FAIRFAX TOWN COUNCIL MEETING
STAFF REPORT
AGENDA ITEM #8.j
MEETING DATE June 3, 2026
PREPARED FOR Mayor and Town Council
PREPARED BY Christine Foster, Assistant to the Town Manager/Deputy Clerk SUBJECT Authorize the Mayor to Sign Letters Opposing SB 866 (Blakespear) – Housing Element Homelessness Mandates, and AB 1383 (McKinnor) – Public Employees’ Retirement Benefits
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommend that the Town Council approve the attached letters of opposition to SB 866 (Blakespear) and AB 1383 (McKinnor), and authorize the Mayor to transmit the letters to each bill’s author and the Town’s state legislative representatives.
BACKGROUND
The League of California Cities (Cal Cities) North Bay Division has requested that member cities consider opposing two state bills: SB 866 (Blakespear) and AB 1383 (McKinnor). Cal Cities has provided sample opposition letters for both bills, which staff has adapted for the Town’s use and are attached to this report.
DISCUSSION
SB 866, authored by Senator Blakespear, would require cities that do not receive direct state homelessness funding through the Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention (HHAP) program to add extensive homelessness reporting requirements to their Housing Elements.
Since 2019, HHAP has provided state funding to the 14 largest cities in California, all 58 counties, and 44 Continuums of Care. The remaining 469 cities in California—including the Town of Fairfax—do not receive direct HHAP funding. To receive HHAP funding, recipients must submit regional plans that include system performance metrics. SB 866 would impose those same performance metrics as a new Housing Element requirement, but only on the cities that receive no HHAP funding.
SB 866 would require the Town to report on homelessness systems operated by counties, the State, and private entities—systems the Town does not control—as a new Housing Element obligation, without any accompanying state funding. The Town Council may consider opposing SB 866 because it imposes unfunded, unworkable mandates on small cities that already receive no direct state homelessness support.
AB 1383 would roll back key reforms of the Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act (PEPRA), increasing pensionable compensation caps, lowering the retirement age for public safety employees, and creating a new pension tier. PEPRA reforms have saved an estimated $5.8 billion to date and are projected to save $26.5 billion over ten years. The Town Council may consider opposing AB 1383 because reversing 2 these reforms would increase employer contribution rates and long-term pension liabilities at a time when cities are already facing fiscal pressure.
GENERAL PLAN CONSISTENCY
Approving a letter of legislative opposition does not require a General Plan consistency finding. The action supports the Town's broader interest in protecting local planning authority and fiscal flexibility.
CEQA AND CLIMATE ACTION PLAN CONSISTENCY
Approval of a letter of legislative opposition is not a project subject to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15378(b)(5), which exempts organizational or administrative activities of governments that will not result in direct or indirect physical changes in the environment.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no fiscal impact to the Town from approving these letters. Should either bill be enacted, both would impose unfunded obligations, reporting mandates under SB 866 and increased pension costs under AB 1383 with no corresponding state funding provided.
ATTACHMENTS
A – Proposed Letter of Opposition to SB 866
B – Proposed Letter of Opposition to AB 1383
ATTACHMENT A
T O W N O F F A I R F A X
142 BOLINAS ROAD, FAIRFAX, CALIFORNIA 94930
PHONE (415) 453 - 1584 / FAX (415) 453 - 1618
June 3, 2026
The Honorable Senator Mike McGuire
Member, California State Senate
RE: SB 866 (Blakespear) Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention program:
housing element.
Notice of OPPOSITION
Dear Senator Mike McGuire,
The Town of Fairfax must respectfully oppose SB 866 (Blakespear). SB 866 would require all but 14 cities to add extensive homelessness reporting requirements to their housing elements, targeting cities that do not receive state funding to address homelessness.
Currently, the state’s flagship homelessness grant program, the Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention (HHAP) program, allocates funding to all 58 counties, 44 Continuums of Care (CoCs), and the 14 cities in California with populations over 300,000. To receive HHAP funding, grantees must submit a regionally coordinated homelessness action plan to the Housing and Community Development (HCD) Department that includes specific system performance metrics.
SB 866 would copy these system performance metrics from the HHAP regional plans and impose them as a separate reporting requirement only on cities not receiving state funding – forcing them to track these metrics in their housing elements. Some of the metrics are nearly impossible for cities to collect. For example, the bill requires cities to share information about the number of people who become homeless after exiting institutional settings, including jails, prisons, and hospitals. These are systems operated by counties, the state, or private entities, not cities.
Additionally, some of the data required under SB 866 is already collected through existing systems.
CoCs receive federal funding to conduct annual point-in-time counts to gather key homelessness data. This data includes the number of individuals who are unhoused and if an individual has been unhoused long enough to be considered chronically homeless. Despite this information being collected and publicly shared by CoCs, SB 866 shifts the responsibility for collecting and reporting it to cities, without providing us with any additional funding to do so.
The data requirements in SB 866 would create significant administrative burdens for communities that already do not receive state financial support to address homelessness. The challenge of collecting and reporting this data may
jeopardize our ability to achieve a compliant housing element and potentially subject us to legal action by the state.
Our town is also concerned that this measure would create siloed data. SB 866 would require over 400 cities to collect and report data independently through their housing elements, while counties and larger cities continue to do so through regional plans. It is unclear how HCD would synthesize this data into meaningful, actionable policy at the statewide level.
DRAFT
ATTACHMENT A
Although we understand the goal of increasing transparency around the efforts of smaller cities to address the state’s homelessness crisis, it can’t be at the expense of burdening the smallest cities with housing element requirements that will not be equally applied to other local governments.
Each year, the Legislature introduces bills that significantly complicate cities’ efforts to secure housing element certification. These multi-year planning efforts are already complex, timeconsuming, and expensive. SB 866 would add yet another layer of reporting requirements – through a non-reimbursable state mandate – placing a disproportionate burden on smaller cities.
The Town of Fairfax respectfully opposes SB 866 (Blakespear).
Sincerely,
Stephanie Hellman
Mayor
Town of Fairfax
cc. Assembly Member Damon Connoly, via electronic portal Nancy Hall Bennett League Regional Public Affairs Manager, [email protected] League of California Cities, [email protected]
DRAFT
ATTACMENT B
T O W N O F F A I R F A X
142 BOLINAS ROAD, FAIRFAX, CALIFORNIA 94930
PHONE (415) 453 - 1584 / FAX (415) 453 - 1618
June 3, 2026
The Honorable Tina McKinnor
Chair, Assembly Committee on Public Employment and Retirement 1020 N Street, Room 153
Sacramento, CA 95814
RE: AB 1383 (McKinnor) Public employees’ retirement benefits.
OPPOSE (As Amended May 13, 2026)
Dear Assembly Member McKinnor,
The Town of Fairfax must respectfully oppose AB 1383, which would make several significant changes to public employees’ retirement benefits and lead to increased pension liability for public agencies.
The Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act (PEPRA) was designed to address a wide range of issues involving public employee pensions and was a major step in helping local agencies better manage future pension costs and prevent the California Public Employees Retirement System from sliding into insolvency. AB 1383 would upend many of the reforms put in place in 2013 by PEPRA.
While we recognize and appreciate the intent of the bill to support recruitment and retention of essential public safety professionals, the bill would increase mandated costs without funding. The potential cost of this bill comes at a time of uncertainty. The fiscal volatility in the market compounded with the increased benefit costs from this bill could lead to serious cost increases for local government.
While our town supports competitive recruitment and retention for all public employees, AB 1383 represents an unfunded mandate that fails to balance sustainable retirement benefits with taxpayer fairness and long-term financial stability.
For these reasons, the Town of Fairfax respectfully opposes AB 1383.
Sincerely,
Stephanie Hellman
Mayor
Town of Fairfax
Cc: The Honorable Tina McKinnor, Chair, Assembly Committee on Public Employment and Retirement, California Legislature Position Letter Portal Honorable Members, Senate Labor, Public Employment and Retirement Committee, California Legislature Position Letter Portal
State Senator Mike McGuire, via electronic portal
Assembly Member Damon Connoly, via electronic portal
Nancy Hall Bennett League Regional Public Affairs Manager, [email protected] League of California Cities, [email protected]
DRAFT