DATE: February 17, 2026
TO: Mayor and Members of the City Council
VIA: Stefan Chatwin, City Manager
FROM: Marlene Subhashini, Assistant City Manager
Dane Hutchings, Founder + CEO, California Public Policy Group (CPPG)
DEPARTMENT: City Manager
SUBJECT: 2026 STATE LEGISLATIVE PLATFORM AND POLICY
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the City Council, by Minute Order, consider and approve the 2026 State Legislative Platform and Policy.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
State legislation has the potential to have direct and significant impacts on a city’s legal and regulatory authority, as well as its fiscal, operational, and environmental stability.
Active legislative engagement protects and enhances the interests of Foster City’s residents and businesses. A legislative platform and corresponding policy enables the City to proactively engage on a wide variety of state legislative proposals that may impact the City’s ability to operate effectively. The platform conveys to legislators, policymakers, and the public where the City stands on important policy issues and legislative proposals.
On December 18, 2023, the City Council adopted Minute Order No. 1954, approving the 2024 State Legislative Platform and Policy. At the time, staff noted that the legislative platform is a living document and recommended that the platform be reviewed and amended every other year in conjunction with the beginning of each two- year legislative session.
Platform updates are guided by staff feedback based on new Council priorities and any planning documents adopted by the City. Based on legislative trends and Council priorities for the community, staff worked with its legislative advocacy firm, California Public Policy Group (CPPG), to prepare an updated 2026 Legislative Platform and Policy document for Council consideration and adoption at the February 17 Council meeting.
Upon Council approval, the updated platform will assist staff and CPPG in responding swiftly to the rapidly changing nature of legislative proposals throughout the year.
Attachment 1 shows the clean version of the final 2026 Legislative Platform and Policy, and Attachment 2 shows the redlined version.
BACKGROUND
At its core, legislative advocacy involves working with individual lawmakers both within the City’s legislative district and throughout the state – committee staff, the Governor’s administration, and regulatory officials to support the City’s initiatives, goals, policies, and priorities.
A legislative platform is a set of guiding principles that reflects the overarching ideals and priorities of the City Council. Having a legislative platform is critical to the effectiveness of an overall legislative advocacy program as it provides broad policy statements that enables the City and its legislative advocacy firm to sift through the thousands of legislative proposals introduced each legislative session and identify those measures that fall within the scope of the platform. The practice of adopting a legislative platform and policy is commonplace for public agencies that wish to maintain a sustained and engaged presence in the State legislative process.
The platform comprises of policy statements, adopted by the City Council, that provide the framework for responding to legislative issues of importance in a timely manner. A “legislative policy” is the procedure or approved process of adopting positions that align with the spirit of the legislative platform.
For additional background information, please refer to the CPPG 2025 End-of-Year Report (Attachment 3) and prior City Council Staff Report (Link).
ANALYSIS
Based on the 2024 Legislative Platform and Policy, the City has been able to swiftly take positions on bills that are supported by the platform and policy statements. If bills do not clearly fall within the scope of the legislative platform, or if there is any ambiguity, or if staff think that the bill needs to be brought forward for Council discussion, then staff will do so on a case-by-case basis. However, when a bill falls clearly within the scope of the adopted platform statements, it allows staff, with the help of CPPG, to engage on the bill by taking a position without having to bring that particular bill to the entire Council. Councilmembers may also request that any legislation of interest—whether within or outside the scope of the platform—be brought forward for Council discussion.
Maintaining and updating the legislative platform is an important component for the City’s overall legislative advocacy program. As a living document, it is recommended that the City’s legislative platform be reviewed and amended every other year in conjunction with the beginning of each two-year legislative session. During each legislative session, staff works with CPPG to recommend updates to the platform based on emerging and ongoing legislative trends, locally identified issues that may require state policy reforms, Council’s annual strategic priorities, and other relevant factors to ensure the platform reflects the direction of the City Council.
Sustained engagement enables staff and by extension, CPPG, to update and reissue policy letters as legislation is amended, actively engage with the City’s legislative delegation and other stakeholders on legislation that the Council has adopted a position, as well as negotiate on bills and seek amendments in legislation to best position the City.
In alignment with the new legislative year, staff made some refinements to the legislative platform as explained below. Updates were made based on recurring meetings with City staff, legislative trends, Council priorities and any adopted Planning documents.
The following statements were added:
To advance the City’s sustainability goals as outlined in the City’s adopted Climate Action Plan.
To protect local agency tax and fee authority based upon trends seen in the 2025 legislative session.
To reflect legislative recommendations from the State Auditor in response to an audit of state housing element law.
To preserve local authority to promote safe electric bicycle use.
Some language was revised to improve clarity. No changes were made to the Legislative Policy.
Council Communication and Legislative Advocacy Process
Staff will continue to keep the full Council informed of the City’s position on legislation based on the adopted legislative platform. CPPG and staff will continue to provide monthly state legislative tracking documents outlining priority legislation, bill status, and the City’s adopted position. In addition, CPPG and staff will provide monthly written updates to the full Council during key state legislative deadlines throughout each year.
These updates are in addition to the comprehensive end-of-year report that is provided to the City.
Should Council review the list of positioned bills and wish to change its position, that item will be scheduled for discussion at a duly noticed public meeting. Following the meeting, a formal letter may be drafted and submitted to the relevant legislative policy committee to reflect the change in – or removal of – a policy position.
City staff, along with CPPG, will also provide formal legislative updates to the Council during a regularly scheduled Council meeting at least three (3) times a year.
Using the approved Legislative Platform as a guide, the Legislative Policy outlines the formal process for responding to legislative proposals in a streamlined manner as follows:
1. Once a determination is made that a legislative proposal may impact the City based on the Council-adopted Legislative Platform, a letter outlining the City’s position (support, support if amended, oppose, oppose unless amended) will be drafted for the Mayor’s signature.
2. If the Mayor is unavailable and when time is of the essence, the Vice Mayor will sign the position letter.
3. If a legislative issue is not addressed in the adopted Legislative Platform but impacts the City, staff will place the matter on a City Council meeting agenda for consideration.
4. The position letter will be sent to the bill’s author, the City’s legislative representatives, League of California Cities (CalCities), and other stakeholders as deemed appropriate.
5. A copy of the final letter will be transmitted to the full City Council from the City Manager’s Office.
In alignment with Council direction at the February 2, 2026 Council meeting, the position letters will continue to outline specific operational, financial and/or regulatory impacts of the proposed bill on the City and will be highlighted in the CPPG End of Year Report.
California Environmental Quality Act
The action proposed herein is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), pursuant to state CEQA Guidelines Section 15061 (b)(3).
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no fiscal impact associated with this effort.
CITY COUNCIL VISION, MISSION, AND VALUE/PRIORITY AREA
Smart Planning, Development, and the Local Economy
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment 1 – 2026 Draft State Legislative Platform and Policy – Clean Version Attachment 2 – 2026 Draft State Legislative Platform and Policy – Redlined Version Attachment 3 – CPPG 2025 End of Year Report