How Wildfires Impact the Environment, Public Health, and the Economy...

Last week, I had the honor and privilege of co-presenting economic research at the Capital Region Climate Readiness Collaborative (CRC) and the Cleaner Air Partnership (CAP) workshop “Building Regional Resilience: How Wildfires Impact the Environment, Public Health, and the Economy.” Speaking alongside leaders from Yuba Water Agency and Sutter Roseville Medical Center, the workshop session I lead spotlighted how the spillover effects of wildfires ripple through regional (and state and national) economies. 

If you really want to geek out and look at my presentation slides, they are posted online and start on slide 42 here.

It was inspiring to see over 80 stakeholders—nonprofit, municipal, healthcare, business, and philanthropic partners—come together to elevate wildfire readiness and invest in a stronger regional economy. I’m excited to continue working the Sacramento Association of REALTORS® along with CRC and CAP, translating this economic evidence into policies that help our Sacramento region proactively work to mitigate wildfire strikes.

California Proposition 19, and why I am voting YES...

Several colleagues, friends, and clients have asked me recently about a few of the propositions that will be on the ballot for this upcoming election. I guess with my 15-year tenure as a realtor and a graduate degree in public policy they must think I know what I am talking about. Ballots are going out in the mail this week, so I thought it would be timely to post a little information for those who are interested. Today I will explain is Proposition 19, the "The Home Protection for Seniors, Severely Disabled, Families, and Victims of Wildfire and Natural Disasters Act". 

Proposition 19 is on the ballot as a result of a California State Assembly Constitutional Amendment - ACA11 (Mullin), which passed through the legislature with bipartisan support this summer. The proposition has a few main components. 

(1) It expands existing law (previously, Proposition 60 and Proposition 90) to allow seniors, the victims of wildfires, and severely disabled, to transfer their existing property tax base up to 3 times, anywhere in the state, and to a property of higher or lower value. Currently seniors can transfer their property tax base, but they have to stay within the same county AND buy a home of lesser value than the home they ultimately sell. Often these individuals need to move to another county to be closer to family where it is not possible to buy a lesser priced home. For example, if you want to sell a home in Sacramento but want to buy in Alameda where homes generally more expensive you may have a difficult time buying a lesser priced home. If they buy a higher priced home, they would be able to pay a new blended rate based on the difference between the home they sell and the home they buy. Currently people who lose homes in wildfires do not have the option to transfer their existing tax base for the home they lost to a replacement property. And often disabled people need to sell and purchase different homes that can better accommodate their disabilities. 

As a realtor, I encounter situations all the time where people decide to stay in homes they can not maintain or that are too large now that the kids are gone, and they do so just because they cannot afford a higher property tax bill. For example, I have an elderly client whose adult kids have moved away, her husband died, and she can't afford to downsize from her 4 bedroom home into a condo near her kids because on a fixed income she cannot afford the increase in property tax. This would allow people in these types of situations to sell and right-size their living situation with no tax penalty. And with the number of homes lost recently to wildfires, it will allow those who are wildfire victims and never intended to move to not suffer a tax penalty as well. And to allow disabled persons to buy homes that better accommodate their disability is a no-brainer. 

(2) The second component is that it reforms the inheritance tax exclusion. Existing law (previously, Proposition 58 and Proposition 193) allows parents and grandparents to leave their children and grandchildren residential properties and transfer the low property tax base. It also allows property tax base transfer of commercial and other investment property with assessed value up to $1M. Proposition 19 would allow tax base transfer of inherited properties with assessed value up to $1M to family members who will OWNER OCCUPY the home. It also eliminates tax base transfer of inherited commercial and investment property. 

A couple of years ago a LA Times article brought to light that actors Jeff and Beau Bridges inherited a Malibu beach-front property valued at like $20M with a tax base of a few hundred thousand. They use the property as an income-producing a vacation rental and rake in the profit while paying relatively little property tax. This "focusing event" prompted the California Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) to study this issue of the Inheritance Tax Exclusion. The LAO report noted that MANY people who inherit properties benefit from keeping a low tax base and use the properties for income and profit substantially from this low property tax. The LAO recommended the the legislature look into this, as the original intent of Propositions 58 and 193 was to pass this tax base along to relatives who were going to live in their parents' and grandparents' properties. As a result, there was actually a proposed California Senate Constitutional Amendment (SCA3 Hill) that passed through several committees before Hill pulled it knowing it's provisions would be included with another proposal. 

(3) As there will be additional property tax revenues generated as a result of these changes to property tax assessment transfers, Proposition 19 increases revenues to local governments, and for part of the additional revenues establishes the California Fire Response Fund to specifically fund firefighting efforts.

As it stands, there is a broad and bipartisan coalition of support from MANY groups who don't often see eye-to-eye on things. You do not frequently see Senior and Disability Organizations, Fire and Public Safety Advocates, Labor Organizations, Community Advocates, Education Advocates, Political Organizations, and Business and Trade Organizations support the same initiative.

So with that, I am an enthusiastic YES vote on Proposition 19. Proposition 19 addresses several problems and inequities I see frequently while funding additional support to fight California's wildfires, and providing funding local governments and schools.

Graduated with my Master's Degree in Public Policy and Administration!!!

I have a list of goals. Small goals, big goals, and BIG goals. And about 5 years ago, I set a BIG goal for myself. I decided to work toward a Master's Degree in Public Policy and Administration (MPPA).

Why? My friends and family all asked me this. I did not have a clear answer other than the fact I had a deep interest in housing policy issues thanks to my involvement in the Sacramento and California Associations of Realtors, and I felt I wanted to deepen my understanding of policy analysis. [Analysis and advocacy are two very different things.] And to answer the question everyone seemed to ask: NO, I AM NOT changing careers. I continue to be a full-time, top-producing Sacramento real estate broker. I am perhaps just a smarter, geekier realtor now.

I earned my Bachelor's Degree in Spanish with a minor in Ethnic Studies back in 2001 -- a far cry from the study of Public Policy and Administration. Before I could even apply to the MPPA program, I had to enroll in prerequisite coursework in Economics, Government, and Statistics. So in the spring semester of 2014 I enrolled at American River College and for the next three semesters knocked out those classes. I applied for the MPPA program and was accepted, and in the fall semester of 2015 started the MPPA program at California State University Sacramento. 

Initially I felt like a fish out of water - generally I was a bit older than most of the other students in the program, and most of the other students worked for public agencies, in legislative offices, or were lobbyists. Thankfully, they all were my nerdy kindred spirits and we all had a love for policy. I fit right in.

Not only did I fit right in, but as it turns out, I really excelled in my coursework. I took classes in applied economic analysis, public administration, quantitative analysis, urban policy, research methods and more. I wrote papers on all sorts of nerdy policy topics ranging from homelessness, the supply and demand of labor markets, short-term rentals and the sharing economy, organizational performance metrics, homeownership rates, and determinants of home value. I wrote my thesis on the positive and negative spillover effects associated with the growth in numbers of Homeowners Associations in Sacramento County. It was a lot of hard work and I loved every minute of it. 

I liked it so much that I got involved in the Graduate Association of Students in Public Policy and Administration (GASPPA) and served as Treasurer for 2017-2018. The Faculty asked me to sit on the hiring committee for a new faculty member, which was a really interesting experience. My professors encouraged me to submit my research on Homeowners Associations to different student research symposiums, and I ended up presenting my research in three separate events, which was really awesome. 

And the craziest part...I had the highest GPA in my program at 3.97 (darn that one A-). The faculty of my department selected me for the 2018 Cristy Jensen Award, named for the founder of the MPPA program. And last but not least, the Dean of the College of Social Science and Interdisciplinary Studies named me Graduate Student of the Year for 2018 for the SSIS Department. And I graduated "with Distinction". 

So May 18, 2018 I walked across the stage at the Golden 1 Arena. What a ride! I can't say enough great things about the program, faculty, and my fellow students. It was a lot of work, and during my 1.5 years of prerequisites and 3 years in the MPPA program I managed to do all that and remain a top producing Realtor. In fact if anything I just got busier while I was in graduate school.

So now what? Well I am maybe the nerdiest Realtor in Sacramento. And being done with school, I have more time on my hands for something - I guess my next BIG goal, whatever that turns out to be.