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10 4-.7- MAJOR UNRESOLVED CONCERNS WITH AB 1221 In a June letter to the authors of AE 1221 the League noted at least three overrid- ing concerns with the bill, as amended recently in the Assembly Appropriations Committee: BUDGET COMMITTEE from page 1...... The initial meeting of the budget conference committee was held Wednesday night, June 4. The committee focused on resolving the differ- ences between the budgets approved by the Senate and Assembly budget committees (SB 53 and AB 100). Links to the conference committee agenda and the LAO's analysis of the Senate and Assembly budget packages are posted at www.cacities.ora/budaet. • Constitutional Protection. The bill is tied to the passage of a proposed constitu- tional amendment, but that proposed mea- sure is not in print and has had little discus- sion except in the most general of terms. There has to be much more work on what is the most important component of any such package. • Redevelopment. The bill results in a detrimental impact on cities that have rede- velopment agencies. The amendments made in the Appropriations Committee do not properly address this problem. • Implementation Time Frame. AB 1221 is nothing short of a revolution in city finance. The bill does not allow proper lead - time to implement the legislation. A lead time of at least five years is needed to give city officials time to complete plans under the current revenue structure and retool for the new balance of revenues proposed in AB 1221. Analysis of the bill by numerous city officials indicates that there may also be a host of other implementation issues, under- scoring the need for more time for examina- tion. A copy of the letter sent by the League to the authors is available on the League website, on the Revenue and Taxation page (www.cacities.ora /revandtax), and in the legislative tracking section of the site (www.cacities.org /legtracking). The conference committee hopes to pass and report the revised budget bill to both houses of the legislature by Sunday, June 8 — but that deadline could be missed. Last year both houses did not pass the budget until the last day of session – August 31 This year, the last day of session is September 12 Critical Local Government Issues Unresolved Critical issues for local government remain in discussion either as a formal part of the confer- ence committee agenda, or outside of it. Both the Senate and Assembly versions of the budget assumed full -year savings from the vehicle li- cense fee backfill (without including the mecha- nisms to accomplish this). In addition, discus- sions continue regarding an additional ERAF shift from redevelopment associations, reimbursement to cities of booking fee costs, and other items. League lobbying principles were clarified by a conference call of the entire League board of directors earlier this week. (See "Board Sets League's State Budget Principles ".) The budget's final impact on cities and other local agencies won't be fully understood for some time. For regular updates on the budget debate, go to www.cacities.ora. Visit the League's Official Web Site -- www.cacities.org PRIORITY FOCUS /PAGE 7