In today's newscast:
Monterey sales tax
The City of Monterey is hoping a sales tax increase will help balance the budget.
It declared a fiscal emergency earlier this year, allowing it to place the tax measure on the June 2 ballot.
The city budget deficit amounts to $10 million.
Assistant city manager Nat Rojanasathira said the .375 cent sales tax would generate $4.5 million per year, "and it would help us continue to preserve current service levels."
Monterey city voters will see the tax as Measure D on their ballots.
Automated license plate readers
The state Senate has passed a bill tightening restrictions on how law enforcement uses automated license plate readers.
It mandates strict data deletion timelines, implements employee access safeguards, and restricts when these systems can be used.
San Francisco Democratic Sen. Scott Wiener spoke in support of the bill.
"It's not saying ban license plate readers," he said. "It's about making sure that the data is not given out like candy, which we've seen, and that there are retention limits, that it's just not going to be retained forever."
The measure passed on a party line vote and now goes to the Assembly.
Republicans argue that the bill’s strict limits on data retention and sharing will heavily obstruct criminal investigations.
With reporting from our newsroom partner CapRadio.
