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As soon as Monica Montgomery Steppe is sworn in as San Diego County’s first Black woman supervisor Tuesday, a board that had been short one member since May will begin to act on a slew of crucial policies — including contentious proposals on migrants and on behavioral health.
With her arrival, the roughly 700,000 people in District 4 will get a representative after six months without one, and the board will get a key third Democratic vote after six months with an even partisan split.
Among the issues on its plate Tuesday is an item the board will revisit after it stalled in October when only three supervisors were present — the bare minimum needed to meet quorum. Joel Anderson’s proposal would bar people with certain criminal convictions from a county program that offers immigrants facing deportation free legal defense.
Both Anderson and Supervisor Jim Desmond had voted against that program last year when the board voted to launch it. Desmond was absent from the October meeting, and the board declined to consider Anderson’s proposed update.
The board will also weigh what issues to prioritize for the county’s remaining federal pandemic relief funds from the American Rescue Plan Act.
One proposal would allocate more to local nonprofits serving asylum seekers arriving in the county after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. Supervisors voted 3-0 in October to allocate $3 million meant to last through the end of the year; the additional funds would be expected to last through March.
But the board will also consider whether to reallocate $8 million in ARPA funds to housing unsheltered people being treated for substance-use disorders. It voted unanimously last month to create a pilot program to find housing for about 100 people enrolled in county-funded outpatient treatment, focusing initially on North County. Under the new proposal, the ARPA funds would fund housing through the program for two years, Desmond‘s motion says.
And the board will consider whether to delay implementing a new state law, set to take effect Jan. 1, that dramatically expands the criteria for involuntary mental health holds.
Local hospitals worry it could result in so large a surge of such holds, especially among homeless San Diegans, it could swamp already overburdened emergency rooms.
A Democratic majority revived
The nearly 700,000 residents of the heavily Democratic District 4, which stretches from Clairemont to Spring Valley, have not had a supervisor since Nathan Fletcher resigned in May amid allegations of sexual misconduct.
Fletcher’s election five years ago represented a major turning point for the board, long dominated by Republicans. The former Republican had become the first Democrat elected to it in years when he defeated former District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis for the open seat in 2018.
Mesa College political science professor Carl Luna previously told The San Diego Union-Tribune he doesn’t expect Montgomery Steppe’s election to have a huge partisan impact on the board — but does expect her to bring a more progressive tone and social justice orientation, as well as a voice of her current City Council constituency, especially those in southeastern San Diego.
Thad Kousser, a professor of political science at UC San Diego, noted that Montgomery Steppe will be representing nearly five times as many people as she did as a city councilmember — which will mean “more communities with different interests, who want different things.”
Balancing those competing interests could be both Montgomery Steppe’s biggest challenge and key to achieving her policy goals, he said.
And at the county, she’ll face a very different partisan reality than on the all-Democratic city council.
“Democrats can’t fragment into different coalitions,” Kousser said. “They all have to stick together, all three of them, if they want to get something done.”
That will be particularly true, he said, heading into next year’s election, as Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer, a Democrat, is challenged by Republican former Mayor Kevin Faulconer.
Soon, Montgomery Steppe will be asked to weigh in on other county business that has been on hold since May, such as its long-paused search for a new chief administrative officer.
The county’s top executive oversees a budget of more than $7 billion and workforce of about 20,000 — executing board policy, managing labor agreements and negotiations and directing operation of county departments spanning health, land use, finance and more.
The board may also soon revisit other measures that they deadlocked on earlier this year, including a package of gun-safety measures and more recent efforts by Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer to crack down on anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers and to back a proposed constitutional amendment on gun control.
All three votes deadlocked along party lines.
Montgomery Steppe will become not only the first Black woman ever to serve on the county Board of Supervisors but also the first Black person elected to the body in over four decades — since Leon Williams became the first in 1982.
Williams, now 101, told the Union-Tribune Friday he’s pleased his successor in that regard is someone he says will advocate for social justice. “I think there’s still a lot of work to do to create better human relations and a fair and just society — and she’s capable of working on that,” he said.
Montgomery Steppe was selected in 2021 to represent San Diego on a statewide task force exploring the idea of reparations for African Americans in California.
After over two years of research and public hearings, the panel issued its final report in June, recommending compensation to eligible Black people of California for the harms of slavery.
Assemblymember Reginald Jones-Sawyer, D-Los Angeles, a fellow task force member, said Montgomery Steppe always came prepared and kept the body on task. “There were times where we would get bogged down on some issues, and she could go back to the actual report and almost quote verbatim what was in it, which was very helpful,” he said.
He said she excelled not only at condensing information but at articulating it to help both her colleagues and constituents understand.
Secretary of State Shirley Weber, the task force’s architect, called Montgomery Steppe “really the voice of the community,” pointing to her work on the council steering city resources to traditionally underserved communities.
“Coming from the community, she can help build a bridge when it comes to education,” said Francine Maxwell, chairwoman of Black Men and Women United San Diego, a grassroots group that meets weekly to discuss issues affecting Black people. “They’ve never had an elected official that would take the time to sit with them … to educate them on how they make policy.”
Barry Pollard, whose outreach program the Urban Collaborative Project has pushed to expand health services in the city’s southeast, shares those hopes.
Pollard said he has hit roadblock after roadblock trying to secure support for opening an after-hours urgent care in the area. “I don’t see the sense of urgency (at the county),” Pollard said. “It is like business as usual.”
He and Maxwell both say the county has neglected its responsibility on behavioral health and regional health disparities.
“My hope is that Monica will shine a spotlight on this,” Pollard said. “She’s very persuasive because she speaks authentically, she speaks from the heart and she doesn’t play these political games.”
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