AgdaPkt 2007-08-27 - Laserfiche WebLink

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8A Page 12 Sacramento)and other legisiators to craft a Eegislative fix that would ailow cities to use vehicie forfeiture as a crime-fighting tool. Bill Higgins, the League's housing and fand-use lobbyist, discussed why funding is so crifical fo expanding the supply af affardable housing in Callfornia. Higgins explained that 170 cities and coun6es have adopted inclusionary hausing ordinances.Stafewide,these ordinances are respbnsioie i�ir t��i�v�iopiYier�#of an esiimaied 3G,fl00�fFordakie uriiis b�twcen i9S�di+� 2005. While this housing sto�k is heipfut, it is nat sufficient to adequately solve California's affordable housing shortage.To address these problems,fhe League has joined a coaEi#ion of other interested parties to woric on securing a permanenf subsidy for a€fordable housing. After the briefing, reparters asked questions on a number of issues including how the budget delay wii!affect citi�s. Liisa Stark,the League'§fobbyist on transportation issues, noted that#he atiocation of transportation band funds is one of the most impo�tant items for cities in the budge# and its trailer bilfs. The budget delay directly impacts projects that are ready to go. Stark explained that SB$8, the bond imp�ementation"trailer"b+ll urhich would aliocate funds to citi�s and counties for local streets and roads(Prop. 1 B funds), currently has some drafting errors whicn w's!i reauire sabsequent c(ean-up legisiation. The League's press brisfing was a success and plans are alr�ady underway#or the next event in early 2008. Public Utilities Corremission Orders Sauthern Cafifornia Edison to Reallocate Rule 20A Money !n a Resolution issued by the Califomia Public�Jtilities Commission(C�'ltC}iast month, Southern Cafifornia Edisan was ordered to#ake Rule 20A money from those cities and counties deemed to have"inactive"undergrounding programs and transfer same ofi the funds"to the city of La Habra for an undarground'+ng project. Rule 20A refers to funds that are available to finance efeCtrica! utility�ndergroundir�g projects. The Commission's order was in response to a request by La H�bra to"mortgage"its F2ule 20A allacation for a 10-year period to provide sufficient funds to offset the cos#s of its undergrounding project. The CPUC denied this request citing its previous decision fo aliow cifies to mortgage Rule 20A funds for no more than five years. Instead,the CPUG ordered Edison to take�noney frortz allocatsons ofi cities that the commission determined to be inactive. The CPUG identifisd those cities and counties using two criteria: 1. The ciiy hsd not compiefed an undergrnunding project sincs 1 J99 2_ The city had na#formed a utility undergrounding district,which is a prerequisite for aecessing F2ule 20A money Using the criteria,the CPUC identifiecf 37 cities and six counties as"inactive"in Edison's territory. Fiowever, before making this deterrr�ination,the CPUC did not first contact any of the identified rnunicir?!i±ies t�fi��r?Ui if�}'is�h�d p�ans tn!�se the�r Ru!?2QA€�nds far future undergraunding projects. Survey of"InactCve"Cities After the Resotution was approved by the CPUC,the League surveyed the 37"inactive"cities and received 20 responses. These responses were quite consistenf with the cities reporting that they did not know abouf the resolution until informed by either the League or their local Edison representative. In addition, many cities indicated that they had besn"banking°fheir allocations for same years to accumulate su�cient funds to da an undergrounding project. Smafler aties pointed out that accumulating sufficient fi.�nds was a chailenge given the small size of their annua�a(locations and that the loss af any porfion of their Rule 20A funds woufd significantly set back their efforts. 4