Cal Cities Action Alert
Appropriations Committees
Action Requested: Call the Senate and Assembly Appropriations Committees ASAP to support or oppose Cal Cities’ priority bills. Links to each bill, including sample letters, are also included in the summaries below. Asterisks indicate a Cal Cities-sponsored bill.
Background: The Legislature moves all bills with fiscal implications through the Appropriations Committees twice a year, which will determine if a bill is heard on the floor of either house. If you have any questions, please contact your regional public affairs manager.
ASSEMBLY APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE
Call the Assembly Appropriations Committee Today!
SUPPORT BILLS
*AB 1708 (Solache) HHAP Pathways for Cities Act.
This measure would increase access to state homelessness funding for cities with populations under 300,000.
*AB 1866 (Rogers) California Disaster Assistance Act: minimum damages thresholds.
This measure would ensure that the state considers local agencies that do not qualify for federal disaster aid (FEMA) when allocating assistance after a state-declared emergency. *AB 1941 (Gonzalez, M.) Organized Metal Theft.
This measure would increase organized metal theft penalties to a misdemeanor or a felony.
AB 1942 (Bauer-Kahan) E-Bike: Registration and License Plates.
This measure would require Class 2 and 3 e-Bikes to be registered with the Department of Motor Vehicles to be issued a license plate that must be affixed to the rear of the bicycles.
AB 1961 (Ahrens) Civil Actions: Protective Orders: Workplace Violence.
This measure would provide employers with tools to address threats targeting employees.
The measure would not require public agencies to implement a new program or higher level of service, but would allow agencies to respond to workplace threats. *AB 2296 (Papan) Planning and zoning: housing element: regional housing needs allocation.
This measure would provide cities with the ability to begin their housing elements six months earlier than the existing law and provide greater certainty in the review process. *AB 2517 (Calderon) Fire safety: Fire Hazard Severity Zone (FHSZ) maps.
This measure would improve the FHSZ designation process conducted by the state to ensure consistent and timely updates for local FHSZ maps to inform wildfire mitigation efforts.
AB 2640 (Hadwick) Commission on State Mandates: state mandates.
This measure will authorize the State Controller to allow a local government to offset any reduced reimbursement from other unpaid reimbursement claims, preventing the state from clawing back funds while still owing debts to that same local government.
Agenda Item: 11E
OPPOSE BILLS
AB 1564 (Ahrens) Employer-Employee Relations: Confidential Communications.
This measure would restrict a public employer’s ability to conduct internal investigations to the detriment of employees’ and the public’s safety, adding new costs and liability.
AB 1820 (Schiavo) Electric Vehicle Charging Station: Fees.
This measure would establish caps on fees that a city may recover in costs when permitting residential and commercial EVCS projects.
AB 2170 (Boerner) California Environmental Quality Act: notices and hearings: translations.
This measure would require written translation of CEQA project notices and oral translation for CEQA hearings, where, if there is a misinterpretation by the public, the public agency’s decision would be invalidated.
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE
Call the Senate Appropriations Committee Today!
SUPPORT BILLS
SB 936 (Blakespear) Nitrous Oxide.
This measure would prohibit the sale and distribution of a nitrous oxide container that can hold more than 8 grams of nitrous oxide, any device that allows nitrous oxide to be inhaled for recreational purposes, and the sale of food flavored and scented nitrous oxide.
SB 1167 (Blakespear) E-Bikes: Reclassification.
This measure would reclassify higher speed e-bikes as mopeds and impose retail and manufacturing requirements when advertising e-bikes.
OPPOSE BILLS
SB 866 (Blakespear) Housing Element Mandate: Homelessness.
This measure would require all but 14 cities in the state to add extensive and burdensome homelessness reporting requirements to their housing elements. This bill would specifically target cities that do not have direct access to state homelessness funding.
SB 1013 (Cervantes) Automatic License Plate Readers (ALPR).
This measure would prohibit local agencies from sharing information obtained through an ALPR with any federal law enforcement agency and require public agencies to only hold data for 30 days if the infraction is not on a HOT list. Cal Cities is opposed unless amended.
SB 1319 (Durazo) California Public Records Act (CPRA): Public Investment Funds.
This measure would significantly expand the information subject to disclosure under the CPRA related to public pension funds’ investments in alternative investment vehicles. In doing so, this measure would substantially limit investment options for CalPERS, CalSTRS, and county retirement systems and ultimately raise annual contribution costs for all California public agencies and their employees.