Sonoma County leaders eye infrastructure, health care funding in state budget

Sonoma County leaders are eyeing funding allocated in the state’s $308 billion budget for homelessness services, health care programs, schools and infrastructure projects.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the fiscal year 2022-23 budget on June 30, just weeks after the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors approved the county’s $2.14 billion budget for the new fiscal year.

Legislators are highlighting the state’s $200 million investment to enhance reproductive health care and direct refunds up to $1,050 for income tax filers.

“We know Californians are struggling with skyrocketing gas and food costs,” said state Sen. Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg.

The refunds are of note to local households, but the state’s $47 billion for infrastructure, including $14.8 billion for transportation, $2 billion for affordable housing and $550 million for broadband upgrades are of particular interest in government circles, according to Marissa Montenegro, Sonoma County’s legislative and intergovernmental affairs manager.

Supervisor James Gore, the county board’s chair, called the broadband funding a “game changer.”

“Folks who do not have access to broadband are being left behind,” Gore said.

Bringing broadband to the county’s rural areas has become a focal point for the board in recent years. In December 2021, the board committed $3 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding to develop a blueprint to expand broadband access to areas still without it.

During the county’s June budget deliberations, the board created funding reserves for projects meeting criteria under the umbrellas of water, housing and community infrastructure. Gore said the state’s budget can help bolster those commitments.

The state’s allocation of $1.3 billion in retention stipends for health care workers and its $135 million in grant funding over three years to recruit, train and hire health care workers also is on the county’s radar, as is the state’s homelessness package, which provides $10.2 billion over two years, Montenegro said.

The homelessness package includes grants to address unsanctioned encampments, as well as funding for transitional housing and the state’s Homekey program, which allocates local jurisdictions and tribal governments money to repurpose motels for homeless housing and to build new shelter sites.

Rohnert Park broke ground last month on the city’s first homeless housing site — a 60-unit facility to be built using nearly $15 million in funding from the Homekey program.

McGuire, the Senate majority leader, emphasized the state’s plan for education spending, which totals a record $128.6 billion for K-12 schools, with a majority coming from its general fund.

Of particular note to McGuire is the budget’s $7 billion allocation for public schools to address staffing needs, including retention, pay increases and paying down district pension liabilities.

He also pointed to the state’s one-time $1.5 billion Proposition 98 funding for schools to purchase fuel efficient or electric-powered school buses.

“Sonoma County schools will be the biggest winner with this budget,” McGuire said.

Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, and McGuire also secured about $15 million for Santa Rosa Junior College to put toward student housing, which McGuire called a “massive priority.”

“We need to increase the total number to help build student housing in community colleges,” he said. Santa Rosa Junior College’s 352-bed, $60 million housing complex, funded through a public-private partnership, is taking shape alongside Highway 101. It is the largest student housing project on the 104-year-old campus.

Though Newsom signed off on the budget late last month, several items are still left on the table for negotiation in August.

State lawmakers committed $38.8 billion over five years in climate spending, building off the $15 billion climate action package Newsom signed in September 2021.

McGuire said the details of how exactly to spend that money, which totals $53.8 billion, still need to be negotiated. Funding for fire prevention, drought relief and water storage and recycling are among the items on the table that stand to benefit Sonoma County, he added.

McGuire said he expects everything to go through.

Securing funding for improvements to traffic-clogged Highway 37 between Sears Point and Vallejo, also will be on Dodd’s agenda come August negotiations.

“He hopes that will materialize later this summer,” said Paul Payne, a spokesperson for Dodd.

The highway is among the state routes most threatened by sea-level rise caused by global warming.

McGuire said flooding along the highway “is only getting worse.”

“We know that Sonoma County commuters rely on Highway 37 to get to work and to home, each and every day,” he said.

About $20 million is already secured for Highway 37 improvements between Sears Point and Marin County, McGuire said.

Editor’s note: This article has been updated to specify that the Santa Rosa Junior College’s student housing project is funded through a public-private partnership and to clarify that the project is the college’s largest on-campus student housing project.

You can reach Staff Writer Emma Murphy at 707-521-5228 or emma.murphy@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MurphReports.