Advocating A Transformative Policy Agenda
The Bay Area Council Government Relations Committee is the advocacy arm of the Council. Our job is to support the work of the policy committees and ensure that the positions we take as an organization are voiced at the local, state and federal levels.
Work with state and federal legislators to influence policy to improve the business climate and quality of life in the Bay Area.
The Bay Area Council Executive Committee approved positions on various state, regional and local ballot measures and propositions appearing on the November 2018 ballot. The Government Relations Committee advises the Council's Executive Committee on relevant ballot initiatives. For any measure not listed here, the Council has no position.
Proposition 1: Authorizes $4 billion in bonds for affordable housing programs and veterans' home loans. (Passed)
Proposition 2: Authorizes state to use revenue from Proposition 63 (2004) for $2 billion in bonds for homelessness prevention housing. (Passed)
Proposition 3: Authorizes $8.9 billion in bonds for water-related infrastructure and environmental projects. (Defeated)
Proposition 4: Authorizes $1.5 billion in bonds for children's hospitals. (Passed)
Proposition 5: Amends Proposition 13 to allow homeowners 55 and older to transfer their property tax assessments from their current home to a new home anywhere in California. (Defeated)
Proposition 11: Allow ambulance providers to require workers to remain on-call during breaks paid. (Passed)
Measure A (San Francisco): $425 million in general obligation bonds to repair and seismically retrofit San Francisco's seawall. (Passed)
Measure AA (Marin County): Extends existing voter-approved half-cent sales tax to fund wide range of traffic relief and transportation improvement projects. (Passed)
Measure V (San Jose): $450 million in general obligation bonds with an average levy of 8 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, averaging $26.2 million annual revenue to pay for affordable housing. (Defeated)
Measure T (San Jose): $650 million in general obligation bonds with an average levy of 11 cents per $1000 of assessed value, averaging $34.2 million annual revenue to pay for various disaster preparedness initiatives including police, fire and paramedic facilities, flood protection and bridge retrofitting. (Passed)
Measure AA (Oakland Children's Initiative): Proposed measure would support early childhood education programs and services through $198 annual parcel tax. (Defeated)
Measure W (San Mateo County): Funds wide range of traffic relief and transportation improvement projects over 30 years with half-cent sales tax increase. (Passed)
Proposition 6: Repeals 2017 fuel tax and vehicle fee increases (SB 1) to fund road, bridge and highway repairs and requires public vote on future increases. (Defeated)
Proposition 10: Repeals the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act and allows local governments to enact rent control. (Defeated)
Measure C (San Francisco): Gross receipts tax of between 0.175 percent and 0.69 percent on businesses with receipts over $50 million. The measure is projected by proponents to generate $300 million annually for homeless prevention programs and supportive housing. (Passed)
Measure HH (East Palo Alto): $2.50 per square foot parcel tax on commercial office space over 25,000 square feet, estimated to generate $1.675 million annually dedicated to affordable housing (35 percent) and staff overhead to manage the revenues (15 percent) with the remaining 50 percent discretionary. (Passed)
Measure P (Mountain View): Business license tax of between $8 and $149 per employee, with larger companies paying towards the higher end, estimated to generate $6M annually for the City General Fund. (Passed)
Government Relations Committee Co-Chairs:
Andrew Giacomini, Managing Partner, Hanson Bridgett LLP
Melinda Yee, Managing Director/Corporate, Government & Public Affairs, Western Region, United Airlines
Policy Leads
Cornelious Burke
Senior Director of Government Relations
Matt Regan
Senior Vice President, Public Policy