San Jose City Council
March 29, 2022

TO: HONORABLE MAYOR FROM: Sarah Zárate

AND CITY COUNCIL

SUBJECT: SPRING INTERGOVERNMENTAL DATE: March 14, 2022

RELATIONS REPORT

Approved Date
3/17/22

RECOMMENDATION

(a) Accept the Spring Intergovernmental Relations Report. (b) Adopt updated City of San José (City) advocacy priorities. (c) Reaffirm all City positions summarized in the 2022 Intergovernmental Relations Priority Legislation Log (Attachment A).
(d) Accept the 2022 Strategic Project List (Attachment B). (e) Adopt a City position on Assembly Bill (AB) 1944 (Lee), Brown Act Reform (Attachments D and E).

OUTCOME

The Administration will continue advocacy efforts to advance City priorities.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Spring Intergovernmental Relations Report provides an update on the City’s top advocacy priorities and outlines legislative positions for City Council reaffirmation. The Administration’s analysis includes:

 COVID-19 Vaccine Access, Outreach, and Prioritization and COVID-19 Response, Mitigation, and Recovery
o State Update:
 COVID-19 Sick Leave Extension
 California SMARTER Plan
 Governor’s January Budget Proposal: COVID-19 Vaccine Outreach Funding  Homelessness Funding
o State Update:
 Eviction Moratorium
 Governor’s January Budget Proposal: Homelessness Funding COUNCIL AGENDA: 3/29/22
FILE: 22-400
ITEM: 3.4

HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
March 14, 2022
Subject: Spring Intergovernmental Relations Report

 Funding to Advance Smart, Sustainable, and Reliable Infrastructure o Federal Update:
 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (H.R. 3684) Implementation o State Update:
 Infrastructure Funding Advocacy
o Strategic Project List
 Other Policy Updates of City Interest
o Federal Legislation
o State Legislation
o State Ballot Measures
 Proposed Updated Advocacy Priorities
 City Positions and Actions Taken on Legislation: December 2021 – March 2022

BACKGROUND

Following City Council direction in November 2018, the Administration provides regular updates on legislative and regulatory advocacy efforts on behalf of the City to ensure the City Council stays informed of actions the City has taken when the United States Congress and/or the California State Legislature is in session.

The City’s Intergovernmental Relations team (IGR) last reported to City Council on November 30, 2021 (Items 3.4, 21-2482; 3.5, 21-2483). City Council accepted IGR’s report and approved four top advocacy priorities for 2022: (1) COVID-19 Vaccine Access, Outreach, and Prioritization; (2) COVID-19 Response, Mitigation, and Recovery; (3) Homelessness Funding; and (4) Funding to Advance Smart, Sustainable, and Reliable Infrastructure. City Council also directed City staff to return to City Council with a Strategic Project List. The following analysis is framed around the top advocacy priorities.

ANALYSIS

COVID-
19 Vaccine Access, Outreach, and Prioritization and COVID -19 Response, Mitigation, and Recovery

This section summarizes major policy developments and IGR activities related to IGR’s first two advocacy priorities: (1) COVID-19 Vaccine Access, Outreach, and Prioritization; and (2) COVID-19 Response, Mitigation and Recovery.

HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
March 14, 2022
Subject: Spring Intergovernmental Relations Report

State Update

COVID-19 Sick Leave Extension

On February 9, 2022, Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill (SB) 114 into law. The bill extends the state’s supplemental COVID-19 sick leave requirements until September 30, 2022. IGR will continue to monitor COVID-19 sick leave-related policy developments.

Califor
nia SMARTER Plan

On February 17, 2022, Governor Newsom announced the California SMARTER Plan, which charts the state’s anticipated response for the next phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. The plan forecasts a continued reliance on vaccines, masks, and testing as the state’s primary tools for mitigating the virus’ spread. It also looks to increased surveillance efforts to identify troubling new variants and stockpiling protective equipment in case of the virus’ resurgence. IGR will continue to work to understand the plan’s impact on City priorities. The plan is enclosed as Attachment C.

Governor’s January Budget Proposal: COVID-19 Vaccine Outreach Funding

In the City’s 2022-23 state budget advocacy, the Administration urged the Governor’s office to continue the state’s focus on equitable vaccine and booster shot distribution and include additional funding for communication and outreach to marginalized communities. The Governor’s January Budget Proposal includes over $182 million (see Figure 1) for vaccine distribution and administration and promises to continue a multilingual, multicultural public education and community outreach campaign. IGR will continue to work to monitor COVID-19- related budget developments and advocate for an inclusive, equitable approach to ongoing vaccine distribution.

HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
March 14, 2022
Subject: Spring Intergovernmental Relations Report

Figure 1 – Governor’s 2022-23 January State Budget Proposal: COVID-19-Related Funding

Figure Source: Governor’s Budget Summary 2022-23, p. 155.

HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
March 14, 2022
Subject: Spring Intergovernmental Relations Report

Homelessness Funding

This section summarizes major policy developments and IGR activities related to IGR’s third advocacy priority: Homelessness Funding.

State Update

Eviction Moratorium

California state law (AB 832) imposed an eviction moratorium to prevent and alleviate homelessness during the pandemic by extending protections originally established under the COVID-19 Tenant Relief Act of 2020 (AB 3088). SB 91 further extended this moratorium. Rent debt protections ended for most tenants on September 30, 2021 for rent due between March 1, 2020 to September 30, 2021, although further provisions under AB 832 (COVID-19 Rental Housing Recovery Act) extended some eviction protections until March 31, 2022 under certain circumstances for tenants applying for rental assistance. A description of these protections was provided to the City Council in Sept
ember 2021. IG R do es not expect additional extensions to these statewide eviction protections.

W
ith statewide protections expiring along with the state’s preemption on eviction protection measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, local jurisdictions are exploring policy solutions to protect tenants. The County of Los Angeles, for example, recently passed a resolution extending eviction protections through the end of 2022. The City Housing Department is scheduled to discuss this issue in further detail on March 22, 2022 with the City Council. IGR, together with Housing Department staff, will continue to monitor related policy developments at the state level and advocate for the City’s policy interests. Additionally, IGR will continue to explore opportunities to support the state’s request for additional federal funding for its rental assistance program.

Governor’s January Budget Proposal: Homelessness Funding

In the City’s 2022-23 state budget advocacy, staff underlined the need for additional, flexible, and ongoing funding to operate the City’s homelessness assistance programs. The Governor’s January Budget Proposal includes nearly $8 billion for homelessness programs (see Figure 2 below). This includes appropriating the first tranche of $1 billion for the Homeless Housing and Assistance Program—a multi-year, flexible grant program available to counties and large cities—announced in last year’s budget. It also includes $500 million in one-time funding for Encampment Resolution grants—similar to the program which awarded the City $2 million to rehouse 100 homeless residents on February 24, 2022. Staff will continue to monitor homelessness-related budget developments and advocate for additional funding for homelessness programs, especially for capital dollars to build housing solutions alongside programming dollars to holistically address homeless neighbors’ needs.

HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
March 14, 2022
Subject: Spring Intergovernmental Relations Report

Figure 2 – Governor’s 2022-23 January State Budget Proposal: Homelessness-Related Funding

Figure Source: Governor’s Budget Summary 2022-23, p. 150

Funding to Advance Smart, Sustainable, and Reliable Infrastructure

This section summarizes major policy developments and IGR activities related to IGR’s fourth advocacy priority: Funding to Advance Smart, Sustainable, and Reliable Infrastructure. This includes funding advocacy for clean energy, water, transportation, and green infrastructure projects.

HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
March 14, 2022
Subject: Spring Intergovernmental Relations Report

Federal Update

Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (H.R. 3684) Implementation

During IGR’s fall 2021 report to City Council, staff reported on the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act’s (H.R. 3684) recent passage into law. This $1.2 trillion Act reauthorizes existing federal transportation programs and provides roughly $550 billion for new programs to improve transportation infrastructure, the electric grid, water systems, broadband, and environmental resiliency. The Act's implementation is ongoing but proceeding slower than expected due to stalled federal budget negotiations, which has delayed the rollout of new programs. The City is currently applying to the Act’s first discretionary grant program—the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity program—due April 14, 2022.

I
GR is closely monitoring the rollout of new federal grant programs and understand the Act’s impact on the City’s funding priorities. In addition to developing a dynamic database—the Emerging Funding Matrix Tool—as reported to City Council in IGR’s fall 2021 report, the IGR team has also sought opportunities for regulatory advocacy to help shape these programs as they are developed. The IGR office also continues to work closely with City departments to identify and access the Act’s newly created state and federal grant programs.

State Update

Infrastruct
ure Funding Advocacy

In the City’s 2022-23 state budget advocacy, IGR placed heavy emphasis on leveraging federal funding to make transformational investments in public transportation infrastructure, including (1) completing BART’s Silicon Valley extension; (2) transforming Diridon Station; (3) connecting high-speed rail to Silicon Valley; (4) electrifying CalTrain; (5) separating highway and rail crossings within the City (grade separation); and (6) a rapid build-out of Vision Zero traffic safety infrastructure.

The Governor’s January Budget Proposal allocates $9.1 billion for transportation-related investments, including $4.2 billion for high-speed rail, $2 billion for intercity transit, and $500 million for the Active Transportation Program (ATP), which funds bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure. It also invests $325 million in water conservation and drought relief and roughly $2 billion in clean energy programs.

While these proposed investments are encouraging, IGR is concerned that the current level of intercity transit funding is inadequate to support City priority projects, such as BART’s Silicon Valley extension and CalTrain electrification. Staff are advocating for additional investments in intercity transit to fully fund these projects and adjustments to state intercity transit funding guidelines to improve these key projects’ competitiveness.

HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
March 14, 2022
Subject: Spring Intergovernmental Relations Report

Additionally, while the Governor’s proposed $500 million investment in the ATP is an historic investment, the Governor's current proposal only allows ATP to fund projects submitted during the 2020 funding cycle, which would exclude worthy San José projects. Staff are strongly advocating for ATP to consider newly submitted projects, not just backlogged projects from previous years. In the meantime, IGR has advocated for targeted funding for priority Vision Zero traffic safety projects.

Strategic Project List

Over the years, the City has made significant investments in developing smart, sustainable, and reliable infrastructure. However, far more is needed to meet the challenges of a growing San José, and it must be accomplished within the context of a climate crisis demanding sustainable solutions. Additionally, the City faces the extremely complex challenge of rehabilitating a broad range of aging infrastructure – staff’s most recent analysis is a deferred infrastructure maintenance backlog of $1.7 billion – needed to provide the backbone of day-to-day public services the San José community relies on.

On November 30, 2021, City Council directed IGR to assemble a Strategic Project List of priority infrastructure projects with funding needs (Items 3.4, 21-2482; 3.5, 21-2483) to help focus staff efforts and connect critical projects to one-time federal and state funding opportunities. To develop the list, IGR facilitated a department-driven, open, and inclusive process in early 2022 that was multi-layered. First, departments submitted potential project proposals representing a broad array of City and partner initiatives. Second, senior City staff engaged in a facilitated prioritization exercise to score the proposed projects on a number of criteria, including: (1) community benefit and equity considerations; (2) the project’s urgency; (3) funding availability; (4) mitigation of emerging risks to City residents; and (5) project complexity. Attachment B is the resulting proposed 2022 Strategic Project List.

T
he Strategic Project List includes a mix of regional and city-specific projects, and its purpose is threefold: (1) define the City’s top-priority projects; (2) identify any funding gaps; and (3) articulate an advocacy strategy for closing those funding gaps, connected to emerging state and federal funding opportunities. The list is not intended to be an exhaustive catalog of priority projects; rather, it is intended to be a focused, curated list of efforts in need of additional resources and City advocacy. To successfully close funding gaps, staff across many departments, including IGR, will need to further refine project scope and available funding sources in order to draft effective advocacy strategies. Over the coming weeks and months, working in alignment with other efforts under the City Manager’s Enterprise Priority Smart, Sustainable and Reliable City: 21
st Century Infrastructure, staff will triage this project list with senior City leaders to ensure the projects on the list have a high likelihood of receiving funding considering the state and federal landscape, and to categorize the projects for which 80 percent or more of advocacy capacity will be focused.

HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
March 14, 2022
Subject: Spring Intergovernmental Relations Report

Other Policy Updates of City Interest

Federal Legislative Updates

Fede
ral Budget Negotiations

Congress continues to negotiate the final FY 22 federal funding bill. The federal government is currently operating under a Continuing Resolution, which expires on March 11, 2022.

Congressional staff expect both the House and Senate to approve the funding bill. Supplemental funding to address the Ukrainian crisis is included, as were the City’s FY 2022 Community Project Funding requests. These include:
• $1 million for the City’s Mobile Crisis Assessment Team to help transition the pilot program developed and implemented in collaboration with the County of Santa Clara Behavioral Health Services Department (BHS) into a full-time unit with dedicated officers. The program works to improve officer responses to incidents involving people with mental illness, minimize the victimization of persons in crisis, reduce recidivism among high-risk individuals, and improve public safety through proper intervention. This project was sponsored by Representative Zoe Lofgren.
• $1.5 million for the San José Library’s Family, Friend and Neighbor Caregiver Support Network, which has provided 60 caregivers from San José access to high-quality workforce development training in child development. This increases and enhances quality of childcare environments, providing more equitable outcomes for families seeking care and those providing care. The additional support would enable the existing successful pilot program to continue and allow for expanded digital inclusion and technology support for caregivers to access virtual programming and additional resources to enhance the care they provide. This project was jointly sponsored by Representatives Anna Eshoo and Ro Khanna.

Build Back Better (H.R. 5376)

IGR previously reported on negotiations to pass the Build Back Better Act (H.R. 5376), an omnibus spending bill that sought to fund new programs on a wide array of public policy issues, including education, affordable housing, health care, child care, and the environment. The House of Representatives passed the Act on November 19, 2021, but negotiations subsequently stalled in the Senate. The bill is unlikely to be resurrected in its original form. But many observers believe there is a window for a much smaller bill to pass, containing only the most popular climate change, education, and health care provisions. The City will continue to monitor these ongoing developments.

State Legislative Updates

Over 2,100 bills have been proposed in the California State Legislature since December 2021.

The Administration has a focused list of City-sponsored bills this session. Additionally, a few bills of special City interest are highlighted below. The City’s IGR Priority Legislation Log

HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
March 14, 2022
Subject: Spring Intergovernmental Relations Report

(Attachment A) further summarizes City positions and actions taken on legislation as of March 2022.

Current Sponsored Bills

• AB 2164 (Lee) Disability Access Funding. State law currently requires local governments to collect a $4.00 fee for business licenses and business permit renewals to fund programs expanding physical accessibility to businesses for individuals with disabilities.

Under current state law, this fee drops to $1.00 on or after January 1, 2024. This projected decrease in available funds—coupled with inflationary pressures and rising costs—threatens cities’ and counties’ abilities to stretch limited resources and continue successful accessibility compliance programs. This bill would (1) remove the January 1, 2024 fee sunset, enabling local governments to collect the $4.00 fee indefinitely; and (2) clarify local jurisdictions’ ability to use these funds for accessibility-related grants for small businesses.

• SB 612 (Portantino) on the Power Charge Indifference Adjustment. The City is working with California Community Choice Association on this bill, which would optimize Investor Owned Utility portfolio costs by creating proportionate access to resources currently controlled by the Investor Owned Utility. The concept is to reduce excess Investor Owned Utility portfolio costs paid for through the Power Charge Indifference Adjustment charge by allowing Load Serving Entities to purchase and benefit from these products.

• SB 649 (Cortese) on Tenant Preferences to Prevent Displacement. This bill creates a statewide policy supporting affordable housing preferences that prioritize local residents at risk of displacement. This policy supports residential anti-displacement efforts for lower- income households.

Other Bills of City Interest

• AB 1721 (Rodriguez) Emergency Services Funding. This bill would establish the Emergency Medical Services Mutual Aid Program, to be administered by the California Office of Emergency Services, to support local government efforts in responding to surges in demand for emergency medical services and provide effective mutual aid during disasters, as defined. The bill would also require the California Office of Emergency Services to provide noncompetitive grant funding to local governments, special districts, and tribes for the purpose of acquiring emergency medical services. IGR expects this bill to be further amended to establish additional new state funding for local emergency management programs.

• AB 1814 (Grayson) Transportation Electrification Funds – Community Choice Aggregators. This bill makes Community Choice Aggregators eligible to participate in current California Public Utilities Commission programs. Community Choice Aggregators would be able to receive funding for transportation electrification programs in their service

HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
March 14, 2022
Subject: Spring Intergovernmental Relations Report

areas, helping to accelerate widespread transportation electrification, reduce fossil fuel dependence, improve air quality, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

• AB 1944 (Lee) Brown Act Reform. Under existing California law, the Ralph M. Brown Act requires—with specified exceptions—that all meetings of a legislative body of a local agency be open and public and that all persons be permitted to attend and participate. The act allows for such meetings to occur via teleconferencing from private locations but requires legislative body members to publicly disclose the address of those locations and allow public access. This bill would remove the requirement for local legislative body members to publicly disclose their teleconferencing location or make those locations publicly accessible.

It also requires legislative bodies choosing to teleconference to provide (1) a publicly accessible video stream of the meeting’s proceedings; and (2) an audio-visual or call-in option for members of the public to remotely address the body during public comment periods. A copy of AB 1944 and its Fact Sheet are Attachments D and E.

• AB 2336 (Friedman) Speed Safety Cameras. This bill creates a five-year pilot program authorizing San José and five other cities to use speed cameras to enforce speed limits on their highest injury streets, in school zones, and on streets with a history of speed contests and motor vehicle exhibitions of speed.

• Gun Violence Reduction Proposals. The City is currently monitoring a number of state bill proposals related to gun violence reduction. These proposals include:
o AB 452 (Friedman) School Safety: Parental Notification of Firearm Safety Laws. o AB 2545 (Muratsuchi) Firearms: Stolen Property.
o AB 2551 (McCarty) Firearms: Mental Health.
o AB 2552 (McCarty) Prohibiting Firearm Sales on State Property. o AB 2883 (Ting) Firearm Owner Notifications.
o SB 915 (Min) Prohibiting Firearms Sales on State Property. o SB 1070 (Melendez) Controlled Substances: Firearm Possession.

• Hate Crime Proposals. The City is currently monitoring a number of state bill proposals to address hate crimes and racial harassment. These proposals include:
o AB 1947 (Ting) Law Enforcement Policies.
o AB 2282 (Bauer-Kahan) Hate Crimes: Hate Symbols.
o AB 2549 (Bonta) End Street Harassment.
o SB 1161 (Min) Public Transit Ridership Safety.

State Ballot Measures

Initiative 21-0042A1—Taxpayer Protection and Government Accountability Act —will be circulating for potential inclusion on the November 2022 statewide ballot. The ballot measure proposes amendments to the California Constitution that impose sweeping restrictions on state and local government revenue raising. The proposal includes expanding the legal definition of “taxes” to include some charges that state and local governments currently treat as fees and other

HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
March 14, 2022
Subject: Spring Intergovernmental Relations Report

charges, and requires that local special taxes be approved by two-thirds of the electorate. In a recent analysis, the California Legislat ive Analyst’s Office predicted the measure would result in “[l]ower annual state and local revenues, potentially substantially lower, depending on the future actions of the Legislature, local governing bodies, voters, and the courts.” The League of California Cities unanimously opposes this measure and asked for its member-cities to pass resolutions opposing the initiative. On February 23, 2022, the Rules and Open Government Committee passed a motion to oppose the measure, and directed IGR to draft a letter opposing the initiative (ROGC 22-
079).

Updated Advocacy Prioriti
es

When IGR last reported to City Council in November 2021, City Council approved four top advocacy priorities for 2022: (1) COVID-19 Vaccine Access, Outreach, and Prioritization; (2) COVID-19 Response, Mitigation, and Recovery; (3) Homelessness Funding; and (4) Funding to Advance Smart, Sustainable, and Reliable Infrastructure. 1 These four advocacy priorities inform
how IGR focuses the City’s advocacy resources and political capital to advance the City’s interests.

Since November 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic response has remained an important City activity. However, the California SMARTER Plan announcement in February 2022 signals a transition to a new phase of the pandemic, and with it, new City priorities related to an endemic response. Additionally, San José’s continued struggle with vehicle crash fatalities has gained additional urgency, with traffic incidents already claiming the lives of 15 people—including eight pedestrians—in the first six weeks of 2022 alone. As the City’s top advocacy priorities demonstrate the areas where the majority of staff resources are focused during a given legislative session, staff recommends updating the City’s top advocacy priorities for 2022 to the following:

(1) Homelessness Funding: Work with the Big Cities Mayors Coalition to explore additional homelessness funding opportunities. Advocate for new funding for bridge housing, emergency interim housing, permanent affordable housing, and associated programming funding so that people with high-acuity needs experiencing homelessness can access housing and shelter.

Support homeless services programs and outreach to people who are unsheltered as they wait for a housing placement.

(2) Safety and Vision Zero Initiatives: Actively work to achieve Vision Zero traffic safety goals. Support proposals, including the federal surface transportation authorization legislation, that provide funding, support, or local discretion for municipal governments to implement traffic safety programs and initiatives consistent with Vision Zero. This includes the ability to utilize Automated Speed Enforcement tools, explore penalties and increased awareness of violations for drivers, and establish speed limits based on context sensitive methods aimed at protecting vulnerable roadway users, such as pedestrians, bicyclists, children, and seniors. Work with the

1 These four advocacy priorities are not presented in ascending or descending priority order —they are equal in priority.

HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
March 14, 2022
Subject: Spring Intergovernmental Relations Report

California City Transportation Initiative to advance transportation policies that provide local cities with additional flexibility to ensure safety and accessibility for all users.

(3) COVID-19 Recovery and Endemic Response: Advocate for resources and policies to protect the health, safety, and economic viability of residents and businesses in San José, and particularly to support the City’s most vulnerable populations. Advocate for resources that support the long-term management of and preparedness for COVID-19, and that support activities related to readiness, awareness, and flexibility, including planning, outreach, response, and recovery measures to support populations with access and functional needs. Support measures that allow local government flexibility in regulations, program implementation, and processes due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as needed.

(4) Funding for Smart, Reliable, and Sustainable Infrastructure: Advocate for funding for infrastructure projects identified on the City’s Strategic Project List (see Attachment B).

City Positions and Actions Taken on Legislation: December 2021–March 2022

The City’s IGR Priority Legislation Log (Attachment A) summarizes City positions and actions taken on legislation as of March 2022. While the positions and actions taken have already been approved by the City Council through the Annual Legislative Program, City Council is now asked to reaffirm all City positions summarized in the report. Attachment A lists current City positions and is not inclusive of all legislation that the City is watching or monitoring.

CONCLUSION

Between December 2021 and March 2022, the Administration focused its efforts on COVID-19 relief and recovery, housing, homelessness, and transportation infrastructure. At the federal level, the City continues to monitor the rollout of expanded infrastructure grant programs. At the state level, the City continues to advocate for flexible funding in the state budget to address homelessness and priority infrastructure projects.

Additionally, since IGR’s last update to the City Council, there have been staff changes on the team. On March 7, 2022, the team welcomed Zane Barnes as the new deputy director for Intergovernmental Relations.

EVALUATION AND FOLLOW-UP

The Administration will continue to advance the City’s legislative program and will bring legislation forward for City Council’s consideration based on the appropriate legislative position adoption process. The Administration will continue to report on all City legislative positions on a regular basis.

HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
March 14, 2022
Subject: Spring Intergovernmental Relations Report

CLIMATE SMART SAN JOSE

The recommendation in this memorandum aligns with one or more Climate Smart San José energy, water, or mobility goals.

PUBLIC OUTREACH

The Administration will post this memorandum on the City’s Council Agenda website for the March 29, 2022 Council Meeting.

COORDINATION

The Administration coordinated this memorandum with the City’s state and federal legislative advocates, the City Attorney’s Office, the City Manager’s Office of Emergency Management, and the departments of Community Energy, Housing, and Transportation.

CEQA

Not a Project, File No. PP17-010, City Organizational and Administrative Activities resulting in no changes to the physical environment.

SARAH ZÁRATE
Director, City Manager’s Office of
Administration, Policy, and
Intergovernmental Relations

For questions, please contact Tom Westphal, Senior Executive Analyst, Intergovernmental Relations, at [email protected].

Attachment A: 2022 Intergovernmental Relations Priority Legislation Log Attachment B: 2022 Strategic Project List
Attachment C: The California SMARTER Plan
Attachment D: AB 1944 (Lee)
Attachment E: AB 1944 Fact Sheet

Attachment B – 2022 Strategic Project List
1 City of San José Strategic Project List -- March 2022

Background & Purpose
On November 30, 2021, Council directed the IGR to assemble a “Strategic Project List” of priority infrastructure projects with funding needs (Items 3.4, 21-2482; 3.5, 21-2483). Below is the Administration’s proposed “Strategic Project List,” developed with a group of inter- departmental senior staff. The list includes a mix of regional partner and city-specific projects.

The purpose of this list is threefold: (1) define the City’s top-priority projects; (2) identify any funding gaps; and (3) articulate an advocacy strategy for closing those funding gaps, connected to emerging state and federal funding opportunities.

The list is not intended to be an exhaustive catalog of priority projects--rather, it is intended to be a focused, curated list of ten efforts in need of additional resources and City advocacy. The projects below are not listed in any particular order.

Partner Project List
Large regional projects driven by City partners have the potential to bring enormous benefits to City residents. The IGR team routinely engages with regional partners and supports their advocacy in a variety of forums. Below are detailed entries for the following four projects: (1) Complete BART’s Silicon Valley Extension, (2) Complete CalTrain Electrification, (3) Valley Water’s Shoreline Levee Project, and (4) Transform Diridon Station.

Partner Project #1: Complete BART’s Silicon Valley Extension Lead Entity: Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) District
Partner Organizations: City of San José; Valley Transit Authority (VTA) Lead City Department: Department of Transportation
Description: Phase I of this project—bringing BART from Fremont to Berryessa/North San José Station—completed in 2020. Phase II of the BART Silicon Valley project would complete the “ring of rail” around the Bay by bringing BART to stations for East San José, Downtown, Diridon Station, and the City of Santa Clara. The 16-mile BART Silicon Valley extension is projected to carry roughly 105,000 daily trips by 2040. Though this project has already been supported by federal funding, state support from the Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program (TIRCP), and four voter-approved regional and local funding measures, pandemic-related cost escalation has created a significant funding gap. Should this gap remain unfilled, the project cannot begin construction and could lose its federal funding.

Current Funding Gap: $750 million
Likely Funding Sources:
• State Funding Source: Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program

Attachment B – 2022 Strategic Project List
2 Partner Project #2: Complete CalTrain Electrification Lead Entity: CalTrain
Partner Organizations: City of San José; California High-Speed Rail Authority; San Mateo County; City and County of San Francisco; Santa Clara County Lead City Department: Department of Transportation
Description: Caltrain Electrification is a key component of the Caltrain Modernization (CalMod) Program and will electrify the corridor from San Francisco’s 4th and King Caltrain Station to San José’s Tamien Caltrain Station. The project’s primary purpose is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve train performance.

Current Funding Gap: $410 million over the next five years.

Likely Funding Sources:
• State Funding Source: Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program

Partner Project #3: Valley Water’s Shoreline Levee Project Lead Entity: Valley Water
Partner Organizations: City of San José; City of Santa Clara; City of Palo Alto; City of Sunnyvale; City of Mountain View
Lead City Department: Environmental Services Department Description: This project would construct a continuous series of seawalls along the San Francisco Bay’s southern shore, protecting homes, businesses, and critical infrastructure in low- lying parts of Palo Alto, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, and San José from rising sea levels. The project will also restore 25 square miles of rare coastal wetland habitat for threatened and endangered species. Though this project previously secured federal funding, in November 2020 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) reinterpreted its agreement and partially withdrew financial support, creating a substantial funding gap. Should this project remain stalled, rising sea levels could flood the disadvantaged Alviso neighborhood and the San José-Santa Clara Regional Wastewater Facility—which serves over 1.5 million Bay Area residents and 20,000 businesses—leading to catastrophic environmental disaster and failure of essential services.

Current Funding Gap: $169 million
Likely Funding Sources:
• State Funding Source: Member Request
• State Funding Source: FY22-23 State Budget Climate Resilience Package • Federal Funding Source: Unallocated FY22 USACE funding

Partner Project #4: Transform Diridon Station
Lead Entity: Joint Partnership
Partner Organizations: CalTrain; Valley Transit Authority (VTA); California High-Speed Rail Authority; Metropolitan Transportation Commission
Lead City Department: Department of Transportation
Description: Diridon Station in downtown San José could be the “Grand Central Station of the West”—where BART, Caltrain, High Speed Rail, a connection to Mineta San José International Airport, and other transit and rail services converge. San José and its partners are seeking to reshape Diridon Station to accommodate more than 100,000 passengers, optimize transit and passenger experience, and support future development.

Current Funding Gap: Immediate need for $200 million environmental planning and right-of- way acquisition.

Attachment B – 2022 Strategic Project List
3 Likely Funding Sources:
• State Funding Source: Member Request
• Federal Funding Source: Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) discretionary grant program

City Projects List

City Projects are led by City departments, often in collaboration with community and regional partners. Below are detailed entries for six City projects: (1) Bicycle and Pedestrian Mobility and Safety Infrastructure (Vision Zero); (2) Water Recycling; (3) San José-Santa Clara Regional Wastewater Facility (RWF) Capital Improvement Program (CIP); (4) Green Stormwater Infrastructure; (5) Emergency Housing; and (6) Infrastructure Backlog.

City Project #1: Bicycle and Pedestrian Mobility and Safety Infrastructure (Vision Zero) Lead City Department: Department of Transportation
Description: San José believes that one traffic-related death is one too many. The City’s Vision Zero Action Plan and Better Bike Plan 2025 aim to make our streets safer for pedestrians and cyclists, allowing people safe, affordable access to the places they need to go and reducing reliance on fossil fuels. Such investments pay dividends towards community resiliency and health. This effort is closely connected with (1) expanding the urban tree canopy; and (2) green stormwater infrastructure.

Current Funding Gap: $45 million over three years for immediate “quick-build" safety investments; $140 million long-term funding gap (exclusive of signals funding); approx. $300 million for full build-out of the Better Bike Plan 2025.

Likely Funding Sources:
• State Funding Source: Member Requests
• State Funding Source: Active Transportation Program
• Federal Funding Source: Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) program

City Project #2: Water Recycling
Lead City Department: Environmental Services Department Description: The City confronts an increasingly constrained water supply, exacerbated by persistent drought, climate change, and the draining of the Anderson Reservoir. To meet this challenge, the City seeks to extend existing recycled water infrastructure as noted in the South Bay Water Recycling (SBWR) Master and Strategic Planning reports. This includes constructing new reservoirs and pump stations. This project will add recycled water to schools, playgrounds, parks, golf courses, and community gardens, allowing potable water to be redirected to other uses and effectively adding an additional 10,000 acre-feet per year to the City’s water supply.

Current Funding Gap: $250 million
Likely Funding Sources:
• State Funding Source: Urban and Multibenefit Drought Relief Funding • State Funding Source: Water Recycling Funding Program • Federal Funding Source: WaterSMART Program
Attachment B – 2022 Strategic Project List
4 City Project # 3: San José-Santa Clara Regional Wastewater Facility (RWF) Capital Improvement Program (CIP)
Lead City Department: Environmental Services Department Description: The RWF serves over 1.4 million residents by treating about 110 million gallons of wastewater per day, protecting public health and the environment. The City approved the Plant Master Plan (PMP) ten years ago, which identified more than 100 capital projects costing $2.1 billion to rebuild and upgrade the RWF. Over this time, the City has made significant progress on several critical rehabilitation projects. During the past year the CIP has identified, evaluated, and prioritized projects for the next ten years. These future projects include those identified in the PMP as well as gap projects identified in additional studies to address anticipated regulatory changes and electrical reliability/sustainability.

Estimated Funding Gap: $1.5 billion long-term funding gap.

Likely Funding Sources:
• State Funding Source: Clean Water State Revolving Fund

City Project #4: Green Stormwater Infrastructure
Lead City Department: Environmental Services Department Description: Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) projects use vegetation, soils, and natural processes like rain gardens and bioretention areas to reduce and filter runoff pollutants, improve water quality. These GSI projects can recharge groundwater or provide additional water sources for recycling water. As California continues to face significant droughts, it is imperative to implement smart technology to effectively manage stormwater infrastructure. Additional funding is needed to support “green street” projects, which use GSI, mixed-use landscapes, or diverse greenways within the public right-of-way to capture runoff to support adjacent trees and landscapes while improving water quality. Green Streets can be designed to have co-benefits for City pedestrians and bicyclists, thereby promoting community health, resiliency, and sustainability. The BayKeeper Consent Decree requires that the City of San José invest at least $100 million in GSI projects. Measure T and state grants have funded approx. $28.2 million to date, resulting in a funding gap of approximately $72M. This effort is closely connected with (1) bicycle and pedestrian mobility and safety infrastructure; and (2) expanding the urban tree canopy.

Current Funding Gap: $72 million
Likely Funding Sources:
• State Funding Source: Urban Greening Grants
• Federal Funding Source: San Francisco Bay Water Quality Improvement Fund

City Project #5: Emergency Housing
Lead City Department: Department of Housing
Description: Since COVID-19's onset, the City has dramatically expanded temporary housing and shelter capacity, constructing five Emergency Interim Housing and Bridge Housing sites, with two additional sites in the pipeline. The City also operates safe overnight parking and warming locations, and seeks to leverage California’s Project HomeKey to provide hundreds of additional housing units for unsheltered residents. All of these efforts are in immediate need of additional operating funding to stay open.

Current Funding Gap: Ongoing unfunded operating costs of up to $34 million a year, inclusive of all interim housing sites and three proposed project HomeKey acquisitions.

Attachment B – 2022 Strategic Project List
5 Likely Funding Sources:
• State Funding Source: California Interagency Council on Homelessness’ Homeless Housing and Assistance Program

City Project #6: Infrastructure Backlog
Lead City Department: Department of Public Works
Description: The City has a large backlog of deferred maintenance on deteriorating City infrastructure. This includes but is not limited to parks, community centers, cultural facilities, streets, and sewers. The 2022 estimate is currently being finalized to report to T&E in April.

More information regarding the 2021 backlog is available on page 3 of this link. Over time, deferred maintenance can lead to dramatically higher repair costs and/or critical failures in vital City services.

Current Funding Gap: $1.7 billion
Likely Funding Sources:
• This category contains enormous variation and hundreds of projects with unique characteristics.

CALIFORNIA

SMARTER
THE NEXT PHASE OF CALIFORNIA’S COVID-19 RESPONSE
Attachment C
2 California SMARTER| February 2022
Introduction 3
T he SMARTER Plan Includes 4
T he SMARTER Plan in Action 5
S MARTER by the Numbers 6
Putting Our Work Into Context 7
Remaining Nimble And Adaptable 8
Maintaining and Expanding Focus on Equity 9
The SMARTER Plan 10
Shots 11
Masking 13
Awareness 14
Readiness 16
Testing 18
Education 20
Rx 22
Building on Experience 23
Conclusion 29
Table of Contents

California SMARTER| February 2022 3
Californians have led the nation’s fight against the COVID-19 pandemic with early public health measures that saved lives. We have been led by science and data, and know more today than we did two years ago.

The release of the California SMARTER Plan: The Next Phase of California’s COVID-19 Response is critically timed. We are recovering from the intense Omicron variant surge when millions of Californians were infected. It is clear the virus will remain with us for some time, if not forever. It is less clear how often and how much it will continue to impact our health and well-being. However, we know what works, and have built the necessary tools over the last two years that allows us to learn and hone our defenses to this virus as it evolves.

As we enter the next phase with COVID-19, which may include future surges and new variants, we will continue to be the nation’s model for preparedness, ready to build on what we have learned over the past two years to meet the COVID-19 challenges that lie ahead.

In our approach to this next phase, we will be smarter than ever before, using the lessons of the last two years to approach mitigation and adaptation measures through effective and timely strategies.

Throughout the pandemic we have leaned on science and relied on tools that create protection.

This includes vaccines, masks, tests, quarantine, improving ventilation, and new therapeutics. Moving forward, based on the evolving conditions of the virus, we will be prepared to use these different strategies in more precise and targeted ways all along the way, integrating new innovations and information to protect our state.

Federal, state and local leaders must continue to prepare for the future, even though we cannot fully predict it. But California’s path forward will also be predicated on our individual, smarter actions, that will collectively yield better outcomes for our neighborhoods, communities, and state.

Introduction
Rx- Evolving and improving treatments will become increasingly available and critical as a tool to save lives.

Shots- Vaccines are the most powerful weapon against
hospitalization and serious illness.

Masks- Properly worn masks with good filtration help slow the spread of COVID-19 or other respiratory viruses.

Awareness- We will continue to stay aware of how COVID-19 is spreading, evolving variants, communicate clearly how people should protect themselves, and coordinate our state and local government response.

Readiness- COVID-19 isn’t going away and we need to be ready with the tools, resources and supplies we will need to quickly respond and keep public health and the health care system well prepared.

Testing- Getting the right type of tests - PCR or antigen - to where they are needed most. Testing will help California minimize the spread of COVID-19.

Education- California will continue to work to keep schools open and children safely in classrooms for in-person instruction. 4 California SMARTER| February 2022
The SMARTER Plan Includes
The SMARTER Plan reflects upon what we have done as a state and how we have learned to manage COVID-19. Our lessons and experiences inform our approach to manage what lies ahead.

We will stay prepared for whatever COVID-19 might bring our way next and we will continue to lean on the tools that worked to reduce spread, minimize infection and keep our community safe.

SMARTER is not just for or during COVID-19. The preparation, the flexibility and the systems we have developed make us SMARTER and better prepared for future emergencies. Our state will continue to learn and iterate in our response to the virus. California has always been a state that learns fast and adapts – it is in our DNA and will guide us moving forward. • With the COVID-19 Assessment and Action Unit the state will monitor the data and frontline conditions in real-time to ensure California is ready to respond to new and emerging variants and changing conditions.
• Building upon a robust, regionally based waste-water surveillance and genome sequencing network to have early and rapid insights into the changing nature of the virus and early identification of variants. This network can be scaled up to support identification of future infectious diseases.
• Work with external partners and the federal government to launch the first-in-the-nation impacts of COVID-19 longitudinal cohort study to look at and follow the direct and indirect impacts of COVID-19 on individuals and communities over time.
• Pursue of a public-private partnership with a test manufacturer to drive down the costs of at-home tests while securing a reliable and timely supply chain for California.
• Take steps to ensure our health care facilities can continue to ramp up with additional staff and resources to respond to surges to minimize the strain on our health care systems.

California SMARTER| February 2022 5
The SMARTER Plan in Action

1. Sequence the circulating strain, and answer the question: “Is the circulating strain a variant we know or is it new?” If it does not match a known strain, rapidly expedite whole genome sequencing of clinical specimens in that area to identify the genotype of the circulating viral strain.

2. If it is a new variant, within 30-45 days in partnership with the Federal Government, the state will seek to:
a. Understand if the circulating strain responds to the existing therapeutics.
b. Understand if currently available tests pick up the strain reliably. c. Understand if there is immune escape from prior infection and/or vaccines.

3. Utilizing our statewide stockpiles, the state will quickly deploy testing supplies to regions picking up signals of increasing transmission allowing time for local and private testing efforts to be mobilized and scaled.

4. Deploy additional staff that have been secured through new staffing contracts for vaccine administration to regions picking up signals of increasing transmission allowing time for local and private testing efforts to be mobilized and scaled.

5. State will help facilitate the deployment of surge staff for facilities in impacted regions via state coordinated staffing contracts to ensure hospitals are prepared especially in impacted communities.

6. State will work with local partners, health experts, community-based organizations and others to develop messaging and communication to ensure that the public is well informed in a culturally appropriate manner using authentic community messengers. Also, make data available to ensure visibility and transparency.

As California maintains focus on communities disproportionately impacted, the SMARTER Plan outlines specific steps to prepare and be ready for the next covid-19 threat.

To put this into practice, imagine a California county through its wastewater surveillance system picks up a signal indicating a higher level of transmission of COVID-19 than normal. Californians should expect the following six efforts to kick into action:
6 California SMARTER| February 2022
SMARTER by the Numbers
Our smarter path will enable us to be fully prepared and respond to the changing nature of the COVID-19 pandemic. The specific metrics of preparedness below will help focus our efforts to ensure we have the necessary resources and capabilities in place.

SMARTER METRICS OF PREPAREDNESS
Shots
Vaccine administration
Capacity to administer at least 200,000 vaccines
per day on top of existing pharmacy and provider
infrastructure.

Masks
Personal protective equipment
distribution
Maintain a stockpile of 75 million high quality masks
and the capability to distribute them as needed.

Awareness
Communications
Maintain capability to promote vaccination, masking
and other mitigation measures in all 58 counties and
support engagement with at least 150 community-
based organizations.

Readiness
Surveillance and surge staffing
Maintain wastewater surveillance in all regions and
enhance respiratory surveillance in the healthcare
system while continuing to sequence at least 10% of
positive COVID-19 test specimens. Ability to add 3,000
clinical staff within 2 - 3 weeks of need and across
various health care facility types.

Testing
Maintain commercial and local public health
capacity statewide to perform at least 500,000 tests
per day - a combination of PCR and antigen.

Education
Expand vaccination rates
among kids
Expand by 25% school-based vaccination sites
supported by state to increase vaccination rates as
eligibility expands and vaccination requirements are
enacted.

Rx
Therapeutics
Maximize order for the most clinically effective
therapeutic available through the federal
partnerships. Ensure allocations of effective
therapeutics are ordered within 48-hours.

As we have learned throughout the pandemic, each surge and each variant brings with it unique characteristics relative to our neighborhoods and communities specific conditions (e.g., level of immunity). Therefore, instead of laying out specific thresholds or triggers, California will continue to evaluate the data quickly and nimbly to determine how to best handle future changes in the behavior of the virus. The SMARTER Plan does lay out specific response metrics that will ensure our preparedness and guide our work moving forward. Critical to this is the idea that governmental public health will remain vigilant.

California SMARTER| February 2022 7
Our collective work has resulted in a whole-of-government response that led the nation in providing resources to local and community partners.
7,500+
COVID-19 testing
sites established.
33 million+ at-home
COVID-19 antigen tests
distributed.
28,000+ state supported
staff deployed to 800+
health care facilities.
70+ million COVID-19
vaccines administered.
140+ million COVID-19
tests administered.
870+ million
COVID-19 N-95 and
surgical masks distributed.
700+
community-based
organizations partnered
with and supported.

Putting Our Work Into Context
Our individual actions have saved tens of thousands of lives. Though many have lost loved ones to this disease, California has among the lowest cumulative death rate among large states.

Our
collective
and
individual
actions
have saved
tens of
thousands of
lives. Though
many have
lost loved
ones to this
disease,
California
has among
the lowest
cumulative
death rate
among
large states.

8 California SMARTER| February 2022
Remaining Nimble and Adaptable
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Californians have adapted as we learned more about the virus and the most effective strategies to manage it. From the initial stay-at-home orders to the recent need to reinstate temporary and limited mitigation requirements during this Omicron surge, our adaptability has saved lives.

While we learn more about how to live with COVID-19, California must support the ongoing ability of our state to adapt during the coming months and years:

Our state’s ability to be ready and remain flexible will not only make us better and smarter at managing COVID-19, but it will also make us better altogether. • We must continue to identify and
interpret the data we need to keep
people safe. For example, if we have
another highly infectious but not as
virulent variant in the future, we may
focus on hospital numbers to gauge
whether and how the state should
react. On the other hand, if the
virulence is high, we may again make
decisions based on case numbers, as
preventing a case may mean saving a
life.
• Individuals who have tested positive
for COVID-19 should continue to stay
home for the period recommended by
the federal Centers for Disease Control
(CDC) and California Department of
Public Health (CDPH). This time period
may be different at different times in
the future depending on the dominant
variant circulating at a given time. The
difference is because each variant has
a distinct incubation and replication
period. Because of this difference,
the length of time an infected person
remains likely to spread the infection
to another person changes. For
individuals who feel sick, they too
should stay home until they feel well.

If an individual has been exposed to
someone who tested positive, they
should consider getting tested and
masking until they are sure they are not
infected.
• With masking, there may be conditions
that warrant temporary, targeted and
risk-based masking requirements. These
can be loosened once conditions
improve.
• We must also adapt to the emergence
of new interventions and innovations.

For example, the development of new
pharmaceutical agents for COVID-19,
the way our communities are built
with a greater emphasis on spending
time outdoors, the way we receive
our healthcare with rapidly improving
innovations in telehealth.

California SMARTER| February 2022 9
Death rate for Latinos is 17%
higher than statewide rate
Deaths per 100K people:
221 Latino • 189 all ethnicities
Case rate for Pacific Islanders
is 75% higher than statewide rate
Cases per 100K people:
32,389 NHP • 18,469 all ethnicities
Death rate for Blacks is 16%
higher than statewide rate
Deaths per 100K people:
219 Black • 189 all ethnicities
Case rate for communities with
median income <$40K is 24%
higher than statewide rate
Cases per 100K people:
22,975 income <$40K
18,469 all income brackets
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted each of
us over the last two years. However, there are
some communities, mainly underserved, low-
income communities of color as well as older
and disabled Californians, that have been more
disproportionately impacted. Much more work is
required to tackle these disparities. The SMARTER
Plan coupled with our fiscal investments are
intentionally and directly addressing historical and
systemic inequities. Our focus on equity and our
efforts to support these communities with targeted
interventions and outreach has significantly
closed disparities in infection and death rates.

Although much more work is required to tackle
these disparities, our focus on equity has been
fundamental to building a Healthy California for
ALL.

As we enter this next phase, it is important for us not to forget that COVID-19 disproportionately affected
our low-income, Latino, Black, Native American
and Pacific Islander communities, individuals in
rural parts of the state, as well as workers in high-
risk settings. It will be equally important for us not to lose sight of the impact the COVID-19 pandemic
has had on our older and disabled Californians.

We must accelerate change to address these
longstanding inequities.

Committed to a Healthy California for All, we
developed an equity measure to sharpen the
data-driven focus on curbing transmission in
communities most impacted. Then we directed
resources to those communities to address
COVID-19’s unequal impact on health outcomes.

Additionally, we published a COVID-19 Health
Equity Playbook for Communities to support local
communities in building an equitable recovery.

Furthermore, each county was required to develop
a plan demonstrating targeted investments around
testing and other COVID-19 mitigations to eliminate
disparities in levels of COVID-19 transmission and
promote equitable recovery.

Over 90% of deaths were age
50 or older and 12% of all
deaths were among residents of
skilled nursing facilities.

Maintaining and Expanding Focus on Equity
Despite our efforts, there is much more work ahead
of us and the following data are important in
anchoring our work:

We must continue to work to build the mindset and awareness of inequity across our state. That if significant surges in cases and risk for death return, we can immediately implement community level approaches to ensuring gaps in outcomes emerge. For example, the ability to provide targeted testing strategies, the ability to unleash appropriate education and messaging, and to distribute high quality PPE.

The tendency for some groups to experience a greater impact is avoidable. But with a transformation of our health systems and proposed expansions of coverage and access to all income eligible Californians a hallmark of Governor Newsom’s 2022-23 Budget, California is making short- and long-term investments to reduce the likelihood of such inequities. As a result, no state more than California is prepared to avoid the tragic inequities we have sought to close throughout this pandemic. 10 California SMARTER| February 2022
The SMARTER Plan
We have come a long way in our journey with COVID-19. To use an analogy, we started our journey driving on an unfamiliar road with low visibility, heavy rain, worn-down brakes, and no windshield wipers. In contrast, today, we are driving on a road that we have mostly driven before with good weather conditions, and in a car with new brakes and windshield wipers.

There are still potential hazards on the road ahead, but we are much better equipped to anticipate and react to them.

These upgraded capabilities have come through hard fought lessons, timely and significant investments, and a data-driven approach guiding our response.

Rx- Evolving and improving treatments will
become increasingly available and critical as a
tool to save lives.

Shots- Vaccines are the most powerful weapon
against hospitalization and serious illness.

Masks- Properly worn masks with good filtration help
slow the spread of COVID-19 or other respiratory
viruses.

Awareness- We will continue to stay aware of
how COVID-19 is spreading, evolving variants,
communicate clearly how people should protect
themselves, and coordinate our state and local
government response.

Readiness- COVID-19 isn’t going away and we need
to be ready with the tools, resources and supplies we
will need to quickly respond and keep public health
and the health care system well prepared.

Testing- Getting the right type of tests - PCR or
antigen - to where they are needed most. Testing will
help California minimize the spread of COVID-19.

Education- California will continue to work to keep
schools open and children safely in classrooms for in-
person instruction.

California SMARTER| February 2022 11
We have administered more than 70 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine, and nearly 80% of those over 12 have been fully vaccinated. Early vaccine efforts to prioritize the most vulnerable and most at-risk Californians have been followed by a persistent focus to close gaps among communities of color. The ongoing need for us to maintain our immunity in the face of new variants and the anticipated waning of immunity without boosters will require continued investments in vaccine distribution efforts, especially for older individuals and those who are immunocompromised. Most immediately, we will continue to focus on closing stubborn equity gaps which started at roughly a 26% difference in adult vaccine administration between higher income and lower income neighbors, currently this difference is at 16%, a 40% reduction. This same equity gap for kids ages 5-17 is at 27%, so we will also intensify our efforts to vaccinate those under 18 years of age, and prepare for those under 5 to become eligible soon. The need to improve vaccination rates among our youngest Californians will support our broader efforts to keep in person instruction across the state.

Furthermore, battling mis-and dis-information that has deepened hesitation among unvaccinated Californians will continue to be critical. We will maintain the widely distributed network of trusted local providers who are in place to quickly vaccinate Californians in anticipation of any additional focused efforts, such as another booster dose. Having demonstrated the capability to administer over 400,000 doses in a single day during initial peak demand, keeping this network in place to deliver at least 200,000 shots through state-partners in counties, health facilities and pharmacies should well position the state for future needs.

The SMARTER Plan
SHOTS
12 California SMARTER| February 2022
What’s Next?
We will expand messaging on vaccinations and shift to the concept of staying “Up-To-Date” on vaccination, like other vaccines. Specifically, our work will focus on the following:

Prepare for the approval of vaccines for kids under 5 years old – including targeted messaging and ensuring the pediatric providers (pediatricians and family practitioners) are prepared to administer these vaccines.
• Continue to educate Californians
about the benefits of boosters and
ensure they are available in broad and
equitable ways.
• Continue assessing the growing
evidence and data on the strength
of hybrid immunity - immunity both
from vaccine and prior infection - and
consider this information as we look at
vaccine requirements in California.
• As the 7-12th grade immunization
requirement is coming, we will work
to be clear about the message and
ensure parents are educated and have
their questions answered.
• Ensure that health care workers can
stay up to date on their vaccines.
• Work to decrease disparities in
vaccination rates and ensure that all
Californians can remain up to date on
their vaccines.
• Remain focused on current vaccine
disparities so all Californians have
ample opportunities to maintain their
immunity.

SHOTS (continued)
California built its own Digital COVID-19 Vaccine Record, a tool that is a convenient option for Californians who received a COVID-19 vaccination to access their record from the state’s immunization registry systems. It was launched in June 2021, and has issued 13.3 million records to more than 7.2 million individuals. Our open source code builds on the SMART Health Cards framework for vaccination verification. Today, 13 states, along with Puerto Rico and Washington, DC, support SMART Health Cards, and at least another 5 states are expected to launch soon. SMART Health Cards have become the de facto standard for COVDI-19 vaccine verification in the United States.

California SMARTER| February 2022 13
Masking as a mitigation tool has proven effective in helping minimize transmission, moving forward we will lean on the below. Public health officials will continue to assess the science and the data as we have been, and as appropriate, make changes to current masking guidance.

The data have clearly demonstrated that properly worn masks with good filtration are an effective mitigation tool that not only protects the wearer but minimizes the transmission of COVID-19. Use of masks should be supported by all who want to use them and should be required in high-risk settings or in other public indoor settings during periods of high transmission or when a variant emerges with potentially high virulence.

On the supply side, we now have procured and distributed over 250 million N-95 respirators, and over 600 million surgical masks. We have forged new and innovative partnerships directly with vendors and manufacturers. When national mask supplies were short, we procured enough not only for our state needs but for those of other states. This strategy of partnering with federal agencies AND ensuring we have other options to meet our needs will continue.

Depending exclusively on the federal government for immediate supplies and resources proved challenging throughout the pandemic. Since the beginning we have turned to our own capabilities to meet our needs, whether with masks, testing supplies, other personal protective equipment (PPE), or life-saving tools like ventilators.

We will leverage our broad purchasing powers to procure critical supplies like masks and testing supplies or making them easily available to counties and communities for needs related to COVID-19 and other emergencies such as wildfires.
• Maintain a strong strategic stockpile
with the goal to have 75 million high
quality masks in the stockpile with the
capability to distribute them across the
state on an as-needed basis.
• Strongly recommend properly worn,
high-quality masks in public indoor
settings, especially in high-risk settings.
• Emphasize and encourage mask use
messaging for the following settings:
o High-risk settings where vulnerable
individuals live or are cared for
(hospitals, nursing homes, prisons)
o Public transportation and air travel,
per federal guidance
• Public indoor settings that are crowded
• Emphasize mask use messaging for the
following individuals:
o Unvaccinated, per the CDC
o At-risk for severe disease (elderly,
underlying medical conditions)
o Decreased immunity
o With known significant exposure to
COVID-19
• Continue outreach during winter
respiratory virus season so our
communities increase voluntary mask
use when viruses most commonly
circulate.

MASKS
What’s Next?
14 California SMARTER| February 2022
To remain aware, we must watch how COVID-19 is spreading, better understand the long-term impact of COVID-19, and further leverage our coordinated, whole-of-government response.

Our public health response has evolved throughout the pandemic. We began with 61 loosely coordinated local health jurisdictions moving at different speeds, with different resources and different objectives. Using well established emergency management protocols, California’s State Operations Center has been the connection between local communities, the state and the federal government. While local communities will continue to have flexibility to develop more specific regional approaches, the state will continue to provide the infrastructure to drive objective metrics and deliverables throughout the pandemic.

Our efforts to augment and expand local disease investigation and surveillance capabilities have allowed the state to be a leader in tracking the virus and its impacts. The early investments in new information technology systems, data modeling and whole genome sequencing have created a robust system to track and monitor transmission. We now have the surveillance and disease tracking infrastructure in place to ensure we can respond to COVID-19 and outbreaks of other infectious diseases. Similarly, we will continue to leverage academic and research partners to assess COVID-19

AWARENESS
California SMARTER| February 2022 15
We know COVID-19 is a global challenge that plays out locally. Our experts across various disciplines (technology, public health, laboratory, and infectious disease) have all it takes to be vigilant for the next variant or early signs that a surge is rearing its nasty head once again. • Build on the California COVID-19
Assessment Tool (CalCAT) which brings
the best COVID-19 models together
in one place to support policy and
public health action, while developing
ensemble estimates of critical
COVID-19 metrics from a variety of
models, giving us the ability to facilitate
comparisons about trends.
• Focus on continuing to build a
robust, regionally based waste-water
surveillance and genome sequencing
network to have early and rapid insights
into the changing nature of the virus
and variants. This network can be
scaled up to support identification of
future infectious diseases.
• With the COVID-19 Assessment and
Action Unit the state will monitor the
data and frontline conditions in real-
time to ensure the state is ready to
respond to new and emerging variants
and changing conditions.
• Work with external partners and the
federal government to launch the
first-in-the-nation impacts of COVID-19
longitudinal cohort study to look at
and follow the direct and indirect
impacts of COVID-19 on individuals and
communities over time.
• Continue to support and amplify local
and community-based partnerships
through the newly proposed Office of
Community Partnerships and Strategic
Communications.
• Maintain the monthly COVID-19
California survey that has engaged
the diversity of the state on their beliefs
and perspectives on a wide range of
COVID-19 related issues.
• Leverage existing infrastructure to
deepen the understanding of COVID,
especially the effectiveness and safety
of vaccines. Support community-
based organizations to build upon the
state’s equity work.
• Continue to maintain regular
coordination activities through the
State Operation Center to mobilize an
all-of-state-government response to
future needs, and facilitate local and
federal engagement, reliably.
• Promote the ability of CA Notify, a
free exposure notification system for
smartphones, to alert individuals if they
have been exposed to COVID-19 so
Californians have the information they
need to act.

What’s Next?
impacts over weeks, months, years and decades. Just as California identified the first U.S. case of the Omicron variant, our new statewide COVID-19 Assessment and Action Unit will bring together the tools we have built to keep us ready and help inform the development of future interventions such as care delivery models and clinical care best practices and standards.

Directly communicating with Californians was a critical pillar in our overall response. We invested in community outreach, that has included direct appointment and referral assistance, and public education. Despite the rapidly evolving nature of the pandemic response, our consistent messaging framework has been that California is prepared and will take necessary actions to save lives. 16 California SMARTER| February 2022

READINESS
We cannot predict the future, but we can take what we’ve learned to better prepare for it. That means continuing to bolster our public health infrastructure, preparing for potential future hospital surges, maintaining sufficient stockpiles of PPE and working to improve air quality and ventilation in schools and other public settings.

Early in the pandemic, we moved quickly to develop surge capacity outside the health care delivery system by building up two new surge hospitals as well as other alternate care sites across the state to ensure every Californian could have access to the health care they needed. Over time, experience showed a better approach was to increase capacity at existing health facilities that leveraged established core services and resources. California’s public health leaders recognized early on that COVID-19 is an airborne pathogen that spreads readily indoors when air circulation is not optimized.

This understanding guided our actions since the earliest days of our response. This fact drove many efforts, including regulatory relief for businesses, to encourage Californians to meet, dine and play outdoors; to keep a door open and windows up to help circulate fresh air indoors.

The pandemic has taught us that improvements to air quality do not always require massive infrastructure investments or take years to implement. There are cost effective, immediate tools available. Californians also spent a great deal more time outdoors, enjoying the fresh air and nature.

California has built a sustainable and reliable logistics pipeline in response to COVID-19. This includes a robust supply of PPE and other critical supplies available for rapid deployment to the medical/ health sector, first responders, front line workers, and communities in need. Items such as N95 respirators, surgical and cloth masks, face shields, goggles, surgical gowns, coveralls, and gloves are included in this critical capability.

To date, the state has distributed over 1.6 billion individual items of PPE to support the pandemic. At the height of pandemic response, the state managed a comprehensive distribution system consisting of all facets of procurement from production to ordering and delivery, warehousing, and direct shipments from vendors.

California SMARTER| February 2022 17
Our work moving forward will enable us to be ready to respond to any changes in our conditions.
• Maintain an up-to-date, strategic
stockpile that allows California to
independently respond to local needs.
• Work with local public health
departments to develop, support,
and implement these strategies to be
ready for the next surge and the next
infectious disease emergency.
• Allocate state appropriated resources
to further accelerate the building of a
21st Century public health system. The
Governor’s 2022-23 Blueprint proposes:
o $300 million ongoing for state and
local public health to build up
capacity and transform California’s
public health system.
o Requiring 25% of a non-profit
hospital’s community benefit funds
be allocated toward community-
based public health organizations
that address the social drivers of
health. This 25% equates to roughly
$500 million each year.
o $1.7 billion over three years to to
recruit, train, hire, and advance an
ethnically and culturally inclusive
health and human services
workforce, with improved diversity,
wages, and health equity outcomes.
• Establish three key efforts for health
care facilities preparing for or
responding to surges so, at any time,
we can bring up to 3,000 additional
staff to facilities across the state within
2-3 weeks of the need:
o Support the local county or regional
expansion of existing Medical
Reserve Corps teams;
o Maintain master contract
agreements with 3-5 national registry
companies that can be directly
accessed by health systems; and
o Monitor facility registry/traveler staff
use data throughout the year to
determine when staffing needs are
highest and establish strategies to
best support facility demand.
• Scaling back Executive Order provisions
and terminating provisions as they
cease to be necessary.
• Work with long-term care facilities
to provide technical assistance and
guidance regarding infection control
protocols.
• Issue an Innovation Award to urge the
development of low cost, effective
ways to improve indoor air quality via
improved filtration and air circulation
and develop standards for high-risk
settings.

What’s Next?
Governor Newsom proclaimed a State of Emergency based on the unprecedented threat of COVID-19 and its variants to the health and safety of all Californians. As we saw with the Omicron surge that is only now subsiding, COVID-19 is still very much with us. Through the state of emergency and limited number of executive orders that remain in effect, the state was able to act quickly and get millions of tests and PPE into the hands of our students and Californians across the state, expand vaccination efforts, and bolster our healthcare system capacity. The Governor will continue to assess the necessity of each open Executive Order provision and terminate provisions as they cease to be necessary.
18 California SMARTER| February 2022
We have come an incredibly long way since the earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when doing more than a thousand tests in a day was an accomplishment of note. After nationwide challenges with supplies and collection strategies coalesced to eventually hamper California’s ability to track and respond to the first surge of cases in the summer and fall of 2020, we were the first and only state in the nation to build our own high-throughput testing laboratory.

The state has increased testing availability in communities at highest risk for contracting COVID-19 such as essential workers, those in congregate care settings, and communities of color. State facilities have performed more than 8.4 million tests on samples from a network of more than 4,700 specimen collection sites developed with churches, schools, clinics, essential workplaces and community- based organizations.

California laid the essential groundwork of building up testing capacity across our communities with more than 7,500 sites established and, over time, expanded to help keep us prepared to track COVID-19. This work created deeper and wider access to testing. Roughly 65 percent of tests performed for PCR-only specimens are among racial minorities with 32 percent in the most disadvantaged neighborhoods based on the California Health Places Index (HPI) Quartile 1 and 26 percent in Quartile 2.

More than 4,800 schools have state-supported testing programs, nearly 200 OptumServe sites exist across California’s communities, and more than 2,800 community-based entities supported sites are offering antigen or PCR testing or both. Our understanding for how to use the various modalities of testing to help manage the pandemic has grown, as well.

Leveraging antigen tests as an additional tool has helped navigate the latest COVID-19 surge. We have procured and distributed over 33 million at-home COVID-19 antigen tests. Our capacity on PCR testing has helped keep communities and families safe when the trajectory of the disease was uncertain, allowing us to identify early on those who are infected, even before they become symptomatic. During the Omicron surge, California used the testing groundwork of the last 20 months to keep our businesses open and our schools in person.

The effort to buy and distribute over 13 million at-home antigen tests for use by school staff and students during the recent return from winter break is in no small part the reason California has made up less than 1% of the nation’s overall school closures in January 2022, despite having 12% of the national student population. We also distributed at-home antigen tests to long-term care facilities and hospitals allowing us to keep residents safe and staff working as much and as safely as possible.

In addition to these school efforts, California demonstrated its capability to quickly scale up testing capacity at an unprecedented speed during the Omicron surge– deploying the California National Guard, expanding hours and access to testing sites, and ensuring 90% of Californians are within a 30-minute drive of a state sponsored or supported testing site.

California was the first in the nation to detect an Omicron variant case, largely due to our robust whole genomic sequencing network. COVIDNet is a statewide network of more than 40 partners across the state including local public health laboratories, academic centers, private, and commercial laboratories. Over 450,000 specimens have been sequenced in California, and between March -November 2021, at least 15% of positive COVID-19 samples per month have been sequenced. We have developed advanced bioinformatics capabilities to provide data visualization, dashboards at the state and county level, an alert system for monitoring detection of emerging variants, tools to inform outbreak investigations, and linkage between sequence and epidemiologic data that can further characterize variants and inform public health investigation and response.

TESTING
California SMARTER| February 2022 19
California will continue to prioritize testing, not only to get through the remainder of the current surge but also ensure we are ready to respond to new COVID-19 challenges down the road. Moving forward, these key efforts will position California to pivot and move in whatever way we are required:
• Maintain the ability to perform at least
500,000 tests per day - a combination of
PCR and antigen tests
• Ongoing procurement of additional at-
home tests with nearly 30 million more
on order or already delivered;
• Ongoing expansion of testing sites in
the community and efforts to ensure
these sites are “built in” to the health
care delivery system already in place in
California; and
• Ensuring trusted community sites
and schools have the capability to
continue serving their communities with
convenient testing options.
• Provide greater clarity on the role
of testing, particularly in supporting
disease surveillance, supporting
isolation, and early identification of
the disease for patients who are most
likely to benefit from treatment and
therapeutics.
• Release a Request for Innovative Ideas
to pursue a public-private partnership
with a test manufacturer to disrupt
the testing market to drive down the
costs of at-home tests while securing
a reliable and timely supply chain for
California and leveraging existing state
assets.
• Continue the important genomic
surveillance testing, network, and
genomic epidemiology analysis for
SarsCoV2, and use the infrastructure
built to monitor evolving variants,
expand genomics for other infectious
diseases of public health significance,
and be prepared for the next
pandemic.

What’s Next?
20 California SMARTER| February 2022
California leads the nation in keeping children safely in classrooms. California has made up less than 1% of the nation’s school closures in the 2021-22 school year, despite educating over 12% of the nation’s students. This school year, we weathered two COVID-19 surges, all the while successfully prioritizing in-person instruction and the safety of students and staff. Hospitalizations for COVID-19 (including pediatric hospitalizations) and disruptions to in-person learning, although never inconsequential, have been substantially lower than in comparable states.

This is due to collective efforts of Californians to protect school communities. Roughly 1.3 million youth ages 5-11 have stepped up and received one dose and more than 1 million are fully vaccinated.

Billions invested into school safety protocols. In the last two months, 28 million high-quality masks have been delivered to schools. Over 4,400 school-based COVID testing sites have been supported by the state at no cost and, in the last two months, more than 15 million at-home tests have been distributed to school communities.

California’s response to conditions in schools has adapted to the dynamic challenges of the pandemic, based on science and humility. Emerging evidence continues to suggest that the Omicron variant is milder than prior variants. That future variants will be similarly mild is neither inevitable nor predictable, and we must remember the lessons learned from the Alpha and Delta variants, both of which came after and were more deadly than the original strain.

As we collectively move beyond the Omicron surge, the next phase of mitigation in schools focuses on long-term prevention and preserves safe in-person schooling, which is critical to the mental and physical health and development of our children.

EDUCATION

California SMARTER| February 2022 21
The goal remains to preserve safe and in-person schooling. Presented below is a summary of mitigation strategies for K-12 schools. For additional information, please visit Safe Schools for All.
• Continue to promote childhood
vaccination efforts, including school-
located events with sustained emphasis
on ensuring equitable access to
COVID-19 vaccines. K-12 schools
should prepare for forthcoming vaccine
requirements which will help protect the
most vulnerable among us and keep
schools safe and classrooms open.
• Focus on improving indoor air quality
in schools to protect students and staff
against COVID-19 and many other
respiratory infections and sources of
unhealthy air, including emissions,
seasonal allergens and wildfire smoke.

California will continue to provide
guidance and technical assistance
to schools leveraging state and
federal funds to make cost-effective
improvements to ventilation and air
filtration systems.
• Emphasize tools, such as updated
group tracing guidance, so students
who are not ill can remain in school
and monitor for symptoms. Multi-
layered mitigation in K-12 schools,
along with declining case rates and
improving community immunity, allow
for an ongoing transition away from
quarantining students. Evidence
demonstrates that students potentially
exposed to COVID-19 can remain
safely in-school when mitigation
protocols are followed.
• Continue to address the stigma and
trauma children have experienced
from this collective experience and
much more. $4.4 billion has been
devoted to improving mental and
behavioral health for California’s
children and youth, and a recent
partnership with the Child Mind
Institute on the launch of the
California Healthy Minds, Thriving Kids
Project to provide free, evidence-
based resources for kids, educators
and caregivers.
• Prepare for the eventual change to
universal school masking in schools,
which include ensuring equitable
access to vaccination, testing, and
individual protections for students,
families, and school staff. Universal
indoor masking has been the
cornerstone of the state and national
strategy to keep schools open.

The goal of such efforts remains to
preserve the sanctity and safety of in-
person schooling.
• Continue working with federal
partners to procure and distribute
COVID-19 tests to schools. As
resources allow, the state will also
support a transition toward increasing
use of over-the-counter (OTC) test
in school settings, with particular
attention to equity.
• Support outbreak investigations in
schools with state and local public
health resources through consultation
and deployment of testing and
vaccination resources.

What’s Next?
22 California SMARTER| February 2022
RX
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic we have utilized and benefited from all modes of managing the virus by embracing the value and impact of treatments for those who have been infected. We are home to some of the leading scientists and clinicians who helped develop therapeutics that are now available. Once these life-saving interventions became more widely available, California was an early partner with the federal government to stand up specialized infusion sites capable of delivering therapies to thousands of infected Californians, saving more lives through treatment.

At 25 state-supported sites, California has continued to ensure these resources are available to our communities, even when federal resources have been withdrawn. For every newly available medication or intervention, our clinical leaders work with local teams to ensure our distribution is led by equity and is efficient. We will always back the science but never fear early adoption and use of a lifesaving intervention. Moving forward, we will double down our collective work to have those who test positive start effective treatments quickly to spare burden on our health systems and, most importantly, reduce avoidable morbidity and mortality.

Just as we have disrupted the pricing of other medications, California will work to ensure lifesaving pharmaceuticals are not only available but also affordable. • Connecting those who test positive
for COVID-19 with the appropriate
clinical assessment and medication
supplier.
• Ensure allocations of effective
therapeutics are ordered within 48
hours by local entities.
• Leveraging technology and
telehealth specifically to accelerate
this work and save more lives. The
rapid expansion of virtual care and
telehealth tools in California throughout
the pandemic make the possibility of
linking treatments to eligible infected
individuals more likely.
• Continue to provide continuing
education and real-time information
to health care providers on new
therapeutics.

What’s Next?
California SMARTER| February 2022 23
Building on Experience
State-Level Coordination
Under the leadership of the Governor’s Office of
Emergency Services, we activated our response
systems early on, working closely with federal
and local governments on the initial repatriations
of Americans from Wuhan, China and the
docking of the Grand Princess in Oakland, and
we have maintained a significant infrastructure
to drive objective metrics and deliverables
throughout the pandemic. Using well established
emergency management protocols, California’s
State Operations Center has been activated and
managing the pandemic for over two years.

Coordinated Response
Our public health response has evolved
throughout the pandemic. We began with 61
loosely coordinated local health jurisdictions
moving at different speeds, with different
resources and different objectives. Although
localism is still determinative, there is a
connectedness and increased attention to
regional approaches across our state’s counties
that did not exist before.

Our efforts to augment and expand local disease
investigation and surveillance capabilities have
allowed the state to be a leader in tracking the
virus and its impacts. The early investments in
new information technology systems and in staff
training and standardized reporting functions,
allowed us to transform a brittle set of disease
investigation tools into a robust system to track
and monitor transmission. Thousands of state
workers were recruited and trained to support
contact tracing efforts, ultimately working at the
community level to help slow the spread of the
virus. Additionally, the state is increasingly using
technology to leverage automated notifications,
such as CA Notify, a free exposure notification
system for smartphones, to alert individuals if
they have been exposed to COVID-19. Finally,
Over the last two years, California took action to keep people safe, and make investments that will continue to benefit our state into the future. Below are some additional changes and improvements the state has made since the initial outbreak of COVID-19. having reported more than 143 million COVID-19
test results and more than 8 million COVID-19
cases, we have done more than any other
state. As a result, we have a foundation and the
infrastructure as we move into the next phase
of our surveillance and disease tracking efforts,
ensuring we can respond to COVID-19 and
outbreaks of other infectious diseases.

Bringing together early efforts with effective
wastewater, hospital, and sentinel surveillance,
growing a whole genome sequencing
program along with local state-supported
outbreak investigation efforts, anchored in an
updated platform to report and monitor trends,
Californians should feel confident in our state’s
ability to see what’s coming with as much clarity
and precision as possible. We also initiated data
modeling and advanced analytics through
the development of the California COVID-19
Assessment Tool or CalCAT, partnering with
academics and data scientists early in the
COVID-19 pandemic to inform projections and
policies, and invested in a team to continue
these efforts. Just as California identified the
first U.S. case of the Omicron variant, our new
statewide COVID-19 Assessment and Action Unit
will bring together the tools we have built to keep
us ready.

Hospital Surge
Over time, experience showed a better
approach was to increase capacity at existing
health facilities that leveraged established core
services and resources. Following this model and
based on a hospital burden score that looks at a
composite of measures to assess hospital need,
the state currently supports 31 surge hospitals
and six surge skilled nursing facilities. The state
has also funded the expansion of beds with
state funded staff, adding more than 1,200 new
surge beds throughout the state. There are also
22 state-supported ambulance patient offload
24 California SMARTER| February 2022
programs, helping emergency departments
accept patients more quickly, allowing
ambulances back into communities. In total,
there are currently over 3,500 staff deployed to
217 facilities statewide and over 28,000 staff have
been deployed throughout the pandemic to
over 800 health care facilities.

Recognizing the tremendous toll the pandemic
has had on California’s health care delivery
system and incredible health care workers,
the Governor’s 2022-23 Budget proposal has
proposed a $1.7 billion investment to further build
up our health and human services workforce.

Ensuring we have a diverse and well-trained
health and human services workforce to serve
and support Californians has been a state priority
well before COVID-19. But now more than ever,
the need to make these investments, to support
maintaining nation-leading nurse-to-patient ratios
and ensuring protections of our workforce so they
can thrive at work and in their communities, will
remain top of mind for the foreseeable future.

Communications and Community Partnerships
At the beginning of the pandemic, we launched
the Your Actions Save Lives campaign, which
has served as the umbrella for the state’s
pandemic communications initiatives. We
primarily leveraged in-kind donations, engaged
influencers, and partnered with philanthropy.

As we built up our infrastructure, we recognized
directly communicating with Californians was a
critical pillar in our overall response. We invested
in community outreach, that has included direct
appointment and referral assistance, and public
education.

As a result, we built a web of communications
efforts throughout the pandemic to educate
Californians about complex public health
guidance and interventions and help citizens
understand the overall goals in managing the
virus and how to best use the tools to mitigate
its spread. Despite the rapidly evolving nature
of the pandemic response, our consistent
messaging framework has been that California is
prepared and will take necessary actions to save
lives. Leveraging the infrastructure of the State’s
2020 Census outreach effort, we were able to
quickly build a model that centered most of our
communications approaches around community
engagement and focused on issues of equity.

Leading this effort is the Vaccinate ALL 58
campaign, which has engaged more than 700
community-based organizations in partnership
with philanthropy and dozens of Community
Ambassadors. Additionally, the campaign has
partnered with over 250 ethnic media outlets
and utilized innovative tactics to meet people
where they are, in the language they speak. The
campaign has proactively engaged other state
departments and agencies, truly taking a whole-
of-government approach. All of these efforts
have supported our commitment and proactive
approach to tackling mis- and dis-information.

Overall, the community engagement efforts
have led to California successfully implementing
masking efforts in a wide variety of settings to
reduce transmission of the virus, closing equity
gaps in the administration of vaccines with nearly
75% of eligible Californians fully vaccinated, and
supporting the most robust testing program in
the nation, which averaged half-a-million tests
per day during the height of the Omicron surge.

The future approach to communications and
community engagement will advance existing
efforts, focus on keeping immunity high and
promote the most effective use of masking. An
added focus will be on the role, availability and
benefits of timely treatment options, especially
for those at highest risk for serious complications
and death from COVID-19 infections. The overall
focus will continue to be on equity and investing
in communications and deepening community
engagement.

The approach of leaning on our local partners
through ongoing direct investments into
hundreds of community-based organizations,
which support and advance our public health
preparedness and response efforts, will be
supported through the newly proposed Office
of Community Partnership and Strategic
Communications. The proposed new Office
will continue to build upon the data driven
and equity centered approach and offer a
centralized state entity to support coordination
California SMARTER| February 2022 25
and collaboration across state government and
philanthropy. These investments will support the
important community role in advancing public
health, among other things, and be critical to
our future success. In the end, California will
not shy away from focusing in on the simple,
well understood actions that make the biggest
difference. Communicating these messages
simply, clearly, and consistently will continue to
be our north star.

Protecting Workplaces
We took early actions to make our workplaces
safer. Through executive action we ensured that
qualified workers receive the care and support
they need through worker’s compensation
benefits if they contracted COVID-19 at work.

We took this same approach to allow our
most vulnerable workers to take time off when
sick from COVID-19. We partnered with the
Legislature to codify these policies into statute.

To inform employers about new laws and workers
about their rights, we developed training and
workshops, including resources such as a model
COVID-19 Prevention Plan, workplace postings,
and infographics. Over 55,000 employers were
reached through these activities. Our approach
leveraged technology to make information more
accessible, including an online Training Academy
for employers and workers to access video and
written training materials and an online wage
claim portal to ensure workers are compensated
for taking their paid sick leave.

Worker and Workplace Outreach and Education
Given the increased risk to workers in essential
industries, we developed the Safer at Work
Campaign to assist workers and employers in
better understanding and implementing the
workplace health and safety and paid sick
leave laws. This included a public awareness
media campaign, outreach funding to more
than 70 community-based organizations,
and development of innovative navigator
tools to simplify access and understanding
of the laws and rules developed in response
to the pandemic. Ultimately, this campaign
reached over 20 million individuals through
radio, programmatic display and social media.

Through the community engagement effort,
we reached over a million workers in interactive
engagements, such as training, meetings, phone
calls, and canvassing.

Through the Reaching Every Californian
campaign we partnered with community
organizations, schools and legal service providers
to offer more than 70 outreach presentations
for workers in high-risk sectors on sick leave
for COVID-19. Through the Workplace Rights
Ambassador Project, which seeks to build
a bridge to disenfranchised and vulnerable
workers, we partnered with community
organizations to provide in-depth training and
support to community leaders (promotoras) to
educate their members about sick leave and
assist them in exercising their rights. Through our
Business Engagement Program, we held dozens
of web-based trainings and reached tens of
thousands of employers with information on
workplace laws.

Our Farmworker Rights Caravans partnered with
community organizations to take an audiovisual
message in Spanish and indigenous languages
on worker protections directly to the fields in
thirteen counties.

The Caravans also reached farmworkers and
their families in community gathering places and
at COVID-19 testing and vaccination clinics.

Nearly 8,000 farmworkers were reached. We
also ensured employers in this sector had the
information they needed to comply with the
law by communicating regularly and holding
in-person meetings with dozens of growers and
contractors around the state. Through media
outreach for the Farmworker Rights Caravans, we
reached over 5.7 million views of messaging in
targeted agricultural regions.

Long-Term Care Facilities
By mid-year 2020, nursing homes had become
ground zero for the pandemic. Two key factors
coalesced to create a high-risk environment
for infections and ultimately high morbidity
and mortality: (1) facility residents are among
our community’s most vulnerable and at-risk
26 California SMARTER| February 2022
populations due to their often older age and
underlying chronic conditions and (2) the
congregate, communal, nature of the facilities
themselves with the variable degrees of infection
control between staff and residents. Like the
rest of the nation, California experienced a
sweeping spread of COVID-19 in nursing homes.

However, an immediate and intense focus on
reducing the risk for residents of nursing home
and other congregate care facilities quickly
led to numerous changes and interventions:
infection control standards were increased and
supported through technical assistance; staff
were augmented and trained to do their jobs
with a focus on minimizing transmission primarily
by advancing more protective, standardized
and universally applied use of PPE; state initiated
programs like Hotels for Health Care Workers
launched to provide staff an opportunity to
avoid broader community mixing and better
personnel and resident protections; California
invested in creating data platforms to better
track testing, infections, PPE supplies and monitor
compliance with infection control measures.

Together, California’s facilities made accelerated
improvements that have remained and been
improved. These tools that focus on the needs of
long-term care residents and facilities must also
be examined through higher level improvements
in our overall expectations of nursing homes and
their operators. While there is certainly a need
to stabilize and preserve our capacity, we must
also push for transformations in how the facilities
are supported and monitored. California will
continue to work with partners across the state
to maintain our advantage over the virus in long
term care facilities while remaining prepared for
potential challenges that soon may emerge.

Veterans Homes
Additionally, California’s eight Veterans Homes
reacted very quickly and were well-prepared
to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. This
approach was characterized by early action;
proactive infection control practices; strong
coordination throughout the system; and
excellent teamwork at all levels – including with
local, state, and federal partners. CalVet took
key steps prior to and early on in the pandemic,
including updating infection control protocols
used for a severe flu season and restricting
visitations even before the stay-at-home order
went into effect.

Over the last two years, the Veterans Homes
have adapted rapidly as circumstances,
guidance, and requirements have evolved
and has received national recognition for their
efforts. Staff and residents of the Veterans Homes
have been instrumental in these efforts, which is
evident in their high rates of vaccination. As of
February 7, 2022, 94.5% of residents and 89.8% of
staff are fully vaccinated, and 94.5% of residents
and 70.3% of staff have received a booster shot.

Ventilation
California’s public health leaders recognized
early on that COVID-19 is an airborne pathogen
that spreads readily indoors when air circulation
is not optimized. This understanding guided our
actions since the earliest days of our response.

This fact drove many efforts, including regulatory
relief for businesses, to encourage Californians
to meet, dine and play outdoors; to keep a door
open and windows up to help circulate fresh air
indoors.

Over the course of the last 15 months,
Californians have come together to make
innovative improvements to indoor air quality in
several settings. For example, many restaurants
made investments in air circulation and filtration
by upgrading HVAC filters, windows and doors
remained opened to freshen air more regularly
and effectively across a host of small and large
businesses, and many schools used COVID-19-
related funding to invest in inexpensive, but
effective, devices to improve the circulation and
filtration of air in classrooms and other spaces
protecting staff and students. The pandemic has
taught us that improvements to air quality do not
always require massive infrastructure investments
or take years to implement. There are cost
effective, immediate tools available. Californians
also spent a great deal more time outdoors,
enjoying the fresh air and nature.

California SMARTER| February 2022 27
Emergency Response
Governor Newsom proclaimed a State of
Emergency based on the unprecedented threat
of the COVID-19 pandemic to the health and
safety of all Californians. Of the 561 Executive
Order provisions issued throughout the course of
the pandemic response, fewer than 15% remain
operative.

These open provisions ensure continued flexibility
from statutory or regulatory requirements that
remain critical to support our ongoing COVID-19
response, for example, ensuring hospital and
medical staffing in the face of the Omicron
surge, maintaining the State’s robust testing
program, waivers of state contracting rules to
ensure quick access to critical masks and test
kits, and maintaining effective workplace safety
standards. None of the operative provisions
directly impact or restrict the activities of the
general public.

As one specific example, without the state
contracting flexibility, California would have
been unable to move swiftly to procure the
more than 13 million home test kits distributed
to county offices of education across the state
in December and early January to support the
safe return to in-person learning as students
returned from winter break. Likewise, other
provisions ensure that the home addresses of
public health officials remain confidential amidst
unprecedented personal threats to these public
servants and direct that the California Office of
Emergency Services can utilize state fairgrounds
and other property as needed to support the
ongoing pandemic response.

The foregoing examples illustrate why
maintaining the State of Emergency and keeping
certain Executive Order provisions in place was
critical to getting through the Omicron surge
and remains critical to our ongoing response in
the immediate term. Nonetheless, the Governor
will continue to assess the necessity of each
open Executive Order provision and terminate
provisions as they cease to be necessary.

28 California SMARTER| February 2022
Investments to Fight COVID-19
California has led the nation’s fight against COVID-19, implementing first-in-the-nation public health measures that have saved tens of thousands of lives. The state has administered over 70 million vaccinations and boosters and has maintained one of the lowest death rates among large states.

Last year’s budget appropriated $1.7 billion to fight against COVID-19. Now, Governor Newsom’s $3.2 Billion Emergency Response Package will protect Californians by continuing that fight, focusing on keeping our schools open and our economy moving. The package includes $1.9 billion in funding that has already been approved to immediately equip California’s health care system with supplies and staffing.

Bolster Testing
• Expand hours and capacity at testing
sites throughout the state to help slow
the spread of the virus.
• Distribute millions of COVID-19 antigen
tests to local health departments,
community clinics and county offices of
education and schools.
• Support the state’s testing facilities,
including specimen collection and
expanding capacity in order to meet
demand.
• Assist state departments in testing their
staff and congregate populations.

Getting more Californians Vaccinated and Boosted
• Continue the “Vaccinate all 58”
public education campaign to
provide reliable information and build
vaccine confidence while combating
misinformation, all of which is in
partnership with 250 ethnic media
outlets.
• Maintain a robust community outreach
and direct appointment assistance
campaign by conducting door-to-
door canvassing, phone banking
and texting with over 700 CBOs and
community partners in partnership with
philanthropy.
• Support in-home vaccination and
testing programs and transportation
arrangement, for those unable to
travel, to meet Californians where
they’re at.
• Provide free transportation to
vaccination appointments throughout
the state to help get more Californians
vaccinated and boosted.

Support Our Frontline Workers and Health Care Systems
• Support and distribution of critical personnel resources for health care systems to help protect frontline workers, patient care and hospital surge capacity as well as additional staffing for vaccination sites.

Maintain State Response Operations
• Enhance the state’s emergency response and public health capacities, including staffing and information technology at California Department of Public Health, Office of Emergency Services and Emergency Medical Services Authority.

California SMARTER| February 2022 29
Support Mutual Aid, Bolster Public Health Investigation Efforts, Procure Personal Protective Equipment
• Provide mutual aid to support local governments.
• Continue statewide priority public health investigation activities to help keep Californians safe and slow the spread.
• Procure additional personal protective equipment, including children’s N95 and surgical masks, and other durable equipment
The Governor’s Comeback Plan (2021 Budget Act) and the Governor’s Blueprint (2022-23 Budget proposal) present a once-in-a-generation opportunity to equitably improve the lives of All Californians, by investing in programs and services that are designed to lift all boats, but especially those which need to be lifted higher. The Comeback Plan provided us an opportunity to invest in programs and efforts that deepen our focus on the whole person while also promoting equity across all facets of society in response to challenges COVID-19 laid bare.

The Governor’s Blueprint provides the opportunity to make additional bold investments to protect our most vulnerable communities—such as providing housing for individuals with serious behavioral health conditions who are experiencing homelessness — and to make investments that will address the upstream causes of health and human services needs in communities that have been deeply impacted by COVID-19—such as building up our public health infrastructure.

As we move forward, we will leverage the multiyear investments made to build up and strengthen the foundations of a Healthy California for All.

This January marked two years since we worked with the federal government to welcome the first flight of 221 U.S. citizens and diplomats who were being repatriated from Wuhan, China into California due to the emergence of a Novel Coronavirus that rapidly spread, infecting hundreds in a matter of days.

In hindsight, this gave us some early insights into the initial behavior of the virus, provided us with early data on secondary exposure, and gave us the opportunity to understand the non-pharmaceutical interventions (e.g., masking and physical distancing) that could help mitigate the spread of the virus.

Two years later, we are continuing to iterate on our response and learn about the evolving behavior of the virus. The initial days taught us to be nimble and humble. This is true now more than ever before. California has been a state that learns fast and adapts. It is in our DNA and will guide us moving forward.

Conclusion
30 California SMARTER| February 2022
COVID19.CA.GOV
Your Actions Saves Lives
california legislature—2021–22 regular session
ASSEMBLY BILL No. 1944
Introduced by Assembly Members Lee and Cristina Garcia
February 10, 2022
An act to amend Section 54953 of the Government Code, relating to public meetings.
legislative counsel’s digest
AB 1944, as introduced, Lee. Local government: open and public meetings.

Existing law, the Ralph M. Brown Act, requires, with specified exceptions, that all meetings of a legislative body of a local agency, as those terms are defined, be open and public and that all persons be permitted to attend and participate. The act contains specified provisions regarding the timelines for posting an agenda and providing for the ability of the public to observe and provide comment. The act allows for meetings to occur via teleconferencing subject to certain requirements, particularly that the legislative body notice each teleconference location of each member that will be participating in the public meeting, that each teleconference location be accessible to the public, that members of the public be allowed to address the legislative body at each teleconference location, that the legislative body post an agenda at each teleconference location, and that at least a quorum of the legislative body participate from locations within the boundaries of the local agency’s jurisdiction. The act provides an exemption to the jurisdictional requirement for health authorities, as defined.

Existing law, until January 1, 2024, authorizes a local agency to use teleconferencing without complying with those specified teleconferencing requirements in specified circumstances when a

99 Attachment D
declared state of emergency is in effect, or in other situations related to public health.

This bill would specify that if a member of a legislative body elects to teleconference from a location that is not public, the address does not need to be identified in the notice and agenda or be accessible to the public when the legislative body has elected to allow members to participate via teleconferencing.

This bill would require all open and public meetings of a legislative body that elects to use teleconferencing to provide a video stream accessible to members of the public and an option for members of the public to address the body remotely during the public comment period through an audio-visual or call-in option.

Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.

This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.

The California Constitution requires local agencies, for the purpose of ensuring public access to the meetings of public bodies and the writings of public officials and agencies, to comply with a statutory enactment that amends or enacts laws relating to public records or open meetings and contains findings demonstrating that the enactment furthers the constitutional requirements relating to this purpose.

This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.

V ote: majority.

Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.​
State-mandated local program: no.​
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
line 1 SECTION 1. Section 54953 of the Government Code, as line 2 amended by Section 3 of Chapter 165 of the Statutes of 2021, is line 3 amended to read:
line 4 54953. (a)  All meetings of the legislative body of a local line 5 agency shall be open and public, and all persons shall be permitted line 6 to attend any meeting of the legislative body of a local agency, line 7 except as otherwise provided in this chapter.
line 8 (b)  (1)  Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the line 9 legislative body of a local agency may use teleconferencing for line 10 the benefit of the public and the legislative body of a local agency 99 — 2 — AB 1944

line 1 in connection with any meeting or proceeding authorized by law. line 2 The teleconferenced meeting or proceeding shall comply with all line 3 otherwise applicable requirements of this chapter and all otherwise line 4 applicable provisions of law relating to a specific type of meeting line 5 or proceeding.
line 6 (2)  Teleconferencing, as authorized by this section, may be used line 7 for all purposes in connection with any meeting within the subject line 8 matter jurisdiction of the legislative body. All votes taken during line 9 a teleconferenced meeting shall be by rollcall.
line 10 (3)  If the legislative body of a local agency elects to use line 11 teleconferencing, it shall post agendas at all teleconference line 12 locations and conduct teleconference meetings in a manner that line 13 protects the statutory and constitutional rights of the parties or the line 14 public appearing before the legislative body of a local agency. line 15 Each teleconference location shall be identified in the notice and line 16 agenda of the meeting or proceeding, and each teleconference line 17 location shall be accessible to the public. public, except as provided line 18 in subparagraph (A). During the teleconference, at least a quorum line 19 of the members of the legislative body shall participate from line 20 locations within the boundaries of the territory over which the line 21 local agency exercises jurisdiction, except as provided in line 22 subdivisions (d) and (e). The agenda shall provide an opportunity line 23 for members of the public to address the legislative body directly line 24 pursuant to Section 54954.3 at each teleconference location. line 25 location, except as provided in subparagraph (A). line 26 (A)  If a member of a legislative body elects to teleconference line 27 from a location that is not public, the address does not need to be line 28 identified in the notice and agenda or be accessible to the public line 29 when the legislative body has elected to allow members to line 30 participate via teleconferencing.
line 31 (B)  If a legislative body elects to use teleconferencing, they shall line 32 provide both of the following:
line 33 (i)  A video stream accessible to members of the public. line 34 (ii)  An option for members of the public to address the body line 35 remotely during the public comment period through an audio-visual line 36 or call-in option.
line 37 (4)   For the purposes of this section, “teleconference” means a line 38 meeting of a legislative body, the members of which are in different line 39 locations, connected by electronic means, through either audio or 99 AB 1944 — 3 —

line 1 video, or both. Nothing in this section shall prohibit a local agency line 2 from providing the public with additional teleconference locations. line 3 (5)  For the purposes of this section, “video streaming” means line 4 media in which the data from a live filming or a video file is line 5 continuously delivered via the internet to a remote user, allowing line 6 a video to be viewed online by the public without being downloaded line 7 on a host computer or device.
line 8 (c)   (1)  No legislative body shall take action by secret ballot, line 9 whether preliminary or final.
line 10 (2)   The legislative body of a local agency shall publicly report line 11 any action taken and the vote or abstention on that action of each line 12 member present for the action.
line 13 (3)  Prior to taking final action, the legislative body shall orally line 14 report a summary of a recommendation for a final action on the line 15 salaries, salary schedules, or compensation paid in the form of line 16 fringe benefits of a local agency executive, as defined in line 17 subdivision (d) of Section 3511.1, during the open meeting in line 18 which the final action is to be taken. This paragraph shall not affect line 19 the public’s right under the California Public Records Act (Chapter line 20 3.5 (commencing with Section 6250) of Division 7 of Title 1) to line 21 inspect or copy records created or received in the process of line 22 developing the recommendation.
line 23 (d)   (1)  Notwithstanding the provisions relating to a quorum in line 24 paragraph (3) of subdivision (b), if a health authority conducts a line 25 teleconference meeting, members who are outside the jurisdiction line 26 of the authority may be counted toward the establishment of a line 27 quorum when participating in the teleconference if at least 50 line 28 percent of the number of members that would establish a quorum line 29 are present within the boundaries of the territory over which the line 30 authority exercises jurisdiction, and the health authority provides line 31 a teleconference number, and associated access codes, if any, that line 32 allows any person to call in to participate in the meeting and the line 33 number and access codes are identified in the notice and agenda line 34 of the meeting.
line 35 (2)   Nothing in this subdivision shall be construed as line 36 discouraging health authority members from regularly meeting at line 37 a common physical site within the jurisdiction of the authority or line 38 from using teleconference locations within or near the jurisdiction line 39 of the authority. A teleconference meeting for which a quorum is 99 — 4 — AB 1944

line 1 established pursuant to this subdivision shall be subject to all other line 2 requirements of this section.
line 3 (3)   For purposes of this subdivision, a health authority means line 4 any entity created pursuant to Sections 14018.7, 14087.31, line 5 14087.35, 14087.36, 14087.38, and 14087.9605 of the Welfare line 6 and Institutions Code, any joint powers authority created pursuant line 7 to Article 1 (commencing with Section 6500) of Chapter 5 of line 8 Division 7 for the purpose of contracting pursuant to Section line 9 14087.3 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, and any advisory line 10 committee to a county-sponsored health plan licensed pursuant to line 11 Chapter 2.2 (commencing with Section 1340) of Division 2 of the line 12 Health and Safety Code if the advisory committee has 12 or more line 13 members.
line 14 (e)   (1)  A local agency may use teleconferencing without line 15 complying with the requirements of paragraph (3) of subdivision line 16 (b) if the legislative body complies with the requirements of line 17 paragraph (2) of this subdivision in any of the following line 18 circumstances:
line 19 (A)  The legislative body holds a meeting during a proclaimed line 20 state of emergency, and state or local officials have imposed or line 21 recommended measures to promote social distancing. line 22 (B)  The legislative body holds a meeting during a proclaimed line 23 state of emergency for the purpose of determining, by majority line 24 vote, whether as a result of the emergency, meeting in person line 25 would present imminent risks to the health or safety of attendees. line 26 (C)  The legislative body holds a meeting during a proclaimed line 27 state of emergency and has determined, by majority vote, pursuant line 28 to subparagraph (B), that, as a result of the emergency, meeting line 29 in person would present imminent risks to the health or safety of line 30 attendees.
line 31 (2)   A legislative body that holds a meeting pursuant to this line 32 subdivision shall do all of the following:
line 33 (A)   The legislative body shall give notice of the meeting and line 34 post agendas as otherwise required by this chapter. line 35 (B)  The legislative body shall allow members of the public to line 36 access the meeting and the agenda shall provide an opportunity line 37 for members of the public to address the legislative body directly line 38 pursuant to Section 54954.3. In each instance in which notice of line 39 the time of the teleconferenced meeting is otherwise given or the line 40 agenda for the meeting is otherwise posted, the legislative body 99 AB 1944 — 5 —

line 1 shall also give notice of the means by which members of the public line 2 may access the meeting and offer public comment. The agenda line 3 shall identify and include an opportunity for all persons to attend line 4 via a call-in option or an internet-based service option. This line 5 subparagraph shall not be construed to require the legislative body line 6 to provide a physical location from which the public may attend line 7 or comment.
line 8 (C)  The legislative body shall conduct teleconference meetings line 9 in a manner that protects the statutory and constitutional rights of line 10 the parties and the public appearing before the legislative body of line 11 a local agency.
line 12 (D)  In the event of a disruption which prevents the public agency line 13 from broadcasting the meeting to members of the public using the line 14 call-in option or internet-based service option, or in the event of line 15 a disruption within the local agency’s control which prevents line 16 members of the public from offering public comments using the line 17 call-in option or internet-based service option, the body shall take line 18 no further action on items appearing on the meeting agenda until line 19 public access to the meeting via the call-in option or internet-based line 20 service option is restored. Actions taken on agenda items during line 21 a disruption which prevents the public agency from broadcasting line 22 the meeting may be challenged pursuant to Section 54960.1. line 23 (E)   The legislative body shall not require public comments to line 24 be submitted in advance of the meeting and must provide an line 25 opportunity for the public to address the legislative body and offer line 26 comment in real time. This subparagraph shall not be construed line 27 to require the legislative body to provide a physical location from line 28 which the public may attend or comment.
line 29 (F)   Notwithstanding Section 54953.3, an individual desiring to line 30 provide public comment through the use of an internet website, or line 31 other online platform, not under the control of the local legislative line 32 body, that requires registration to log in to a teleconference may line 33 be required to register as required by the third-party internet line 34 website or online platform to participate.
line 35 (G)  (i)  A legislative body that provides a timed public comment line 36 period for each agenda item shall not close the public comment line 37 period for the agenda item, or the opportunity to register, pursuant line 38 to subparagraph (F), to provide public comment until that timed line 39 public comment period has elapsed.
99 — 6 — AB 1944

line 1 (ii)   A legislative body that does not provide a timed public line 2 comment period, but takes public comment separately on each line 3 agenda item, shall allow a reasonable amount of time per agenda line 4 item to allow public members the opportunity to provide public line 5 comment, including time for members of the public to register line 6 pursuant to subparagraph (F), or otherwise be recognized for the line 7 purpose of providing public comment.
line 8 (iii)   A legislative body that provides a timed general public line 9 comment period that does not correspond to a specific agenda item line 10 shall not close the public comment period or the opportunity to line 11 register, pursuant to subparagraph (F), until the timed general line 12 public comment period has elapsed.
line 13 (3)   If a state of emergency remains active, or state or local line 14 officials have imposed or recommended measures to promote line 15 social distancing, in order to continue to teleconference without line 16 compliance with paragraph (3) of subdivision (b), the legislative line 17 body shall, not later than 30 days after teleconferencing for the line 18 first time pursuant to subparagraph (A), (B), or (C) of paragraph line 19 (1), and every 30 days thereafter, make the following findings by line 20 majority vote:
line 21 (A)   The legislative body has reconsidered the circumstances of line 22 the state of emergency.
line 23 (B)   Any of the following circumstances exist:
line 24 (i)   The state of emergency continues to directly impact the line 25 ability of the members to meet safely in person. line 26 (ii)   State or local officials continue to impose or recommend line 27 measures to promote social distancing.
line 28 (4)  For the purposes of this subdivision, “state of emergency” line 29 means a state of emergency proclaimed pursuant to Section 8625 line 30 of the California Emergency Services Act (Article 1 (commencing line 31 with Section 8550) of Chapter 7 of Division 1 of Title 2). line 32 (f)  This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2024, line 33 and as of that date is repealed.
line 34 SEC. 2. Section 54953 of the Government Code, as added by line 35 Section 4 of Chapter 165 of the Statutes of 2021, is amended to line 36 read:
line 37 54953. (a)  All meetings of the legislative body of a local line 38 agency shall be open and public, and all persons shall be permitted line 39 to attend any meeting of the legislative body of a local agency, line 40 except as otherwise provided in this chapter.
99 AB 1944 — 7 —

line 1 (b)  (1)  Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the line 2 legislative body of a local agency may use teleconferencing for line 3 the benefit of the public and the legislative body of a local agency line 4 in connection with any meeting or proceeding authorized by law. line 5 The teleconferenced meeting or proceeding shall comply with all line 6 requirements of this chapter and all otherwise applicable provisions line 7 of law relating to a specific type of meeting or proceeding. line 8 (2)  Teleconferencing, as authorized by this section, may be used line 9 for all purposes in connection with any meeting within the subject line 10 matter jurisdiction of the legislative body. All votes taken during line 11 a teleconferenced meeting shall be by rollcall. line 12 (3)  If the legislative body of a local agency elects to use line 13 teleconferencing, it shall post agendas at all teleconference line 14 locations and conduct teleconference meetings in a manner that line 15 protects the statutory and constitutional rights of the parties or the line 16 public appearing before the legislative body of a local agency. line 17 Each teleconference location shall be identified in the notice and line 18 agenda of the meeting or proceeding, and each teleconference line 19 location shall be accessible to the public. public, except as provided line 20 in subparagraph (A). During the teleconference, at least a quorum line 21 of the members of the legislative body shall participate from line 22 locations within the boundaries of the territory over which the line 23 local agency exercises jurisdiction, except as provided in line 24 subdivision (d). The agenda shall provide an opportunity for line 25 members of the public to address the legislative body directly line 26 pursuant to Section 54954.3 at each teleconference location. line 27 location, except as provided in subparagraph (A). line 28 (A)  If a member of a legislative body elects to teleconference line 29 from a location that is not public, the address does not need to be line 30 identified in the notice and agenda, or be accessible to the public line 31 when the legislative body has elected to allow members to line 32 participate via teleconferencing.
line 33 (B)  If a legislative body elects to use teleconferencing, they shall line 34 provide both of the following:
line 35 (i)  A video stream accessible to members of the public. line 36 (ii)  An option for members of the public to address the body line 37 remotely during the public comment period through an audio-visual line 38 or call-in option.
line 39 (4)   For the purposes of this section, “teleconference” means a line 40 meeting of a legislative body, the members of which are in different 99 — 8 — AB 1944

line 1 locations, connected by electronic means, through either audio or line 2 video, or both. Nothing in this section shall prohibit a local agency line 3 from providing the public with additional teleconference locations line 4 (5)  For the purposes of this section, “video streaming” means line 5 media in which the data from a live filming or a video file is line 6 continuously delivered via the internet to a remote user, allowing line 7 a video to be viewed online by the public without being downloaded line 8 on a host computer or device.
line 9 (c)   (1)  No legislative body shall take action by secret ballot, line 10 whether preliminary or final.
line 11 (2)   The legislative body of a local agency shall publicly report line 12 any action taken and the vote or abstention on that action of each line 13 member present for the action.
line 14 (3)  Prior to taking final action, the legislative body shall orally line 15 report a summary of a recommendation for a final action on the line 16 salaries, salary schedules, or compensation paid in the form of line 17 fringe benefits of a local agency executive, as defined in line 18 subdivision (d) of Section 3511.1, during the open meeting in line 19 which the final action is to be taken. This paragraph shall not affect line 20 the public’s right under the California Public Records Act (Chapter line 21 3.5 (commencing with Section 6250) of Division 7 of Title 1) to line 22 inspect or copy records created or received in the process of line 23 developing the recommendation.
line 24 (d)   (1)  Notwithstanding the provisions relating to a quorum in line 25 paragraph (3) of subdivision (b), if a health authority conducts a line 26 teleconference meeting, members who are outside the jurisdiction line 27 of the authority may be counted toward the establishment of a line 28 quorum when participating in the teleconference if at least 50 line 29 percent of the number of members that would establish a quorum line 30 are present within the boundaries of the territory over which the line 31 authority exercises jurisdiction, and the health authority provides line 32 a teleconference number, and associated access codes, if any, that line 33 allows any person to call in to participate in the meeting and the line 34 number and access codes are identified in the notice and agenda line 35 of the meeting.
line 36 (2)   Nothing in this subdivision shall be construed as line 37 discouraging health authority members from regularly meeting at line 38 a common physical site within the jurisdiction of the authority or line 39 from using teleconference locations within or near the jurisdiction line 40 of the authority. A teleconference meeting for which a quorum is 99 AB 1944 — 9 —

line 1 established pursuant to this subdivision shall be subject to all other line 2 requirements of this section.
line 3 (3)   For purposes of this subdivision, a health authority means line 4 any entity created pursuant to Sections 14018.7, 14087.31, line 5 14087.35, 14087.36, 14087.38, and 14087.9605 of the Welfare line 6 and Institutions Code, any joint powers authority created pursuant line 7 to Article 1 (commencing with Section 6500) of Chapter 5 of line 8 Division 7 for the purpose of contracting pursuant to Section line 9 14087.3 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, and any advisory line 10 committee to a county-sponsored health plan licensed pursuant to line 11 Chapter 2.2 (commencing with Section 1340) of Division 2 of the line 12 Health and Safety Code if the advisory committee has 12 or more line 13 members.
line 14 (e)   This section shall become operative January 1, 2024. line 15 SEC. 3. The Legislature finds and declares that Sections 1 and line 16 2 of this act, which amends Section 54953 of the Government line 17 Code, further, within the meaning of paragraph (7) of subdivision line 18 (b) of Section 3 of Article I of the California Constitution, the line 19 purposes of that constitutional section as it relates to the right of line 20 public access to the meetings of local public bodies or the writings line 21 of local public officials and local agencies. Pursuant to paragraph line 22 (7) of subdivision (b) of Section 3 of Article I of the California line 23 Constitution, the Legislature makes the following findings:
line 24 This act is necessary to ensure minimum standards for public line 25 participation allowing for greater public participation in line 26 teleconference meetings.
line 27 SEC. 4. (a)  The Legislature finds and declares that during the line 28 COVID-19 public health emergency, certain requirements of the line 29 Ralph M. Brown Act (Chapter 9 (commencing with Section 54950) line 30 of Part 1 of Division 2 of Title 5 of the Government Code) and the line 31 Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act (Article 9 (commencing with line 32 Section 11120) of Chapter 1 of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of line 33 the Government Code) were suspended by Executive Order No. line 34 N-29-20. Audio and video teleconference were widely used to line 35 conduct public meetings in lieu of physical location meetings, and line 36 public meetings conducted by teleconference during the COVID-19 line 37 public health emergency have been productive, have increased line 38 public participation by all members of the public regardless of line 39 their location in the state and ability to travel to physical meeting line 40 locations, have protected the health and safety of civil servants 99 — 10 — AB 1944

line 1 and the public, and have reduced travel costs incurred by members line 2 of state bodies and reduced work hours spent traveling to and from line 3 meetings.
line 4 (b)   The Legislature finds and declares that Sections 1 and 2 of line 5 this act, which amend Section 54953 of the Government Code, line 6 imposes a potential limitation on the public’s right of access to the line 7 meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and line 8 agencies within the meaning of Section 3 of Article I of the line 9 California Constitution. Pursuant to that constitutional provision, line 10 the Legislature makes the following findings to demonstrate the line 11 interest protected by this potential limitation and the need for line 12 protecting that interest:
line 13 By removing the requirement for each teleconference location line 14 to be identified in the notice and agenda, including the member’s line 15 private home address, this act protects the personal, private line 16 information of public officials and their families while preserving line 17 the public’s right to access information concerning the conduct of line 18 the people’s business.

O
99 AB 1944 — 11 —

AB 1944

ASSEMBLYMEMBER ALEX LEE

OFFICE OF ASSEMBLYMEMBER ALEX LEE
AB 1944 FACT SHEET | UPDATED 03/23/22

THIS BILL

This bill would allow members of a local legislative body, upon majority vote, to waive the Brown Act requirements of publishing their private address on the meeting agenda and making this address open to members of the public. It would also require a remote participation option for
members of the public to address the body.

BACKGROUND

The Ralph M. Brown Act passed in 1953 requires local
government business to be conducted at open and pu blic meetings, except in certain limited situations. Existing law allows the legislative body of a local agency to use teleconferencing as long as a quorum of the members
participate from locations within the boundaries of the agency’s jurisdiction.

In order to teleconference, each teleconference location is required to be identified in the notice and agenda of the meeting, as well as be accessible to the public.

On March 2020, Governor Newsom issued Executive
Order N -29-20 which waived the teleconference
requirements for local agencies during the COVID -19
pandemic. This order has since expired.

AB 361 (Rivas, 2021) permits local agencies to continue to meet virtually and remotely during a state -declared emergency without having to meet a quorum and other
requirements of teleconference meetings under the Brown Act. Local legislative bodies may continue to meet
virtually pursuant to AB 361 until the end of the current state of emergency and during any future state of
emergency up until January 1, 2024. The legislative body is required to take a majority vote every 30 days in order to continue allowing members to participate virtually
without meeting existing Brown Act requirements.

PROBLEM

Given the last few years of the COVID -19 pandemic,
many members of Brown Act bodies have participated
remotely in official business, and have shown effective leadership while keeping themselves and their families
healthy and safe. However, even with existing legislation, the protections are only in place during a declared state of emergency. In addition, if there is no majority vote every 30 days , members who choose to teleconference are
required to make private addresses publicly known and
accessible.

Since there are many members of Brown Act bodies who
have families that may be immunocompromised or may
need to teleconference from a private location that cannot be made accessible to the public, there are still many
concerns with existing legislation.

For example, if outside of the pandemic a local elected is teleconferencing from a hospital room after giving birth, she would be forced to either reveal the location she is teleconferencing from or make the room publicly
available, or she would not be able to attend the meeting and partake in her official duties.

Another e xample is if a Planning Commissioner is
immunocompromised, or has immunocompromised
family members at home, they may choose to
teleconference into meetings. However, they would be
required to share their private home address and make it publicly accessible.

SOLUTION

AB 1944 would ensure that:
 Brown Act bodies can vote to allow their
members to teleconference into a meeting
without having to reveal private addresses or
make private addresses accessible to the public,
to continue performing their official duties

 Livestreams of meetings are required whenever
members teleconference into meetings so the
public has access to observe and participate in
meetings

 Members of the public can address their elected
officials either through a call -in or video option,
ensuring that they are able to participate in
government

Attachment E

OFFICE OF ASSEMBLYMEMBER ALEX LEE
AB 1944 FACT SHEET | UPDATED 03/23/22

SUPPORT

City of Santa Clara
Bay Area Air Quality Management District
First 5 Solano Children and Families Commission
Peninsula Clean Energy
Silicon Valley Clean Energy
Solano County Board of Supervisors
Sonoma Clean Power

Gilroy City Councilmember Zach Hilton
Pinole Mayor Pro Tem Devin T. Murphy
Santa Clara School Board Member Vickie Fairchild
Santa Clara School Board Member Bonnie Lieberman
Seaside City Councilmember Jon Wizard
South San Francisco Councilmember James Coleman
San Bruno Park District Trustee Andriana Shea
Santa Ana City Councilmember Jessie Lopez
Sacramento City Councilmember Katie Valenzuela
South San Francisco Unified School District Board of
Trustees John Baker
North Westwood Neighborhood Councilmember A ndrew
Lewis

CONTACT

Maria Montchal, Legislative Aide
Office of Assemblymember Alex Lee
916-319-2025 | [email protected]