As legislators return to Sacramento next week to wrap up the 2017 session, the Chamber will continue to support bills that will advance our state and oppose bills that would be a step backward. We will support legislation that encourages more desperately needed housing and we will oppose bills that would do great damage to our state like AB 1250 (Jones-Sawyer).
AB 1250, which was initiated by S.E.I.U., the union that represents many County employees, would drastically discourage and limit the opportunities for county governments to contract out for municipal services with private and/or non-profit providers. By establishing unnecessary hurdles and regulations, AB 1250 would interrupt existing services, delay the awarding of new contracts, create red tape, increase costs and hinder the ability of local governments to provide essential services. It would also require local businesses and community organizations to disclose personal information about employees, which would create significant privacy concerns.
Vital County services are currently being provided by a wide variety of L.A. area businesses that have specialized expertise and the ability to perform with greater cost-effectiveness. AB 1250 would make it prohibitively costly for local governments to contract with private vendors, thereby cutting out local businesses. Numerous long-standing, public-private partnerships would be endangered, and county governments would be forced to hire more employees and pay for costly reassignments and retraining.
L.A. County’s most vulnerable populations would be especially negatively impacted by AB 1250. Thousands of County contracts that address homelessness, health and human services, mental health, children’s services, workforce development, public safety, and criminal justice programs would be in jeopardy. As just one example, many of the current contracts that provide services to nearly 35,000 foster children under the care of L.A. County would be prohibited under AB 1250.
When AB 1250 was originally introduced, it applied to cities and counties. After an outpouring of protests from city officials throughout the state, the bill was amended to apply to counties only. AB 1250 was a bad idea for cities and it is a bad idea for counties. It is unanimously opposed by the L.A. County Board of Supervisors. I urge you to convey this message to your state senator.