State Capitol Office • 925 L Street, Suite 1404 • Sacramento, California 95814 • Phone (916) 447-4086 • Fax (916) 444-2063 Federal Office • 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE, Suite 207 • Washington, DC • Phone (202) 546-8696 • Fax (202) 546-4555 Northern California Office • 300 Frank Ogawa Plaza, Suite 204 • Oakland, California 94612 • Phone (510) 835-9050 • Fax (510) 835-9030 Southern California Office • 1601 Dove Road• Newport Beach, California 92660 • Phone (949) 399-9050 • Fax (949) 476-8215
M E M O R A N D U M
To: The Honorable John Bauters and Members of the City Council CC: Paul Buddenhagen, City Manager
From: Christopher Townsend, President, Townsend Public Affairs, Inc.
Niccolo De Luca, Vice President
Joseph Melo, Federal Senior Associate
Andres Ramirez, Senior Associate
Carly Shelby, Legislative Associate
Date: November 21, 2023
Subject: 2024 State and Federal Legislative Agenda/Summary of 2023 Successes Townsend Public Affairs, Inc. (TPA) has prepared a draft 2024 legislative platform for the City for discussion and adoption. The 2024 legislative platform will reflect the priorities of the City Council and includes advocating for legislation, regulations, and funding that is consistent with the City’s adopted goals. Our legislative agenda will be fluid as some issues will be addressed with introduced legislation and other legislative efforts.
Once adopted, this document will be shared with key stakeholders in the State Legislature, Governor’s Administration, Members of Congress, and the Biden Administration.
Proposed Legislative Priorities for 2024
It is expected that the State Legislature in 2024 will maintain its focus on its recent priorities including; Climate Resiliency, Governance and Transparency, Homelessness and Behavioral Health, Housing and Greater Access, Public Safety, and Transportation and Infrastructure.
The State Legislature is currently in interim recess and will reconvene on January 3rd to resume legislative activities. Legislators may begin introducing new pieces of legislation, many of which may be like bills that did not advance in 2023, the second year of the two-year legislative cycle.
In Washington, DC a politically fraught Congress and new Speaker of the House will aim to legislate on several key priorities while balancing elections for the Presidency, House, and Senate. Major legislative action will center on the Fiscal Year (FY) 25 National Defense Authorization Act, 2024 Water Resources Development Act, the Farm Bill, and Energy Permitting Reform. Border security, foreign conflicts, artificial intelligence, and continued implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will also garner much attention.
Before Congress can focus on policy, both chambers must reconcile FY24 appropriations differences to fund the government and avoid a shutdown. Although this will likely drag into next year, Congress will begin accepting earmark requests for FY25 appropriations process as soon as February 2024.
Proposed 2024 Legislative Platform Page 2 of 5
Federal and State Legislative Monitoring and Potential Action The following legislative priorities are being recommended by TPA for monitoring, analysis, and potential action. The City Council may choose to take a position on a piece of legislation, continue to monitor without a position, or determine if any further response is required.
TPA will maintain a constantly updated matrix of state legislation and in years past have presented recommendations then providing rolling updates. TPA will monitor legislative activity in the following areas.
Homelessness and Behavioral Health
Policy Priorities:
1) Enhance emergency, transitional, and permanent housing opportunities. 2) Support legislative efforts that will require regional collaboration when receiving direct allocation of homeless funds.
3) Support legislative efforts that have a focus on keeping people in housing, once placed, for many years.
4) Support legislative efforts that will require counties to partner with cities relating to unspent Prop 63 mental health funds.
5) Support legislative efforts that support and increase psychiatric care facilities and acute care facilities.
6) Support legislative efforts that increase services such as mental health, substance abuse, treatment beds and other services for people living in encampments and in unsheltered settings. 7) Support legislative efforts related to oversight of guardians, receivership, and other forms of care.
Funding Priorities:
1) Continue the state-funded emergency rent and utility assistance program for those at-risk of becoming homeless.
2) Funding for homeless services (e.g., the wrap around services necessary for transitional and permanent housing), non-congregate shelters and emergency shelters, as well as operating costs for permanent housing.
3) Funding for permanent housing interventions that reduce and prevent homelessness. 4) Support funding efforts relating to mental health treatment, substance abuse treatment, and other related services.
Housing and Greater Access
Policy Priorities:
1) Prevent displacement.
2) Support legislation that advances the creation or funding of below market rate housing projects. 3) Pursue updates to the State building code, if necessary, and to promote innovative forms of housing construction.
4) Reasonable reform to CEQA to streamline development and housing opportunities. 5) Support legislative and funding efforts relating to housing preservation and acquisition. 6) Support legislative efforts to extend the State rent relief program and to bring back the eviction moratorium/eviction protections.
7) Support legislative efforts to expand or modernize the Ellis Act and the Costa–Hawkins Rental Housing Act.
Funding Priorities:
1) Support for soft-story seismic retrofits.
2) Funding for innovative programs to prevent displacement and address hazardous housing conditions.
Proposed 2024 Legislative Platform Page 3 of 5
3) Enhance funding opportunities for existing state programs to help support bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure in connection to housing.
4) Support funding for remediation of hazardous sites (to make viable for housing).
Economic Development
Policy Priorities:
1) Support for arts and cultural spaces, arts education, and similar programs. 2) Cannabis Tax reform which includes lowering taxes and tax simplification. 3) Support efforts to address the digital divide.
4) Support legislation relating to Online Sales Tax Distribution Formula reform. 5) Support legislative and other efforts for programs that create pathways out of poverty.
Funding Priorities:
1) Support for small business recovery, tourism/visitor recovery and other business sectors deeply impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Transportation and Infrastructure
Policy Priorities:
1) Support measures affecting funding for roads, transit, “last mile” projects and goods movement as well as alternative modes of transportation (bikes, ebikes, escooters, etc.), and support the needs of the disabled community.
2) Support efforts to help commuters and increase public transportation. 3) Support regional transportation projects that would provide a benefit to the City and surrounding communities.
4) Increasing resiliency of public infrastructure from threats of climate change. 5) Increasing the ability for local agencies to access affordable broadband services to better serve their residents.
Funding Priorities:
1) Increased funding for bicycle and pedestrian safety improvements. 2) Funding to electrify and add e-charging in public facilities and for the public fleet and to provide public e-charging stations.
3) Funding for riding transit especially when linked to housing. 4) Increased funding for local broadband priorities.
Public Safety
Policy Priorities:
1) Support automated speed enforcement legislation and to seek alternatives to sworn traffic/parking enforcement.
2) Support disaster preparedness, training, response, and resilience efforts. 3) Criminal justice reform.
4) Support additional efforts to help prevent violence such as mental health services, supporting street outreach teams, focusing on other individuals before they are at risk. 5) Support efforts that reimagine public safety and incorporate community-based organizations to help address problems.
6) Support efforts to increase peace officer accountability and provide a means of decertifying police officers who engage in serious misconduct.
Funding Priorities:
1) Support funding opportunities for alternative traffic enforcement efforts.
Proposed 2024 Legislative Platform Page 4 of 5
Climate Resiliency
Policy Priorities:
1) Support legislative efforts to incentivize Low-Carbon Construction: ability to and tools for incentivizing lower-carbon construction with fees from higher-carbon construction projects. 2) Support legislative efforts relating to electric bicycles: legislation to subsidize electric bicycle purchase, in coordination with electric vehicle subsidies. 3) Measures that support regional planning for a climate change strategy which includes sea level rise.
Funding Priorities:
1) Support funding to address sea level rise along the waterfront. 2) Support funding for electrification and seismic retrofitting of care and shelter facilities. 3) Support funding for Zero Waste efforts.
4) Support funding for more EV charging stations at apartments and elsewhere.
Miscellaneous
Policy Priorities:
1) Support legislative efforts to amend the Brown Act to help encourage greater public participation and further encourage online meetings.
2) Support legislative efforts to address the way ballot measures are formulated, worded, and advertised.
One Time State and Federal Funding Priorities for “Member Request” Consideration As we have seen at both the Federal and State level, new initiatives and various funding opportunities have taken form over the last few years. This also includes both legislative provisions that direct approved funds to be spent on specific projects, sometimes referred to as “Member Requests” or “Congressionally Directed Spending.”
As it relates to state and federal “Member Requests”/ “Congressionally Directed Spending,” our recommended strategy is for the adopted Legislative Platform to include a handful of funding buckets that capture various project themes. This provides the City with the highest amount of flexibility as it is important to not only reflect the priorities of the state and federal lawmakers who sponsor these requests, but also to ensure that the City’s projects fit the eligibility requirements of the various state and federal funding sources.
These buckets include:
• Greater Access to Housing/Homelessness which could include funding for rapid housing efforts, mental health efforts, gap funding for below market rate projects, • Infrastructure Improvements which could include funding for active transportation enhancements which includes bicycle and pedestrian upgrades, and other related items. • Climate Resiliency which could include funding for efforts along the waterfront, cooling centers, HVAC upgrades, and other related items.
Summary of 2023 State and Federal Legislative Highlights TPA worked with the elected City leadership and Administration to develop, advocate, and secure several major City initiatives through various means including legislation, working in partnership with our elected leaders in Sacramento, and other efforts.
Proposed 2024 Legislative Platform Page 5 of 5
The TPA/City team worked together to secure direct funding to the City by the Department of Transportation for enhancements along 40th Street. The direct allocation is for the 40th Street Multimodal Project to improve conditions for bus riders, pedestrians, and cyclists. Assembly Member Mia Bonta and her office were great champions of this effort as she sponsored the district funding request.
In addition to the financial wins at the State level, the City has also been very successful at the Federal level. Congresswoman Barbara Lee put forward a federal earmark request for the 40th Street Multimodal Project within the House Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development (THUD) Appropriations bill.
The City’s earmark was included in the House-passed THUD bill on November 7. As House and Senate negotiators work to reach a final agreement on government funding for the upcoming fiscal year, TPA will continue to update you on the status of these earmarks throughout the process. With one earmark in the House bill, appropriations leaders have indicated that they will continue the precedent of honoring the respective chamber's earmarks and include them in a final agreement.
Process for Reporting/Next Steps
In addition to weekly legislative updates and other communications we send to the City Team, TPA suggests verbal reports to the City Council when the State Legislature is on recess. For example, we would report out in April while they are on Spring Recess, during July while they are on Summer Recess, and in November or December when Session has concluded.
Due to the ever-changing nature of legislation in Sacramento and Washington, TPA will provide monthly updates which can be shared with the City Council.