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8A Page 16 Visit www.treasurer.ca.qov to find resources focused on this issue including several valuable pieces of background information. Next Step Additional information will be provided to city officials via Priority Focus and the League's Web site www.cacities.orQ once the League board has acted at its meeting April 17-18. Cities Starting to Receive Prop. 1 B Local Street and Road Funds As of mid-March, 150 cities had received their FY 2007-08 Proposition 1B local street and road funds according to the Department of Finance (DO F). A city-by-city list of funds can be found on the League's Web site at www.cacities.orq/infrastructure. Included in the application materials DOF sent cities in January was a letter explaining how to apply for the Prop. 1 B funds as well as a list detailing each city's proportional share of the funds. These materials, along with the Prop. 18 Implementation Guidelines. are posted on the infrastructure page of the League's Web site (www.cacitiesorq/infrastructur~. Cities that have not already submitted their applications for Prop. 18 local street and road funds, should do so immediately. In mid-April, the State Controller's office will release the next set of Prop. 18 payments to cities that have applied for the funding. The April 25 issue of Priority Focus wilt include an update with a city-by-city list of funds. Governor Signs Bill That Allows Local Governments To Buy Back Debt Cities that have issued variable-rate debt will tind some relief from SB 344 (Machado), which was signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on March 26. The bill, sponsored by State Treasurer Bill Lockyer, makes it clear that state and local agencies can repurchase bonds without having to extinguish the debt. This means that the agencies can resell the bonds iFl the future or switch to a different form of debt. The subprime mortgage crisis has had many ripple effects including increased volatility in the financial markets. The resulting interest rate fluctuation has meant rapidly increasing costs for state and local governments with variable-rate debt. Supported by the League, SB 344 ensures that local governments have the option of repurchasing their debt as a means of stabilizing the required interest payments and thereby saving public funds. Sustainable Cities Feature: Solana Beach Keeps City Beaches Cigarette Free The pristine beach environment can be marred by cigarette butts littering the sand and polluting the ocean-but not the City of Solana Beach. In 2003, this San Diego County community of 14,000 residents became the first in California to ban cigarettes at all of its city beaches. The city took action after a youth group made a powerful presentation to the city council in 2002. Members of the Youth Tobacco Prevention Corps made a powerful presentation to the city council where they brought a jar filled with exactly 6,347 cigarette butts-the amount the teens collected on a nearby beach in just one hour. Corps members asked the city council to ban cigarettes on Solana Beach's 1.8 miles of beaches. 8eyond the health implications of cigarettes and secondhand smoke. California's stormwater permitting regulations require the state to collect tobacco litter qn beaches and in parks to prevent cigarette waste from washing into the ocean and municipal water systems. This protects the well- 5