County leaders meet with state and federal representatives to form a united front.

Every year, the Monterey County Board of Supervisors convenes alongside state and federal legislators to discuss legislative priorities for the upcoming year – a “let’s get on the same page” kind of meeting. This year’s meeting, held on Friday, Feb. 7, of course carried a different tone than previous years, as noted by several legislators. Still, the meeting was one of a largely united front among representatives, which included State Sen. John Laird, D-Santa Cruz; U.S. Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Carmel Valley; and Assemblymember Dawn Addis, D-Morro Bay.

The big little ask? To continue to defend funding streams from the federal government on critical issues that Monterey County communities rely on. How that will be accomplished, remains a question mark.

“Our real problem is we don’t know yet what the federal government is going to do,” Laird warns. “If they lob $20 billion or $30 billion of cuts at us, everything on that list is going to be less realistic.”

Some priorities on the table were new, such as creating health and safety regulations for battery energy storage system facilities, while most were continuations from prior years.

One uncomfortably familiar policy priority on the list addresses water issues for residents of San Lucas in South County, who have now gone 14 years without water clean enough to drink. This lack of safe drinking water has caused a domino effect, delaying a crucial affordable housing project by nearly 20 years. While a recently awarded $960,000 EPA grant will help make some progress on this front, more funding is needed to ensure reliable drinking water in the long term.

Other listed priorities included reservoir safety projects for flood protection and sustainable water supply, establishing a veterans’ home or VA community living center to serve the county’s 17,500 veterans, and reducing bureaucratic hurdles for FEMA reimbursements.

“Coming into this year, the anxiety in my community and among my residents is so significant when it comes to being able to continue to access basic needs,” County Supervisor Wendy Root Askew said. “It is fundamental to every conversation that I’ve had over the past weeks.”

Of particular significance was the Monterey County statement of values, a set of core principles that interlaced all policy priorities, guiding the perspective of how legislators in the room would respond to incoming actions from the federal government.

“I don’t know that I’ve been to a Board of Supervisors that has a value statement before,” Laird said. “[This] one seems to cover it really nicely, exactly what’s going on now.”

On the list of things that matter most: opposing efforts that unfairly target immigrants, with a focus on protecting data privacy for individuals who have provided personal information to any private or government institution, as well as supporting protections for reproductive freedom, LGBTQ+ rights, marriage equality, climate action and education.

“We’re going to continue to rely on litigation to push back on this administration,” Panetta said. “[But] basically it’s going to come down to you – the resources that you provide at the local level to continue to protect those most vulnerable in our communities.”