Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 1193 into law on Aug. 27, enacting new regulations for Alameda County’s discretionary spending. The legislation was authored by Aisha Wahab, who is completing the remaining congressional term of former Rep. Eric Swalwell. Wahab stated that the bill creates an open and transparent process to strengthen public confidence in how taxpayer funds are used.
The new law requires that discretionary funding requests from individual supervisors be listed as discussion items on regular meeting agendas rather than included in the consent calendar. It also mandates a majority board vote and a staff report outlining the purpose of these requests.
Additionally, the bill prohibits supervisors seeking reelection from placing discretionary funding items for their own district on the agenda within 90 days of an election. This restriction does not apply to grants benefiting the entire county or other districts, nor does it prevent supervisors from voting on items proposed by colleagues.
District 1 Supervisor David Haubert told the Bay Area News Group that the Board of Supervisors will hold a closed session to discuss potential legal recourse regarding the new law. As of Wednesday morning, Haubert, District 4 Supervisor Nate Miley, and Wahab’s office had not responded to requests for comment from the Pleasanton Weekly. The bill applies exclusively to Alameda County.
The 90-day pre-election prohibition is not applicable to the current election cycle because the law takes effect on Jan. 1, which is after the June primary in which District 2 Supervisor Elisa Marquez and District 3 Supervisor Lena Tam were reelected.
Had the bill been in effect during the recent primary, it could have restricted nearly $150,000 in funding from Tam’s office and nearly $60,000 from Marquez’s office. These figures represent a small portion of their total discretionary spending, according to data analysis from the SF Chronicle.
