Advocacy Update

SB1 (Beall) / AB 1 (Frazier) - SUPPORT
Recent storms have laid bare the state of our crumbling roads, but the EBLC has been strong proponents of meaningful infrastructure investment and reform for years. At the end of February, the governor’s office said damage to roads in the first two months of 2017 will cost $595 million to repair. That’s on top of $57 billion in deferred maintenance on transportation according to Governor’s 2016-17 budget. The longer we wait, the more expensive fixing the roads becomes.

We expect a bill that brings together Assemblymember Frazier’s AB 1, Senator Beall’s SB 1, and Governor Brown’s plan to be released very soon. Once it does, stay tuned to the EBLC’s Facebook and Twitter page for our take and whether necessary reform provisions are contained in the revenue package.

AB 1363 (Baker) - SUPPORT
During the recession, some revenues dedicated for transportation projects were redirected to the general fund to backfill a major deficit in income tax revenue. That funding was never returned and nothing in State law or the Constitution prevents it from happening again. This led many voters to doubt that new transportation funding will actually fix our roads.

Assemblywoman Baker’s legislation aims to stop this shell game. The EBLC believes the idea is a good one and may prove to be an important accountability measure to secure bipartisan support for infrastructure investment.

American Health Care Act - OPPOSE
The EBLC does not see a way to make this bad bill better. The AHCA increases costs on the most vulnerable, leaves millions uninsured, and increases out-of-pocket expenses on the middle class. Not to mention the $6 billion-a-year hole it would create in the California general fund.

Rather than work on tweaking the AHCA, we will seek to work with leadership on our upcoming trip to D.C. to improve on the Affordable Care Act. It has flaws but has increased coverage for 22 million Americans which has led to the lowest levels of uninsured people in California and the U.S.

AB 199 (Chu) - OPPOSE
This bill would require prevailing wages on private residential housing projects and result in a substantial increase in the cost of new construction.The legislature should be finding ways to make housing more affordable, not more expensive.