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q.A -8 'Another is the attitude of bankers and bond rating houses, which have already dropped the state's credit standing to an embarrassingly low level, among the lowest of any state... effectively treating the state like a Third World nation that has not managed its affairs very responsibly — which is not an unjustified attitude." Orange County Register 4/3/03, And now, the local Income tax — The latest bad idea from the big spenders In Sacramento is a doozy "Now the Legislature is considering AB 1690. It would authorize any city or county to form a "fire protection finance agency" for the purpose of funding fire protection services or capital improve- ments. To fund this agency, it would authorize - for the first time in state history - cities and counties to levy a "local general income tax. "The proposed income tax for fire suppression is a special tax because the money would go to fire services, right? Not according to the legislation. The money from the new income tax would go into the city's or county's general fund for general purposes. The Fire Protection Finance Agency, on the other hand, would receive an increased portion of the property tax. The only reason the statute is structured this way is to avoid the two- thirds vote for special taxes." The Sacramento Bee 4/9/03, Dan Walters: Legislature occupies itself with trivia as state meltdown looms. "Hundreds of lobbyists repre- senting thousands of special interests swarm over the Capitol, trying to pass or kill bills that may be important to them, but have little or no effect on the larger public. And collectively, they consume most of the time and attention of lawmakers and their staffs while big issues go begging... it's utterly bizarre that the Legislature should be conducting business as usual when it faces a budget deficit that Gov. Gray Davis pegs at $35 billion, when Wall Street is downgrading the state's credit rating to near -junk bond status, and when the education of millions of kids, the health of millions of poor people and other matters of real substance hang in the balance." State budget crunch — Leaning too much on taxes could drive businesses away. 'States battle each other for companies and business. Despite the basic strong fundamentals that Califor- nia enjoys, we have committed some key turnovers that leave the state vulnerable to a business exodus. The state's disastrous handling of the electricity crisis two years ago was a mistake that already has changed our positive momentum. Increasing taxes or fees too much could take California out of the game for business." .. ........ . . . . . . . . . . . . LEAGUE GRASSROOTS IN ACTION An occasional report on Grassroots activities by League divisions ( outside of work specifically on the state budget crisis, which is highlighted in the LOCAL Update aa". Members from the League's Peninsula Divi- sion, Mayor Kris Casto (Los Altos), Council Members Dave Bauer (Belmont), Curtis Wright (Monte Sereno) and Lee Panza (Brisbane), testified before the Assembly's Local Government Committee in support of AS 980 (Salinas), and in opposition of AB 1160 (Steinberg). "The presence of these local officials made a difference on both bills," said League lobbyist Dan Carrigg. "There is nothing like having a few council members from a legislator's district to focus their attention." AB 980 is a League- sponsored bill that would allow cities to certify their housing elements in their general plans on the basis of housing actually produced. The bill moved out of the committee on a unanimous vote. AS 1160 was more controversial, but ultimately passed out of committee on a 4 -3 vote. Regional Representative Rebecca Elliot reports that the elected officials, members of the Division's newly formed Legislative Response Team, are ready to return to Sacramento for the next round of testi- mony on these bills in the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee. PAGE &PRIORITY FOCUS Visit the League's Official Web Site -"www.cacnies.org QUOTESfrom page 5 ............................................... the deficit would vanish. The San Bernardino County Sun 04109/03