City of Sacramento
Law and Legislation Committee Report
915 I Street Sacramento, CA 95814
www.cityofsacramento.org
File ID: 2023-01065 10/17/2023 Consent Item 2.
Legislative Advocacy Correspondence
File ID: 2023-01065
Location: Citywide
Recommendation: Receive and file.
Contact: Consuelo Hernandez, Director of Governmental Affairs, (916) 808-7395, [email protected], Office of the City Manager Presenter: None
Attachments:
1-Legislative Advocacy Correspondence September _2023
Date Bill/Subject Author Description of Issue Position Notes 9/25/23 SB 51 Bradford Cannabis Provisional Licenses: Local Equity Applicants Request for Governor's
signature
9/25/23 SB 669 Cortese Veterinarians
Request for Governor's
signature
9/22/23 AB 28 Gabriel Firearms and Ammunition: Excise Tax Request for Governor's
signature
9/22/23 AB 40 Rodriguez Emergency Medical Services
Request for Governor's
signature
9/22/23 AB 316 Aguiar-Curry Autonomous Vehicles
Request for Governor's
signature
9/22/23 AB 350 Aguiar-Curry Regional Transportation Plans: SACOG Request for Governor's
signature
9/22/23 AB 645 Friedman Vehicles: Speed Safety Pilot Program Request for Governor's
signature
9/22/23 AB 1052 McCarty Sacramento Regional Transit District's Ballot Authority Request for Governor's
signature
9/22/23 AB 1078 Jackson Instructional Materials and Curriculum: Diversity Request for Governor's
signature
9/22/23 ACA 13 Ward Voting Thresholds
Request for Governor's
signature
9/22/23 SB 659 Ashby California Water Supply Solutions Act of 2023 Request for Governor's
signature
8/28/23 AB 316 Aguiar-Curry Autonomous Vehicles Support Position Letters 2023-2024
8/28/23 ACA 13 Ward Voting Thresholds Support
7/11/23 AB 223 Ward Confidential Proceedings Support
7/11/23 AB 783 Ting Single-Use Restrooms Support
7/11/23 AB 957 Wilson Family Law and Gender Identity Support 7/11/23 AB 994 Jackson Law Enforcement: Social Media Support 7/11/23 AB 1078 Jackson Instructional Materials and Curriculum: Diversity Support 7/11/23 SB 372 Menjivar DCA Licensee and Registration Records Support 7/11/23 SB 760 Muratsuchi School Facilities: All Gender Restrooms Support 7/10/23 AB 1052 McCarty Sacramento Regional Transit District's Ballot Authority Support 7/7/23 AB 645 Friedman Vehicles: Speed Safety Pilot Program Support 6/23/23 AB 40 Rodriguez Emergency Medical Services Support 6/21/23 AB 28 Gabriel Firearms and Ammunition: Excise Tax Support 6/9/23 SB 407 Wiener Foster Care: Resource Families Support 6/9/23 SB 659 Ashby California Water Supply Solutions Act of 2023 Support 6/9/23 SB 511 Blakespear Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventories Support 6/9/23 AB 350 Aguiar-Curry Regional Transportation Plans: SACOG Support 5/23/23 Regulation Change re the Striped Bass Slot Limit Coalition letter to California Fish and
Game Commission
4/11/23 Budget request to fund 30x30 Support
4/11/23 SB 511 Blakespear Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventories Support 4/4/23 AB 735 Berman Workforce Development: Utility Careers Support 3/28/23 AB 285 Luz Rivas Pupil Instruction: Science Requirements: Climate Change Support 3/27/23
Budget request to fund the Local Equitable Access to Food (LEAF) Program Support Coalition letter
3/21/23
Budget request for Continued Assistance for Customer Water and Wastewater Arrearages Accrued During the Pandemic Support Coalition letter 3/21/23 AB 333 Nguyen Abandoned Vehicle Service Authorities Licenses and Permits Support 3/6/23 AB 350 Aguiar-Curry Regional Transportation Plans: SACOG Support
September 22, 2023
The Honorable Gavin Newsom
Governor, State of California
1021 O Street, Suite 9000
Sacramento, CA 95814
RE: SB 51 (BRADFORD): CANNABIS PROVISIONAL LICENSES: LOCAL EQUITY APPLICANTS – REQUEST FOR SIGNATURE
Dear Governor Newsom:
On behalf of the City of Sacramento, I write to respectfully request that you sign SB 51 (Bradford). SB 51 would authorize the Department of Cannabis Control (DCC), until January 1, 2031, to issue a provisional license to a local equity applicant, as defined, for retailer activities if specified conditions are met.
SB 51 is a critical piece of legislation for cannabis social equity retailers, as it would extend the state’s provisional licensing program at a time when many local jurisdictions have only recently begun granting drug war survivors the opportunity to obtain cannabis retail licenses. Without this critical legislation, the State of California’s provisional licensing program will be terminated, and economic and business opportunities for thousands of equity applicants throughout the state will be cut off.
For the reason stated above, I respectfully request you sign SB 51 into law. Should you
have any questions about our support, please contact Consuelo Hernandez, Director of Governmental Affairs, at 916-808-7395 or [email protected].
Sincerely,
Katie Valenzuela
Chair, Law and Legislation Committee
September 22, 2023
The Honorable Gavin Newsom
Governor, State of California
1021 O Street, Suite 9000
Sacramento, CA 95814
RE: SB 669 (CORTESE): VETERINARIANS – REQUEST FOR SIGNATURE
Dear Governor Newsom:
On behalf of the City of Sacramento, I write to respectfully request that you sign SB 669 (Cortese). SB 669 would allow veterinarians, at their discretion, to entrust their highly trained registered veterinary technicians (RVTs) to provide vaccination clinics at remote locations without a veterinarian present.
Unvaccinated pets are a public health and public safety threat that has only grown with reduced access caused by a national shortage of veterinarians. That shortage disproportionately impacts California’s underserved and unhoused populations who may live in areas without a vet or who may not be able to afford the ever-increasing cost of veterinary care.
California’s RVTs have administered vaccines safely for years. The California Veterinary Medical Association, the California Registered Veterinary Technicians Association and the Veterinary Medical Board of California all agree that RVTS have the training, skills, and experience necessary for this routine task.
SB 669 does not break new ground or run afoul of federal laws regulating the prescription and administration of controlled drugs. It simply allows RVTs to establish a Veterinary Client Patient Relationship in order to administer these legally required vaccines, thereby reducing the costs for providers in private and public clinics in order to increase access to low- or no-cost vaccinations.
For the reasons stated above, I respectfully request you sign SB 669 into law. Should you have any questions about our support, please contact Consuelo Hernandez, Director of Governmental Affairs, at 916-808-7395 or
[email protected].
Sincerely,
Katie Valenzuela
Chair, Law and Legislation Committee
September 22, 2023
The Honorable Gavin Newsom
Governor, State of California
1021 O Street, Suite 9000
Sacramento, CA 95814
RE: AB 28 (GABRIEL): FIREARMS AND AMMUNITION: EXCISE TAX – REQUEST
FOR SIGNATURE
Dear Governor Newsom:
On behalf of the City of Sacramento (City), I write to respectfully request that you sign Assembly Bill 28 (Gabriel). AB 28 would establish an excise tax on licensed firearms dealers, firearms manufacturers, and ammunition vendors. The revenue raised from this tax would provide funding for lifesaving violenc e intervention initiatives and related gun violence prevention, education, and research purposes.
AB 28 would provide a permanent and sustainable funding source for essential violence prevention programs and help protect communities. The City’s leaders understand the critical need to reduce youth and gang violence. We have our own Office of Violence Prevention (OVP), which was created to respond to increased gang activity in the City. OVP coordinates a comprehensive effort in the City to address youth and gang violence through the implementation of four key initiativ es:
• The Gang Prevention and Intervention Taskforce is a coalition comprised of stakeholders representing a broad range of sectors including service providers, health care providers, school administrators, faith leaders, law enforcement personnel, and elected officials. The Taskforce strives to encourage cross- collaboration and align all entities under a unified violence prevention framework.
• Gang Prevention and Intervention Taskforce Grant Program awards community-based organizations funding to deliver services proven to curb gang violence.
• The Peacemaker Fellowship Program aims to disrupt the cycles of violence by enrolling individuals who are the most likely perpetrators and/or victims of gun violence into an 18-month intensive program.
• The Violence Reduction Summit brings together violence prevention service providers with the goal of building cross-sector awareness and improving service coordination.
AB 28 would enable the City to continue these efforts with a reliable source of funding.
For the reasons stated above, I respectfully request you sign AB 28 into law. Should you have any questions about our support, please contact Consuelo Hernandez, Director of Governmental Affairs, at 916-808-7395 or
[email protected].
Sincerely,
Katie Valenzuela
Chair, Law and Legislation
Committee
September 22, 2023
The Honorable Gavin Newsom
Governor, State of California
1021 O Street, Suite 9000
Sacramento, CA 95814
RE: AB 40 (RODRIGUEZ): EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES – REQUEST FOR
SIGNATURE
Dear Governor Newsom:
On behalf of the City of S acramento (City), I wr ite to respectfully request that y ou sign Assembly Bill 40 (R odriguez). AB 40 would require every local EMS agency to establish a standard for ambulance patient offload time and require a protocol to reduce ambulance patient offload time, should it ex ceed the statewide standard.
Extensive “wall times” have been a problem for our first responders for decades. This occurs when an ambulance arrives at a hospital and must wait for the hospital to assume responsibility of care for the patient that exceeds a locally es tablished patient offload time interval. Wall times result in untimely care for patients experiencing an emergency and prevents ambulance personnel from responding to other emergencies.
The ambulance unit and staff that are waiting are effectively out of service, decreasing advanced life support coverage in the community, which can increase response time for subsequent critical cases.
According to the Emergency Medical Services Authority, each year, roughly 70,000 Californians wait over an hour for an ambulance gurney and before their care is assumed by emergency department staff and moved to a hospital bed. Additionally, the National Association of Emergency Medical Services Physicians (NAEMSP) reported that offload delays lead to delays in definitive care, poor pain control, delayed time to antibiotics, increased morbidity, and possibly even mortality. Ultimately, there is a reasonable concern that ambulance offload delay will compromise patient safety.
The City supports multidisciplinary collaboration with first responders and health agencies to better serve our communities. AB 40 is a critically needed measure to protect the health of transported patients, to prepare for surges in medical emergencies and to free up ambulances and first responder crews to offer aid to additional emergencies in communities.
For the reasons stated above, I respectfully request that you sign AB 40 into law.
Should you have any questions about our support, please contact Consuelo Hernandez, Director of Governmental Affairs, at 916-808-7395 or [email protected].
Sincerely,
Sincerely,
Katie Valenzuela
Chair, Law and Legislation
Committee
September 20, 2023
The Honorable Gavin Newsom
Governor, State of California
1021 O Street, Suite 9000
Sacramento, CA 95814
RE
: AB 316 (AGUIAR-CURRY): AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES – REQUEST FOR
SIGNATURE
Dear Governor Newsom
On behalf of the City of Sacramento (City), I write to respectfully reques t that you signof Assembly Bill 316 (Aguiar-Curry). AB 319 would require a trained human operator in autonomous vehicles (AVs) with a gross vehicle weight (GVW) of over 10,000 pounds on public roads. The bill would also require the manufacturers of AVs with a GVW of over 10,000 pounds operating under a testing permit to report collision and disengagement date to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), and require DMV, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to submit a specified evaluation of AV technology and its impact on public safety and employment on the transportation sector by January 1, 2029, or five year
s after commencement of testing, whichever is later.
AB 316 would require that a human can respond to unanticipated driving situations and emergencies. Heavier vehicles pose a greater risk to people outside them and as we continue to see increases in crashes, increased injuries and severity of injury to people outside the vehicle, we need to think about objectiv es in transportation safety. Over 300 people died on the City’s streets in the last 10 years. AB 316 will allow continued focus on preventing severe and fatal crashes as the technology continues to develop.
Additionally, the bill includes crash and safety data reporting requirements, which is very much needed.
For the reasons stated above, I respectfully request that you sign AB 316. Should you have any questions about our support, please contact Consuelo Hernandez, Director of Governmental Affairs, at 916-808-7395 or [email protected].
S
incerely,
K
atie Valenzuela
Chair, Law and Legislation Committee
September 22, 2023
The Honorable Gavin Newsom
Governor, State of California
1021 O Street, Suite 9000
Sacramento, CA 95814
RE: AB 350 (AGUIAR-CURRY): REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION PLANS:
SACRAMENTO AREA COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENTS – REQUEST FOR
SIGNATURE
Dear Governor Newsom:
On behalf of the City of Sacramento (City), I write to respectfully request that you sign Assembly Bill 350 (Aguiar-Curry). AB 350 would facilitate greater interregional collaboration by more closely aligning the Sacramento Area Council of Government’s (SACOG) sustainable communities strategy update with those of its regional partners, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and the San Joaquin Council of Governments (SJCOG), both for SACOG’s current plan update and into the future.
MTC, SJCOG and SACOG collectively make up the Northern California Megaregion, which includes 16 counties and 136 cities with a total population of nearly 11 million.
Among other joint efforts, the regions have been collaborating to advance interregional projects that will benefit quality of life, transportation, and commerce throughout Northern California. By more closely aligning the timing of SACOG’s next s ustainable communities strategy update with those of the MTC and the SJCOG, AB 350 will facilitate better interregional planning and encourage the development of shared priorities across the Megaregion that support improved quality of life and continued economic growth throughout the Megaregion.
AB 350 will also allow SACOG more time to meaningfully collaborate and iterate with its partner agencies and it will provide the opportunity for additional robust outreach and engagement of under-resourced communities well beyond what is required by law.
This additional time will ensure that the technical work of the plan does not diminish the
important work of engaging member jurisdictions, regional partners, community-based organizations, and the public on what this plan means for the future of the region and how we implement it together.
For that reason, I respectfully request that you sign AB 350 into law. Should you have any questions about our support, please contact Consuelo Hernandez, Director of Governmental Affairs, at 916-808-7395 or [email protected].
Sincerely,
Katie Valenzuela
Chair, Law and Legislation Committee
September 22, 2023
The Honorable Gavin Newsom
Governor, State of California
1021 O Street, Suite 9000
Sacramento, CA 95814
RE: AB 645 (FRIEDMAN): VEHICLES: SPEED SAFETY PILOT PROGRAM –
REQUEST FOR SIGNATURE
Dear Governor Newsom:
On behalf of the City of Sacramento, I write to respectfully request that you sign AB 645 (Friedman). AB 645 would authorize pilot programs to test the efficacy and equity impacts of speed safety systems.
Through Sacramento’s Vision Zero work, we know that driving at unsafe speeds is the top reason for our traffic fatalities and serious injuries. Traditionally, there are two ways to address driving speeds: enforcement and engineering. Re-engineering our streets costs a minimum of $12-20 million a mile. It will take the City decades to re-engineer our streets and we continue to have one of the highest fatality rates in Califor nia. The other way to curb driving at unsafe speeds is through enforcement. Speed Safety c
ameras can help us curb speeding and work to remove bias from this tool.
Speed safety cameras are not legal in California but are in many other states and from those other states, we know it can be an effective tool. This bill includes key equity and bias provisions to establish a framework for a more equitable process. It requires cities to work collaboratively with relevant local organizations, including racial equity, privacy protection, and economic justice organizations, i
n developing the speed safety system
use policy, which will include where the cameras will ultimately be located. This bill also requires the program be operated out of departments of transportation (in our case, Public Works), not police departments.
For the reasons stated above, I respectfully request you sign AB 645 into law. Should you have any questions about our support, please contact Consuelo Hernandez , Director of Governmental Affairs, at 916-808-7395 or
[email protected].
Sincerely,Sincerely,
Katie Valenzuela
Chair, Law and Legislation Committee
September 22, 2023
The Honorable Gavin Newsom
Governor, State of California
1021 O Street, Suite 9000
Sacramento, CA 95814
RE: AB 1052 SACRAMENTO REGIONAL TRANSIT DISTRICT’S BALLOT AUTHORITY – REQUEST FOR SIGNATURE
Dear Governor Newsom:
On behalf of the City of Sacramento (City), I write to respectfully request that you sign AB 1052 (McCarty). As you may know, many transit agencies throughout California are facing difficult financial situations. Although the Sacramento Regional Transit District (SacRT) is perhaps in better fiscal condition than other transportation agencies in California, it too continues to face reduced ridership and higher costs originally driven by the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of those negative impacts from COVID continue today, along with the lasting societal changes the pandemic caused.
We believe that a robust, efficient, and cost-effective transit system benefits all people within the service area of that system, but we also recognize that some projects do provide more benefits to a subset of the residents living within SacRT’s service area.
However, currently, if SacRT wants to place a measure on the local ballot to increase a sales or use tax, or property tax, that measure must cover our entire service territory.
In the wake of these changes and the ongoing financial uncertainty, AB 1052 would give SacRT the authority to ask a subset of its customers to support paying for those specific projects that more directly benefit and impact their particular area. Many much- needed community and SacRT projects are more localized, impacting and delivering the most benefits to a more geographically specific region as opposed to the entire wide- spread, 440-square mile SacRT service area.
There is no doubt that efficient public transit provides tremendous regional benefits. It reduces traffic, improves air quality, boosts a region’s economic growth, creates jobs, and connects communities. It also offers residents a cost-effective way to get to and from school, work, medical appointments and essential services. In addition, it provides mobility equity, by providing access to unlimited opportunities and services so all members of our community can connect, thrive and prosper.
For the reasons stated above, I respectfully request that you sign AB 1052 into law.
Should you have any questions about our support, please contact Consuelo Hernandez, Director of Governmental Affairs, at 916-808-7395 or [email protected].
Sincerely,
Katie Valenzuela
Chair, Law and Legislation Committee
September 22, 2023
The Honorable Gavin Newsom
Governor, State of California
1021 O Street, Suite 9000
Sacramento, CA 95814
RE: AB 1078 (JACKSON): INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS AND CURRICULUM:
DIVERSITY - REQUEST FOR SIGNATURE
Dear Governor Newsom:
On behalf of the City of Sacramento, I write to respectfully request that you sign AB 1078 (Jackson). AB 1078 would require the State Board of Education (SBE) to develop, by July 1, 2024, a policy for local educational agencies (LEAs) to follow before removing any instructional materials or ceasing to teach any curriculum.
Education is a fundamental right under the California Constitution. Ac curate and inclusive education is essential to ensure the educational success of a ll pupils, especially LGBTQ pupils and Black, Indigenous, and other pupils of color. This includes through honest discussions of racism, the history of slavery in our society and in California, and the diversity of gender and sexual orientation that reflects the lived reality of those pupils. We support students’ right to an accurate and thorough education.
For these reasons, I respectfully request you sign AB 1078 into law. Should you have any questions about our support, please contact Consuelo Hernandez, Director of
Governmental Affairs, at 916-808-7395 or [email protected].
S
incerely,
K
atie Valenzuela
Chair, Law and Legislation Committee
September 22, 2023
The Honorable Governor Newsom
Governor, State of California
1021 O Street, Suite 9000
Sacramento, CA 95814
RE: ACA 13 (WARD): VOTING THRESHOLDS - REQUEST FOR SIGNATURE Dear Governor Newsom:
On behalf of the City of Sacramento (City), I write to respectfully reques t that you sign ACA 13 (Ward). ACA 13 would require any constitutional amendment proposed by initiative, which increases a vote requirement for future measures, be approved by the same proportion of votes cast as the measure would require. The measure would also preserve the right of cities to place advisory questions of the ballot to ask voter s their opinion on issues.
Under current law a simple majority of voters (50% plus 1 vote) may vote to require a super majority (for example, 66 and 2/3%) voter approval for future ac tion. This framework has given disproportionate power to a small number of voters, with a little more than 1/3 of the voters being able to prevent the enactment of laws that a majority of voters agree upon.
In fact, at the local level this has made it unnecessarily difficult to pas s revenue measures dedicated to critical services such as homelessness and housing, fire, public safety, and roads. For example, from 2001-2018, city revenue measures with a 2/3 vote requirement have enjoyed only a 51% passage rate, compared to a 70% passage rate of all local revenue measures over the same period of time. The status quo has prevented cities from providing desperately needed services.
ACA 13 addresses this issue by simply requiring any initiative that enhances a v oter requirement to pass by that same voter requirement. ACA 13 is good government, fair
proposal that protects the principles of democracy and majority rule. ACA 13 protects the democratic process in local communities by ensuring that a simple majority of statewide voters cannot restrict the will of a supermajority of voters in a local community.
For the reasons stated above, I respectfully request that you sign ACA 13 into law.
Should you have any questions about our support, please contact Consuelo Hernandez, Director of Governmental Affairs, at 916-808-7395 or [email protected].
Sincerely,
K
atie Valenzuela
Chair, Law and Legislation Committee
September 22, 2023
The Honorable Gavin Newsom
Governor, State of California
1021 O Street, Suite 9000
Sacramento, CA 95814
RE: SB 659 (ASHBY): GROUNDWATER RECHARGE – REQUEST FOR
SIGNATURE
Dear Governor Newsom:
On behalf of the City of Sacramento, I write to respectfully request that you sign SB 659 (Ashby), a measure related to advancing groundwater recharge.
By way of background, the City delivers about 37 billion gallons of potable water per year. Our over one-half million customers are in a 100 square-mile service area in Sacramento, and our water system includes two water treatment plants, 12 storage reservoirs, over 25 municipal groundwater wells, and over 1,700 miles of pipeline. The City is committed to adapting to climate change in a multitude of ways, one of which is more diversification of our conjunctive use program while continuing to ensure that our residents are supplied with high quality reliable water. Water supply quality and reliability is also essential to the City’s continued growth and development. As a result of these and other climate change relates commitments, it is critically important that California chart a path to reliable water supplies that addresses the root challenge faced in the state.
That root challenge is the declining ability of the statewide water system to meet the changes coming from increased temperatures, wild precipitation swings, and an unreliable spring and summer snow melt. In the immediate future these changes will result in a loss of surface water approximating 10 million acre-feet annually, which is the equivalent to twice the use in all homes, business, schools, public facilities, and parks
combined in the state. On a statewide basis, enhancing groundwater recharge can significantly mitigate the detrimental effects of these changes and can do so while advancing our present-day values of equity and environmental stewardship.
SB 659 will require the Department of Water Resources to identify ways to advance groundwater recharge. This will support your administrations water resilience strategy, water supply strategy, and 30 by 2030 goal and allow our water system to better adapt to the detrimental changes it is faced with.
For the reasons stated above, I respectfully request you sign SB 659 into law. Should you have any questions about our support, please contact Brian Sanders, Government Affairs Program Specialist with the City’s Department of Utilities at [email protected], or (916) 808-1416.
Sincerely,
Katie Valenzuela
Chair, Law and Legislation Committee