CSDA - 2008 Special Districts Legislative Day

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SPECIAL DISTRICTS LEGISLATIVE DAY
CSDA is THE recognized voice for all special districts.

The day for special district advocacy, co-sponsored by
California Association of Sanitation Agencies
California Association of Public Cemeteries
California Association of Recreation & Park Districts
California Association of Resource Conservation Districts
California Rural Water Association
Mosquito & Vector Control Association of California

Reception sponsored by
Eckery Associates

CSDA is the recognized voice for all special districts.

CSDA’s Special Districts Legislative Day will provide special district representatives with an educational, all-day opportunity to prepare to meet with legislators. We will provide you with the most recent information on issues of particular interest to special districts. You will also receive training on how to most effectively communicate with your legislators. The day will end with pre-scheduled, small group visits to a variety of state legislators.

Special district representatives are leaders and decision makers in our communities. CSDA’s Special Districts Legislative Day program is designed to provide each attendee with information that can be taken back to individual communities and used to make a difference.

Monday, May 12, 2008
Registration, Breakfast, General Sessions, Workshops & Lunch
Sheraton Grand Hotel
1230 J Street
Sacramento, CA 95814

City Parking Information
For parking information visit the City of Sacramento website at www.sacramenities.com or contact CSDA at 877-924-CSDA for a map.

AGENDA – May 12, 2008

9:30 – 10:45 a.m.

Opening session welcome by CSDA President James Acosta
Welcome remarks by co-sponsoring association representatives
Keynote address: The Honorable John Laird, Chair, Committee on Budget
Keynote address: Marianne O’Malley, Principal Fiscal & Policy Analyst, Legislative Analyst’s Office

10:45 – 11:30 a.m.
Chairs of Senate & Assembly Local Government Committees
The Honorable Anna Caballero, the Honorable Gloria Negrete McLeod

11:35 a.m. – 12:20 p.m. - Breakout sessions

Healthcare, Ruth Liu, Associate Secretary for Health Policy at California’s Health and Human Services Agency
Taking it Home: Tools for Grassroots Advocacy, The Honorable Kevin Jeffries & Stephanie Jantzen, Political Director, Office of Assembly Member Roger Niello

12:30 – 2:00 p.m.
Lunch, Remarks by CSDA President James Acosta and
CSDA Legislative Advocate Ralph Heim
Also invited, Chris McKenzie, Executive Director, League of California Cities and member, Eminent Domain Reform Now – Protect Our Homes Coalition

2:00 – 5:00 p.m.
Legislative Visits – California State Capitol

5:30 – 7:00 p.m.
Reception in the Capitol Rotunda, sponsored by Eckery Associates

Agenda and speakers are subject to change based on legislative trends.

2008 Distinguished Presenters

CSDA Board President James Acosta
CSDA Board President James Acosta has been actively involved in the special district movement for over twenty-five years on both a local and state level. He was elected to the CSDA board in 2002 and is currently serving as president. Mr. Acosta presently serves as president of the Saticoy Sanitary District Board of Directors. He also serves as a board member for the Ventura Regional and Triunfo Sanitation Districts. Mr. Acosta is past president of the Ventura County Special Districts Association and has also served for six years as the special district representative to the Ventura County LAFCo. Mr. Acosta was awarded the Shirley Turner Award for exemplary service to special districts this year.

Mr. Acosta is active with many different civic organizations, including the Boys & Girls Club of Ventura (past president), the Saticoy Community Council (current president), the Friends of the Saticoy Library, the Downtown Center for the Arts-Oxnard, and was the past president of the statewide organization, the Mexican American Golf Association (MAGA).

Mr. Acosta is married (wife-Maria), and enjoys golfing and traveling.

The Honorable Anna Caballero
A strong advocate for public safety, affordable housing, quality health care and education, Assembly Member Anna M. Caballero was elected to serve the 28th Assembly District in November of 2006.

Born to a family of copper miners, Assembly Member Caballero moved to the Salinas Valley 25 years ago to work for California Rural Legal Assistance (CRLA). As an attorney, she represented striking farm workers and fought side by side with unions to prevent plant closures.

Seeing the need for legal representation at a price working families could afford, the Assembly Member and two colleagues founded a law firm, Caballero, Matcham & McCarthy, in 1982. The business received many awards and the Assembly Member was personally recognized with the Athena Award for entrepreneurial excellence.

Moving from law to public service, Assembly Member Caballero was appointed to her local Planning Commission and later elected to the Salinas City Council in 1991. The Assembly Member was elected mayor of Salinas in 1998.

CSDA Legislative Advocate Ralph Heim
Ralph Heim is a partner with Public Policy Advocates, LLC, one of California’s largest contract lobbying firms. Mr. Heim currently represents numerous public and private sector clients, including the California Special Districts Association, before the California Legislature and state regulatory agencies. Mr. Heim received his bachelor’s degree in Political Science, with honors, from California State University, Sacramento. Mr. Heim also received his master’s degree in Government and Constitutional Law, with honors, from California State University, Sacramento. For his academic achievement, Mr. Heim was elected to Pi Sigma Alpha, The National Political Science Honor Society.

Stephanie Jantzen
Stephanie Jantzen is the Campaign Manager and Political Director for California State Assembly Member Roger Niello, and has worked for Mr. Niello exclusively for ten years. She served as then-County Supervisor Niello’s Chief of Staff, and served as his alternate on the Sacramento County Library Commission. Stephanie worked on several candidate and issue campaigns with Russo Marsh & Raper as well as McNally Temple Associates in Sacramento. She worked for two local contract lobbying firms, analyzing legislation for various client companies.

Ms. Jantzen served as Government Affairs staff to the Sacramento Metro Chamber of Commerce, and served as Director of Public Policy and Politics for the California State Chamber of Commerce. Ms. Jantzen serves on the Board of Directors of Homes with Heart Foster Family Agency, the Mercy Hospital Community Council, and has worked with youth in the Folsom area.

The Honorable Kevin Jeffries
Kevin Jeffries is a lifelong Republican with a proven history of working for fiscally conservative, pro-taxpayer, pro-business and jobs values. Kevin served an unprecedented seven years as Chairman of the Republican Party of Riverside County and served as a delegate to the California Republican Party and its Executive Committee, Platform Committee and County Chairmen’s Association.

Kevin Jeffries is currently president and partner of his privately held family investment firm, and recently stepped down from his job with the Riverside County Fire Department.

The Honorable John Laird
Assembly Member John Laird was elected in 2002, and again in 2004 and 2006, to represent the 27th Assembly District, which includes portions of Santa Cruz, Monterey and Santa Clara Counties. In 2004, Mr. Laird was named by Assembly Speaker Núñez to join the Assembly leadership team as chair of the Budget Committee, a position to which Speaker Núñez reappointed him in December 2006. Along with the Budget Committee, Mr. Laird serves as a member of the Labor and Employment, Judiciary and Natural Resources Committees.

Ruth Liu
Ruth Liu is Associate Secretary for Health Policy at California’s Health and Human Services Agency and one of the architects of the Schwarzenegger Administration’s health reform proposal. Prior to joining the Health and Human Services Agency, Ms. Liu was a senior policy consultant for Kaiser Permanente’s government relations department focusing on issues around the uninsured, small group and individual market reforms at both the state and federal levels. Ms. Liu has also prepared briefs on workforce shortage issues as a graduate assistant intern at the UCSF Center for the Health Professions.

Chris McKenzie
Chris McKenzie was appointed in 1999 as only the sixth executive director of the over 100-year old League of California Cities (League). He served previously as executive director and lobbyist with the League of Kansas Municipalities and in various positions in local and state government. He holds advanced degrees in both urban planning and law from the University of Kansas. During his time with the League, cities across the state voted overwhelmingly to create a new grassroots lobbying program, placing fifteen regional representatives across the state to work with city officials to advance key legislative priorities for cities. Cities recently voted unanimously to renew that program indefinitely. He worked closely with the coalitions that passed Proposition 1A in 2004, protecting local government revenues, and defeating Proposition 90 in 2006. A similar coalition is currently working to help defeat Proposition 98 (which would destroy current legal protections for renters in California, among other things) and pass Proposition 99, which would protect single-family homes from eminent domain.

The Honorable Gloria Negrete McLeod
Senator Gloria Negrete McLeod was first elected on November 2006 to represent the 32nd Senate District.

In the Senate, Senator Negrete McLeod chairs the Committee on Local Government and the Select Committees on the Alameda Corridor and Perchlorate Contamination. She serves on the Governmental Organization, Health, Public Employment and Retirement and the Veterans Affairs Committees.

As a 37-year resident of the district, Senator Negrete McLeod is actively involved in the clean up of groundwater contamination. A legislative priority is to improve the quality of California’s current water supply, ensuring that there is a reliable plan in place that will adequately provide for the state’s growing water needs.

Improving the affordability and access to higher education, enhancing the quality of health care, improving our current transportation system to reduce traffic congestion and promoting the growth of quality employment opportunities for Californians are also among her legislative priorities.

Marianne O’Malley
Marianne O’Malley is a Principal Fiscal and Policy Analyst with the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO), working primarily on matters related to intergovernmental relations and finance.

Since joining the LAO in 1985, Ms. O’Malley has testified and lectured extensively on the subjects of local government finance, property taxation, the initiative process and state infrastructure investment.

Ms. O’Malley earned a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School in 1985. Her master’s thesis on the topic of “cruising for parking” in central cities was awarded first prize by the American Planning Association.