Category Archives: Benicia City Council

By Roger Straw

IMPORTANT – TUES., JAN 15… See Council’s agenda item 15.B. below and check out the various reports. This item is in response to the nasty attack ads, push polling and huge money spent by Valero and it’s labor buddies in last fall’s campaign. They successfully smeared Planning Commission Chair Kari Birdseye and helped to elect their chosen candidates. Council and staff have been looking into any measures that can be taken to strengthen Benicia’s campaign ordinance. PLEASE ATTEND THE COUNCIL MEETING ON TUESDAY, JANUARY 15! Let Council and staff know that this is really important so that we don’t have this again in 2020. (To send an email comment see WHERE TO WRITE…)

BENICIA CITY COUNCIL
CITY COUNCIL MEETING AGENDA
Benicia City Hall 250 East L. Street
January 15, 2019
7:00 PM

15.B -SECOND STEP OF COUNCIL MEMBER CAMPBELL’S 2-STEP PROCESS

REQUEST TO DISCUSS UPDATING THE CAMPAIGN ORDINANCES (City Attorney)

At the December 18, 2018 City Council meeting, Council Member Campbell’s two-step process request was presented to the Council to consider updates to the city’s campaign ordinances. The Council directed staff to agendize the item for discussion. Staff has included preliminary research on this subject.

Recommendation:

Provide direction on whether the Santa Clara model and any other proposed updates should be considered and whether updates should be discussed and reviewed by an ad hoc group or by the Open Government Commission prior to consideration by the Council.

Staff Report -Campaign Ordinance Updates -Campbell

Benicia City Council, Campaign finance, Local elections, Local Regulation, Negative campaigning, Public campaign financing

A suggestion for cleaning up Benicia election campaigns: public financing

January 1, 2019 Roger Straw

Council to consider cleaning up election campaigning – Tuesday

From an E-Alert by Benicia Mayor Elizabeth Patterson

Council to consider cleaning up election campaigning – Tuesday

December 14, 2018

[excerpted]… Many people consider the last election flawed because of the excessive money spent by the Political Action Committee of Valero and their affiliated entities’ efforts to buy two council seats. What more can be done to keep elections from becoming a money-horse race and not about issues? Below is one approach that could be considered. Other cities have adopted a variety of programs that could be reviewed and considered.

Governor Brown Signs Major Step Towards Citizen-Funded Elections

SB 1107 signed by Governor Brown after passing legislature with bipartisan support

By Press Release – California Clean Money Campaign, September 29th, 2016

SACRAMENTO — Today, Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill giving all Californian jurisdictions the right to give their citizens a bigger voice in democracy by changing the way election campaigns are financed. SB 1107 amends California’s antiquated ban on public financing of campaigns to allow local governments and the state to pass their own systems for citizen funding of election campaigns to magnify the voices of small donors and everyday voters.

SB 1107 was authored by Senator Ben Allen and coauthored by Senator Loni Hancock and Assemblymembers David Chiu and Lorena Gonzalez. Sponsored by the California Clean Money Campaign and California Common Cause, SB 1107 allows public financing of campaigns in California elections if they’re paid for by dedicated campaign finance trust funds and are “available to all qualified, voluntarily participating candidates for the same office without regard to incumbency or political party preference”.

“Californians are demanding greater accountability from their elected officials, and rightfully so. Anything we can do to empower communities to reduce the influence of money in campaigns is a good thing”, said Senator Ben Allen, author of SB 1107.

SB 1107 passed the legislature with bipartisan support. Republican Senators Anthony Canella (R-Ceres) and Bob Huff (R-Brea) and Assemblymembers Catharine Baker (R-San Ramon), Ling Ling Chang (R-Brea), and David Hadley (R-Torrance) all deserve great credit for standing up for the voices of regular voters against special interests, as do all the Democrats who voted Yes. Senate President pro Tem Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles), Senator Robert Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys), Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Los Angeles) and SB 1107’s author Senator Allen (D-Redondo Beach) and Assembly floor manager Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego) also deserve special commendation for their leadership in passing SBÂ 1107.

“The undue influence of big money special interests in politics isn’t a partisan issue,” said Assemblymember David Hadley (R-Torrance), one of the key votes in SB 1107 achieving its needed 2/3 majority in the Assembly. “I voted for SB 1107 to give cities and counties the local control they need to develop campaign finance systems that work for them, and look forward to working with the California Clean Money Campaign and others to explore carefully-crafted citizens-funded election systems to strengthen election accountability.”

More than 57,000 Californians signed petitions urging Governor Brown to pass SB 1107, and thousands more called Governor Brown and their legislators. A coalition of 40 state and national organizations weighed in for the bill, contributing an additional 50,000 petition signers from across the country urging California to lead. Besides SB 1107 sponsors California Clean Money Campaign and California Common Cause, organizations that actively worked to pass SB 1107 included: California Church Impact, California Labor Federation, California League of Conservation Voters, California School Employees Association, CALPIRG, Corporate Accountability International, Courage Campaign, CREDO, Daily Kos, Democracy for America, Every Voice, Friends of the Earth, GMO Free USA, League of Women Voters of California, Money Out Voters In, People Demanding Action, People For the American Way, Progressive Democrats of America, Sierra Club California, Represent.US, RootsAction.org, UFCW, and Voices for Progress.

“Californians are crying out for reform of our broken campaign finance system, as shown by the tremendous outpouring of support for SB 1107,” said Trent Lange, President of the California Clean Money Campaign, co-sponsor of SB 1107. “We’re very grateful to Governor Brown and the bipartisan legislative leaders who made its passage possible so that Californians can explore citizen funded elections systems that give regular voters a stronger voice against big money special interests”.

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The California Clean Money Campaign is a non-partisan 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to lessening the unfair influence of Big Money on election campaigns. For further information, visit www.CAclean.org.

Benicia City Council, Evacuation, Flaring, Industrial Safety Ordinance (ISO), Valero Benicia Refinery

Vice Mayor Steve Young: letter from former City Attorney of Santa Rosa

November 22, 2018 Roger Straw

Repost from a Benicia Nextdoor post

City Council Meeting on Air Monitors

By Steve Young, Benicia Vice Mayor, November 21, 2018

Steve Young, Vice Mayor, City of Benicia

It’s not often that the Council receives the kind of letter copied below. It is from Brien Farrell, the former City Attorney of Santa Rosa, who has retired here in town. I thank Mr. Farrell on behalf of my colleagues. After 4 hours of testimony and deliberation on Tuesday, the Council unanimously adopted a motion advancing what I hope is the mutual interest of the City and Valero in providing enhanced air monitoring for the public, as well as better communication between the two parties. We also appreciate the donation to the City Fire Department by Valero of three mobile air monitors.

Brien Farrell 4:34 PM (7 hours ago)
To Mayor, Steve, Mark, Alan, Tom

Mayor Patterson and Councilmembers:

I watched portions of last night’s council meeting on line and I watched the entire discussion surrounding the motion that was adopted.

I have attended hundreds of city council meetings. Your preparation, civility and thoughtful crafting of a compromise was a model of good government.

Our family thanks you. Air quality and economic stability are important to all of us. Our middle son is the special education coordinator at Robert Semple Elementary School. He had to be rushed to the hospital the day of the flare-up in May 2017. He did not know whether he was having a cardiac or pulmonary emergency. He had never experienced anything similar.

Evacuation planning and air quality monitoring are both critical. We strongly support local, state and federal oversight. In my past career as a city attorney, I routinely observed that local government is the most responsive and accountable.

Our son has been cleared to donate his kidney to another Benicia teacher on December 17, 2018, at the UC Davis Hospital. Upon his return to work, we worry that he might be exposed to another major air quality event or cumulative harm. Everyone assures us that his health will be normal after the kidney transplant. We would like all foreseeable risks to be minimized.

Your ongoing efforts to promote maximum transparency and protections that are fair and reasonable are much appreciated. We urge the city to impose local regulations, if it is not possible to reach compromises in six months.

Thank you for your service and dedication.

Air monitors, Air pollution, Benicia City Council, Industrial Safety Ordinance (ISO), Valero Benicia Refinery

Mayor Patterson: Air monitors and public health – Council agenda for Tuesday

November 19, 2018 Roger Straw

From an E-Alert by Benicia Mayor Elizabeth Patterson

Much more than fence-line air monitors…

Monday, November 19, 2018

Elizabeth Patterson, Benicia Mayor 2007 - present — Elizabeth Patterson, Benicia Mayor 2007 – present

The regular council meeting will be at 7:00 and the agenda and staff reports and recommendations are online here.

The main item of interest is the “report” to Council about progress on installation of air monitors by Valero. The report came about because of the request by the Industrial Safety Ordinance working group – a citizens’ steering committee which researched and developed a draft Industrial Safety Ordinance in response to the near catastrophic melt down of Valero Refinery in May of 2017 and subsequent plumes of black smoke.

The request to the city council was – and is – to have an outside subject matter expert with legal skills to review the proposed ISO and determine its legal sufficiency and report to the council. For some reason staff does not make this clear but rather states that it is a vote up or down on the ordinance. This is incorrect.

The request to have an expert opinion report on the need, adequacy and value of the Industrial Safety Ordinance is meant to have a neutral party report to council. I made a request for considering the ordinance in May of 2017 and soon realized that this would not be addressed quickly. Therefore, I advised the Benicians for Safe and Healthy Community and thus they took the initiative to research, interview, have an expert panel discussion and draft the ordinance. Naturally, this was done to expedite the process. The small step of seeking outside advice on the draft Ordinance was voted down by the council majority.

A couple of common objections to the Industrial Safety Ordinance are:

An ISO is not necessary now that the state has adopted many of the Contra Costa County ISO regulations. It should be noted that none of the cities or county have rescinded their ordinance because they still find it meets specific needs and is subject to better reporting to local government.
Now that the fence-line monitors are in place there is no need for the ISO because the county’s Program 4 suffices. Actually this is a requirement of the state to coordinate state and local regulations and is incorporated by reference into the draft ISO. The county does not have regulatory authority, but rather coordinates. For instance, the county reports on inspections and status of required reports. The coordination with local government to date has been a booth at the 2018 Peddlers’s Fair. CalEPA requires a full public participation program for the community air monitor(s) to be implemented. Neither the community air monitor nor the public participation program has been done.

In short the proposed Industrial Safety Ordinance is much more than fence-line monitors at the refinery or portable emergency air monitors. It is providing a seat at the table participating with the county and state regulators and the regulated industries. It is a guarantee to get reports and posting them on city website rather than chasing down reports at the county or state and often with broken links. It is a fee structure to pay for continuous staff level of engagement rather than driven by budget constraints. It is memorializing our affirmative duty to protect public health. It establishes a collaborative relationship with regulators and the regulated refinery and not a co-dependent relationship.