Lake County supervisors receive state legislative update, direct staff to prepare formal positions on several bills

Jeff Neal of Nielsen Merxemer briefed the Lake County Board of Supervisors on active California legislation and state budget developments, and the board provided consensus direction to staff to prepare formal positions and potential consent items for future board action on several bills.

Neal, the county's state advocacy representative, told the board the governor's May budget revision—due the day after the briefing—was likely to be a pivotal document for the session. “This will be an important moment for policy for the year,” Neal said, describing revenue variances, rising Medi-Cal costs and projected multi-year deficits that will affect state funding decisions.

The update highlighted several bills of direct interest to Lake County. Neal described AB 339 as a measure that would require counties to give 120 days’ notice before contracting for most types of services and said the provision would remove flexibility for counties; the county has opposed similar…