May 8, 2013
Originally released on April 18, the League’s 2013 Hot Bills List has been updated to reflect the most current status of bills of most importance to cities. Several bills have been removed from the original list because they are not expected to move this year. Several bills have been added to the list. The list below is to date as of May 8, 2013.
April 19, 2013
Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Michael Kenny heard oral arguments earlier today in League of California Cities v. Ana Matosantos, the League’s challenge to portions of AB 1484, the 2012 redevelopment budget trailer bill.
April 18, 2013
Today the League has released the list of 26 “Hot Bills” for 2013 that reflects positions on these bills as of April 18.
April 12, 2013
On April 4–5, the League’s eight standing policy committees met in Pasadena.
April 12, 2013
President Barack Obama on Wednesday released his FY 2014 budget proposal.
April 5, 2013
This week the League officially announced its support of AB 440 (Gatto) and AB 981 (Bloom). Both bills would address problems created by the dissolution of redevelopment agencies.
April 5, 2013
Newly incorporated California cities and cities that had recently annexed inhabited areas lost a key source of vehicle license fee (VLF) revenues in 2011 when the Legislature passed SB 89.
March 29, 2013
The Administrative Office of the Courts invites city officials to participate in its upcoming Distributions of Revenues from Fines and Fees Statewide Revenue Distribution Training on Thursday, April 4 from 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
March 22, 2013
The House Committee on Ways and Means held a hearing on Tuesday to discuss tax reform and tax provisions affecting state and local governments, during which the tax exemption for Municipal Bonds was reviewed.
March 15, 2013
The League’s officers and more than 100 other California city officials traveled to Washington, D.C. this week for the National League of Cities (NLC) Congressional City Conference.
March 15, 2013
A settlement has been reached between Check ‘n Go California, Inc. and San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera, who sued the company on behalf of California consumers. The agreement requires Check ‘n Go to repay any Californian that took out four-month installment loans between November 2006 and June 2008.
March 8, 2013
The League is currently reviewing hundreds of this year’s regular session bills and evaluating their potential implications for local government agencies.
March 8, 2013
This week, the League issued a support letter on AB 564 (Mullin), which provides certainty to successor agencies and all other public and private entities that benefits offered by a finding of completion from the Department of Finance (DOF) can be relied upon.
March 6, 2013
Yesterday, the League issued an oppose letter on SB 7 (Steinberg), which seeks to compel charter cities to require prevailing wages on projects they construct with local funds on local projects by withholding all state contracting funds from non-compliant cities.
March 1, 2013
On Thursday, Moody’s Investors Service announced that for the next 90 days it will review its 2012 downgrade decisions for tax allocation bonds and possibly rescind the ratings due to insufficient information.
March 1, 2013
The Board of Equalization (BOE) has approved an increase on the excise tax rate on motor vehicle fuel from 36 cents per gallon to 39.5 cents per gallon. The sales and use tax on diesel fuel will remain the same.
February 13, 2013
On Tuesday night, President Barack Obama delivered his fifth State of the Union speech. In the hour-long speech, many issues important to cities and city officials were mentioned.
February 1, 2013
To accelerate desired development projects and the public improvements needed to support them, developers may finance impact fees and public improvement costs associated with their projects using tax-exempt bonds.
January 23, 2013
Today, the House of Representatives voted 285-144 to suspend the federal debt limit of $16.4 trillion to allow the federal government to continue borrowing through May 18.
January 22, 2013
Hundreds of city officials from across the state converged in Sacramento Jan. 17-18 for the first policy committee meetings of 2013. The League’s policy making process relies on the participation of a diverse group of city officials from across the state.