The Latest News from TPA

City of Carson Pension Reform Legislation Retires Into Law

Through the efforts of Townsend Public Affairs, Governor Brown recently signed AB 1144 (Hall), a bill that established public employee benefit rights into law for the City of Carson.

Townsend Public Affairs worked very closely with Assemblymember Hall to address the lack of a post-retirement medical program vesting schedule in the City of Carson and eliminate a potentially harmful ambiguous provision in the City’s retirement benefit package. The provision allowed new hires with vested California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) pensions to retire from the City of Carson with as little as just one-day of service and still qualify for Carson’s employer paid post-retirement medical benefit. This previously created an unfunded liability, which is currently projected at $48 million dollars.

AB 1144 amended the provision so that the percentage of employer contribution payable for post retirement health benefits for an employee of the City of Carson is to be based on the employee’s completed years of credited service. The percentage of employer contribution increases incrementally after five years.

Collaboration between Assemblymember Hall, CalPERS, and committee staff was crucial to the success of this legislation. Townsend Public Affairs played a guiding hand in strategically crafting the legislation and shepherded it through the legislative process.

Nicole Woodworth Graduates from TPA Summer Internship Program

Townsend Public Affairs would like to congratulate Nicole Woodworth for completing a three month internship with Townsend Public Affairs. Nicole, a sophomore at Gonzaga University in Washington, has been a huge asset to the workings of the Southern California office. She supported the client services team by completing research projects on topics including the State Water Project Contractor distribution of water and the Safe, Clean and Reliable Drinking Water Supply Act 2014. Nicole also researched and wrote various memos for City of Mission Viejo, City of Aliso Viejo, South Orange County Wastewater Authority, Clean Water State Revolving Fund and Orange County Vector Control.

At the end of August, Nicole leaves to spend the next eight months studying abroad in Florence Italy where she is enrolled in courses focusing on Political Science and Economics. After graduation, she plans to live in Northern California and pursue a career in politics and government affairs.

Townsend Public Affairs is so proud of Nicole and wishes her the very best in all her future endeavors!

City of Hayward Receives $177,000 Grant for Urban Transit Planning

Townsend Public Affairs is excited to announce the California Department of Transportation award to City of Hayward for a $177,060 grant from the Statewide or Urban Transit Planning Studies program. This funding will allow the City of Hayward to study the feasibility of implementing a transit connector service in their industrial employment areas.

Hayward is fortunate to already have two BART stations and bus service through AC Transit. The study will help identify and assess transit connection strategies to optimize the use of Hayward’s existing public transit infrastructure by regional workers that are commuting to its industrial centers.

The identified strategy will facilitate congestion relief on regional highways by enabling commuters to use Hayward’s two BART stations and bus services rather than single occupant vehicles. In addition, the facilitation of better public transportation options will help growing businesses meet the transit needs of their employees, helping them to be more efficient and globally competitive.

City of Oakland Receives $4.9 Million in Grants for Public Safety Emergency Center

Townsend Public Affairs assisted the City of Oakland with a grant extension that allowed the City to fully utilize $2.9 Million in federal American Recovery and reinvestment Act (ARRA) Funding.

Because of our relationships with Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the City was granted a six-month extension to expend the $2.9 million of ARRA funds to develop its Domain Awareness Center (DAC), which will be a central emergency collection location for video feeds and real-time data from critical Port facilities, utility infrastructure and roadways throughout the City. The data gathered at the DAC will be utilized by the Port, City, Oakland Police Department and Oakland Fire Department to improve the response times and coordination of first responders and public safety agencies.

In addition to being awarded the opportunity to expend the $2.9 million in ARRA funding, Oakland will be receiving an additional $2 million from a Port Security Grant from the Port of Oakland to continue work on the Domain Awareness Center. The City has already begun work on Phase 2 of the DAC project, which will continue to enhance System Integrations at the facility over the next 12 months, further strengthening the City’s ability to respond to emergency situations in a timely and coordinated manner.

County of Mariposa Received $25,000 Grant for Energy Efficiency Projects

Mariposa County is a proponent of energy efficient programs and projects throughout the community. The County continues to search for ways to improve the environment and educate the community members on how to achieve energy efficiency goals. With the support of Townsend Public Affairs, Mariposa County secured $25,000 in funding from the Sierra Nevada Partnership Grant Program to conduct a Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions Inventory.

This program will help Mariposa County achieve its goals of a county wide GHG inventory by beginning the necessary steps and initiating an energy efficiency planning process. The inventory allows the County to obtain objective information that will provide the public and elected officials with necessary information to promote energy efficient programs in the future, as well as generate substantial cost savings for residents, businesses, and visitors.

Merced County Association of Governments Receives $1.6 Million for Pollution-Reducing Vehicles

Townsend Public Affairs advocacy effort results in 10 partial Buy America waivers worth $1,566,036 for the Merced County Association of Governments (“MCAG”). These waivers allowed five cities in Merced County to purchase 10 pollution-reducing vehicles.

Buy America provisions ensure that transportation infrastructure projects are built with American-made products. That means that Department of Transportation investments are able to support an entire supply chain of American companies and their employees. Without the waivers, MCAG would have been prevented from using Federal dollars to make the purchases as the Federal Highway Administration’s Buy America requirement mandates that all steel and iron used in government projects be manufactured domestically. Because all vehicles are manufactured using a variety of parts containing steel and iron from different countries, there are virtually no vehicles in the market manufactured from 100 percent domestically produced steel and iron. MCAG requested Buy America waivers for the purchase of ten updated vehicles that would reduce emissions and eventually improve air quality.

TPA coordinated a coalition of Congressional members from the San Joaquin Valley including Representatives Jim Costa, Devin Nunes, David Valadao, Tom McClintock, Jeff Denham, and Kevin McCarthy who issued delegation letter to the Secretary of Transportation advocating for the waivers.

On Friday, June 14, 2013, the waiver requests were granted; the first requests granted for the state of California in many months