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9.47 LOCA fnxn page 7 . ... . .... . ... . . . 0 . . . 00 . . . 0 . . . 0.. . 0 0 0 0 . ... . . ... . . was Jean ... they really appreciated the budget briefing." Orange County /South Bay City Officials Extend Outreach to Media, Coalition Partners. League Regional Representative Ann Marie Wallace reports ongoing outreach activities with possible LOCAL coalition partners, including the South Bay Association of Chambers of Commerce, the Orange County Water District, and the South Bay Rotary group. Ann Marie has also been working with city officials to generate letters to the editor of various papers, and directly with local media to generate stories and editorials about the impact on local services of state budget cuts. More Feedback from Monterey Bay Divi- sion Legislative Visits in Sacramento. Last week we reported that city officials from Monterey made the trek to the Capitol to meet with members of their legislative delegation. The following sum- marizes some of the feedback from their legislators. • Senator Bruce McPherson ( Santa Cruz). The Senator is committed to protecting the amount cities and counties receive through the VLF; however he is not sure that the VLF is the specific funding mechanism needed. He vows to "not back away from local government" during the budget crisis, believes that the budget problem was caused by poor planning on the part of the state and not enough reductions. McPherson would like to reform mandates so that if the state doesn't give the money up front locals wouldn't have to provide the services. Although the Senator doesn't gener- ally like across the board cuts, he believes they may be necessary. When questioned on revenue enhancements as a necessecity to deal with the budget he said the state hasn't reduced spending enough and must make more cuts before taxes are considered. • Senator Jeff Denham (Modesto). The Senator believes the state is experiencing a spending problem. He would like to give local governments flexibility and see a multi -year plan to deal with the state's deficit. Denham had similar thoughts to Senator McPherson's on mandates and also said he would fight for RDA and VLF to "keep local government whole ". Denham believes that more taxes will mean more jobs leaving CA and that we should 'change the way local government is fi- nanced. • Assembly Member Simon Salinas (Salinas). As the Chair of the Assembly Local Government committee and with a background in city and county government, the Assembly Member says he is very committed to protecting local revenues and under- stands the need for reliable funding. His committee will hold an informational hearing March 5th on structural reform. • Assembly Member John Laird (Santa Cruz). He outlined where the legislature stands now that State Controller Westiy has been "given the ball on VLF restoration" and may be the one who will need to "pull the trigger. He is committed to VLF funding and restoration and made the point that he believes local governments could be a strong force if they rallied their rank and file police and fire as well as SEW to be a collective voice for cities and counties. • Congressman Sam Fan (Santa Cruz). Con- gressman Farr attended our meetings and in- formed us that the Federal government had passed legislation to disperse first responder money for nationwide training, and that California should get about 12 %. He suggested that we push for state legislation to form a community service district and raise the sales tax as a way to protect services in light of the state's budget crisis. Editorials, Columns, Opeds, Letters to the Editor Inland Valley Dally Bulletin Editorial, "Re- port: Budget worries justified for counties" — Good editorial on realignment. San Jose Mercury News Editorial, "As the budget burns, Capitol fiddles" — Highlights urgency message. Contra Costa Times Editorial, "Stop budget games, let our lives go on" — Personalizes the effects of budget inaction. Riverside Press Enterprise, "California: Sliding deeper in debt ". Riverside Press Enterprise, "Sending a message to Sacramento ". Orange County Register, "Put state spending in deep freeze ". Continued on Page 10 Visit the League's Official Web Site-- www.cacities.org PRIORITY FOCUS/PAGE 9