Youth measure could again appear on City of Sacramento ballot. What would be different?
A ballot measure that would require the city of Sacramento to fund more youth programs will likely appear again on the November ballot.
While the general premise of the ballot measure would be the same as failed initiatives in 2016 and 2020, the details this time will be different.
The new measure would require the city to set aside at least 40% of its cannabis tax revenue on youth programs and services, said Monica Mares of the organization Sac Kids First, which also led the 2020 effort. Currently, the city collects about $23 million, so it would set aside about $9 million for youth, she said.
The failed 2020 measure would have set aside 2.5% of the city’s general fund annually, equaling about $12 million at the time, until 2034. Teenagers collected 38,000 signatures to put that measure on the ballot. This time, the council will consider placing it on the ballot next month, bypassing the need for signatures, Mares said.
Mayor Darrell Steinberg, who last time opposed the measure, proposing a scaled down version, this time is supporting the new measure as written.
“Ask any voter in the city if kids should come first, and they will say yes,” Steinberg said during a press conference Monday at Mack Road Valley Hi Community Center.
If the council rejects putting the measure on the ballot, it is unclear if the group will collect signatures.
“I’m not going to say no and I’m not going to say yes,” Mares said. “I’m pretty confident we will get the votes.”
The idea has long been championed by Councilman Jay Schenirer. He joined Steinberg and Councilwoman Mai Vang Monday at the press conference to support the measure.
“Third time is a charm,” Schenirer said, referring to Measure Y in 2016 and Measure G in 2020. “Let’s go ahead and pass this thing.”
Vang led the press conference, where several young people spoke.
“We cannot be a city for kids if we put them last in our budget,” Vang said. “They’re calling on us, the City Council, to do our part.”
In order to go on the ballot, two additional council members would need to support it, in addition to Steinberg, Vang and Schenirer.
In 2020, council members Angelique Ashby and Jeff Harris vocally opposed the measure due to concerns about its impact on the city budget. Harris frequently speaks against so-called ballot box budgeting that locks the council into certain commitments no matter what the financial situation is down the road.
The coronavirus pandemic, which struck about a week after the 2020 measure failed, could also help the new measure pass, Mares said. With in-person learning suspended for months, youth crime rates increased across the country and in Sacramento. After going two years without any youth homicides in the city, four young people were killed in 2020, including a 7-year-old homeless girl.
“There was a need before 2020 we were trying to address and there’s an even greater need now,” Mares said. “During the pandemic we saw a rise in youth violence especially between the age of 14 to 17. That was partly to do with the pandemic and not being able to have school as a refuge or just even social interaction with friends. That really did have a big impact on young people in Sacramento.”
The city currently spends millions of dollars on youth, including on activity nights called “pop ups,” and also on paid internship programs. The city would not be able to count those existing programs as part of the new funding, however.
If the measure passes, the city could spend the money on things like improving its parks, adding more programs to its community centers, launching more workforce training programs, and giving more funding to youth nonprofits like the Roberts Family Development Center, Mares said.
The measure would be permanent, unless a future ballot measure reverses it, Mares said.
This story was originally published June 14, 2022 at 6:15 AM.
