CALCOG POLICY DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
CALCOG policies on legislation and state and federal regulatory activity is generally set forth in the CALCOG Action Plan, which is to be adopted annually at the Fall meeting of CALCOG Delegates. The Fall meeting of CALCOG Delegates takes place in November in conjunction with the California State Association of Counties annual meeting.
The Action Plan describes our Policies and Positions and highlights priority actions for each year. The process for development of the Action Plan begins with the suggestion of new issues and revised positions on existing issues at the July meeting of the COG Directors Association of California and the Western COG Conference attended by CALCOG Delegates in July or August.
Following these meetings, a draft is prepared for discussion at the COG Directors Association meeting in September. Following that discussion, a revised draft is prepared and sent out to all CALCOG members, which will have at least 30 days to review and comment on it. After this review and comment period, a final draft intended for adoption by CALCOG Delegates is prepared and sent out at least two weeks prior to the CALCOG Delegates meeting in November.
CALCOG ACTION ON LEGISLATION AND POLICY ISSUES THAT ARISE AFTER THE ACTION PLAN HAS BEEN ADOPTED
New policies and new issues for CALCOG that arise during the year and are not incorporated in the adopted Action Plan should, as a general rule, be discussed at two COG Directors meetings before they are presented to CALCOG Delegates for action.
If the issue is a reaction to a piece of legislation introduced, that is necessary for CALCOG to take a position on without following this process, CALCOG staff should send the legislation with an indication of this sense of urgency and the timing involved to each CALCOG member letting them know of the time that comments are needed and providing as much time as possible before CALCOG Delegate (or in some cases CALCOG Executive Committee) action takes place.
CALCOG EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE DECISIONS
CALCOG Delegates meet three times a year to take action on CALCOG legislation or policies. These are the Regional Issues Forum held annually in April in Monterey, the Western COG Conference held at a Western state (not necessarily California, but somewhere in the Western United States) in July or August, and the Fall Delegates Meetings, referenced above, held in October of odd numbered years in conjunction with the League of California Cities Conference (usually Northern California) and in November of even numbered years in conjunction with the California State Association of Counties Conference (usually in Southern California) in November.
Following each COG Directors Association of California meeting, there is a conference call held among CALCOG's officers, the present, the immediate past president and two vice-presidents, together with the officers of the COG Directors Association (who are non-voting members of the Executive Committee) to review the discussion that took place at the COG Directors Association meeting and to vote on any actions that must be taken by CALCOG in an expeditious manner and that cannot wait until the next CALCOG Delegates meeting.
VOTING PROCEDURES
CALCOG Bylaws provide that each Council of Governments gets one vote for each $1,000 paid in CALCOG dues. However, it requires that they have a delegate attending the meeting for each vote they intend to exercise. This is impractical and it is recommended that CALCOG Bylaws be amended to provide that there would be a weighted vote based on each $1,000 of dues paid, but that there be one voting delegate who exercises the vote on behalf of each CALCOG member.
An alternative approach to revising voting structure would be to have one vote for every $10,000 paid in dues and continue the requirement that an agency must have a person present for each vote it intends to exercise.
In addition, it has been adopted CALCOG policy that CALCOG would generally not take a position on issues which pit one geographic area of the state against another unless both areas concur in the position. If such a piece of legislation or other policy is proposed, it shall automatically be deferred for action until there have been at least two COG Directors meetings and a CALCOG Delegates meeting with notice to the potentially adverse affected agency, where it is the desire of other agencies to take a position notwithstanding the divisive nature of the proposal.