Sacramento reconsiders plan to create youth advisory role for City Council

Nine months after the Sacramento City Council voted to create a youth advisory position to help young people shape policies affecting their future, it’s unclear whether plan has support to move forward. 

A committee last week voted 3-1 to add youth seats to boards and commissions instead of establishing a position for someone between the ages of 16 and 24 to advise the council. 

Council members Lisa Kaplan and Karina Talamantes proposed the alternative. Kaplan, who chairs the personnel and public employees committee, said establishing youth positions on boards and commissions would give more leadership opportunities to  young people. Kaplan added she opposes a single youth advisory liaison sitting on the dais during council meetings. 

“One youth doesn’t represent all voices,” Kaplan said in the Sept. 19 committee meeting. “Just as we talk about equity, [with] 14 voices we’re going to get a wide breadth of demographics.”

Sacramento will recruit a youth liaison to the City Council. Here’s what the job involves

Sacramento already has four seats designated for people between the ages of 14 and 22 on boards and commissions, Kaplan said. They include spots on the parks, arts and police review commissions, which the council added in 2021. Kaplan proposed creating 10 more youth seats, which would be separate from the Sacramento Youth Commission entirely made up of young people. 

Council member Katie Valenzuela was the only official on the committee who voted against the alternate proposal. Possible changes to respond to concerns could include limiting the council advisory position to 16- or 17-year-olds who would not be eligible to run for office, Valenzuela said. Sacramento allows 18-year-olds to run for council. 

Valenzuela didn’t oppose adding more young people to commissions, but recommended waiting to make a decision on the council liaison role so the youth commission could give further feedback. 

In a Friday statement, Sacramento Youth Commission Chair Patrick Leo Hsu said the liaison position would differ from current opportunities young people have in city government. 

“The Youth Commission only advises the City Council through a formal process but does not have the opportunity to provide real-time input on time sensitive issues,” Hsu said in the statement. “Uplifting a young person directly to the dais is necessary to ensure that youth voice is an integral and regular part of City Council’s decision making."

The majority of the committee — Kaplan and Council members Sean Loloee and Caity Maple — directed staff to work on the alternate proposal and send it to the full council for consideration. 

The council voted 5-3 to create the youth advisory liaison in December 2022. Loloee and Council member Eric Guerra opposed the proposal at the time, along with then-Council member Jeff Harris. 

But since new members began their terms, the number of officials against the position has grown. Council members Kaplan, Talamantes and Maple have voiced opposition to establishing the role. They could create a new majority against the position, which would not get to vote with the council, but would sit with elected officials on the dais during meetings. 

Council member Mai Vang proposed the position last year with backing from youth organizations including the Sac Kids First Coalition. At the time, Vang said the position would build on the citywide youth development plan passed in 2017 and allow a young person’s perspective to inform local government decisions.

In a statement on Friday, Vang said she looks forward to the council discussing the advisory position again and also supports expanding youth seats on commissions. 

“Both actions aren’t mutually exclusive and we should work to find opportunities to elevate youth voice at all levels of government,” Vang said in the statement to CapRadio. “We can't say we value youth voice without giving them a seat at the table — and young people are asking for a seat on the dais.”

In March, city staff proposed recruiting a youth advisory liaison between August and September and selecting a candidate in November. But the city is running behind the estimated timeline.