City of Lemoore/$136,469; EECBG (5/2010)

City of Lemoore/$200,000; AB 118 Alternative Fuel/CNG Station (5/2010)

City of Reedley/$480,000; AB 118 Transportation Yard (5/2010)

City of Taft/$300,000; CDBG Enterprise Fund (5/2010)

Gonzales Unified School District/$4,000; IFT Mini-Grant for 2010-11 School Year (5/2010)

City of Delano/$379,650
Southern California Edison Local Government Strategic Plan (5/2010)
City of Reedley/$10,000
General Mills Foundation/Champions grant/Learning Healthy Habits (6/2010)
 
This makes a total of 218 grant applications written by California Consulting and approved/funded.
 
 
Grants Currently in Progress
 
California Consulting's grant writers are currently working on the following applications for our clients:
 
AFG
Safe Routes to Schools
Nature Education
Stewardship Council
Law Enforcement Equipment Procurement
USDA CF
Cal Home
CDBG
Promising Neighborhoods
TIGER
CDBG OTC
COPS Secure our Schools
COPS Technology
Green Job Training
Walmart Foundation
JAG
USDA Rural Dev. Housing Rehab
COPS Hiring
Hearst Foundation
Fender Music Grant
PG&E for Schools
Ag CTE
Wellness Foundation
Baseball Tomorrow
Soccer Foundation
Motorola Foundation
Community Oriented Policing
 
Continuing Education

  
Sundy Sosavanh, Project Manager at California Consulting, has completed the grant writing course, Get Grants! at the Fresno City College Technical Institute. Sundy is looking forward to using her newly attained knowledge and skills in grant writing. She will be a certified grant writer when she completes the Granting Writing and Management Program through CSU, Fresno in the fall of this year. 
 
 
Lobbying Update
 

*Meeting with CTC Commissioner Assemi:  California Consulting arranged for a meeting between Kern COG and CTC Commissioner Darius Assemi in Fresno. Steve attended this meeting along with Kern COG and City of Bakersfield representatives.  We have also had several follow up conversations with Mr. Assemi regarding he Kern COG issues.

 

*California Consulting also arranged for a conference call with California Transportation Commission Executive Director Bimla Rhinehart and Kern COG. Participants on the call included Mrs. Rhinehart, Kern COG Executive Director Brummet, Steve Samuelian, and District 6 Cal-TRANS Director Malcolm Dougherty.  California Consulting has followed up with the CTC regarding the issues discussed on the conference call.

 

*Capitol Meetings: Steve continues to meet regularly with the key leaders in Sacramento regarding transportation, air quality, and other issues important to Kern COG.  His meetings have included CTC, Cal-TRANS, Senate Transportation and Housing Committee staff, several Valley State Legislative Offices, ARB, Cal-EPA, the Governor's Office, and others.

 

*CMIA bond savings and Highway 99 bond savings:  California Consulting has been actively engaged in both of these important issues. We have held several meetings with CTC staff, Commissioner Assemi, and Cal-TRANS District 6 Director and staff at District 6 headquarters as well as at Cal-TRANS headquarters in Sacramento. California Consulting has also sent out numerous e-mail updates regarding the CMIA bond savings and Highway 99 bond savings issues including the latest most recent available information.

 

*Enterprise Zone:  California Consulting has been advocating aggressively for the preservation of the $400 million funding for Enterprise Zones statewide. We have held conference calls and meetings with policymakers, Committee staff, and others urging the Legislature to preserve this important funding.  On April 20, 2010 California Consulting lobbyist Juan Garza, II testified at the Assembly Jobs and Economic Development Committee hearing in support of EZ funding. We have secured letters of support for the EZ program from Senators Florez and Cogdill as well as Assemblymembers Arambula, Caballero, Gilmore and Villines.  Assemblywoman Fuller has also agreed to send a letter of support. As well, California Consulting has drafted sample resolutions for city councils and boards of supervisors to pass in support of EZ funding. To date, more than 15 cities, the California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley, Chambers of Commerce, EDC's, and others have passed resolutions and/or sent letters of support. Attached is the latest update regarding EZ activities in Sacramento. 

 

Highway 99 Bond Update
 
Many of you have asked about the savings captured from the Highway 99 bond and how it will be distributed. California Consulting previously sent out the Cal-TRANS rankings and tiers for the 7 projects currently under consideration for funding. This information is an update on the status of the Highway 99 bond savings program.

Cal-TRANS is estimating approximately $158 million in savings currently available.

Cal-TRANS has proposed four projects for possible funding with the anticipated savings.

These four projects are a subset of a short list of 7 projects under consideration.

The goal is to reach consensus among the 8 San Joaquin Valley COG Directors and go to CTC with Cal-TRANS and the COG Directors on the same page.

The COG Directors met on Friday, May 14 and met again on Wednesday, May 26 to continue the conversation about this important issue.  Another meeting of the COG Directors is planned for June.

Currently the 99 bond guidelines call for projects to be awarded by December 2012.  There is discussion about whether or not the COG Directors should consider asking the CTC to change that deadline to December 2013 to allow for more time to deliver new projects. The additional time would also allow for schedules that could be committed to with reasonable risk and additional accountability.

The four projects that Cal-TRANS is considering recommending for funding are:
1. A widening project in Tulare County from 4 to 6 lanes from south of 198 to Goshen.
2. and 3.   Two widening projects in Kern County to 8 lanes, one south of Bakersfield and one north of Bakersfield.
4. An interchange improvement project at 219 and 99 in Stanislaus County.

EZ
 
California Consulting recently held a conference call with Salinas Valley area Enterprise Zone stakeholders.  We have been actively engaged in the EZ issue for several months meeting with Legislators, Staff, Committee Staff, testifying at a hearing, etc.   There have been numerous new developments over the last few days relative to the EZ program.  We have summarized the latest developments as follows:

AB 2476:  This bill is the vehicle for "consensus" changes to the EZ program.  Mr. Perez has done an excellent job as has the Jobs and Economic Development staff developing proposed changes to the EZ program. The bill passed the Committee on April 20 and California Consulting testified in support of the bill on behalf of many of our clients. Discussions and negotiations are ongoing with stakeholders. The discussions are centering around proposed changes to the EZ program but does NOT include any discussion of eliminating or reducing EZ funding.  Some proposed changes include a new tax credit for businesses that are doing "substantial rehabilitation" and for businesses that are investing in facilities.  There may also be some alterations to existing tax credits.

Unfortunately AB 2476 was sent to the Assembly Appropriations "suspense" file.  In order to pass the bill needs to be removed from the "suspense" file at the Assembly Appropriations Committee hearing on May 27.  An overwhelming majority of bills that are sent to "suspense" never get removed from the file and are therefore dead.  We need to ensure that AB 2476 passes Assembly Appropriations Committee.

ACTION:
We need cities, counties, and others to send letters to the Assembly Appropriations Committee asking them to remove AB 2475 from the suspense file at their May 27 hearing and vote to pass it out of Committee. California Consulting will be sending out a sample letter as well as contact information for the Committee very shortly.

SB 974: Below is a letter from the Salinas Valley EZ leadership opposing SB 974.  SB 974 seeks to make substantial changes to the EZ program. Please see the below letter.

ACTION:
California Consulting will be arranging for meetings and conference calls with Senate President Pro-Tem Steinberg to discuss SB 974 and seek amendments. Letters similar to the Salinas Valley letter are welcome at this time.

PRESERVING EZ FUNDING IN THE BUDGET:
Unfortunately, yesterday at an Assembly Budget Committee meeting the LAO representative testified and recommended elimination of funding for the $400 million Enterprise Zone program.

As the budget discussions begin in earnest after the Governor's upcoming May revise this will be a time for us to actively and strongly advocate for preservation of EZ funding in the budget.

ACTION:
Many of you and your cities/counties have passed resolutions supporting EZ funding. If you have not already done so, please pass a resolution supporting EZ funding and send it to the Senate and Assembly Budget Committees.  As well, if you have already passed a resolution or sent a letter please send a copy of your resolution to the Senate and Assembly Budget Committees. 
 
 
New Clients - Two New Cities
 
We are pleased to welcome the City of Newman (Stanislaus County) and Sand City (Monterey County) to our growing list of clients.  We proudly welcome these two new cities to our growing list of clients.
 
 
California Consulting Adds New Grant Writer
 
Valerie Murray is a graduate of University of Phoenix, with a B.S. in Criminal Justice Administration. She will continue her education, pursuing a Master's in Social Work while attending California State University, Fresno.
 
Valerie is a grant writer at California Consulting, having joined the team in June, 2010. She has experience in law enforcement, following a career with the Fresno County Sheriff's Department. Prior to that Valerie traveled the West Coast as a Training and Production Manager for Garden Fresh Restaurant Corporation, with an emphasis on Compliance and Human Resources.
 
Valerie is active in her community, participating in her Neighborhood Watch Committee and volunteering at her children's schools as often as possible. Valerie also volunteers periodically at the Fresno County Social Services Department.
 
California Consulting owner, Steve Samuelian, announced the addition by commenting, "We are pleased to add Valerie to our growing team at California Consulting.  Her background in law enforcement will give the company added experience with the grants we write for police departments all over California."