CSAC CEO tells Butte County supervisors association pushing for disaster fixes, clearer homelessness roles and water planning

Graham Knauss, chief executive officer of the California State Association of Counties, told the Butte County Board of Supervisors on April 1 that CSAC is pressing for changes to make disaster recovery, homelessness policy and water planning easier for counties to implement.

Knauss spoke during a scheduled presentation and described several CSAC priorities: pushing for automatic state support and streamlined processes after declared disasters, asking for clearer statewide definitions of which level of government is responsible for homelessness responses, backing SB 72 to create a statewide water plan, and seeking flexibility on state-mandated programs such as advanced clean-fleet requirements (AB 496) and restrictions on contracting (AB 339). He also described a new CSAC service, Public Square Real Estate, run with Cushman & Wakefield to help counties buy or dispose of property.

Knauss said counties need “resources, the authority, and the flexibility” to meet different local needs and described a multi-jurisdiction disaster proposal intended to make some recovery actions automatic once a disaster is declared. He told the board that CSAC is advocating for homeowners’ insurance to better reflect home-hardening measures, and reiterated CSAC involvement in carrier-of-last-resort and PUC proceedings affecting landline service.

The presentation framed homelessness as a funding and role-allocation problem: Knauss noted the HAP program at roughly $1 billion annually and said counties have received about 28% of those funds. He argued that the state should specify which level of government is responsible for which actions and align funding to those responsibilities. He also described CSAC’s concern that some successful local programs have been defunded after demonstrating results.

Supervisors pressed Knauss on several local issues. Supervisor Connolly asked CSAC to press for mitigation and compensation where federal dams and infrastructure impose local costs. Supervisor Teeter and others raised recurring problems from stacked disasters (for example, wildfire followed by flood), the need for clearer disaster triggers for funding, and the effects of recent changes to Lanterman‑Petris‑Short (LPS) conservatorship law that will take effect next year. Knauss acknowledged LPS changes create implementation challenges because licensed facilities and licensing processes are currently limited in many communities.

Board members also praised CSAC training programs. RCRC and CSAC institutes and a new CSAC credential program were mentioned as helpful to county staff and supervisors.

Public comment included remarks from local resident John Stonebraker, who urged CSAC and state officials to consider the local, long-term impacts of withheld federal appropriations on schools and higher education and to remain engaged in northern California communities recovering from fire.

Knauss closed by inviting continued coordination between CSAC and Butte County on the items he described.

(Reporting note: The presentation and Q&A were on the board’s item 5.01.)