Our state of uncertainty and anxiety about the Senate’s failure to adopt SB 65 and SB 67 has yet to be allayed. After ongoing discussions and negotiations on water have failed to produce an agreement, it appears less and less likely that the Senate will reconvene by the end of the month to reconsider SB 65 and SB 67.

On Wednesday, CSAC, the League of California Cities, and the California Special Districts Association sent this letter to Senate leaders indicating that the Proposition 1A Securitization Program can move forward only if SB 67 secures Senate approval by October 15, 2009.

CSAC has received a verbal commitment from Senate President pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg that the Senate will reconvene the week of October 12 to take up these bills. However, we must temper our optimism with the fact that passage of these measures will require the Senate’s presence in Sacramento and a minimum of 27 affirmative votes.

To that end, we ask you to continue to press Senators for a commitment to return to Sacramento and to vote “aye” on SB 65 and SB 67. We will be in touch with you soon about specific actions you can take to help move this process along. Until then, please continue to communicate the sense of urgency to Senators to reconvene for purposes of addressing these two critical measures.

Also, in order to achieve timely and effective participation, we continue to urge counties to enroll in the Proposition 1A Securitization Program at www.cacommunities.org. When you enroll, you will be sent customized documents to adopt in a public meeting.  These approved documents will be held in escrow until the bond sale.  Please let us know if you have any questions about the process.

Thank you for your patience during this uncertain time.  Please know that our advocacy is focused on quick resolution to this important issue.

Paul McIntosh
Executive Director
California State Association of Counties
www.csac.counties.org