authored by Fresno County Supervisor Buddy Mendes and Merced County Supervisor Scott Silveria
As supervisors for Merced County and Fresno County, we are opposed to Assembly Bills 2561 and 2557 which undermine the essential local services that counties deliver to all residents – and especially the most vulnerable. We urge state legislators to reject these bills when the legislature returns in August.
Thousands of municipal jobs have remained unfilled since the end of the pandemic, with vacancy rates in some departments at double or even triple pre-pandemic levels.
These vacancies hurt the ability of cities and counties to deliver vital services that our communities rely upon – from police and fire, road repairs, maintaining parks, collecting trash and, perhaps most acutely, in our public health and safety net services.
As county Supervisors we value our workforce and have been working to fix these issues and ensure the services our neighbors rely upon can be delivered timely, effectively and at the lowest possible cost to taxpayers.
However, Sacramento politicians are looking to add arduous new contracting and hiring requirements that make delivering local services even more difficult – without solving the vacancy issue.
AB 2557 imposes unnecessary bureaucratic requirements that will make it more complicated and costly for local governments to contract with private sector nonprofits, community-based organizations and other businesses to provide vital services like mental health support, homelessness services, children’s services, animal welfare, emergency response, and much more.
AB 2557 mandates counties to produce and publish unnecessary bureaucratic reports, including mandating local agencies list on their websites all financial expenditures for the contracted services, the number of employees involved in providing the services, the names of subcontractors, and the hourly rates, total compensation, and pay scales of the employees and independent contractors. When public, the reports would raise privacy concerns discouraging nonprofits and others from collaborating with local agencies. They would also add unnecessary time and expense to counties that will detract from the delivery of local services.
In Merced County, partnerships with community-based organizations have been instrumental in addressing homelessness. We’ve found success by braiding various funding sources and collaborating with local nonprofits to provide a system of care and support for our local homeless population. Many are now in stable housing and on a path to self-sufficiency thanks to these efforts.
Fresno County relies on partner agencies to provide health and human services to our residents. All the partner agencies are contracted through formal agreements and are already required to submit regular reporting to the County for services rendered. AB 2557 will ultimately adversely impact Fresno County residents, including our most vulnerable populations.
AB 2561 would require local governments with employee vacancy rates exceeding 15 percent to produce extensive plans to reduce these vacancies to zero percent. It also requires counties to meet with labor representatives to discuss these plans, and to hold public hearings. These bureaucratic hurdles won’t do much to reduce vacancies, but would cost time and money that also takes away from the delivery of local services.
Our counties are working hard to fill vacant positions. We offer competitive pay and generous benefits, have added sign-on bonuses, and other incentives to attract qualified candidates. Mandating more plans and public hearings isn’t the answer.
The challenges facing our communities are extensive. We are working to address homelessness and substance abuse issues, crime, poverty, dilapidated roads and infrastructure and a number of other priority issues. Counties should be dedicating all our time and resources addressing the issues that matter most to our communities.
Instead, AB 2561 and AB 2557 will make our local problems worse. We urge our state legislators to reject these flawed measures.
