Kim Stone of Stone Advocacy acknowledged at the Oct. 23 San Benito County Board of Supervisors meeting that she has not secured any new state funding for the county. Her one-year, $8,000-a-month contract ends Jan. 23, 2019.
In her presentation to the board, Stone said State Assemblywoman Anna Caballero had applied for funds for homeless shelter services, but it was too late in the year.
Caballero “really tried to get it in the budget at the last minute, but it’s hard to mess with the budget at the very end of the process,” Stone said. “It’s much easier to do it sooner rather than later.”
Supervisor Mark Medina asked Stone about any other funds she tried to secure, to which Stone replied that they applied for a $2 million-$4 million grant for homeless services. She added that it is important to find money for the county by determining specific projects in advance of the next legislative session that begins in January.
Stone told supervisors she needed direction on what projects were most important for the county before she seeks funding.
“If we’re going to do a budget play we really need to get it in early and it needs to be very concrete, very specific, and ready to go,” Stone said.
The Board of Supervisors selected Stone Advocacy on a 3-2 vote to represent San Benito County in December 2017. As reported by BenitoLink, it was revealed after the vote that Stone had previously worked with Supervisor Robert Rivas’ brother, Rick Rivas, starting in May 2007 at the Civil Justice Association of California (CJAC), an organization that represents big oil, tobacco, and pharmaceutical companies. Supervisor Rivas did not recuse himself from the vote.
Medina voiced his concern for the lack of updates from Stone during a May 8 supervisors session.
During her Oct. 23 presentation, the lobbyist said she spoke on behalf of San Benito County in hearings for the Pacheco Reservoir expansion, which was passed, and for Senate Bill 1 to the Senate Transportation Committee.
For transportation funding, Stone suggested that the county partner with neighboring counties to do regional projects, as it would raise the likelihood of securing funds.
Stone’s presentation centered on data showing the California’s governor’s office being held by Democrats and that the county should expect Gavin Newsom to be elected governor on Nov. 6. (In a poll released Oct. 30, Newsom has a 20-point lead over Republican challenger John Cox.)
Stone highlighted the differences between Gov. Jerry Brown and Newsom in terms of age, education, family, aspirations and professional experience.
She said this matters because “As we figure out what we want to do for the county, and how to make sure that our interests get explained at the governor’s office, we need to take into account for Gavin, assuming that he is the governor, what his interests are [and] how it affects his other donor constituents groups.”
Stone gave the supervisors a list of the recently passed bills that could affect the county, such as Senate Bill 901, which provides additional funding for fire prevention and forest management.
“To the extent that we have agricultural areas or urban forest areas, there may be opportunities to apply for forest management money,” she said.
Another bill that is expected to affect the county is Senate Bill 1343, which requires employers with more than five employees to train employees on sexual harassment prevention, Stone said. Current law requires employers with more than 50 employees to train managers on sexual harassment issues, she added.
Bills that were vetoed by Brown, Stone said, could come back to Newsom, if elected, to be signed into law.
One of those is Senate Bill 1303. Stone said it would require San Benito County to replace the Office of the Coroner or Sheriff/Coroner with a medical examiner, which would be difficult because of expenses and other logistics.
“I fully expect that bill to come back and I don’t think you can count on a veto from Gavin Newsom,” Stone said. “He is going to have different pressures and I suspect a much lower percentage of bills vetoed than Brown [has].”