I submit this comment as president of the League of Women Voters of Oakland. The League continues to support wholeheartedly the implementation of the Fair Elections Act of which this contract is a key component. Implementation has been projected for 2026. In order to keep that possibility viable, work on this contract must begin now. Thanks to the Mayor for sustaining in the mid-cycle proposal the majority of the funds for development of the software platform which she included in the June 2023 budget. While there has been agreement in 2023-2025 cycle implementation will be stepped back to 2026, we cannot emphasize strongly enough that there are preparatory steps that must be taken this budget cycle to set up the conditions for that implementation in 2026. That is what the allocation of $525,000 in the June 2023 budget acknowledged. We urge you to keep faith with that timeline and adopt today's resolution. We acknowledge that financial constraints make every budget decision difficult. However, we believe that just at the budget requires structural adjustment, so do the mechanisms of civic engagement in Oakland. Democracy Dollars implementation advances necessary structural changes to how we engage residents in local government and improve our local democracy.
I submit this comment as president of the League of Women Voters of Oakland. The League continues to support wholeheartedly the implementation of the Fair Elections Act of which this contract is a key component. Implementation has been projected for 2026. In order to keep that possibility viable, work on this contract must begin now. Thanks to the Mayor for sustaining in the mid-cycle proposal the majority of the funds for development of the software platform which she included in the June 2023 budget. While there has been agreement in 2023-2025 cycle implementation will be stepped back to 2026, we cannot emphasize strongly enough that there are preparatory steps that must be taken this budget cycle to set up the conditions for that implementation in 2026. That is what the allocation of $525,000 in the June 2023 budget acknowledged. We urge you to keep faith with that timeline and adopt today's resolution. We acknowledge that financial constraints make every budget decision difficult. However, we believe that just at the budget requires structural adjustment, so do the mechanisms of civic engagement in Oakland. Democracy Dollars implementation advances necessary structural changes to how we engage residents in local government and improve our local democracy.