Notable excerpts:
"The Legislature and Governor have reason to be frustrated
with slow and deliberative LAFCO processes. But these
are local institutions of city, county and special district
members often better attuned to local politics than those
in the State Capitol. Exemptions where the Legislature
gets involved should be few, and in special cases where
the local governing elites are so intransigent or negligent
– or so beholden to entrenched power structures – that
some higher form of political authority is necessary."
Sequoia and Peninsula Healthcare Districts are a case in point. They have rejected Grand Juries and LAFCo recommendations. Enabling legislation to give voters an up-or-down vote on whether the districts should be expanded countywide(with no increase in taxes), or dissolved is needed."
"Jack Hickey, a director of Sequoia Healthcare District in San Mateo County, told the Commission his district funds a food bank that provides services to residents
outside the district – with less than 10 cents per dollar of local taxes returning to district residents.
Mr. Hickey, a long-time board member who campaigns to dissolve the district, said it spent $10 million subsidizing nursing programs that didn’t require the nurses to work inside the district (A June 2013 San Mateo County Grand Jury report issued similar criticisms). During the Commission’s November 2016 advisory meeting on
healthcare districts, a fellow Sequoia board member, as well as the district’s chief executive officer, countered the criticism by citing continued support of voters for district operations and policies."
What the Hoover Commission report failed to mention, was the fact that Art Faro, the "fellow Sequoia board member", received fewer votes than Jack Hickey in the past two elections.
"Help districts address inequities within counties when considering how to measure and improve healthcare outcomes. Many less affluent coastal residents of San Mateo County, for instance, pay property taxes to the county, but do not live within boundaries of the county’s two healthcare districts that receive those taxes. They have no access to tax-subsidized health benefits available to wealthier healthcare district residents."
What the Hoover Commission report failed to mention, was the inequity in school district support. School districts within Sequoia Healthcare District receive over $3,000,000 per year from the district. Those outside the healthcare districts pay the same tax but are denied the benefit.
