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M E M O R A N D U M
To: The Honorable David Mourra and Members of the City Council CC: LaTanya Bellow, City Manager
From: Niccolo De Luca, Vice President, Townsend Public Affairs, Inc.
Carlin Shelby, Senior Associate
Kerri West, Senior Associate
Joseph Melo, Federal Senior Associate
Date: Updated on May 21, 2025
Subject: 2025/2026 State and Federal Legislative Agenda Townsend Public Affairs, Inc. (TPA) has prepared a draft legislative platform for the City for discussion and adoption. The 2025/2026 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 Federal Administration.
At the City Council meeting on May 20, 2025, the Council provided input and feedback on the draft legislative platform. This updated memo incorporates those comments.
Proposed Legislative Priorities for 2025
The State Legislature will maintain its focus on its recent priorities including Climate Resiliency, Homelessness and Behavioral Health, Housing and Greater Access, Public Safety, and Transportation and Infrastructure. In addition, the Governor, his Administration, and the State Legislature is focused on stopping and pushing back on the various proposals coming from President Trump.
In 2025, the Trump administration and Congress are prioritizing tax cuts, deregulation, and spending reductions, though republican lawmakers have not yet agreed on specifics and legislative approach.
Key focuses include border security, military funding, energy production, and strict immigration policies, such as large-scale deportations. The administration is also advancing efforts aimed to shrink the federal workforce and restructuring agencies.
Federal and State Legislative Monitoring and Potential Action The following legislative priorities are being recommended for monitoring, analysis, and potential action.
The City 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 may also present strategic recommendations and provide rolling updates. TPA will monitor legislative activity in the following areas.
Proposed 2025 Legislative Platform Page 2 of 4
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, HHAP funds, and other funding sources. 5) 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. 6) Support legislative efforts related to oversight of guardians, receivership, and other forms of care.
Funding Priorities:
1) 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.
2) Funding for permanent housing interventions that reduce and prevent homelessness. 3) 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) Reasonable reform to CEQA to streamline development and housing opportunities. 4) Support legislative and funding efforts relating to housing preservation and acquisition. 5) Support legislation that reduces the cost of housing. 6) Support legislation that helps reduce the cost of rent. 7) Support legislation that reduces the cost of home insurance. 4)8)
Funding Priorities:
1) Support for soft-story seismic retrofits.
2) Funding for innovative programs to prevent displacement and address hazardous housing conditions.
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 which includes the Guaranteed Income Program and other related programs.
Proposed 2025 Legislative Platform Page 3 of 4
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 which includes efforts to ensure transit agencies continue to deliver services.
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.
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.
Public Safety
Policy Priorities:
1) Support automated speed enforcement legislation.
2) Support disaster preparedness, training, response, and resilience efforts especially related to our vulnerable communities..
3) 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. 4) Support efforts that reimagine public safety and incorporate community-based organizations to help address problems.
Funding Priorities:
1) Support funding opportunities for alternative traffic enforcement efforts.
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.Support legislative efforts that support building decarbonization which includes minimizing both embodied carbon (from construction materials) and operational carbon (from energy and water use during operation).
2) Support legislative efforts relating to electric bicycles: legislation to subsidize electric bicycle purchase.
2)3) Support legislative efforts to enhance electric vehicle infrastructure , in coordination with electric vehicle subsidies.
4) Measures that support regional planning for a climate change strategy which includes sea level rise.
5) Support legislative efforts the help bring down the cost of electricity and other utilities. 6) Support legislative efforts to create funding streams to address climate change and to help reduce air pollution.
7) Support legislative efforts that seek
3)8) Support the extension and reauthorization of the Cap and Trade program.
Proposed 2025 Legislative Platform Page 4 of 4
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 residential and commercial locations.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 pots.
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 may report out in April while they are on Spring Recess and in November or December when Session has concluded.
Due to the ever-changing nature of legislation in Sacramento and Washington, TPA can also provide monthly updates which can be shared with the City Council.