The Tri-Valley and Alameda County at-large were at the center of conversations at the State Senate last week, in which a proposed bill that has come under fire by some local officials nonetheless moved through the legislature and one step closer to the governor’s desk.
State Sen. Aisha Wahab’s Senate Bill 1193, aimed at providing regulations and oversight of discretionary funds from the county’s Board of Supervisors that are generally awarded to nonprofit and community-based organizations selected by each supervisor, was advanced with a 7-0 vote by the State Assembly’s local government committee July 1.
The bill’s advancement marked its second committee hearing, having first passed the senate’s local government committee in April, followed by the full State Senate in May,.
Ahead of last week’s hearing, District 1 Supervisor David Haubert issued the latest in a series of public critiques of the bill that he and his colleagues on the board have been vocally opposing following its introduction in February.
“Senator Wahab continues to ignore the voices of local governments, nonprofit organizations, and community leaders who have overwhelmingly opposed this legislation,” Haubert said in a June 30 message to his constituents. “It has become clear that she does not understand the needs of our community or how local government operates.”
“The timing of this bill cannot be ignored, a supermajority of the Alameda County Board of Supervisors endorsed Melissa Hernandez for Congress, and shortly thereafter this legislation was introduced targeting Alameda County,” he continued, referring to Wahab’s congressional bid against fellow Democrat Hernandez. “It is difficult to view SB 1193 as anything other than political retribution rather than good public policy.”
Those were among the points that Wahab challenged in last week’s hearing at the State Capitol, in which she was joined by unincorporated Livermore resident Kiersten Skov who held a press conference the prior week detailing allegations of attempted bribery via county discretionary funds.
“Public money is not a favor,” Wahab said in the July 1 assembly committee hearing. “It is not a political prize. It is not a private account for public officials to use without meaningful oversight. It is the hard earned money of working families, seniors, renters, homeowners, and small businesses. Every dollar should have a clear public purpose, a public record and a public benefit. That is how we prevent waste, fraud, abuse, favoritism, and conflicts of interest.”
Wahab herself has not made public allegations about any particular instances of the misuse of discretionary funds or named any past or present supervisors’ spending as problematic, instead pointing to an arsenal of county grand jury reports, audits, and legal filings that she contends point to an ongoing pattern of systemic issues.
That’s where Skov has come in, with Wahab’s office hosting her press conference in Livermore last month and bringing her on as a witness to testify in favor of the legislation at the capitol.
“I’m speaking today because county residents are attempting to fight corruption after being ignored by our officials while they scoff at grand jury reports,” Skov said. “We require the state legislature to step in as oversight, not overreach.”
Three speakers voiced opposition ahead of the committee vote, contending that the county has a documented history of commitment to transparency and oversight and that the bill would jeopardize funding for nonprofits, yet also weaken existing accountability measures by requiring a simple majority vote on discretionary funding rather than the four-fifths vote currently required.
While Wahab said she would be happy to make that amendment, the bill went on to pass with no revisions in the committee.
“I’m looking for what the harm is, and if you are already doing these things, I’m trying to understand what the opposition is about,” Asm. Rhodesia Ransom (D-Tracy) said. “Because I would love to be able to say ‘Senator Wahab, you’re making this difficult,’ but I just haven’t heard that particular piece said.”
In her closing remarks, Wahab said that the bill was just one of several means for state, local and federal authorities to crack down on alleged corruption in the county government.
“Alameda County is home to a wide variety of concerns around corruption – in fact, FBI raids have taken place at different levels of local government in Alameda County, and this is just one effort to shed some light on what is happening,” Wahab said.
