Huntington Beach Withdraws From CA League Of Cities Over Prop. 1

HUNTINGTON BEACH, CA—Huntington Beach has joined Newport Beach and the City of Orange in stepping away from the California League of Cities Advocacy group. According to a recent LA Times article, the nonprofit organization, based in Sacramento, is a staunch supporter of Proposition 1, which was the final straw for Newport's elected officials. California has 482 cities, and the Cal Cities advocacy group has 470 members. Now, three fewer are under its umbrella.

Orange County opposed the $6.4-billion bond measure to overhaul California's mental health system, the Times said, during the last election, over 50% of voters. The ultimate goal of the proposition was to add 10,000 treatment and housing beds and to reform the aging tax for mental health services to include addiction treatment. In Orange County, the bulk of voters were against the proposition. Among residents' concerns was the plan to add more sober living homes in affluent neighborhoods.

Orange County cities have a history of dealing with complex legal matters related to sober living homes. In 2020, several South Orange County residents running a sober living facility, Cassa Bella International, Inc., that was involved in fraud and money laundering, faced legal action by the DA. In other cases, multiple doctors were charged with insurance fraud at Sober Living Facilities across Orange County in 2018.

Though the Cal Cities group promised to regulate and oversee any additional sober living facilities planned for Orange County, city officials in Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, and Orange lacked confidence and opted instead to withdraw from the group.

Newport Beach led the charge to withdraw from the Cal Cities group in mid-March.

They were followed by Huntington Beach and, on Tuesday, the City of Orange. Torrance and Redondo Beach have also withdrawn from Cal Cities membership outside of Orange County.

City of Orange Councilmember Kathy Tavoularis mentioned that the city's membership fees are $34,000 annually, based on population. "I don't think we've had any influence (with Cal Cities)," she told the Times. "We certainly didn't with Prop. 1."

Newport Beach Mayor Will O'Neil told the Times that Cal Cities knew the proposition would harm cities like Newport.

"It's so hard to want to be part of an organization that's supposed to be advocating for us and did the exact opposite in such a high-profile way," he said.

The Executive Director of the League of California Cities, Carolyn Coleman, released a statement regarding the towns parting ways with their platform.

"While not everyone will agree on every position Cal Cities takes, Cal Cities' advocacy positions are the result of a member-driven process that reflects a fundamental belief that cities in California are stronger when we stand united and advocate for the common interests of all cities," Coleman said.

Huntington Beach also opted not to renew its membership with the Cal Cities group this month. Councilmember Casey McKeon told the Times that Cal Cities has "repeatedly failed in its mission to advocate for cities, and instead advocates for more and higher taxes, and Sacramento's agenda over our own."

Read the full report in the LA Times.