The Government of Solano County is defined and authorized under the California Constitution and

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

as a general law county. Much of the Government of California is in practice the responsibility of county governments, such as the Government of

Solano County Solano County () is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 453,491. The county seat is Fairfield. Solano County comprises the Vallejo–Fairfield, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area, which i ...

. The County government provides countywide services such as elections and voter registration, law enforcement, jails, vital records, property records, tax collection, public health, and social services. In addition the County serves as the local government for all unincorporated areas. The County government is composed of the elected five-member Board of Supervisors, several other elected offices including the Sheriff-Coroner, District Attorney, Assessor/Recorder, Auditor-Controller, and

Treasurer A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance. Government The treasury ...

/Tax Collector/County Clerk, and numerous county departments and entities under the supervision of the County Administrator. Some chartered cities such as Vallejo and Fairfield provide municipal services such as police, public safety, libraries, parks and recreation, and zoning. Some other cities arrange to have the County provide some or all of these services on a contract basis. In addition, several entities of the

government of California The government of California is the governmental structure of the U.S. state of California as established by the California Constitution. California uses the separation of powers system to structure its government. It is composed of three branche ...

have jurisdiction conterminous with Solano County, such as the

Solano County Superior Court The Solano County Superior Court is the California superior court with jurisdiction over Solano County. Historical Summary The California Constitution of 1849 laid the framework for the judicial system. In Solano County, prior to the establishm ...

Organization

Board of Supervisors

The five-member elected Solano County Board of Supervisors (BOS) is the county legislature. The board operates in a legislative, executive, and

quasi-judicial A quasi-judicial body is non-judicial body which can interpret law. It is an entity such as an arbitration panel or tribunal board, that can be a public administrative agency but also a contract- or private law entity, which has been ...

capacity. As a legislative authority, it can pass ordinances for the unincorporated areas (ordinances that affect the whole county, like posting of restaurant ratings, must be ratified by the individual city). As an executive body, it can tell the county departments what to do, and how to do it. As a quasi-judicial body, the Board is the final venue of appeal in the local planning process. As of January, 2017 the members of the Solano County Board of Supervisors are: * Erin Hannigan — District 1, * Monica Brown — District 2 Vice-Chair * Wanda Williams — District 3 * John Vasquez — District 4, Chair * Mitch Mashburn — District 5

Elected officers

In addition to the Board of Supervisors, there are several elected officers that form the Government of Solano County that are required by the California Constitution and

California law The law of California consists of several levels, including constitutional, statutory, and regulatory law, as well as case law. The California Codes form the general statutory law, and most state agency regulations are available in the Calif ...

. The Solano County Sheriff-Coroner provides general-service law enforcement to unincorporated areas of the county, serving as the equivalent of the

county police County police, often (but not always) called county sheriffs in the United States, are police forces existing primarily in the United States that possess primary jurisdiction over an entire county. England and Wales, two constituent countries of th ...

for

unincorporated area An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

s of the county, as well as incorporated cities within the county who have contracted with the agency for law-enforcement services (known as " contract cities"). The

Solano County District Attorney Solano may refer to: Places * California State Prison, Solano * San Francisco Solano, a town in Almirante Brown Partido, Argentina * Solano Avenue, a street in Berkeley and Albany, California, in the United States * Solano castle, a colonial castl ...

prosecute A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal tr ...

felony A felony is traditionally considered a crime of high seriousness, whereas a misdemeanor is regarded as less serious. The term "felony" originated from English common law (from the French medieval word "félonie") to describe an offense that resu ...

and misdemeanor

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Ca ...

s that occur within the jurisdiction of Solano County.

Other departments

The Department of Health and Social Services (HSS) administers multiple California welfare programs within the county, such as

Medi-Cal The California Medical Assistance Program (Medi-Cal or MediCal) is California's Medicaid program serving low-income individuals, including families, seniors, persons with disabilities, children in foster care, pregnant women, and childless adults w ...

(

Medicaid Medicaid in the United States is a federal and state program that helps with healthcare costs for some people with limited income and resources. Medicaid also offers benefits not normally covered by Medicare, including nursing home care and per ...

CalFresh CalFresh is the California implementation of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as the Food Stamp program, which provides financial assistance for purchasing food to low-income California residents. Benef ...

( food stamps),

CalWORKs The California Work Opportunities and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program is the California welfare implementation of the federal welfare-to-work Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program that provides cash aid and services to e ...

(

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF ) is a federal assistance program of the United States. It began on July 1, 1997, and succeeded the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program, providing cash assistance to indigent A ...

), and a

California Medical Service Program Welfare in California consists of welfare in the United States, federal welfare programs—which are often at least partially administered by state and county agencies—and several independent programs, which are usually administered by the counti ...

(CMSP) and its

Low Income Health Program Welfare in California consists of federal welfare programs—which are often at least partially administered by state and county agencies—and several independent programs, which are usually administered by the counties. The largest California-s ...

(

Obamacare The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and colloquially known as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Pres ...

Law

The '' Solano County Code'' is the codified law of the County in the form of ordinances passed by the Board of Supervisors. Every act prohibited or declared unlawful, and every failure to perform an act required, by the ordinances are misdemeanor crimes, unless otherwise specified as infractions.California Government Code § 25132.

Other governments

California

The Solano Superior Court, which covers the entire county, is not a County department but a division of the State's trial court system. Historically, the courthouses were county-owned buildings that were maintained at county expense, which created significant friction since the trial court judges, as officials of the state government, had to lobby the county Board of Supervisors for facility renovations and upgrades. In turn, the state judiciary successfully persuaded the state Legislature to authorize the transfer of all courthouses to the state government in 2008 and 2009 (so that judges would have direct control over their own courthouses). Courthouse security is still provided by the county government under a contract with the state.

Vallejo

The Government of Vallejo is defined under the Charter of the City of Vallejo. It is a

council–manager government The council–manager government is a form of local government used for municipalities, counties, or other equivalent regions. It is one of the two most common forms of local government in the United States along with the mayor–council gover ...

and consists of the Mayor, City Council, and numerous departments and officers under the supervision of the City Manager, such as the Vallejo Police Department, Vallejo Fire Department, Vallejo Public Works Department, and Vallejo Economic Development Department. As of 2019 the current mayor was Bob Sampayan, and the Councilors were: * Pippin Dew-Costa (vice mayor), * Katy Miessner, * Robert H. McConnell, * Hakeem Brown * Hermie Sunga, and * Rozanna Verder-Aliga

School districts

Solano County is covered by the

Solano County Community College District Solano Community College (SCC) is a public community college in Fairfield, California, with additional centers in Vacaville and Vallejo. The college is part of California Community Colleges System. SCC's service area includes all of Solano Count ...

and trustee district 5 of the San Joaquin Delta Community College District.

Special districts

The Solano County Local Agency Formation Commission is the

Local Agency Formation Commission Local Agency Formation Commissions or LAFCOs are regional service planning agencies of the State of California. LAFCOs are located in all 58 counties and exercise regulatory and planning powers in step with their prescribed directive to oversee the ...

(LAFCo) for Solano County and regulates most special district and city boundaries.

Notes

External links

Solano County government website
{{California topic, Government of Solano