Cotati City Council
Agenda Staff Report
Item type: REGULAR AGENDA (ACTION)
To: City Council
Subject: DISCUSS CAL CITIES REQUEST FOR LETTERS OPPOSING AB 1383 (MCKINNOR) AND SB 866 (BLAKESPEAR)
Date: May 26, 2026
Written by: Damien O'Bid, City Manager
Recommendation
It is recommended that the City Council review the Cal Cities request for opposition letters for AB 1383 and SB 866; and, if supportive of the Cal Cities positions, adopt a motion authorizing the Mayor to sign and transmit the two attached letters.
Background
The City Council is a member of the League of California Cities (Cal Cities), as are most cities in California. Cal Cities supports education of member cities and also support advocacy at the State Legislature, particularly on issues of local control and unfunded state mandates.
In cases of urgent matters, the City Council rules allow the Mayor to sign legislative position letters from Cal Cities. However, if there is sufficient time, Cal Cities requests are to come to the full City Council for consideration.
Analysis/Discussion
The City recently received two requests from Cal Cities, to oppose AB 1383 and SB 866. The summary provided by Cal Cities is below, with template letters attached.
Assembly Bill (AB) 1383: Public Employees’ Retirement Benefits (Oppose) What the Bill Does:
• Increases the pensionable compensation cap for PEPRA public employees. • Reduces the retirement age for public safety employees from 57 to 55, applied prospectively.
• Creates a new fourth safety tier, establishing a 3% @ 55 formula that is prospective and subject to collective bargaining.
• Allows local agencies to adjust their local pension formulas prospectively, providing them with the authority to modify benefit structures going forward.
Why AB 1383 is Important to Cal Cities Members:
• PEPRA reforms have generated an estimated $5.8 billion in savings to date and $26.5 billion projected over 10 years.
• Changing these reforms would increase employer and employee contribution rates, create new administrative and long-term solvency challenges for cities, and would undermine a decade of progress in stabilizing pension systems and managing long-term liabilities. • Cities are already facing rising pension obligations, stagnant revenues, and new federal and state mandates that strain local budgets.
• Higher pension costs would threaten core city services, staffing levels, and overall fiscal stability.
• Increased mandated costs would limit cities’ ability to invest in workforce compensation, community programs, and essential public services.
AB 1383 has passed through the Assembly and has been referred to the Senate Committee on Labor, Public Employment and Retirement. It is expected to be heard in June.
Senate Bill (SB) 866: Planning and Zoning: Housing Element Mandates - Oppose What the Bill Does:
SB 866 would require all but 14 cities to add extensive homelessness reporting to their housing elements. SB 866 targets cities without direct access to homelessness funding, placing extensive new reporting burdens on cities with the fewest resources.
Background: Since 2019, HHAP has provided state funding to the 14 largest cities, all 58 counties, and 44 Continuums of Care. The other 469 cities in California do not get direct state support. To receive funding, HHAP recipients must submit regional plans that include system performance metrics. SB 866 would impose those same performance metrics as a new housing element requirement only for those cities that do not receive HHAP funding.
Why SB 866 is bad for cities:
• SB 866 mandates reporting on systems operated by counties, the state, and private entities, not cities. Despite a city's best intentions, it may be unable to collect this data, and under SB 866, it would have a non-compliant housing element as a result. • The reporting required in SB 866 does not belong in a long-term housing planning document that, for most cities, is updated every eight years. The information would quickly become outdated and would no longer be responsive to the evolving needs of unhoused residents.
• SB 866 would create siloed data, requiring 469 cities to report this information through housing elements, while counties and larger cities do so through regional plans, raising concerns about how the state would synthesize this data into meaningful policy. • Over 300 of the 483 cities in California have populations under 50,000, representing very small numbers of unhoused individuals. Requiring these cities to report this level of data without funding for homelessness programs will not move California forward in addressing homelessness.
SB 866 is eligible for a floor vote at any time. If successful, it will pass to the Assembly.
Financial Considerations
There are no direct impacts from transmitting these letters to the State. If the legislation passes, there may be related, currently unknown financial impacts.
Environmental Issues
Where it can be determined 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 review.
This general rule can be applied to activities which could be subject to the CEQA process, but which logic dictates should not be subject to CEQA review. Therefore, based on the information provided above, the proposed resolution is exempt from CEQA pursuant to Section 14.03.021 of the CEQA Guidelines in that there is no possibility that the activity may have a significant impact on the environment.