DATE: 11/06/2024
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
FROM: The Office of the City Manager
2024-101
REQUEST FOR CITY COUNCIL ACTION
SUBJECT:
ADOPTION OF THE 2025 LEGISLATIVE PLATFORM AND FINANCIAL PRIORITIES EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
This staff report requests that the City Council adopt the 2025 Legislative Platform and Financial Priorities. The Legislative Platform establishes a streamlined approach for addressing legislative proposals that could affect the City. It outlines key legislative issues important to the City and will enable staff to respond swiftly and effectively to evolving legislative matters once approved by the Council. Additionally, the Financial Priorities document offers an overview of Corona's funding requirements and serves as a guide for seeking support and resources for the City's needs.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
That the City Council adopt the 2025 Legislative Platform and Financial Priorities.
BACKGROUND:
The Legislative Platform (Platform) has served as a guide for addressing urgent requests to support, oppose, or take neutral stances on various legislative proposals throughout the year. Resolutions, major or unique issues, and significant items not directly covered in the Platform, are and will still be presented to the Council for formal review and approval. At the end of each year, the City identifies key policy priorities and legislative initiatives it seeks to have addressed by both the State and Federal Legislature. The 2024 Legislative Platform and Financial Priorities were adopted in January of 2024. The City Council reviewed and provided input on the Platform during the 2023 Fall Council Workshop.
ANALYSIS:
The attached 2025 Legislative Platform and Financial Priorities outlines legislative priorities for staff and consultants to support or oppose various legislative proposals throughout the year. These priorities guide efforts such as providing testimony or pursuing legislative action on key issues, including transportation, municipal finance, unfunded mandates, home rule, public safety, housing reform, homelessness, tort reform, public utilities, community services, and economic development. The Legislative Platform is designed to be strategic and reflects the standing position of the City Council until updated.
The priorities are broadly stated to allow flexibility in responding to different legislative proposals. Staff or Councilmembers' advocacy efforts must align with the adopted Legislative Platform. However, individual Councilmembers may express their own views on local, State, or Federal measures, provided they clarify they are speaking on their own behalf and not for the City or Council.
Throughout the year, Staff will prepare letters of support or opposition consistent with the adopted Legislative Platform for the Mayor's signature on behalf of the City. If the Mayor declines to sign, the Vice Mayor may do so. If both decline, the matter will be considered before the full Council. Legislative proposals not covered by the Platform will also be submitted to the Council for review.
The Legislative Platform is divided into 13 sections dealing with the following topics:
1. Community Services
2. Economic Development
3. Home Rule
4. Housing Reform
5. Homelessness
6. Municipal Finance
7. Public Safety
8. Public Utilities
9. Tort Reform
10. Transportation
11. Unfunded Mandates
12. Human Resources and Risk
Management
13. Municipal Communications
Edits to the legislative platform and financial priorities based on feedback from City Council during the 2024 Fall Council Workshop and recommendations from City Staff are listed below.
Platform Edits:
1. Section 1: Community Services
1.1 Library: added language supporting funding efforts for digitizing the library and the Heritage Room.
2. Section 2: Economic Development
Item j.: added language to Support initiatives that offer Vehicle Miles Exchange Travel Credit banking to residents and
businesses to reduce driving and other vehicle miles traveled (VMT) reduction policies and programs.
3. Section 5: Homelessness,
Added language and tenets that:
support legislation to incentivize and maintain city
investments in homeless programs.
support legislation to permanently include the Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention Program (HHAP) in
the State Budget at a recommended $3 billion statewide
level.
4. Section 7: Public Safety
Added language and tenets that:
support efforts to lengthen felony sentences for repeat offenders of retail theft.
support legislation that recognizes serious crimes as felonies, not misdemeanors.
support legislation to charge those who possess illegal drugs with a felony.
support efforts to improve coordination between customers, regulators, government officials, and public safety partners during public safety shut-off (PSPS) events.
support efforts to address the cancellation of fire or home insurance and rate increases for Corona residents by the State Insurance Commissioner due to natural disasters.
support efforts to ensure a fair market cost for fire insurance for the city’s residents.
5. Added New Section 13: Municipal Communications.
Financial Priorities
The 2025 projects have been tailored from the 2024 priorities into smaller tasks or activities to improve the chances of securing state and federal funding, especially when competing for the same pool of grant funds as neighboring cities. This year's focus areas include community services, public safety, and public utilities. No new priorities have been added for 2025.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
There is no financial impact associated with this action.
ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS:
This action is exempt pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) of the Guidelines for the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), which states that a project is exempt from CEQA if the activity is covered by the common sense exemption that CEQA applies only to projects that have the potential for causing a significant effect on the environment.
Where it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the environment, the activity is not subject to CEQA.
This action is merely authorizing the Council to adopt the 2025 Legislative Platform, and there is no possibility that adopting this platform will have a significant effect on the environment. Therefore, no environmental analysis is required.
PREPARED BY: AMINAH MEARS, ASSISTANT TO THE CITY MANAGER REVIEWED BY: BRETT CHANNING, ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Exhibit 1 – 2025 Legislative Platform
2. Exhibit 2 – 2025 Financial Priorities