly affect the employment base of a community and the quality of life. Does this mean what the President wants he will get? Probably not. What it does mean is that there will be changes. With change comes opportunities and challenges. The National Alliance for Healthy Communities will be monitoring the process as the legislation goes through the Congressional hearing process. There will be changes, some will be macro in nature and others will be focusing on regions, type of agriculture, etc. If your community is dependent on agriculture, you need to get involved now and get your concerns vented .
Remember, the National Alliance for Healthy Communities, www.nafhc.org, is a California non-profit public benefit corporation and takes positions on policy issues, but not political issues. Our concerns relate to maintaining or improving the quality of life in communities throughout the country.
