The Social Justice PolitiCast

This week Gabe is joined by long-time Sac resident and community member, Elaine, to help us break down the items we have flagged for the week. Starting with Sac City Council on Tuesday, May 19 at 2pm and 5pm. Sac Board of Supervisors meeting happening on Tuesday as well, at 9:30am. 
We also have a special meeting happening this week on Wednesday at 2pm between the City and County. They're getting the band back together y'all! 
Check out our Running Agenda Tracker for the listed items, and linked agendas. 
If you would like to join as on the cast as a co-host fill out the interest form.
 
 

Today Sky & Gabe are back to run through what’s happening at the City this week (mostly budget related), as well as flagging some Sheriff shenanigans on the County side.
Here’s a CBS article on the fee increases suggested by City management to close the budget gap.
Law & Legislation Committee, Tuesday, May 12, 11am
Item 5: Updates on Current City Councilmember Proposals That Have Been Heard Before the Law and Legislation Committee
 
Sacramento City Council, Tuesday, May 12, 2:00pm
Item 18: Update on Application of Budget Equity Tool (BET) on the Community Development Department (CDD) and the Finance Department Budget Reductions
Item 19: 2026-2031 Capital Improvement Program
 
Sacramento City Council, Tuesday, May 12, 5:00pm
Item 1: Fiscal Year 2026/27 Proposed Budget Deliberation and Council Direction
 
Sacramento County Board of Supervisors, Tuesday, May 12, 9:30am
Item 37: Authorization To Execute A Retroactive Memorandum Of Understanding For Participation In The Sacramento-San Francisco Homeland Security Task Force With The Affiliated Agencies And To Execute A Retroactive Revenue Agreement For Lease And Operational Expenses Memorandum Of Agreement Up To The Amount Of $500,000 For The Period Of October 1, 2025 Through September 30, 2026 (Sheriff)
Item 40: Record Purge Of Documents Related To Employees Separated From Service For Seven Or More Years From The Sheriff Personnel Document Classes Stored In FileNet (Sheriff)
 
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Today Gabe gives us the recap on the ICE resolution item from City Council from last week, and then he and Sky dive into what’s coming up at the City & County tomorrow.
Budget & Audit Committee, 11am
Item 4: Measure U Community Advisory Commission Fiscal Year 2026/27 Budget Priorities and Recommendations
Item 5: Fiscal Year 2026/27 Citywide Fees and Charges
Item 6: Audit of the Sacramento Police Department Evidence and Property Section
 
City Council, 2pm:
 
Item 3: United Way California Capital Region for the Sacramento Children’s Fund Guaranteed Basic Income for Transitional Age Foster Youth Program
Item 10: Resolution of Intention to Renew the Oak Park Property and Business Improvement District
 
City Council, 5pm:
 
Item 1: Fiscal Year 2026/27 Proposed Budget Overview
 
County Sheriff Community Review Commission, 6pm:
 
Item 3: Discussion Of Sheriff’s Office Use Of Automated License Plate Recognition (ALPR)
 
Here’s an email template created to help with public comment on the ALPR item. 
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Today Gabe is joined by Moiz from the Asian American Liberation Network to discuss item 29 on the Sacramento City Council Agenda for their 2pm meeting on Tuesday, April 28th. The toolkit can be found here. We're asking people to show up and make public comment, and demand an ordinance from the city that actually protects not only our immigrant neighbors, but all of us who know the overreach of law enforcement and the harm is causes. 
 
Follow AALN on IG 
Check our running agenda tracker for the other items we've flagged for the week. 

Today Sky is joined by Varun Arora from House Sacramento to talk about the Missing Middle update item on tomorrow’s 5pm City Council agenda. What is densification? What are the changes being proposed? Why are some housing advocates still wary of tomorrow’s discussion? Varun gives us the scoop.
House Sacramento Substack - An update on Missing Middle Housing
Also! Our friends at Strong Sactown are hosting a pre-meeting power hour before the meeting tomorrow. 4pm at Immortal cafe. Register here.
No County Meetings tomorrow, but here are our flags for both the 2pm and 5pm City Council meetings:
2pm:
Item 9: Establishing the Rental Housing Inspection Program (RHIP) Reserve Project and Policy
Item 13: City Motel Shelter Program Support Services with Step Up on Second Street, Inc.
Item 18: Successor Labor Agreements/Memoranda of Understanding; and the Citywide Salary Schedule
5pm:
Item 3: General Plan and Zoning Consistency: Missing Middle Housing (MMH) and Senate Bill (SB) 79 Workshop
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No City Council this week, so Gabe and Sky walk you through some upcoming opportunities for public engagement: 
Wednesday, April 22 (Earth Day), 1pm @ the Capitol West Steps - Rally at the Capitol for a CA State Public Bank Campaign Launch and Press Conference
Thursday, April 23, 5pm via Zoom - Sacramento County Jail System Planning Update & Community Input Webinar
Then we point out a couple of things that may be worth noting on the County BoS agenda for tomorrow:
Item 28: Authorization To Execute A Memorandum Of Understanding With The United States Capitol Police For Law Enforcement Services Support Within Sacramento County (Sheriff)
Item 30: Authorization To Execute Memorandums Of Understanding Between The Sacramento Sheriff’s Office And Various Law Enforcement Agencies For Participation With The Central California Intelligence Center Embedded Analyst
Item 40: Semi-Annual Homelessness Report
Item 41: Homeless And Housing System Partnership Model Update And Select Two Members To The Sacramento Homeless And Housing Board (Homeless Services and Housing)
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Today we’re joined by Ember Ward, to fill us in on the work they’re doing with the Sacramento Rise Hub. The Rise Hub is a network of various services and resources for immigrant communities. Their mission is to connect at-risk individuals, their families, and communities with essential community systems such as legal services, schools, labor unions, and local governments.
For more info, check them out at www.sacrisehub.org 
There are no meetings this week! Enjoy the break!
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Today Gabe is joined by former D4 City Councilmember, Katie Valenzuela, to discuss public banking related to item 17 on Tuesday's 2pm City Council Meeting. The toolkit for those looking to make public comment can be found here. 
 
Check our Running Agenda Tracker for all the details on the flagged items for this week. 

Audio alert - this episode we experimented with an in-person version of the show, and something went wrong with Skyler’s mic. Please give us a little grace in the audio department on this ep.
This week Skyler is joined by Jeff Kessler, who works with Vacancy Fee Sacramento. Jeff’s org works towards pushing the CIty to use fees and potentially a vacancy tax to promote development & stabilize lease prices, addressing blight and economic justice in one fell swoop. Vacancy taxes & fees are both being discussed at tomorrow’s Law & Legislation meeting at 11am, so this is a great primer for that discussion, which is on our “attend and advocate” recommendations this week.
Follow Vacancy Fee Sacramento on Instagram!
Here’s what’s coming up tomorrow at City Hall:
Law & Legislation, Tuesday, March 17, 11am
 
Item 5: Status Update on Prior Vacant Property Tax Exploration (LR25-004)
Item 6: Discussion of an Enhanced Vacant Lot and Vacant Building Monitoring and Enforcement Program
 
City Council, Tuesday, March 17, 2pm
 
Item 14: Early Budget Work Session - Budget Context and City Department Reports on Departmental Budgets, Reduction Strategies, and Potential Impacts (Youth, Parks, and Community Enrichment, Community Development Department, Finance Department, Human Resources, Information Technology, Department of Utilities, and Public Works Department)
 
City Council, Tuesday, March 17, 5pm
 
Item 2: Vision Zero Action Plan Update High Injury Network (HIN) Development
Other meetings happening this week at the County that are not addressed in the episode but worth watching nonetheless:
Sheriff Community Review Commission
Sacramento County Behavioral Health Commission General Meeting
Public comment from the budget item last Tuesday
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Today, Gabe and Keyan give us an overview of last week’s happenings at City Council, and then dive into a discussion about the Sacramento Police budget, why it’s so high, why they usually seem to get what they want, and what we can expect during the budget workshop on Tuesday. 
Here’s what’s coming up tomorrow at City Hall:
City Council, Tuesday, March 10, 2pm
Item 16: Early Budget Work Session - Budget Context and City Department Reports on Departmental Budgets, Reduction Strategies, and Potential Impacts (City Manager’s Office/Office of Innovation and Economic Development, Convention and Cultural Services, Department of Community Response, Fire Department, Police Department)
Other meetings happening this week that did not raise any flags for us include:
Sacramento Community Police Review Commission, Monday, March 9, 5:30pm
Budget & Audit Committee, Tuesday March 10, 11am
Sacramento County Board of Supervisors, Tuesday, March 10, 9:30am
Some light reading, for context:
Sacramento City Council Considers Cutting Police Positions
Sacramento Politician Urges Citizens to Block Homeless Housing by Suing
Stay up to date with what your local government is doing in Sacramento!
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Keep an eye on the running agenda tracker
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