1 STAFF REPORT
DATE: March 11, 2025
TO: Justin Hess, City Manager
FROM: Courtney Padgett, Assistant City Manager
BY: Cathryn LaBrado, Assistant to the City Manager
SUBJECT: Approval of the City of Burbank 2025 Legislative Platform
RECOMMENDATION
Approve the City of Burbank 2025 Legislative Platform.
BACKGROUND
As a full-service city, Burbank recognizes the need for active legislative engagement at the local, state, and federal levels to protect and enhance the interests of Burbank’s residents and businesses. Accordingly, City officials and staff maintain close relationships with Burbank’s state and federal representatives to advocate, influence, and monitor pertinent legislation. The purpose of the proposed 2025 Legislative Platform (Attachment 2) is to clearly outline the position of the City on priority issues and matters that impact the City's ability to operate effectively, while allowing the consideration of addi tional legislative and budget issues that arise during the legislative session. Ongoing legislative advocacy efforts includes the following:
• Annual Department meetings with both the City’s state advocacy firm, Emanuels Jones and Associates, and the City’s federal advocacy firm, the Ferguson Group. • Bi-weekly correspondence with Emanuels Jones and Associates and the Ferguson Group in the form of emails, virtual meetings, and newsletters to monitor legislative issues important to the City.
• Guidance on funding opportunities from Emanuels Jones and Associates and the Ferguson Group.
• M eetings, webinars, and other engagement with the League of California Cities (Cal Cities).
CITY MANAGER’S
OFFICE
2 • Listservs and webinars from professional organizations to acquire information about legislation and projects pertinent to Burbank.
• Co mmunication and correspondence with legislators via letters, meetings, and bi-annual visits to Sacramento and Washington D.C.
• Collaboration, when appropriate, with Cal Cities and the National League of Cities.
Accordingly, and in consultation with the City’s legislative advocacy firms, the statements outlined within the platform are intended to assist the City Council and staff proactively and appropriately address legislation to promote City interests and preserve local legislative authority when necessary.
DISCUSSION
The 2025 Legislative Platform contains topics that have the potential for county, state, and federal participation and provides the City’s legislative representatives and advocacy firms with a clear understanding of the City’s priorities. T he priorities outlined within the Platform have been drafted in consultation with the City’s advocacy firms and are intended to assist Council and staff address legislation, promote City interests, and preserve local control and local legislative authority proactively and appropriately.
Priorities in the 2025 Legislative Platform remain the same as last year and include the following: Airport, Budget and M unicipal Finance, Economic Development, Healthy Communities, Homelessness, Housing, Mandates, Libraries, Parks and Open Space, Public Employment, Public Safety, Social Justi ce and Equity, State and/or Federal Funding, Sustainability, Technology, Transportation and Infrastructure, Utilities (Energy and Water), and Veterans. Each priority includes policy statements which articulate the City’s legislative goals by addressing major areas of interest, while providing flexibility to respond to any unanticipated legislation.
The focus in developing the 2025 Legislative Platform is to ensure that the document provides staff and the City’s legislative advocates with a concise and effective tool to monitor and respond to proposed legislation at both the state and federal level, and advocate and protect the City’s interests in a timely manner. In researching the formatting and strategy behind legislative platforms, staff found a great deal of variance from one city to another. For example, the cities of Anaheim and Beverly Hills list general policy statements that apply to federal and/or state legislation together, while the City of Pasadena has their federal and state platforms as separate documents. Similar to the City of Burbank’s 2025 Legislative Platform, the cities of Santa Clarita and San Diego have one legislative platform with separate sections for federal and state policy statements. To ensure clarity for staff, advocates, and congressional staffers, the platform’s comprehensive list of policy statements and priority areas were organized and 3 divided into separate federal and state sections. Additionally, high-level summaries were added for both the federal and state sections to ensure that the City’s top priorities are prominent and easily accessible.
Aside from non -substantive grammatical, wording, and stylistic changes, the following content changes were made in the 2025 Legislative Platform:
Economic Development
A policy statement has been added to both the federal and state sections to highlight the City’s support for the entertainment industry in advocating for tax credits and incentives to attract and retain entertainment industry jobs.
Mandates
A policy statement has been added to the state section related to the Public Records Act to highlight the City’s commitment to transparency and public access, while ensuring the avoidance of excessive administrative burdens or financial strain.
Public Safety
A policy statement has been added to the state section related to the City’s support of legislation and/or funding for proactive measurers to protect homes, including home hardening and retrofitting projects. Proposition 36, California’s new law on drug and theft offenses (as of December 18, 2024) titled the Homelessness, Drug Addiction, and Theft Reduction Act, has also been added as legislation that the City will seek financial assistance for to properly support its implementation.
Transportation/Infrastructure
A policy statement has been added to both the federal and state sections to highlight the City’s commitment to securing expanded Metrolink service (15-minute, bi-directional, all- day) to Burbank’s Metrolink stations. Additionally, the existing policy statement related to the Olive Avenue and Magnolia Boulevard bridge rehabilitation projects has been separated into two separate policy statements to highlight each of the bridges separately and include important verbiage regarding bicycle, pedestrian and transit access, as well as conformance with the Complete Street Plan.
Utilities – Energy
A policy statement has been added to both the federal and state sections regarding support for the development and deployment of green hydrogen to ensure electrical grid reliability. Utility companies are increasingly exploring green hydrogen (made by using a zero-carbon or renewable energy resources such as wind or solar) as a solution for decarbonizing power generation, energy storage, and grid reliability. For reference, the 4 Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is currently developing green hydrogen in their efforts to reach 100% clean energy by 2035, with the Intermountain Power Project Renewal aiming to replace an old coal plant with a new 840 megawatt (MW) combined- cycle natural gas plant that will run on 30% hydrogen and 70% natural gas in 2025.
BWP currently operates the Magnolia Power Plant (MPP), a 324 MW combined-cycle natural gas plant. The MPP is important for Burbank as it provides power if transmission lines are down, ensures reliability for residents and businesses, and provides vital grid stability for Burbank and the region. As BWP moves to zero-carbon energy resources, it is vital to transition MPP to a zero-carbon green resource.
Position Letters from Council Members
For proposed legislation, either consistent with the City’s legislative priorities, with legislative positions the City has taken in the past, or with positions taken by Cal Cities , the current practice grants City staff the authority to prepare position letters for the Mayor’s signature. Items not within this framework nor addressed in the Legislative Platform will require further Council direction. Should a Council Member wish to send a position letter signed by all five Council Members, the Council Member must request Council approval of such letter by introducing an additional agenda item. Staff will then return with a first -step staff report for Council’s consideration. Legislative priorities may only address issues directly relevant to or impacting the provision of municipal services.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
This activity has no potential for resulting in either a direct physical change in the environment, or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment and, as such, is not a “project” subject to the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) 14 Cal. Code Regs § 15378.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no fiscal impact associated with this report.
CONCLUSION
Staff recommends Council approve the 2025 Legislative Platform.
ATTACHMENT
Attachment 1 – 2024 Legislative Platform Redline Version Attachment 2 - Proposed 2025 Legislative Platform