San Jose City Council
January 13, 2026

TO: HONORABLE MAYOR

AND CITY COUNCIL
FROM: Emily Lam
SUBJECT: 2026 Legislative Program
and Legislative Priorities
DATE: December 1, 2025
Approved Date:
12/16/25
CO
UNCIL DISTRICT: Citywide
RE

COMMENDATION
A
dopt the 2026 Legislative Program and Legislative Priorities.

S

UMMARY AND OUTCOME
T
he 2026 Legislative Program and Legislative Priorities will guide advocacy work in the corresponding state and federal legislative sessions. The Intergovernmental Relations team (IGR), which is part of the City Manager’s Office of Administration, Policy, and Intergovernmental Relations, is not proposing major changes to the Legislative Priorities for 2026. IGR is proposing updates to the Legislative Program for 2026, which are discussed further in this memorandum.

BACKG
ROUND
T
he California Legislature and the United States Congress began a new two-year legislative session in January 2025. The 2026 Legislative Program, which also encompasses the 2026 Legislative Priorities, will direct the City’s work on legislation, regulation, and funding over the next year. The Administration is bringing forward this update to capture current legislative and funding windows and integrate City Council direction received throughout the 2025 state and federal legislative sessions to prepare for the 2026 legislative sessions.

COUNCIL AGENDA: 1/13/26
FILE: 26-027
ITEM: 3.6

HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
December 1, 2025
Subject: 2026 Legislative Program and Legislative Priorities

IGR last reported to the City Council on legislative priorities on January 14, 2025 (Item

3.4 25-011).1 At this meeting, the City Council approved five legislative advocacy priorities for 2025, and approved the Legislative Program for 2025.

The Legislative Program was reimagined in recent years to be more public facing, as a comprehensive platform of policy priorities easily consumable to internal and external stakeholders. Each year, the Administration identifies top legislative priorities that align with the Legislative Program's policy positions. These priorities represent highly complex policy work where substantial resources, staffing, and strategic support are required to advocate for critical City needs. The legislative priorities and legislative program are crafted in close coordination with City departments and partners, and consider funding and legislative opportunities in the 2026 state and federal legislative sessions.

ANALYSIS

2026 Legislative Priorities

Following internal review and discussion, the five priorities approved by City Council for 2025 continue to guide IGR for the 2026 legislative sessions. The 2026 Legislative Priorities are included in the attached Draft 2026 Legislative Program. At the midpoint of the state and federal legislative sessions, the priorities identified for 2025 will position the City well for the intergovernmental landscape for 2026. Minor updates were made to the descriptive summaries of the legislative priorities to specify goals. These include the addition of enhancing the City’s resilience and expediting recovery in emergency situations, and highlighting outreach and sanitation as part of encampment services.

While the priorities are not in rank order, opportunities are pursued as legislative opportunities open, and serving people experiencing homelessness remains the most pressing organizational and community challenge.

2026 Legislative Program

The Administration recognizes that advocacy opportunities in Sacramento and Washington D.C. develop quickly and unexpectedly as legislators respond to a changing social, economic, legal, and political landscape. The City’s 2026 Legislative Program contains broad policy direction that will allow the Administration to take advantage of policy windows and advance the City Council’s legislative agenda in partnership with the City’s lobbying firms: Cruz Strategies (located in Sacramento) and Manatt, Phelps & Phillips (located in Washington, D.C.). The updated Draft 2026 Legislative Program, includes the redlined changes from the 2025 version for visual representation.

1 https://sanjose.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=7050791&GUID=50D8917D -57B9-4D9E-860B- 3A5BAB1A61F5

HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
December 1, 2025
Subject: 2026 Legislative Program and Legislative Priorities

Functional Areas

The 2026 Legislative Program is divided into functional areas as shown in the Table of Contents page of the Legislative Program. The functional areas approved for 2025 provide a methodical structure and easily digestible format; therefore, no changes are being proposed for 2026. However, it is important to note that one functional area has particular emphasis: Elevating Equity is the first functional area, as equity is embedded in the entirety of the Legislative Program and underpins all legislative priorities and actions.

Updates for 2026

Through input from departments, partners, and stakeholders, significant updates were made to the Legislative Program for 2026. Some of the key changes included new or expanded policy positions as outlined below. Major themes include funding needs for one-time major events and ongoing program operations and infrastructure projects; supporting legislation to protect and uplift the City’s residents and enhanced regulations on emerging technologies; and preserving the City’s ability to protect, raise, and expand revenue.

Key Funding Needs

• Homelessness – Homelessness Funding. Advocating for a full restoration of funding for the Homeless Housing Assistance and Prevention Program in the state Fiscal Year 2026-2027 budget, and for flexible funding in the proposed Affordable Housing Bond Act of 2026 and other state housing funding and grant programs to support interim housing solutions.

• Safer San José – Sporting Event Safety Funding. Advocating for state and federal funding to ensure the safety of attendees, fans, and tourists at international sporting events and festivities held in the South Bay.

• Sustainability/Resiliency: Infrastructure – Transportation Infrastructure Funding. Advocating for funding for transformative rail projects to advance planning, engineering, and construction efforts, and increased and dedicated funding to support transit operations and enhance service levels.

Key State and Federal Policy Positions

• Elevating Equity – Economic Stability and Mobility. Added policy position promoting policies that support the City’s residents, including access to supplemental nutrition programs, housing assistance, childcare, and healthcare, among others.

HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
December 1, 2025
Subject: 2026 Legislative Program and Legislative Priorities

• San José Mineta International Airport – Advanced Air Mobility. Added policy position regarding regulation of drones and advanced air mobility technologies, ensuring that innovation and investment are balanced with community concerns of noise, privacy, and access.

• Economic Development – Youth Workforce Development. Expanded policy positions supporting the expansion and implementation of various youth workforce development programs, such as AmeriCorps and the City’s San José Works and Resilience Corps programs.

• Safer San José – Paramedic Resources. Added policy position supporting funding to expand access and diversity while addressing a shortage of paramedics in the fire and emergency medical services fields, including increasing local training and apprenticeship programs.

• Safer San José – Rideshare Safety and Accountability. Added policy position supporting legislation to prioritize rider and traffic safety through stronger standards and operator accountability, while also maintaining San José’s role as a center of innovation.

• Sustainability/Resiliency: Energy – Data Centers. Added policy position promoting the development of data centers to support the local economy and clean energy goals.

• Local Control and Fiscal Stability – Protecting City Revenue. Added policy position opposing limits to the City’s ability to protect, raise, or expand revenue or explore new funding sources.

Federal Focus of Priorities

The Federal Priorities section of the Legislative Program provides focus for the City’s federal lobbying resources and enhances communication of the City's federal priorities to partners and stakeholders. Given the shifting federal landscape this year, the federal priorities section has been updated to strengthen certain areas in response to significant changes in federal policy direction and corresponding funding. The most substantive update to note is highlighted below:

• Federal Priorities – Recycling Infrastructure. Added policy position promoting effective reuse and recycling of hazardous waste, increasing education campaigns, and protecting local ordinances from state or federal preemption.

HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
December 1, 2025
Subject: 2026 Legislative Program and Legislative Priorities

Partner and Departmental Coordination

Legislative success is grounded in partnership and conversing inside and outside of City Hall to formulate strategy. IGR sought input on the Legislative Program from each City department, the City’s state and federal lobbying teams, and community partners.

EVALUATION AND FOLLOW-UP

The Administration is bringing forward the 2026 Legislative Program and 2026 Legislative Priorities for City Council adoption. Once approved, these items will direct the work of the Administration in the upcoming state and federal legislative sessions to actively engage legislators in partnership with the City’s lobbying firms. The Administration will continue to advance the City’s Legislative Program and regularly report on all City legislative positions.

COORDINATION

The Administration coordinated this memorandum with the City Attorney’s Office, City Manager’s Budget Office, City Manager’s Office of Economic Development and Cultural Affairs, City Manager’s Office of Emergency Management, City Manager’s Office of Racial and Social Equity, and Departments of Energy, Environmental Services, Finance, Fire, Housing, Information Technology, Library, Planning, Building, and Code Enforcement, Parks, Recreation, and Neighborhood Services, Police, Public Works, and Transportation.

PUBLIC OUTREACH

This memorandum will be posted on the City’s Council Agenda website for the January 13, 2026 City Council meeting. The 2026 Legislative Program will be posted on the public IGR website to enhance transparency and engagement from residents.

COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION AND INPUT

No commission recommendation or input is associated with this action.

CEQA

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

HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
December 1, 2025
Subject: 2026 Legislative Program and Legislative Priorities

PUBLIC SUBSIDY REPORTING

This item does not include a public subsidy as defined in section 53083 or 53083.1 of the California Government Code or the City’s Open Government Resolution.

EMILY LAM
Director, City Manager’s Office of
Administration, Policy, and
Intergovernmental Relations

For questions, please contact Han Kang, Deputy Director and Chief Intergovernmental Relations Officer, City Manager’s Office of Administration, Policy, and Intergovernmental Relations, at [email protected].

ATTACHMENT: Draft 2026 Legislative Program

1 City of San José
Office of the City Manager
Office of Administration, Policy, and
Intergovernmental Relations

Legislative Program 2026

Pending Approval by City Council on January 13, 2026

2 Table of Contents
City of San José Overview
Legislative Program Overview
Legislative Priorities
Elevating Equity
San José Mineta International Airport
Economic Development
Healthy Communities
Homelessness
Housing
Local Control and Fiscal Stability
Safer San José
Supporting Families
Sustainability/Resiliency: Air
Sustainability/Resiliency: Climate Smart
Sustainability/Resiliency: Energy
Sustainability/Resiliency: Infrastructure
Sustainability/Resiliency: Water
Technology
2026 Federal Priorities

Contributors from the City of San José
Departments of Airport; Energy; Environmental Services; Finance; Fire; Housing; Information Technology; Library; Planning, Building and Code Enforcement; Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services; Police; Public Works; and Transportation, and the City Attorney’s Office, the Clerk’s Office, the City Manager’s Budget Office; the City Manager’s Office of Administration, Policy, and Intergovernmental Relations; the City Manager’s Office of Communications; the City Manager’s Office of Economic Development and Cultural Affairs; the City Manager’s Office of Emergency Management; the City Manager’s Office of Employee Relations; and the City Manager’s Office of Racial and Social Equity.

3 City of San José Overview
San José is the third-largest city in the state of California (population 971,233) and the 12th largest city in the nation. The City is rich with historic and cultural significance and is located on the ancestral land of the Ohlone people of the greater Santa Clara Valley.

The City of San José continues to benefit from the use and occupation of these lands and acknowledges and supports Native Americans in solidarity to partner for a more equitable and inclusive future.

As one of the oldest cities in the state, San José was once the state capital shortly after California became a U.S. territory. The gold rush of 1849 and later arrival of railroads created significant growth, making San José a major commercial center for the area’s agricultural products.

Historically referred to as the ‘Valley of the Heart’s Delight, ’ San José has enjoyed an upbeat economy that has moved from farming and agriculture to the Capital of Silicon Valley. San José’s rich past of welcoming immigrants has contributed to the area being a center of innovation. San José is also home to, or birthplace of, transformative leaders such as César Chávez and Norman Mineta.

Diversity is a hallmark of San José, a city proud of the cultural and ethnic diversity of its population and workforce and the rich cultural identity of its many neighborhoods. City residents speak more than 50 different languages, with 40% of residents born outside of the United States. According to the U.S. Census Bureau as of April 2021, San José residents are 37.2% Asian, 31.0% Latino, 25.1% White, 2.9% African American, and 3.8% other/two or more races. San José’s diverse communities are resilient yet disproportionally affected by several negative life outcomes including those related to health, income, and housing. The City aims to end these disparities and ensure that all communities thrive and prosper.

San José is constantly evolving—what was once a suburb of orchards in the Valley of the Heart’s Delight - is now an urban city in the heart of transit service connections across the region. Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) and California High- Speed Rail have planned new routes to the City’s centrally located Diridon Station, which is also scheduled for a major upgrade and expansion.

Technology has transformed San José into what it is today. It is known for its prominence in the development of semiconductors, computer-related technology, and advanced manufacturing.

Industry giants Adobe Systems, BEA Systems, Cisco, and eBay as well as newer innovators like Zoom, Bloom Energy, Infinera, and Archer Aviation are headquartered in San José. Technology has brought significant innovation to San José, making it the fastest place in the country to go from ideation to production.

4 Legislative Program Overview
The City of San José is a policy and innovation leader on the national and international stage.

The City has adopted some of the most ambitious climate goals in the nation.

In 2018, the City Council adopted Climate Smart San José, a detailed plan for reaching the targets of the international Paris Agreement. The following year, San José Clean Energy was launched, serving as the City’s new electricity supplier and providing residents and businesses with cleaner and more affordable energy. Driven by its City Council, San José is currently working towards a 2030 carbon neutrality goal.

The City is looking to the future and prioritizing infrastructure upgrades to meet the effects of climate change and drought to ensure long-term sustainability and resiliency.

As a major U.S. city with strong influence regionally and statewide, the City of San José is actively engaged in local, state, and federal advocacy processes to protect and amplify the interests of residents and businesses. The Office of Administration, Policy, and Intergovernmental Relations (API) advances San José’s priorities through legislative advocacy at the state and federal levels through its intergovernmental relations team (IGR) while also engaging in regional coordination aligned with City Council-approved legislative priorities. This includes advocating for new funding sources for City priorities. API maintains staff in the City Manager’s Office (CMO) and works with advocacy firms to represent the City in Sacramento and Washington, D.C. in partnership with San José’s state and federal delegations.

The 2026 Legislative Program outlines the City of San José’s advocacy focus to increase residents’ quality of life. These policy positions and priorities, approved by the Mayor and City Council, anchor the City’s advocacy work in the 2026 state and federal legislative sessions.

Legislative Program priorities and positions are centered around equity and inclusion for all San José residents.

As the Capital of Silicon Valley, the City of San José embraces the opportunity for innovation. That includes pioneering services, programs, policies, and systems that result in more equitable outcomes for residents. Equity is embedded throughout legislative priorities and positions in a way that addresses systemic inequalities and promotes equal opportunities for everyone, regardless of their race, gender identity, religion, language, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, disability, or immigration status. An equity analysis ensures that decision-making does not further disadvantage people who are struggling or have been historically left behind, but rather informs policymaking to lift up communities so that all thrive in San José. The City has made a commitment to embed a racial equity practice and embody a culture that sustains it. Addressing disparities requires continuous, deliberative efforts to prioritize the needs of people historically marginalized, underserved, and under-resourced.

5 2026 Legislative Priorities
Citywide Top Legislative Priorities that Guide the Positions in the Legislative Program We aim to execute this work with an equity lens aiming to remedy past actions that historically destabilized San José’s communities of color and low-income communities and excluded these residents from accessing safe and stable housing.

REDUCE UNSHELTERED HOMELESSNESS, SUPPORT UNHOUSED RESIDENTS, AND INCREASE

OPPORTUNITIES FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING
Support for the following:
• Ongoing flexible homelessness funding and pursue opportunities to fund the interim housing system and encampment services including outreach and sanitation services and environmental restoration.
• Increased supply and funding for permanent affordable housing, land trusts, and associated operating, safety net, and services funding. • Legislation that furthers affordable housing while maintaining local control of land use.

ENHANCE COMMUNITY SAFETY INITIATIVES AND REALIZE VISION ZERO Support for the following:
• Funding and policy change that helps reduce crime and theft, and makes residents and businesses feel safe in their neighborhoods and downtown. • Further initiatives and funding to reduce violence and harm from firearms. • Enhanceing the City’s resilience to face any emergency and recover quickly to reduce impacts.
• Pursue this work with an equity lens to ensure that all residents, especially immigrants, communities of color, LGBTQIA+, people with disabilities, and San José’s other diverse communities are protected against hate crimes/incidents and have their rights and well- being protected. Advocate for lLegislation and local authority for cities to implement traffic safety measures and pilot initiatives to advance the City’s Vision Zero goals. • Expanded funding for pedestrian and bicyclist safety infrastructure projects and to keep public right of way accessible and clear.
• Prioritization of the City’s most vulnerable residents and in areas that disproportionately suffer from fatal and severe traffic injury collisions.

ADVOCATE FOR EDUCATIONAL AND EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES THAT FOSTER EQUITABLE OUTCOMES FOR SAN JOSÉ FAMILIES
Support the following:
• Advocate for increased economic mobility opportunities, job creation, and childcare access citywide to solve for the impacts of inequality and poverty. • Work with regional partners to further educational opportunities for San José residents and ensure equitable access to jobs in tech and advanced manufacturing. 6 • Further workforce development programs and mental health programing for youth in conjunction with regional partners.
• Through a coordinated regional approach, advocate for sustainable and meaningful funding and legislation that advance social, economic, environmental, educational, health, and political equity to eliminate persistent disadvantages and cycles of poverty produced by structural racism, ableism, and systemic inequities.

DRIVE DOWNTOWN REVITALIZATION AND CULTIVATE EQUITABLE INVESTMENT IN OUR

NEIGHBORHOODS
Support the following:
• Advocate for tools, resources and policies to address blight and ensure City streets, sidewalks, trails and parks remain accessible and available for all. • Promote funding and regulatory support for small businesses and vendors to thrive in the downtown core, including attracting private investment, and for increased access to public spaces.
• Ensure equitable distribution of funding throughout the City’s neighborhoods, including investment in recreational areas, arts and culture, and open space.

Elevating Equity
The City of San José envisions a place where all people thrive and where no disparities exist.

Addressing systemic inequities and promoting opportunities for everyone, regardless of their race, gender identity, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, disability, language, or immigration status increases access to prosperity for all.

We Support:

Disadvantaged Communities and Low-Income Evaluation:
• Support legislation to broaden the definition of disadvantaged communities to include all socio-economically disadvantaged areas more equitably and better align with the needs of San José’s communities of concern and under-resourced neighborhoods. • Support regulatory changes to state and federal funding allocations based on population size and/or local cost of living adjustments, and the revision of low-income guidelines to increase income eligibility above current state and federal poverty levels. • Monitor and engage in efforts related to the update of the CalEnviroScreen metric and help communities in San José qualify for additional funding and Public Safety Power Shutoff notification programs by broadening the scope of disadvantaged communities. • Update guidelines for programs and services such as, but not limited to, full and part-time childcare, health and mental health services, CalFresh, the Supplemental Nutrition 7 Program, and workforce development programs, particularly for individuals with high school degrees or less.

Voting Rights
• Support the right to vote including the use of absentee ballots and early voting, as well as legislation that increases translated voting materials and accessible voting. • Support legislation that furthers free and fair elections including court review of electoral maps to protect against racial and partisan gerrymandering.

Equity-Conscious Policies
• Support legislation for race and gender conscious policies to ensure equitable opportunities in education, contracting, and employment across all communities. • Support legislation, policies and investments that address racial and social inequities, particularly among communities that have historically experienced disproportional outcomes.

LGBTQIA+ Rights and Marriage Equality
• Support legislation that upholds and advances the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community, including marriage equality, and transgender individuals’ right to healthcare, housing, employment, and gender identity expression.
• Continue to safeguard marriage equality through the Respect for Marriage Act (2022).

Disability Access, Equity and Inclusion
• Support policies, funding and legislation to improve modalities of disability access and inclusion, including digital communications, education and training, building and infrastructure accessibility improvements, American with Disability Act (ADA) Transition plan, transportation and mobility, as well as community engagement with residents with disabilities.
• Pursue funding opportunities at the state and federal level to assist in the procurement of assistive technology and adaptive equipment to ensure effective communication, accessibility and disability inclusion.
• Support policies and investments that increase equitable access to housing, transportation, education, employment, recreation, wellness, healthcare services and improve life outcomes for people with disabilities, as disability intersects with all identities, including race and other structural forms of marginalization, and often leads to increased experiences of discrimination.

Language Access
• Support policies and investments that fund and create materials and services for limited and non-English speaking residents.
• Advocate for multilingual access to legal and public safety information. 8 • Support definitional standards, which includes languages spoken by 5% or more of the population in San José, that will allow for additional languages to receive greater access based on future, changing demographics.

Immigration
• Support policies that ensure and protect the rights of all immigrants regardless of immigration status, provide a pathway for citizenship or legal permanent residency, and promote welcoming and immigrant inclusion initiatives.
• Defend and support policies that strengthen and expand refugee resettlement, expand temporary protected status coverage and protections, and provide pathways to permanent status for essential workers, undocumented immigrants, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients, and Documented Dreamers.
• Support policies that increase admissions, expand services and expedite protections for all humanitarian-based immigration, including asylum, temporary protected status, and parole.
• Support upholding asylum law and ensure the right to counsel for asylum applicants, particularly unaccompanied minors.
• Advocate for expedited work authorization and automatic work authorization extensions for asylum seekers, temporary protected status holders, DACA recipients and other humanitarian based applicants.
• Support legislation and policies that ensure due process and protect family unity by providing timely notice, access to legal counsel, and safeguards that minimize the disruptive impact of immigration enforcement on San José residents. • Support legislation that promotes reducing backlogs within areas of immigration, increasing financial access, expanding automatic renewals and redesignations of temporary protections, and streamlining processes that administer and grant work authorization, asylum, temporary protected status, and others.
• Support expansion of state and local funding for the influx of migrants arriving due to natural disasters, poverty, and violence.
• Support enforcing laws against racial profiling and initiate civil rights investigations into agencies targeting black and brown residents.

Benefits for Undocumented Individuals and Families
• Support state and federal funding and legislation to legal services, due process and family unity.
• Support increased access to disaster relief, affordable health insurance and services, including dental and mental health services.
• Support state-level protections that decouple access to essential services - such as health care, mental health, housing, and workforce training - from immigration status, so residents can safely seek support without jeopardizing immigration relief or family unity. • Expand food and housing resources and supports for those who are undocumented as well as mixed status families, without risk to immigration relief options.

Discrimination and Racial Profiling
9 • Empower State Attorneys General to reinstate and enforce laws against racial profiling and initiate civil rights investigations into agencies targeting black and brown residents. • Support legislation that protects immigrants, asylum seekers, and undocumented individuals from profiling and disproportionate law enforcement, including safeguards that prevent personal data for immigration enforcement or targeting based on national origin, languages spoken, or immigration status.
• Support civil rights investigations and the collection disaggregated data collection to strengthen accountability and oversight.

Access to Justice and Due Process
• Support policies that guarantee legal representation for vulnerable populations, including asylum seekers and unaccompanied minors.

Economic Stability and Mobility
• Support legislation and funding that expand access to programs and services that strengthen financial stability and create pathways to economic mobility for San José residents.
• Prioritize policies that help residents thrive in today’s economy, including access to CalFresh and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, housing assistance, childcare, healthcare, and unemployment insurance, including for individuals historically excluded from these supports.

We Oppose:

Immigration Detention and Border Wall Expansion
• Policies that separate immigrant or refugee families or require long-term detainment of families or individuals.
• Operations of facilities with records of abuse and the establishment of new detention facilities.
• Expansion of the border wall, human rights violations at the border, and militarization tactics including the use of active-duty military at the border.

Violations of Immigrant Rights
• Oppose efforts that remove due process rights, undermine the humanity of immigrants and refugees, and weaken data privacy or confidentiality rights. • Oppose any moratorium on legal immigration pathways.

Barriers to Voting and Discriminatory Practices Barring Voters • Oppose legislation that would discourage voter registration, fair voter access and/or discriminate against Black, Latino/a/x, Indigenous, Asian American, disability, youth, and other marginalized voters.

Barriers to Language Access
10 • Oppose legislation that weakens language access standards or reduces access to translated government services and materials.

Barriers to Disability Access
• Oppose polices that increase barriers to improved outcomes for people with disabilities. • Oppose decreased funding to special education and rehabilitative services, Medi-Cal or access healthcare, especially for people with pre-existing conditions. • Oppose policies that reduce digital accessibility, including in education, healthcare, and public services.

Violation of Transgender Rights
• Oppose legislation that removes state and federal protections for transgender individuals.

Restrictive eligibility criteria
• Oppose legislation that imposes narrow eligibility criteria or work requirements that limit access to essential programs for low-income residents.

CONTRIBUTING DEPARTMENTS: THE CITY MANAGER’S OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATION, POLICY , AND INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS; THE CITY MANAGER’S OFFICE OF RACIAL AND SOCIAL EQUITY

San José Mineta International Airport
The San José Mineta International Airport (Airport) is a leading economic driver for San José and the surrounding region. The Airport is committed to making capital and operating investments to increase its functional capacity to meet and enhance demand for air transportation in Silicon Valley. This includes reinvestment into aging infrastructure, long-range trigger-based planning for a new terminal and related buildings, adding airline infrastructure such as a freight facility, supporting the Department of Transportation’s efforts to build a connection to Diridon Station, and growing auxiliary accommodations such as a hotel, garage parking, and other passenger amenities.

While expanding the capacity to accommodate more passengers, the Airport also seeks to expand its commitment to sustainability and innovation. The Airport will be a critical transportation hub for the residents of Silicon Valley, incorporating a holistic approach to multimodal transportation solutions.

We Support:

Operations and Funding
11 • Support regulations, policies, and legislation to facilitate and fund Airport operations, maintain flexibility to promote investment in the Airport, support additional air services, and enhance economic development. This includes funding for airport development and operations, improving accessibility, supporting local control (e.g., permitting, fees, and funding), and advancing electrification and other environmental projects. • Support the preservation and enhancement of non-airline revenue which supports the financial operations of the Airport, including for businesses that benefit from being near an Airport.

Terminal Area Improvement
• Support the implementation of the San José Mineta International Airport’s Asset Preservation and Investment Plan to extend the useful life of facilities and to lower operations and maintenance costs.
• Support efforts to increase passenger growth in alignment with the Airport Terminal Area Improvement Program, Phase II (new Terminal C development), including all precursor efforts needed to facilitate Phase II.

Demand Management Strategies
• Support legislation, regulations, and policies that authorize local aviation authorities to use demand management strategies to encourage more efficient allocation of air service in the region.

Sustainable Aviation Fuel
• Support policies and funding mechanisms that incentivize the production, distribution, and integration of sustainable aviation fuel, unleaded fuel, and lowers or offsets power consumption.

Advanced Air Mobility and Drones
• Support policies, regulations, and funding that promote the safe and economically beneficial integration of drones and other advanced air mobility technologies into the regional aviation ecosystem.
• Encourage innovation and investment in drone infrastructure and services that enhance connectivity, emergency response, and commercial opportunities. • Ensure that development is balanced with community concerns, including noise mitigation, privacy, and equitable access, through thoughtful planning, public engagement, and local control mechanisms.

We Oppose:

Increased Aircraft Noise
12 • Oppose legislation, policies, regulations, guidelines, or procedures that would result in an increase in aircraft noise impacts on San José residents without an increased benefit to the community.

Environmental Mandates
• Oppose mandatory environmental measures that will disqualify or reduce the eligibility of California Airports for Federal environmental mitigation grants.

Reduced Airport Funding
• Oppose legislation and regulations that would cause a reduction in revenue or funding for Airport operations or capital investments.

CONTRIBUTING DEPARTMENTS: AIRPORT

Economic Development
San José is committed to driving a vital, competitive, and inclusive economy that increases prosperity and quality of life for residents and businesses. This includes catalyzing job creation, private investment, revenue generation, and talent attraction and development without displacing existing businesses. San José will connect communities through multi-modal solutions to create diverse, inclusive, and livable urban places. There will be continued economic prosperity through a clear, consistent, and effective development process. The City supports the development of a rich arts and cultural environment to connect people, provide opportunities for active participation, and foster creativity.

We Support:

Funding to Offset Costs of Services for Jurisdictions that Provide More Housing • Because Proposition 13 (1978) caps property taxes at 1% of assessed value and limits annual increases to 2%, cities have very limited ability to generate new revenue from residential development. At the same time, adding housing increases demand for local services, creating costs that often exceed the property-tax revenue cities receive. To ensure jurisdictions are not financially penalized for approving needed housing, the State should provide offsetting funding or other incentives to cities that produce more housing, helping cover the additional service costs associated with new residential growth.

Funding to Incentive Housing Production
• Support funding to incentive cities and counties to accommodate increased housing production.
13 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Compliance
• Support and advocate for policies and additional state and federal funding to facilitate local business compliance with state and federal disability access laws, such as the ADA, and meet the needs of people with disabilities. This includes resources for ADA education, proactive accessibility compliance, digital accessibility, grants to help small businesses upgrade their premises, and legal consultation.

Avoiding Small Business Displacement
• Support and advocate for policies and funding to help address the displacement of small businesses when redevelopment activity occurs on commercial space/land. This includes the incorporation of annual increases in financial assistance and support for very small businesses (fewer than 10 employees) on relocation/rent relief, equipment for better safety standards, and the City’s existing Storefront Grants.

Funding for Transition Costs for Displaced Residents and Small Businesses • Support and advocate for funding that help businesses and residents displaced by new development to quickly reestablish operations and living situations similar to their situation prior to development.

Transit-Oriented Development (TOD)
• Support state and federal legislation and funding that advance transit supportive commercial uses, employment uses, affordable housing adjacent to transit, and anti- displacement measures.
• Support coordinated development of transportation facilities, including transit access, with private development in compliance with the City’s Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) and Transportation Demand Management (TDM) policies.
• Support a legislative approach that seeks to minimize residential and business displacement and ensure that new TODs are compatible with surrounding neighborhoods.

Urban Investment
• Support efforts that prioritize, incentivize and fund equitable investment in urban areas/downtowns, and that assist in building, preserving, and activating inclusive, accessible, comfortable and inviting urban public spaces, including impactful assistance to developers that would facilitate the buildout of tenant-ready spaces in ground-floor mixed use developments.
• Support incentivizing mixed-use development and allowing for new development to have vibrant ground floor uses to create a livable and walkable City.

High-Rise Property Tax Abatement
• Advocate for property tax abatements that incentivize high-rise residential development.

Student Housing
14 • Support efforts to build more student housing. Advocate for funding to support student housing projects, including the development of San José State University’s Alquist Redevelopment.

Preservation of Industrial Land
• Support efforts that protect industrial lands and uses from conversion to other land uses and designations, including the protection of manufacturing sites.

Workforce and Employer-Assisted Housing
• Support and advocate for policies, programs, and funding that address housing affordability as a key factor in regional economic competitiveness. • Encourage the development of workforce and employer-assisted housing near major employment centers and transit corridors to ensure that employees at all income levels can afford to live in proximity to their workplaces.
• Support efforts that streamline permitting and provide tax incentives, low-interest financing, or matching grants for employers who partner with local jurisdictions to develop or subsidize housing for their workforce.
• Advocate for state and federal legislation that aligns housing and economic development objectives, recognizing that high housing costs are a primary driver in business location and expansion decisions.

Incentives for High-Impact Employers
• Support and advocate for the creation of state and federal grant programs that incentivize companies to locate or expand in San José when such investments generate significant local employment, particularly in priority growth sectors such as manufacturing, clean energy, and technology.
• Support funding mechanisms—such as performance-based grants, tax credits, and infrastructure cost-sharing—that reward employers who provide high-quality jobs, invest in workforce training, and demonstrate long-term commitment to local hiring and community benefits.
• Advocate for grant criteria that recognize regional cost-of-living factors to ensure that high- cost areas like San José remain competitive in attracting and retaining employers that drive economic growth.

Job Creation
• Support and advocate for state and federal economic development programs that will create jobs in San José, including changes to CalCompetes, state support of Opportunity Zones.
• Support employment services for justice-involved residents, and formerly or currently unhoused residents.

Employment Based Non-Immigrant Visa Holders
15 • Support policies and legislation that enable current and future holders of employment based non-immigrant visas, such as the H-1B visa, to continue being able to live and work in California.

Surplus Land Act Flexibility
• Advocate for flexibility in the Surplus Land Act to include exemptions that will enable the City to facilitate development on land that is not optimal for housing.

Youth Workforce Development
• Support policies and seek funding opportunities for the expansion of youth workforce development programs such as AmeriCorp’s State and National grant program, San José Works, the City’s Resilience Corps, and programs funded by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), that serve individuals with various barriers to employment and who live in San José’s low resource census tracts and under-resourced neighborhoods. • Work with other cities and Big City Mayors Coalition to ensure sustainable long-term funding is allocated on an ongoing basis.

Summer Youth Program Eligibility
• Support amending the eligibility requirement for the California Summer Youth Program to include only a support letter from the school of a youth, attesting to the youth’s eligibility for employment and how these programs would benefit the youth.

Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Reauthorization • Support and advocate for reauthorization of WIOA that preserves autonomy of local workforce development boards, while maintaining program flexibility that enables comprehensive service delivery that meets the needs of the community.

Workforce Development and the Arts
• Support the creative workforce industry by advocating for inclusion and prioritization in workforce development policy and funding.

Food Vendor Regulation
• Support legislation that gives back local control to regulate, safely support, and facilitate mobile food vendors through effective enforcement mechanisms, while maintaining health and safety parameters, compliance with disability access laws, supporting small businesses, and addressing racial and socio-economic equity issues.

Cannabis Equity Assistance Program
• Support and advocate for additional funding cycles for the grant program under the California Cannabis Equity Act of 2018.

Cannabis Banking
16 • Support legislation that provides access to traditional banking services for licensed cannabis businesses and protects the City’s ability to tax cannabis sales. • Support legislation permitting FDIC banks to lend to cannabis businesses.

Cannabis Enforcement
• Support efforts on enforcement of unlicensed cannabis providers and protecting local control around cannabis regulations, including delivery.

Community Reinvestment Act
• Support protecting the Community Reinvestment Act and advocate to ensure financial institutions adequately serve the range of needs in San José for mortgage lending, multifamily financing, and small business financing.
• Support legislation that increases transparency in lending and the sale of financial products. Support efforts that change Reinvestment Act regulations so that funding can be utilized for affordable housing.

Data Center Development
• Support state and federal policies, incentives, and regulatory flexibility that facilitate the expansion of high-capacity data center facilities in San José, recognizing them as foundational infrastructure for the innovation economy and critical to retaining technology firms and next-generation investment in the region.

Funding for Placemaking and Art
• Support the integration of placemaking and public art as eligible elements and expenses for state and federal grant programs that provide infrastructure funding, such as transportation infrastructure.
• Support increasing funding for the California Arts Council to $50 million and the National Endowment for the Arts, agencies that provide critical grants to the City, local art organizations, and artists.
• Support increased funding for the arts through the California Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts. This includes the integration of art in projects funded through federal grants.

Creative Economy and Industries
• Support policies and legislation that seeks to remove regulatory barriers that impact the creative and cultural industries.

Creative Entrepreneurs and Artists Access to Affordable Housing and Spaces:
• Identify policies and funding innovations that can be used to increase artists’ access to affordable space and housing.

Climate Goals and Funding for City-owned Energy Efficiency and Electrification Investments 17 • Support funding of capital improvements of City-owned facilities, including convention and cultural facilities, that will increase faciliate energy efficiencies and full building electrification, thereby advancing the City’s climate goals and decreasing utility costs. • Support funding to address legacy issues such as Polychlorinated Biphynels (PCBs) to support economic growth and lower the mitigation costs for businesses.

Climate Goals and the Arts
• Support opportunities to insert the arts, artists, and arts and culture facilities into climate programs, funding opportunities, and investments.

Nonprofit and Small Business Capacity Building
• Support programs that fund or provide capacity building for nonprofits in San José. Support and assist in strengthening the neighborhood business district ecosystems by designing programs that build organizational and professional capacity in community-based organizations in San José.

Performing Arts Equitable Payroll Fund
• Support the ongoing funding request for the Performing Arts Equitable Payroll Fund under State of California Office of Small Business Advocate (CALOSBA).

Opportunities for Expanded Small Business Operations
• Support efforts to extend retail and hospitality business operations, similar to those implemented in response to the efforts Covid-19 pandemic, such as expanded outdoor seating, outdoor markets, the pedestrianization of public streets, and to-go cocktails.

Innovation Economy
• Support efforts to improve the domestic supply chain of semiconductor chips, including support to local companies who wish to expand in our region. • Support opportunities for the development and growth of emerging technology companies including those focused on Artificial Intelligence.

Learning Pathways
• Support efforts to improve learning pathways for students to gain the skills necessary for nontraditional technology trades and professions.

Wage Theft Protections and Living Wage
• Support efforts to increase the wage theft protections for service workers. • Support the creation and maintenance of a centralized public portal that makes available case data on all final judgments, decisions, orders, and awards from the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE), including but not limited to the following divisions:

Wage Claim Adjudication Unit, Bureau of Field Enforcement, and Public Works Unit. • Support changes to DLSE policies that support workers in reclaiming their lost wages. 18 • Support efforts to increase the minimum wage in our region to a living wage. Advocate for equal wages for people with disabilities including elimination of subminimum wage.

We Oppose:

Exclusion from Business Incentive Programs Due to Cost-of-Living Factors • Oppose state or federal incentive programs that disadvantage high-cost regions like San José by using cost-of-living, average wage, or median income thresholds that make local employers ineligible for grant, loan, or tax-credit programs. • Oppose funding formulas or eligibility criteria that fail to account for regional variations in housing, labor, and operational costs, which unfairly penalize jurisdictions with higher living expenses.
• Advocate instead for equitable program structures that recognize the unique challenges of high-cost metropolitan areas and ensure access to business retention, expansion, and job creation funding opportunities statewide.

Transit-Oriented Development Mandates
• Oppose state legislation that imposes prescriptive or one-size-fits-all land use and development standards around transit that undermine San José’s approach to TOD or its planning for complete communities with dedicated employment areas near transit nodes.

Commercial and Industrial Land Conversion
• Oppose the conversion of commercial and/or employment land to other uses such as residential without the opportunity for substantial local input and integration into local planning efforts.
• Oppose efforts that would allow for housing on or near lands designated for industrial uses.

CONTRIBUTING DEPARTMENTS: THE CITY MANAGER’S OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATION, POLICY , AND INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS; THE CITY MANAGER’S OFFICE OF RACIAL AND SOCIAL EQUITY; THE CITY MANAGER’S OFFICE OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT; THE CITY MANAGER’S OFFICE OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND CULTURAL AFFAIRS; AND THE DEPARTMENTS OF PLANNING, BUILDING AND CODE ENFORCEMENT; TRANSPORTATION; PARKS RECREATION, AND NEIGHBORHOOD SERVICES; ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES; FINANCE; AND LIBRARY

Healthy Communities
San José will cultivate integrated systems, natural and built environments, accessibility, and health services that support optimal health outcomes where people live, learn, work and play. The City will ensure our public spaces reflect the culture and history of San José’s unique and diverse 19 neighborhoods and strengthen community pride and unity. San José will ensure that all residents have the resources they need to thrive and be healthy, including robust transit access, access to quality parks, and safe pathways for walking and bicycling.

We Support:

Park Investment, Greenspace
• Support regulations, policies, and legislation to facilitate parks and recreation operations, maintenance, and capital, promote investment in parks and protected open space, expand grants to acquire recreational land, and increase opportunities for children and families to have safe, accessible, and stimulating spaces and programs during out-of-school hours.

Protection of Parks and Open Space
• Support efforts to protect the City’s greenspace and tree canopy, parklands, open space, and urban agriculture. This includes, but is not limited to, protecting open space in the Coyote Valley.

Environmental Justice
• Support open space acquisition and preservation in park-deficient neighborhoods, and park acquisition and rehabilitation.
• Support funding for parks, riparian/waterways, trails, trees, and gardens in low-income communities to achieve positive health impacts through physical fitness and increase access to green space and play areas.

Civic Engagement
• Support programs and services that contribute to resident belonging and social cohesion, neighborhood engagement, and equitable stewardship of neighborhood organizations and groups.
• Green Space Water Flexibility
• Support policies and legislation that encourage water use efficiency while preserving trees, functional grass, ornamental shrubs, and flowering plants in public parks.

Waste Removal
• Support additional funding for waste expenditures to advance community-wide efforts that decrease waste in landfills, scrap yards, on streets, and in waterways. • Advocate for funding and legislation that helps ensure community safety from biohazards, supports residents living in recreation vehicles, and helps keep the City clean and accessible for all residents.

Blight Reduction and Neighborhood Beautification
20 • Support efforts to secure resources including state funding, and cooperation from partner agencies to equitably prevent and remove blight and ensure that communities are engaged in the process to cultivate clean, beautiful neighborhoods. • Support legislation to provide the City with greater tools or resources, including the ability to conduct enforcement, to remove blight from City streets, such as abandoned shopping carts.

Pet Assistance and Resources
• Support funding and resources for animal care programs and pet-friendly legislation and policies that enable responsible pet ownership and helps low-income pet owners, including pet-friendly housing.

Major Events Resources
• Support efforts to secure resources for the successful delivery of major events in the Bay Area, including but not limited to public safety and emergency management funding to meet security and logistical needs and that facilitate maximizing economic impact. This also includes funding to enable City events associated with large events such as the upcoming Super Bowl 60 and the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Transit First
• Support state and federal legislation and regulations that prioritize transit funding, development, and faster and more reliable transit on City streets. • Support regional transportation plans and operations that prioritize public transit and transit integration.
• Support the implementation of the City Council-adopted Seamless Bay Area principles through state legislation that integrates transit planning and operations throughout the Bay Area. Support efforts to preserve and expand public transit options, particularly in low- income and car dependent-communities.

Parking Requirements Reform
• Support advancing policies to reduce or eliminate minimum parking requirements and strengthen shared parking requirements, to allow for a more efficient use of the public right- of-way.

Reproductive Freedom Protection
• Support legislation that protects and promotes reproductive freedom including, but not limited to, the right and access to abortion and reproductive care, including access to information about abortion and reproductive care, without interference.

Public Health
• Support policies to reduce acute and chronic disease and improve community health, especially for communities that historically faced economic and social marginalization.

Policies should improve access to healthy community spaces and sustainable revenue 21 mechanisms to fund health equity initiatives. Prioritization should include key disparity indicators.
• Support continued investment in future pandemic preparedness and response including support for vaccine access, outreach, and prioritization for communities of greatest need.

Support efforts to enable substance abuse prevention and treatment.

Mental Health Services Funding
• Support and advocate for funding for local and state public entities, school districts Pre-K to 12th grade, social services and programs that increase access to mental health and behavioral services, social-emotional resources, and mobile mental health programs.

Advocate for legislation that requires mental health benefits in both private and public insurance.

Universal Single-Payer Health Care
• Support legislation establishing comprehensive single-payer health care coverage for all California residents.

Electronic Cigarettes and Flavored Tobacco
• Support state and federal legislation to prohibit the sale of e-cigarettes and flavored tobacco products.

Transparency in Ownership
• Support legislation and regulations that requires transparency in ownership of corporations to reduce barriers to legal proceedings and enhance identification of property and business ownership.

We Oppose:

Parkland and Open Space Conversion
• Oppose laws or regulations that require—or make it easier to—convert existing parkland or open space to housing or other development.

CONTRIBUTING DEPARTMENTS: THE CITY MANAGER’S OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATION, POLICY , AND INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS; AND THE DEPARTMENTS OF PARKS, RECREATION AND NEIGHBORHOOD SERVICES; PLANNING, BUILDING AND CODE ENFORCEMENT; TRANSPORTATION; PUBLIC WORKS, AND ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES

Homelessness
22 San José will continue to address the root causes and racial inequities of homelessness through systems and policy change. This includes expanding homelessness prevention and housing programs to meet the needs of the community. The quality of life for unsheltered individuals will be improved, creating healthy neighborhoods for all.

We Support:

Housing for People Experiencing Homelessness
• Support ongoing, reliable funding and legislation for both construction and long-term operations for a variety of housing options for people experiencing homelessness. These include emergency housing, interim and transitional housing units, new permanent supportive housing apartments, and supportive parking programs.

Homelessness Funding
• Support additional, flexible homelessness funding opportunities in partnership with the Big Cities Mayors Coalition and regional partners.
• Advocate for increased permanent capital and operational funding for interim shelter, hotel/motel conversions, accessibility improvements, supportive parking, and new permanent affordable housing so that high-acuity individuals experiencing homelessness can access housing and shelter.
• Support funding for homeless services programs that includes sanitation services and outreach to unsheltered individuals and families as they wait for a housing placement. • Support legislation to permanently lift the Community Development Block Grant public services cap to provide additional funding flexibility.

Mental Health Partnerships
• Support legislation, funding, and policies that provide more resources for new or enhanced programs that serve to support individuals who suffer from severe mentally illness, dually diagnosed (having both a mental health disorder and a substance use disorder), and unhoused in Santa Clara County.
• Coordinate with the County on strategies to enhance staffing levels for outpatient and inpatient services, including partnerships with local universities to improve the pipeline of mental health professionals.

Mental Health Funding
• Support the expansion of the federal Supplemental Security Income and Social Security Disability Insurance to provide a steady source of income and health insurance for people with mental illness who are experiencing homelessness.
• Advocate for funding for social services and programs that provide direct support to the community, including mobile mental health programs and community health spaces connected to housing solutions that offer mental health services and other health programs.
23 Encampment Management
• Support funding for encampment services, including sanitary outreach and sanitation services (trash and debris collection) and environmental rehabilitation in impacted areas. • Support legislation that enables greater accountability and flexibility to address encampments within City limits that are on state-owned property.

Homelessness Prevention and Services
• Support homelessness prevention services that reduce residents’ likelihood of losing their homes in the short-term.
• Support and advocate for initiatives and sufficient resources to provide services (both social and sanitary needs) to people experiencing homelessness that improve their quality of life and health outcomes.

Street Outreach
• Support and prioritize programs that fund homeless outreach teams to educate and enroll residents experiencing homelessness into systems of care so they can receive needed services, shelter, and be prioritized for housing.

Funding for Homelessness Implementation Plan
• Support and advocate for funding that supports the implementation of the Santa Clara County Community Plan to End Homelessness.

We Oppose:

Unbalanced Approaches and Single Solutions
• Oppose unbalanced approaches to funding permanent supportive housing while addressing short-term housing needs for residents experiencing homelessness. • Oppose single solutions that restrict funding under the housing first model. Resources and policies must fully support the continuum of housing and service (including sanitary) needs, rather than just one or the other.

Unsafe Living Conditions:
• Oppose housing solutions that could produce health or safety emergencies, or other hazardous situations caused by unsafe living conditions.

Homelessness Funding Restrictions
• Oppose any increased restrictions on the use of state or federal homelessness funding, the reduction of funding amounts, or any related unfunded mandates.

24 CONTRIBUTING DEPARTMENTS: THE CITY MANAGER’S OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATION, POLICY , AND INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS; THE CITY MANAGER’S OFFICE OF RACIAL AND SOCIAL EQUITY; AND THE DEPARTMENTS OF HOUSING AND ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES

Housing
San José will have abundant and affordable housing stock and sufficient housing for people experiencing homelessness and for those facing housing instability. Through housing stability, the City will cultivate opportunities for all residents to build wealth. San José will have healthy, thriving neighborhoods with access to good jobs, schools, and transportation. Our neighborhoods will overcome past and present segregation and be racially and socially inclusive.

We Support:

Zoning and Planning
• Support housing and land use legislation that fits the needs of charter cities and larger cities.
• Support legislation that allows greater zoning and building code flexibility for cities addressing homelessness.
• Working with the legislature to ensure that land use legislation does not preclude the City from retaining land that is designated for commercial/employment uses only.

CEQA and NEPA Exemptions and Reform
• Support legislation amending the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to further streamline processes for land use and transportation regulation by cities, multi-modal transportation plans and projects, or through the citizen initiative process.
• Expand upon and/or clarify 2025 exemptions and/or categorical exemptions, especially for opportunity zones, urban infill projects, emergency shelters, emergency interim housing, supportive housing, supportive sleeping and parking, dense affordable housing already regulated by other state or federal regulations, and multi-modal transportation projects such as new and upgraded transit, trails, and major bikeways. • Support CEQA modifications to protect against abuse leading to frivolous lawsuits while maintaining local control.
• Support efforts to reduce additional burdens on the City as a lead agency and to add/expand statutory and categorical exemptions.

Housing Stabilization and Eviction Prevention
• Support eviction prevention and foreclosure prevention legislation, including additional funding for homelessness prevention, to protect both tenants and property owners. 25 • Support funding to support jurisdiction and court costs for eviction diversion programs, mandatory settlement conferences, and Housing Collaborative Courts to avoid evictions and improve renters’ access to resources and services.
• Advance state legislation that requires more information related to evictions be accessible same day to jurisdictional and court cases, including filings of unlawful detainers and notices to pay or quit, to help jurisdictions and nonprofits intervene immediately to avoid evictions.
• Support financial assistance to stabilize restricted-affordable and regulated apartments that are most impacted by lower-income residents’ inability to pay rent to avoid the negative effects of evictions.

Tenant Protections and Anti-Displacement
• Support the allocation of sufficient state and county resources to tenant protections and anti-displacement initiatives, including funding for fair housing enforcement, education, and robust community engagement activities.
• Support and sponsor legislation that affirms the use of tenant preferences for anti- displacement.
• Support legislation that allows and reimburses local government to help educate on and enforce state laws that stabilize rents, provide just cause eviction protections, and prevent discrimination against housing voucher holders.
• Support legislation to advance laws and resources for tenant protections, the preservation of affordable housing including mobilehomes, and other residential anti-displacement programs and policies.
• Support legislation that will address rent increases in Low Income Housing Tax Credit and deed-restricted affordable housing developments.

Housing Production and Increased Housing Supply
• Support, monitor and shape legislation intended to facilitate both affordable and market rate housing production by cities, particularly legislation directed at cities that are not producing housing, to ensure it does not have unintended consequences for San José. • Support efforts that would provide financial incentives for cities that meet or exceed their residential housing goals.
• Support resources and policies that help housing production and preservation, along with supportive service provision that helps residents remain housed. Programs and policies should prioritize and allocate funding to cities like San José in ways that fit the City’s dense development patterns, high costs, need for deeply affordable homes, and unusual housing/jobs balance. Funding should be commensurate with Regional Housing Needs Allocation goals.

Housing Construction Cost Stabilization
• Support efforts to address the increasing cost of housing construction, such as training programs for the construction trades, encouraging modular and cross-laminated timber housing, and development of cost-efficient materials and technologies markets. 26 Affordable Homes by Design
• Support legislation that validates the use of land use tools to promote the creation of affordable housing, including accessory dwelling units (ADUs) and “affordable by design” densification.

Affordable Housing Funding
• Support and increase funding sources in addition to protecting existing funding for affordable housing including homeless housing. This includes expansion of the Low- Income Housing Tax Credit and the lowering of bond thresholds. • Support legislation and programs to fund the preservation of existing unrestricted affordable homes, including life and safety rehabilitation, energy efficiency and electrification upgrades, accessibility, and seismic safety improvements.

Preservation and Upgrades to Existing Affordable Housing • Support legislation and programs to fund preservation of existing unrestricted affordable homes, including life and safety rehabilitation, energy efficiency and electrification upgrades, accessibility, and seismic safety improvements.

Financial Incentives
• Support the creation of land use and financial tools and the flexibility of existing tools— to encourage and incentivize developments of restricted affordable housing, including restricted affordable housing, mixed-income housing, and homelessness housing solutions along a continuum.
• Support legislation or regulation changes that give San José projects a competitive edge for tax-exempt bonds and tax credits for affordable housing. • Advocate for legislation and work regionally with partners on financial products and programs that support restricted affordable apartments and ADUs for residents at all income levels, control escalation of rents, and deliver sufficient public benefit as compared to cost.
• Support legislation that reinforces the City’s Inclusionary Housing Ordinance and other affordable housing tools to maximize flexibility on different ways developers could deliver affordable units.

High-Density Infill Development Incentives
• Support efforts that would create financial incentives for local municipalities that encourage the production of higher density housing in their city.

Rental Vouchers
• Support and advocate at the state and federal levels, together with the Santa Clara County Housing Authority and other regional entities, for additional rental vouchers to meet local needs and expand housing choices of residents experiencing homelessness, other vulnerable populations, and low-income participants in job training programs. 27 • Support increased funding of all types of rental voucher programs that support formerly homeless households, other vulnerable households, and job training participants. Ensure that program rules and allocations are appropriate for high-rent areas and allow significant project-basing to leverage capital investments.

State Density Bonus Law Reform
• Support legislation to reform the State Density Bonus Law that would prevent misuse of density bonus in ways outside of the original intent of law. This includes the use of a density bonus to reduce density or remove affordability requirements intended to support fair housing principles.

Collaboration Between the City of San José and the Santa Clara County Housing Authority • Support streamlining the work between the City and the Santa Clara County Housing Authority (Housing Authority), to ensure optimal utilization of vouchers and to facilitate housing development projects that the City supports.
• Support revisions to the administrative agreement between the City and Housing Authority that governs the disbursement of Housing Choice Vouchers (Section 8) to allow flexibility for them to be applied to emergency interim housing units that meet housing quality standards and building code guidelines.
• Support the placement of a dedicated board seat for the City on the Housing Authority Board of Commissioners. To align resources and lower operational costs, support incorporating the Admissions and Continued Occupancy Policy (ACOP) toolkit & Housing Authorities Admissions Plan, which guides it’s Section 8 program.

Enhanced State Low Income Housing Tax Credit
• Support the expansion of housing credits with permanent funding consistency in the state budget, rather than being subjected to budget approval each fiscal year.

Project Labor Agreements In Lieu of Prevailing Wage Requirements for Affordable Housing • Support efforts that ensure consistent wages and workflows for skilled labor and trades under a system that prioritizes Project Labor Agreements to ensure that affordable housing projects stay financially feasible.

Operational Costs for Homekey and Homekey+
• Support efforts through the state budget process or through legislation that provides an operational subsidy or funding source for Project Homekey and Homekey+ to ensure that these permanent supportive housing projects are financially sustainable.

Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing and Neighborhood Investment • Support, increase and protect the effectiveness of laws to affirmatively further fair housing at the state and federal levels.
28 • Engage in and support efforts at the state and federal levels to permit race-targeted or race- conscious housing and community development assistance in jurisdictions where there are documented findings of past race-based housing discrimination. • Support additional resources, programs, and approaches that allow the City to prioritize areas needing investments and services that are also racially segregated to promote real and fair housing choices for all residents across the city.

Rent Stabilization
• Support flexibility for cities experienced with rent stabilization programs to determine program parameters appropriate for their local markets, and support cities’ ability to communicate about and help enforce state laws on rent stabilization and tenant protections that interact with local ordinances. This includes supporting state legislation to amend Costa-Hawkins to give additional flexibility to jurisdictions with pre-1995 rent control ordinances to define the parameters of their programs, including the definition of covered units.

Rent-to-Own and Homeownership
• Support legislation that promotes residents’ right to purchase their rental units. • Support first-time homeownership funding and expanded programs. • Support legislation that aims to close the racial homeownership gap.

Community Land Trusts
• Support legislation and programs that support community land trusts through the provision of resources and competitive funding program scoring benefits.

Regional Coordination
• Support legislation that enables the Bay Area to act in unison to meet the region’s needs for affordable housing production and preservation, tenant protections, and homelessness strategies.
• Support legislation that expands the use of underutilized public lands as homeless housing solutions.

Mobile Home Park Inspections
• Support state legislation or propose a pilot with the State Department of Housing and Community Development for the City to provide local inspections of mobile home parks, share information on state requirements, and receive state reimbursement to offset local staffing costs.

Relocation Benefits
• Support clean-up legislation for Senate Bill 330 (2019) to refine the calculation of relocation benefits paid to displaced households and to exempt units that are already covered under the Ellis Act or other programs with existing tenant benefits.

Construction Defects and Condominium Development
29 • Support legislation that removes barriers to housing construction. This includes supporting legislation that incentivize condominium development.
• Support reform to California’s construction defect laws to allow for development while still protecting condominium homeowners.
• Support legislation that allows prospective condominium owners to reserve units pre- construction with deposits but ensures that deposits are returned to depositors should projects not proceed.

We Oppose:

Zoning and Planning Restrictions
• Oppose state land use legislation that precludes the City from retaining land that is designated for commercial/ employment uses only.

Housing Production Mandates
• Oppose legislation intended to facilitate housing production by cities, particularly legislation directed at cities that are not producing housing, that has unintended consequences for San José.

Housing Ordinance Mandates
• Oppose state legislation that would weaken the City’s ability to enforce its Apartment and Mobilehome Rent Ordinances and its Housing Payment Equality Ordinance.

Simplistic Frameworks
• Oppose programs that have singular or overly simplistic objectives, such as over emphasizing awards based on cost efficiency or only placing housing near transit. These can exacerbate existing housing inequities and are insufficiently flexible for our complex operating environment and many goals. The City serves a wide range of residents’ needs in many different types of settings across a large geography.

CONTRIBUTING DEPARTMENTS: THE CITY MANAGER’S OFFICE OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND CULTURAL AFFAIRS; AND THE DEPARTMENTS OF PLANNING, BUILDING AND CODE ENFORCEMENT; TRANSPORTATION; PUBLIC WORKS; ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES; AND HOUSING

Local Control and Fiscal Stability
San José will maintain fiscal stability and resiliency, guided by sound budgeting and accounting principles. The City will produce an annual budget that aligns ongoing expenditures with ongoing 30 revenues and will manage healthy operating and capital funds while providing sufficient resources for equitable delivery of City services and the continued operation of City facilities.

The City will make targeted investments in its most vulnerable populations, neighborhoods, and businesses, while leveraging state and federal funding to maximize benefits to the communities.

San José will maintain legislative and regulatory authority in policy areas pertaining to municipal functions and will seek to maintain local control over land use and zoning issues.

We Support:

Decreased Voter Thresholds
• Support efforts to reduce the voter-approval threshold of taxes and bonds related to transportation and infrastructure funding measures, including those for affordable housing, to less than a two-thirds majority vote.
• Support efforts to maintain majority approval for general-purpose funding measures.

Integrated Financing Districts
• Support and explore legislation that would retroactively freeze the property tax base year for any future Integrated Financing Districts in San José.

Advance Refunding Bonds
• Support federal legislation that will restore municipality’s ability to issue tax-exempt advance refunding bonds.

State Mandate Reimbursement
• Support funding and policies that ensure local governments are adequately reimbursed for implementing state-mandated programs.

Local Control
• Support and advocate for efforts that enhance decision-making authority and revenue- generating capacity at the local level.

Cardrooms
• Support legislation and regulations that allow the City to regulate and tax cardroom activities.
• Engage with the legislators and regulators on rules to clarify player-dealer rotation practices and preserve cardrooms’ ability to offer California games.

Grant Streamlining
• Support legislation and regulations that streamline and simplify the application processes for federal, state and regional competitive funding programs.

Limits on Public Entity Liability
31 • Support legislation to provide limitations on the economic damages for public entity liability.

We Oppose:

Limitations on City Revenue
• Oppose limitations on the City’s ability to maintain, raise or expand revenue or explore new funding sources.

Municipal Bond Limits
• Oppose any efforts to abolish or limit the tax-exempt status of municipal bonds.

Financial Reporting Mandates
• Oppose mandates for use of specific technologies for financial reporting and disclosure purposes.

Excess Insufficient Educational Revenue Augmentation Fund (ERAF) Reallocation • Oppose state actions that shift property tax revenue away from the City which funds critical city services.

Animal Care Cost Increases
• Oppose legislation that would increase the cost for the City’s costs to provide animal care services.

Limits on Local Control
• Oppose legislation and regulation that removes or limits local control over city operations, and zoning, and other land use decisions. Oppose efforts that make it more difficult for the City to raise revenue.

Unfunded Mandates
• Oppose legislation and regulation that sets requirements for additional services, without appropriate funding for implementation, staffing, training, and sustaining the services.

CONTRIBUTING DEPARTMENTS: CONTRIBUTORS: DEPARTMENTS OF FINANCE; PLANNING, BUILDING AND CODE ENFORCEMENT; AND THE CITY MANAGER’S BUDGET OFFICE

Safer San José
32 San José will steward community trust to keep the City safe - whether that be through traffic safety, emergency preparedness, or crime prevention. The City will prioritize equitable street safety to ensure that all users – whether traveling by bike, foot, transit, or car – are safe. In preparation for the next disaster, City services will be sustained with support from businesses and individuals acting as resilience partners. The City will maintain sufficient staffing and resources to allow for a holistic community response and recovery, especially for our most vulnerable residents. San José will be a safe and equitable place for all through community partnerships that prevent and respond to crime with 21st century policing practices. All residents of San José’s diverse communities are treated with dignity, fairness, and respect; their rights will be protected, and they will receive equal protection under the law.

We Support:

Safety and Vision Zero Initiatives
• Support efforts to achieve Vision Zero traffic safety goals to reduce traffic fatalities and injuries.
• Support proposals that provide funding and local discretion for municipal governments to implement traffic safety programs and initiatives consistent with Vision Zero. • Support state and federal legislation to provide reflective apparel for pedestrian and bicycle safety use during dark hours and public service announcements and campaigns to encourage use of high visibility apparel.

Local Flexibility
• Support polices with the California City Transportation Initiative (CaCTI) to advance additional flexibility to ensure safety and accessibility for all users.

Speed Reduction and Management Tools
• Support legislation to allow further local discretion to reduce speed limits and to implement automated speed enforcement tools, including funding for implementation. 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 other adults.
• Support funding and legislation to promote safer school zones.

Reduced Community Transportation Costs
• Support legislation and funding to reduce the cost of transit fares and other transportation and mobility costs for low-income communities.

Rideshare Safety and Delivery Program Accountability
• Support state and federal legislation to prioritize safety in the public use of authorized rideshare and delivery programs by requiring more stringent driving experience standards, and vetting drivers through DOJ livescan.
33 • Support legislation and regulations ensuring the safety of autonomous vehicle technology.

Disaster Response and Preparedness
• Support dedicated state and federal funding for City staff to have the training, tools, and facilities to prepare for and respond to an emergency.
• Support legislation and funding for the development of emergency management staffing, programs and facilities, including Community Resource Centers. • Advocate for resources that support the long- term management of current and future emergencies, including adapting to environmental threats as they evolve. • Support and work with coalitions on the development of legislation to provide funding to local government and the community to prepare for and respond to natural and human- caused disasters.
• Support and advocate for federal emergency preparedness and adaptation funds, including Urban Areas Security Initiative funds.

Major Event and World Class Sporting Event, Safety Funding • Support state and federal funding, including specified grant opportunities designed to ensure the safety of attendees at international events held in San José and Santa Clara County.
• Support funding to procure essential modernized equipment with emerging technology to provide for risk mitigation and threat counter measures, including: detecting weaponized drones, overseeing transportation logistics, providing for bollards and barriers around events and associated event structures to protect pedestrians, prevent vehicle borne attacks, monitoring event access, identifying and preventing disruptive activity to avoid chaotic disorder, ample provision of equipment for contingency alternatives in the event of equipment failure (e.g. satellite phones etc.), secure communications equipment with the ability to coordinate information quickly between designated incident command center(s), mobile security teams, medical resources, and fire personnel.

Disaster Response, Mitigation, and Recovery
• Support local government flexibility in regulations, program implementation, and processes due to natural or human-caused emergencies, including ensuring local governments can continue to meet remotely during state emergency events that limit in-person meetings. • Support and advocate for resources and policies to protect the public health, safety, and economic viability of residents and businesses in San José during disaster recoveries.

Emergency Management System Equity
• Support state legislative reforms that make it easier to prepare for emergencies, protect vulnerable communities, and ensure universal access to emergency alert systems that are multilingual.
• Support policies that address emergency preparedness staffing, planning, training, and response needs for vulnerable community members with access and functional needs, including at-risk seniors, children, and individuals with disabilities and language barriers. 34 Emergency Housing
• Support emergency temporary and interim housing solutions so that people can shelter-in- place during emergency events. Support residential and commercial eviction moratoriums related to disaster impacts.

Active Shooter Training
• Support legislation requiring schools to conduct active shooter/mass casualty drills. • Support efforts to secure funding for law enforcement to provide training and additional officers to better protect schools and large public events from active shooters.

Aerial Support
• Support federal and state funding to assist in obtaining helicopter and fixed wing aircraft to monitor ongoing threats to public safety and as regional emergency air support for disaster assistance during major incidents or natural disasters.

Drone Safety Critical Infrastructure
• Support state and federal funding to acquire training in emerging drone technology and associated equipment to assist in identifying aerial drone threats over public airspace in an effort to increase local security measures.
• Support legislation to safely police unlawful drone activity consistent with federal provisions by granting municipal law enforcement agencies co-extensive local authority to protect communications operations of the City’s public safety teams, and other areas specified as critical infrastructure.

Emergency Medical Services
• Support autonomy for the Fire Department to provide a full range of services. • Support legislation to expand transport destination options (other than Emergency Rooms) for patients receiving pre-hospital care by first responders.

Scholarship Opportunities for Emerging Paramedics
• Support state and federal funding to provide scholarships for marginalized and disadvantaged individuals pursuing paramedic careers in the fire and emergency medical services fields. Funds should be administered through local training and apprenticeship programs, such as the California Joint Apprenticeship Committee, to expand access, strengthen workforce diversity, and address shortages of qualified emergency responders.

Funding for Police, Fire, and Emergency Medical Services • Support and ensure adequate compensation for mutual aid deployments and transport activities, including cost recovery from the state and federal government. • Support funding for equipment replacement when severely depreciated during large-scale incidents or due to disaster response.

Emerging Technologies for Artificial Intelligence Crime Investigations 35 • Support state and federal funding to hire or train investigators as experts in examining any evidence that is possibly artificial intelligence (AI)-generated or altered. • Support legislation to prevent the use of any AI-generated images or information used to purposely, falsely, and knowingly accuse another of a crime or malfeasance not actually perpetrated.
• Support state and federal funding for AI systems designed for law enforcement to enhance bureau investigators in the accuracy and speed of evidence organization, and to assist in providing added investigative time for the evaluation of evidence in complex investigations.

Safety Regulations with Legal Accountability for Social Media Platforms and Artificial Intelligence
• Support state and federal legislation to protect children, youth, and other vulnerable groups from social media and AI platforms that lack internally regulated safety measures, balanced with free speech and privacy considerations.
• Support protective measures and tech-centered safeguards for greater education, awareness, and transparency of AI products to greatly reduce the risks posed to children and families. The risks include serious harm through the adaptive suggestiveness of chatbot companions, which may be designed to exploit the psychological vulnerabilities of youth towards self-harm, poor choice theory, bullying, and other harmful mechanisms of behavior, devoid of compassion, reasonable human judgement, and consequences.

Domestic Violence Response
• Support legislation and funding that improves services and response to domestic violence survivors. Protect human rights policies that benefit survivors, and advocate for increased funding from the state and the federal government to support services for survivors and their families.
• At the federal level, support full funding for the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), Victims of Crime Act (VOCA), and the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (FVPSA).

Illegal Firework Prevention
• Support and collaborate with county, state, and federal partners to explore legislation that bans the use of fireworks statewide and increases the prosecution of violators. Seek potential state and federal funding sources that will enable the City to further invest in enforcement mechanisms and safety programs to deter firework use.

Violence Prevention and Intervention
• Support policies and legislation that support and fund youth violence prevention and early intervention strategies including gun violence prevention and youth-based domestic violence prevention programs.

Pretrial Release Improvements
36 • Support policies and legislation that improve the pretrial release decision-making process by ensuring that judges have access to complete criminal history information, against the background of community protection and public safety concerns. • Support state and federal legislation to permit restrictions to zero bail policies for crimes that severely impact community safety.

Hate Crime Prevention
• Support legislation that would address ongoing safety concerns and help prevent acts of violence motivated by hate, including improving data collection and reporting. • Expand California’s “criminal threat” statute (Penal Code 422(a)) to include mass shooting- related threats. Support legislation and funding to prevent and address specified hate crime trends.

Porch Theft Penalties
• Support legislation making entering the curtilage of a residence with the intent to commit theft of a package delivered through the mail or through a public or private carrier, a violation of federal law and subject to felony punishment for burglary.

Prevention of Serial Petty Theft and Organized Theft Rings • Support state legislation to address retail theft rings and serial petty theft suspects. • Support state legislation to recover stolen catalytic converters, prevent vehicle theft and accessories, and prohibit possession of used (removed from vehicle) catalytic converter(s) without valid proof of ownership and vehicle of origin.

Law Enforcement History Training
• Support legislation requiring police training in the history and use of law enforcement in the U.S. that explores disproportionate expectations of justice through the examination of high- profile historical events, which affect perceptions of law enforcement among diverse community members.
• Support state efforts to create a Modern Policing Degree program which includes an in- depth study of the history of law enforcement.

First Responder Mental Health and Wellness
• Support state and federal legislation to support peace officer, firefighter, and first responder safety through mandates and funding for drug and alcohol early intervention programs and increased mental health resources.
• Support state and federal legislation to design, build and staff first responder wellness centers throughout California in identified and centrally located law enforcement and fire service regions, including a regional facility in Santa Clara County to support first responders.

First Responder Presumptive Conditions
37 • Advocate for legislation recognizing substance use disorders as presumptive conditions for first responders, guaranteeing access to treatment and recovery programs through workers’ compensation benefits.

Emergency Evacuation Technology
• Support funding for technology that assists first responders in more effectively planning, communicating, and executing the evacuation of communities during emergencies. • Support state and federal funding to develop systems from emerging technology to report in real-time information, the status of residents at licensed senior and dependent adult living centers to the local emergency service office during a natural disaster or other specified emergencies.

Fire Safety Education
• Support legislation and funding for public education on fire safety.

Fire Prevention and Suppression
• Seek state support for fire suppression and fire prevention in San José, especially in the City’s Wildland-Urban Interface zones. Collaborate with the county and state to ensure that hillsides are prepared and seek funding for vegetation control.

Modernized Service Models
• Support state legislation that funds and enables new service models and statewide standards to address public safety challenges, such as the 911 response service models that address mental health, behavioral health, homelessness, civil protests, or other social problems.
• Support state and federal legislation to promote community partnerships and fully fund coordinated co-response models, including the Mobile Crisis Assessment Team and Psychiatric Emergency Response Team, to attain 24/7 availability. • Support state and federal legislation to fund training for law enforcement response to protest activity and the potential for property damage or threats to public safety. • Support state and federal legislation that funds alternative response programs such as the Trusted Response Urgent Support Team (TRUST).

Suicide Prevention
• Support state and federal legislation to fund rapid intervention and de-escalation for those in mental health or psychiatric crises, and suicide prevention. • Support legislation and funding aligned with the goals outlined in the County of Santa Clara’s Suicide Prevention Strategic Plan.
• Support state and federal funding to enable expanded access to 988 crisis call centers and similar services.

Blue Envelope Programs
38 • Support state legislation to expand the utilization of Blue Envelope Programs to enhance voluntary communication awareness between law enforcement and community members diagnosed with a condition or disability that might require additional accommodations. 21st Century Policing De-escalation Practices
• Support federal, state, and local funding and legislation promoting 21st Century police practices, policies, and emerging technology to assist law enforcement in de-escalating community threats and suspect encounters.
• Support state and federal legislation that provides standards, policies, and guidelines for law enforcement during large-scale public events, including safeguards to ensure civil rights protections.

Human Trafficking Prevention
• Support and advocate expansion of California Department of Justice efforts to combat human trafficking efforts by giving law enforcement new tools from emerging technology to protect Californians from becoming victims of human trafficking. • Support measures that provide funding for combating human trafficking. • Support sentencing enhancements and increased penalties for serial human trafficking cases. Support state and federal legislation to establish regional law enforcement human trafficking intelligence task forces and combined law enforcement operations for multi- jurisdictional investigations, leading to arrests and rescues.

Blueprint Funding for Voter Supported Ballot Measures
• Support state funding for blueprint implementation of CA Proposition 36, including funds needed to support drug courts, mental health services, probation departments, law enforcement agencies, and treatment delivery programs of consequence; to assist and supervise individuals struggling with serious drug addictions who consistently present as repeat retail theft offenders. Blueprint implementation funding of Proposition 36 will support the combined efforts of state, county, and local agencies to help keep individuals accountable towards stability and prevent criminal offences.

Sexual Assault Prevention and Prosecution
• Support efforts to prevent sexual assault, including efforts to increase funding levels, provide new tools for law enforcement, and support collaboration across agencies. • Support state and federal legislation creating sentencing guidelines where the level of an offender’s intoxication (alcohol, drugs) cannot be used to show a lack of culpability for committing sexual assault offenses.

Gun Violence Prevention
• Support efforts to reduce gun violence, including supporting legislation that prevents firearm theft and unauthorized usage, addresses un-serialized firearms, parts, and gun kits. • Support CA DOJ standardized training for employers, co-workers, and teachers to request a gun violence restraining order.
39 • Support a state tax, insurance, or fee-based approach to gun violence harm reduction and urge legislation that removes local preemption.
• Work with the City’s elected representatives and the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office to monitor progress toward the expansion and improvement of California’s Red Flag laws and lend support where necessary.

Concealed Carry Permit Issuance Regulations
• Support and advocate for state and federal legislation that outlines reasonable restrictions for concealed carry weapons license issuance. This includes specified safety training, character references, psychological evaluations at the applicant’s cost, and updating reasonable authorized cost recovery for staffing and processing applications. • Support legislation that prohibits the issuance of concealed permits to applicants with a history of controlled substance abuse, alcohol abuse, violent acts, and/or gun violations and establishes parameters for applications being deemed suitable.

Vehicle Code and Traffic Investigations
• Support state and federal legislation to assist local authorities in felony hit and-run incident investigations. Advocate for legislation to require Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV) registrations, and federally regulated motor carriers to include in their database additional information recorded for DMV registration: (a) model of vehicle, (b) color of vehicle, (c) insurance information, and a phone number for the registered owner(s). DMV information should be accessible to law enforcement investigators through the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (CLETS), while maintaining CLETS existing high standard of limited access and non-disclosure policy of Personal Identifying Information (PII) and Vehicle registration information.

Copper Theft Prevention
• Support legislation, funding, and regulatory updates that will provide cities with effective means to prevent and enforce costly and rampant copper theft incidents on city infrastructure such as streetlights, traffic signals, and fiber.

Lithium Battery Safety
• Support legislation that addresses lithium battery use and storage, in addition to other power-generating systems, to ensure the safety of the public and emergency responders during emergencies.

Rail Safety Improvements
• Support federal and state legislation, funding and regulatory updates for cities to plan, implement and maintain safety improvements at rail crossings and corresponding rights-of- way. and for flexibility to adjust features that mitigate public health impacts. • Support state and federal funding for added public safety resources at local public transit stations, including Caltrain, BART, ACE, etc.

Towing Flexibility and Incentives
40 • Support state legislation that protects the City’s ability to enforce parking regulations and remove abandoned or inoperable vehicles, including recreational vehicles, to preserve public safety, and legislation that provides financial incentives or removes financial barriers for tow operators to sell or legally dispose of towed vehicles that are never claimed, in order to reduce abandoned and neglected vehicles (including vehicles creating biohazards) on the City’s streets.

Sideshow Regulations
• Support amending the state vehicle code and penal code to mandate fines for first time attendees/participants and an increasing schedule of fines. This includes criminal sanctions for people who informally or otherwise encourage, promote, advertise, or sponsor sideshows through social media or other forms of communication.

Impaired Driving Warnings
• Support legislation to include a “Watson Advisement” on all California traffic citations to warn people convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs of the potential risk of severe harm or death to others and the legal consequences of such actions.

Opioid, Synthetic Opioid, and Methamphetamine Regulation • Support state and federal legislation that gives localities additional interdiction tools to address the illegal supply and distribution of Opioids, Synthetic Opioids, Fentanyl, Xylazine, Medetomidine, and methamphetamines to prevent overdose deaths. • Support public awareness and education campaigns about the dangers and lethality of these substances.

We Oppose:

Funding Restrictions
• Oppose federal action to withhold public safety funds based on unfair interpretation of local immigration policies.

Cost Recovery Reductions for Fire and Emergency Medical Services • Oppose any efforts to shift costs from private Emergency Medical Service providers to the City.

Nitrous Oxide Sales
• Oppose sales of nitrous oxide at smoke shops and liquor stores.

Emergency Communications De-encryption
• Oppose state and federal legislation to de-encrypt digital Emergency Communications.

41 CONTRIBUTING DEPARTMENTS: THE CITY MANAGER’S OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATION, POLICY , AND INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS; THE CITY MANAGER’S OFFICE OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT; THE CITY MANAGER’S OFFICE OF RACIAL AND SOCIAL EQUITY; AND THE DEPARTMENTS OF POLICE; TRANSPORTATION; PUBLIC WORKS; PARKS RECREATION, AND

NEIGHBORHOOD SERVICES

Supporting Families
San José will provide a welcoming, accessible, and inclusive quality of life for all children, youth, and their families in partnership with educational leaders, families, community-based organizations, and businesses. San José will be responsive to the needs of all children and youth, especially those from low-income, under-resourced, and marginalized communities. The City of San José will be a place where all children and youth, from birth through young adulthood, will feel safe, supported, and valued, and will have the resources and supports to succeed and prosper in home, school, and the community. San José will promote and protect freedoms of thought and expression, as well as the freedom to explore new information and ideas from a variety of viewpoints.

We Support:

Early Education
• Support and advocate for legislation that increases financial resources including revision of low-income guidelines for the provision of birth to five early education. • Advocate for funds to support early education among license-exempt programs that are evidence-based, and support Head Start and other state and federal childcare/preschool programs.
• Support funding for programming that supports Kindergarten readiness. Increase funding to expand full-time Transitional Kindergarten, particularly in low-income communities and schools.

Out-of-School Time Programming
• Support and advocate for legislation and increased funding for out-of-school time programming, specifically for low-income families and communities of concern in high cost-of-living areas.
• Support increasing income eligibility for low to moderate income working families to qualify for state and federally funded programs. Continue to advocate for financial support for summer lunch/snack programs for school-aged children and their families and increased funding for mentorship programs that support youth.
• Through the School/City Collaborative, coordinate with school districts, community-based organizations, and other out-of-school time stakeholders to further align and discuss state 42 funding opportunities for expanded learning to leverage efforts and align community priorities.
• Support efforts to expand and strengthen curriculum and learning outcomes in out-of- school time care.

Afterschool Childhood Recreation and Camps
• Support legislative clarification on the definitions of and requirements for afterschool and camp programs to ensure they meet programmatic goals and community needs. • Protect and increase state and federal funding for youth violence, gang intervention, prevention, and recreation based social safety net programs.

Reading by Grade Level
• Support comprehensive literacy initiatives that ensure equitable access to high-quality materials, training, and resources for educators and students. • Support investments in teacher preparation programs that emphasize foundational reading skills, language development, and culturally responsive instruction. • Support legislation and funding to expand access to high-dosage tutoring and other evidence-based interventions that accelerate reading growth. • Support legislation for schools to maintain diverse, inclusive library and literacy resources that meet the needs of all learners, including English learners.

Access to Higher Education
• Support increased funding for community colleges to reduce enrollment costs through scholarships, decreased tuition, and wrap-around supports such as affordable housing and food.
• Support increased funding for California public colleges and universities that promotes increased enrollment, graduation rates, and closes the equity and achievement gap. • Support legislation and funding that bolsters transition services for high school students to community colleges and higher education institutions, particularly for low-income communities and high schools with disproportionately low rates of graduation.

Electronic Book Licenses to Libraries and Schools
• Support legislation that requires digital books to be licensed to libraries as they are licensed to consumers and requires that digital books be licensed on reasonable terms.

Resources for Foster Youth
• Support increased funding for case-management and transitional supports and resources for youth in foster care.
• Support school services, mental health services, housing, college/career/vocational training support and guidance, access to health services, and access to childcare. • Advocate for continued resources and supports for up to a year after children/youth are no longer in foster care to ensure continued access to resources and supports. • Support homelessness prevention and access to affordable housing for foster youth. 43 Seniors
• Support additional funding through the City’s Senior Health and Wellness Grant Program to support increased chronic disease education, especially diabetes management and prevention.
• Support funding to expand current health and wellness workshops being offered at neighborhood centers by community health partners.
• Support programs and services that increase independent living, provide opportunities for socialization, and reduce social isolation.

Food Security
• Support funding and legislation to increase access to programs that address food insecurity and work to eradicate hunger.

Workers’ Rights
• Support legislation that holds employers that destroy or withhold passports or other immigration documents from their workers accountable and requires employers to provide their employees with a “Workers Bill of Rights. ”
Family Friendly Workplaces
• Support legislation and funding that improves the workplace for parents and families, including universal childcare, access to quality childcare, private lactation accommodations, and parental leave.
• Support improving access and reducing barriers to quality childcare including increasing the income eligibility for state and federally funded programs and support efforts to increase funding for a continuum of childcare options, for infants to age 12.

Prevention of Sexual Harassment & Sexual Assault in the Workplace • Support legislation to prevent and address sexual harassment in the workplace. This includes supporting legislation to protect employees from sexual assault in their places of work.

Volunteer Income Tax Assistance
• Support increased funding for the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program to assist low- income, multilingual families with tax preparation assistance.

Tax Credit Expansion
• Support increased funding for tax credits that support families with children. • Support increased funding for education on the Earned Income Tax Credit process particularly in low-income, under-resourced, multilingual communities.

Banking and Financial Services
44 • Support equitable and accessible public banking services and tools to promote financial inclusion.
• Support efforts to increase regulation and enforcement of predatory lending. • Support funding and legislation that increases access to credit, including for first-time home buyers.
• Advocate for changes to public and private loan requirements that penalize low-income families that have low FICO scores or limited credit history and support financial literacy programs.

We Oppose:

Interest Rate Disparities
• Oppose regulation that requires low-income individuals to be given higher interest rates than borrowers from higher-income families and communities.

Digital Access Embargoes
• Oppose legislation and regulations that embargo digital content licenses to libraries.

Limits on Intellectual Freedom
• Oppose legislation and regulations that limit a person’s access to information and legal content.

CONTRIBUTING DEPARTMENTS: THE CITY MANAGER’S OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATION, POLICY , AND INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS, AND THE CITY MANAGER’S OFFICE OF RACIAL AND SOCIAL EQUITY , THE DEPARTMENTS OF LIBRARY; PARKS RECREATION, AND NEIGHBORHOOD SERVICES; AND POLICE

Sustainability/Resiliency: Air
San José will be a leader in reducing carbon emissions from City-owned facilities and vehicles and encouraging its residents and businesses to join that effort to maintain healthy air quality for all.

The San José-Santa Clara Regional Wastewater Facility will continue to implement its Capital Improvement Program to enhance the facility’s performance while reducing emissions of toxic air contaminants, odors, criteria air pollutants, and greenhouse gases.

We Support:

Air Quality and Climate Incentives
45 • Support policies and preserve programs that provide financial incentives for distributed energy resources and electrification projects in private and public sector development, including those that reduce criteria air contaminants and high global warming potential pollutants.
• Support and preserve incentive programs and policies that seek to improve the City’s decarbonization efforts such as electric heat pump and HVAC water heaters, and zero- emission vehicle and charging infrastructure development. • Support policies that monitor and reduce emissions and mitigate climate impacts from the consumption of goods and the disposal of solid waste.
• Support policies that increase our tree canopy as a measure to improve air quality and mitigate the impacts of extreme heat.

Carbon Accounting
• Support policies that establish a carbon accounting standard, designate a tracking mechanism, and create an entity to manage carbon accounting on a statewide, regional, or federal level.
• Support, fund, and enhance existing programs that create carbon accounting such as utility and water benchmarking.

Building Decarbonization
• Support policies that encourage adaptive reuse of existing structures and the use of building materials made from recycled materials.
• Support and preserve policies that provide financial incentives for zero-net-carbon buildings, especially for affordable housing, small businesses, and all-electric buildings. • Support Distributed Energy Resource projects in public and private sector development and promote green building and retro-commissioning practices that reduce toxics and indoor air contaminants.
• Support the Bay Area Air Quality Management District’s and the state’s efforts to establish climate-friendly homes.

Cap-and-Invest
• Support Cap-and-Invest programs that benefit key City priorities, including the Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program, the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program, and High-Speed Rail bookend projects.
• Support programs that provide energy resiliency investments at critical facilities, including community centers and fire stations, provide more clean energy options, and assist energy- insecure communities.
• Support programs and funding opportunities that promote clean energy technologies, advance renewable resources deployment, improve grid reliability, and provide utility bill relief.
• Support permitting local jurisdictions and airports to allocate Cap-and-Invest allowances towards community funds or programs that they deem appropriate and mitigate impacts in low-income communities beyond traditional environmental investments. 46 • Support policies that ensure that the Cap-and-Invest market is financially robust.

Zero Emission Mobility
• Support growth in the use of zero-emission vehicles, clean mobility choices, and low carbon fuels.
• Advocate for funding and explore public-private partnerships to expand equitable access to electric vehicle infrastructure and zero-emission shared and public options. • Support designating revenues generated from greenhouse gas-related fees or taxes, or government grants and loans, to local or municipal government entities. • Preserve existing electric vehicle rebate funding, dedicated right-of-ways for electric mobility options, and other relevant clean mobility program funding, especially for low- income communities.

Greening the Fleet
• Support funding for transitioning all City vehicles to the lowest-emission vehicles practical for the job use, and infrastructure to charge, maintain and operate those vehicles as soon as practical. The maintenance and operational efficiency should be economically examined with the environmental impact of the operation and maintenance of any vehicle class, as should potential resiliency benefits of fleet electric vehicles (i.e., vehicle-to-grid opportunities).
• Support and advocate for realistic implementation timelines to support a successful and efficient fleet transition, in addition to vehicle exemptions due to issues of manufacturing availability, affordability and chargeability.

CONTRIBUTING DEPARTMENTS: DEPARTMENTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES; ENERGY; PUBLIC WORKS; AND TRANSPORTATION

Sustainability/Resiliency: Climate Smart
San José will utilize the Climate Smart San José strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and accelerate the City’s progress towards achieving carbon neutrality goal. The City will focus these efforts on the transportation, buildings, and power source sectors to maximize impact. The City will continue to develop and implement zero-waste programs that meet or exceed state regulations as well as provide ease of use and exceptional value to customers.

We Support:

Urban Greening Projects
47 • Support and advocate for new funding and greater alignment of existing regional, state, and federal funding to support equity-focused urban greening projects that promote the rapid incorporation of green streets, green infrastructure for treatment of stormwater runoff and flood management, parks, and streets related infrastructure for climate adaptation. This includes preservation, protection, and enhancement of the urban tree canopy to reduce heat-island effects and public-health impacts of extreme heat, and other nature-based strategies throughout the City. This is especially critical in lower-income areas and areas of historical disinvestment as highlighted through racial equity analyses. • Support funding and legislation aimed at addressing invasive species that are harmful to the city’s tree canopy.

Vegetation Fuels Reduction Incentive Program
• Support programs and funding that provide financial assistance to property owners for the management of vegetation in wildland urban interface areas to reduce wildfire risk, protect communities, and promote sustainable land stewardship.

Public Goods Charge
• Support and provide local government input into policies that allow regulatory agencies to assign administration of all or part of the Public Goods Charge Funds to the California Energy Commission and local governments (including community choice aggregators).

Climate Equity and Inclusion

• Support policies that provide financial and technical assistance to low-income residents and communities of color to prevent and reduce disproportionate impacts of climate change.
• Support investment and innovative technology in environmental justice communities to address the disproportionate burden of pollution and the heat island effect, including funding to convert unused or underutilized sections for roadway right-of-way to neighborhood parks, urban greening, and/or forestry projects. • Support policies and programs that advance climate equity by maintaining affordable energy rates and expanding access to financial assistance in prioritunder resourcedy communities.

Transportation Mode Change
• Support funding, programs, and legislation that prioritizes growth in the use of sustainable modes of transportation including transit, active transportation, such as walking and biking, and other alternatives to single-occupancy autos.
• Support designating revenues generated from greenhouse gas-related fees or taxes to local or municipal government entities to advance the use of sustainable modes of transportation.

Solid Waste Program Funding
48 • Support solid waste-related legislation that would add funding to local jurisdictions like the California Bottle Bill’s deposit payment.
• Support legislation to expand eligible products under the beverage container redemption program.
• Support legislation to adopt a statewide landfill surcharge with an exemption for locally enacted landfill fees or other statewide solutions for low-cost regional landfills. • Support funding to develop organics diversion and recycling infrastructure. • Support funding for, and increased support to local jurisdictions to fulfill, implementation of unfunded mandates, waste reduction, compliance, and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions related to waste processing and disposal.
• Support efforts that require material recovery facilities to pay a living wage to employees.

Environmental Funding
• Support funding for stormwater infrastructure and runoff and waterways to address pollutants of concern that will help improve water quality. • Support funding for renewable energy projects, clean mobility programs and zero-net- carbon building projects and technologies.
• Support legislation that will enable local governments to implement financial reductions for building improvement programs for residents.
• Support efforts to increase funding for wastewater treatment facility infrastructure. • Support funding and increased support to local jurisdictions to implement new environmental regulations related to stormwater, sanitary, potable water, and recycled water, including purified water and beneficial reuse of wastewater.

Climate Funding
• Support funding and policies for local governments to enact programs and policies that measurably reduce local and global greenhouse gas emissions, including switching to electric technologies.
• Promote funding opportunities for climate-related work. • Support state and federal funding for programs that support the City’s Climate Smart goals and environmental programs, including greenhouse gas emissions reductions, electrification, ensuring a sustainable water supply, and support for utilities.

Waste Reduction
• Support efforts that address source reduction and recycling contamination, including, but not limited to, reuse and refill systems, recycled content requirements, efforts to reduce single-use plastics and other single-use items, packaging, and food waste, as well as efforts to support consumers’ Right to Repair.
• Support efforts that uphold the City’s environmental ordinances, including plastic bags and Expanded Polystyrene Foam, and ensure state and federal regulations do not preempt the City’s existing ordinances.
• Support reuse and effective recycling of hazardous waste, e-waste (including electric vehicle batteries), gas cylinders, propane tanks, vaping devices, textiles, pharmaceuticals 49 and sharps, and other materials that cannot safely be collected through curbside recycling streams.
• Support efforts to incorporate zero waste principles into state programs and plans.

Recycling Markets
• Support local, regional, statewide, and federal efforts that address disposal challenges by finding sustainable solutions for end-of-life products, materials, and waste residuals, including products made from the diversion/recycling of organics. • Support legislation that addresses challenges with narrowing overseas recycled material markets and development of local markets through short and long-term solutions that uphold the City’s zero waste and carbon neutrality goals. • Support legislation for permitting facilities to help manage waste residuals as well as the safe use of waste residuals and products made from waste residuals. • Support efforts to increase consumer awareness of how to properly dispose of waste, including through product labeling requirements and education campaigns. • Support legislation that aims to increase products’ recyclability or compost-ability.

Water and Energy Rebates
• Support legislation that provides rebates and incentives for water conservation, building and transportation electrification, energy efficiency, energy and climate resiliency, retro- commissioning, and improvements in existing buildings, especially for low-income residents, environmental justice communities, and small businesses.

Extended Producer Responsibility
• Support advocacy on extended producer responsibility, including for pesticides, flea medications, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and other products and materials that wastewater facilities are unable to treat, as well as for textiles, photovoltaic panels, household hazardous waste, and other products that are difficult to manage through curbside waste management programs.
• Support legislation that limits environmental impacts resulting from the waste management process, including disallowing the addition of PFAS and other chemicals that create challenges for sustainable waste management, and by improving state enforcement mechanisms for existing chemical bans and stewardship programs.

We Oppose:

Water and Energy Rebate Reductions
• Oppose policies that decreases rebates and other incentives provided for distributed energy resources, climate resiliency, zero-emission vehicle and charging infrastructure, energy efficiency, and electrification projects and that preempts local governments from implementing policies to its facilities.

Product Ban Preemption
50 • Oppose state or federal regulations that preempt the City’s existing environmental ban ordinances including but not limited to plastic bags and Expanded Polystyrene Foam.

State Reporting Requirements for Locally-Funded Programs • Oppose legislation that requires California Public Utilities Commission cost-effectiveness and reporting oversight of local Community Choice Aggregator ratepayer-funded energy efficiency and demand response programs.

CONTRIBUTING DEPARTMENTS: DEPARTMENTS OF TRANSPORTATION; ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES; PUBLIC WORKS; AND ENERGY

Sustainability/Resiliency: Energy
San José Clean Energy plays an integral role in meeting the City’s and California’s carbon neutrality goals. This includes continued investment in renewable energy and energy storage to deliver cleaner and more reliable electricity to residents and commercial customers. San José Clean Energy reinvests revenues into the local community to provide clean electricity at competitive rates and expand programs to equitably encourage electrification in buildings and transportation – including making affordable electric vehicle charging accessible throughout the City and providing consumer rebates for electrification and energy savings. Local and transparent decision-making will continue to guide San José Clean Energy’s mission to increase access to the benefits of clean energy to create stronger, cleaner and healthier communities for the people who live, work and play in San José. With the emergence of artificial intelligence and increasing demand for energy to supply data centers, San José will continue to lead as an innovative tech city. Encouraging the development of data centers locally can strengthen our economy, create high-wage, skilled jobs, and advance long-term sustainability by expanding clean energy resources while maintaining the City’s carbon neutrality progress.

We Support:

Clean Energy Incentives
• Support and defend regulations, policies, and legislation to expand Community Choice Aggregator access to clean and zero-carbon electric generation, including tax credits, financial incentives, and grants to enhance local economic development related to clean energy procurement, accelerate the deployment of clean energy appliances, and reduce ratepayer costs.

Smart Grid

51 • Support policies, and funding opportunities that improve equitable grid resilience, including, but not limited to, cost-effective transmission and distribution upgrades, and the deployment of grid enhancing technologies and renewable resources. • Support and advocate for policies and funding that accelerate the interconnection and energization of clean energy projects and infrastructure. • Support policies, programs, and investments that promote the use of distributed energy resources, virtual power plants, microgrids, and demand response programs to improve local reliability and advance the City’s carbon neutrality goals. • Support policies and programs that expand access and funding opportunities for community choice aggregators’ participation in distributed energy resources and demand response programs.
• Support exploring efforts to modernize transmission planning and permitting process to expand grid capacity.
• Support policies and programs that increase responsible, cost-effective vegetation management to improve grid resilience.

Power Provider Accountability
• Support and preserve regulations, policies, and legislation that improve Pacific Gas & Electric Company public safety practices, fiscal and customer bill transparency, fair rate design and affordability, and local accountability for infrastructure related power disruptions.
• Support legislation and regulatory efforts to improve interconnection and energization delay timelines that create challenges for bringing development projects on-line in a timely manner.
• Support regulations and legislation to improve accuracy and data collection in energy load forecasts to ensure more reliable planning, and thereby, improve affordability. • Support policies that remove disincentives and expand incentives for rooftop and shared solar installations, while protecting low-income ratepayers in coordination with the CPUC. • Support consideration of alternative utility generation or distribution ownership models, including the creation of a Distribution System Operator.

Energy Efficiency and Electrification Programs

• Support and defend energy efficiency and electrification programs that better reflect local governments’ role in capacity building.
• Support policies and seek funding to enhance energy efficiency and electrification in existing buildings, particularly for small business owners, environmental justice communities, and low-income and multi-family housing units. • Expand programs to include renewable energy programs and incentives, such as subsidies for rooftop solar and solar water heaters for existing buildings serving small businesses and low-income and multifamily housing developments.
52 • Support policies and programs that encourage zonal decarbonization zones, in alignment with the City’s climate and carbon neutrality goals.

Western Energy Market:

• Support engagement and evaluate legislation that enables for the formation of a multi-state independent regional market that increases energy reliability and ratepayer benefits and and advances the City’s Climate Smart goals. Support legislation and policy efforts that aim to establish a robust public process to ensure that governance, environmental, ratepayer, and labor issues are adequately addressed to sustain a more efficient and cost-effective electric market.
• Support the implementation of AB 825, the West Wide Governance Pathways Initiative (WWGPI), to expand the west-wide energy market, and monitor the formation of a multi- state independent regional market that improves energy reliability and affordability, while also advancing state and local clean energy goals. Support reasonable legislative and regulatory efforts to modify the WWGPI that increase consumer protections and minimize environmental impacts.

Energy Affordability
• Support policies that mitigate disconnections and improve data collection, advance climate equity, improves data collection on electrical utility disconnections, and increase access to publicly available resources for under-resourced communities. • Support and advocate for policies, programs, and investments that reduce arrearages and utility disconnections.
• Support policies and legislation that lower ratepayer costs and improve energy affordability, including reforms to balance the Resource Adequacy market, such as hourly transactability.
• Continue engagement in legislative and regulatory forums that seek to address oversight in wildfire mitigation and grid hardening, and alternative financing for infrastructure build out. • Support and advocate for funding opportunities to minimize ratepayer impacts in the clean energy transition.

Community Choice Aggregator Autonomy
• Support and defend legislation and regulations that maintain local control and decision- making authority within Community Choice Aggregators’ local elected bodies. • Support funding and advocate for legislation and regulations that allow Community Choice Aggregators and the City to adequately implement and administer local energy efficiency and distributed energy resource programs, including but not limited to, the ability to design and implement customer rates.
• Support policies that enable Community Choice Aggregators to expand their energy portfolio, independent of technology mandates and energy procurement orders.

Workforce Development and Training
53 • Support budget allocations, programs, and policies that support clean energy workforce development and training that assists the City in reaching the City’s Climate Smart goals. • Support funding and policies that expand skilled job training and encourage the transition of the workforce into the clean energy sector.
• Support policies that advance supplier diversity efforts in the clean energy sector.

Data Center Development

• Support regulatory and legislative efforts that advance data center development in alignment with the City’s Climate Smart and economic goals, and enable the advancement of artificial intelligence.

Data Center Transparency

• Support standardized, transparent reporting of data center resource usage (including energy, water, and load flexibility) through programs that do not add new preconditions to local entitlements and protect confidential business information while enabling public accountability.

Data Center Cost Accountability

• Support policies and programs that avoid unreasonable stranded infrastructure costs and minimize cost-shifts to ratepayers, while also enabling timely delivery of needed transmission and distribution upgrades, including clear customer-funded options, predictable cost-allocation methods, and improved interconnection queue transparency.

Data Center Energy Sustainability

• Supports policies that disincentivize ongoing fossil-fuel reliance and enable practical, measurable decarbonization by encouraging renewable energy procurement, load-flexing and demand-response technologies, and energy storage.
• Where on-site generation or backup power is proposed, support technology-neutral pathways that improve reliability and reduce emissions without creating new permitting barriers.
• Support strengthening the ability of load-serving entities and state agencies to accurately forecast load growth and to plan, permit, and construct grid capacity on schedules that match economic development needs.

Data Center Streamlining

• Support policies that increase certainty, reduce discretionary ambiguity, and shorten timelines for data center permitting and delivery, including clear, objective standards and streamlined approval pathways where appropriate.
• Support implementing permitting and process reforms to modernize and expedite interconnection and related infrastructure approvals, including defined service-level targets for review timelines and coordinated permitting across agencies.

54 We Oppose:

Power Charge Indifference Adjustment (PCIA) Increases
• Oppose legislation and regulations that would suspend or slow the growth of Community Choice Aggregators, including efforts to increase the Power Charge Indifference Adjustment fees that customers pay for Investor-Owned Utilities “above market” costs, including San José Clean Energy customers who no longer purchase electricity from the Pacific Gas & Electric Company.
• Advance policies that provide transparency into the PCIA calculation methodology and oppose efforts to include new energy loads that have not, nor will be served, as a bundled ratepayer in future PCIA calculations.
• Continue to educate policymakers and staff at the California State Legislature, California Public Utilities Commission, and other relevant agencies regarding the volatility and impact of PCIA’s fees on ratepayers and the City to encourage equitable treatment of both bundled and unbundled ratepayers.

Centralized Energy Procurement
• Oppose legislation and regulations that would reduce local control over energy procurement or customer savings, increase or mandate energy on behalf of Community Choice Aggregators, or increase the authority of the California Public Utilities Commission to direct Investor-Owned Utilities to procure electricity on behalf of Community Choice Aggregator customers.
• Continue to advocate for improved transparency regarding energy procurement orders’ impacts on energy markets and affordability for ratepayers.

CONTRIBUTING DEPARTMENTS: DEPARTMENTS OF ENERGY , PUBLIC WORKS, AND

TRANSPORTATION

Sustainability/Resiliency: Infrastructure
San José will secure funding and complete vital infrastructure projects while reducing deferred maintenance infrastructure projects. The City will monitor the health and safety of its infrastructure assets and be proactive and strategic in investing resources to avoid structural deficiencies. The City will upgrade infrastructure to meet the demands of evolving demographics and an ever- changing climate by utilizing technology and industry best practices. Additionally, the City will leverage regional, state, and federal funding and maximize local funding to pursue Environmental Justice to the benefit of all communities. San José is also a resilient environmental steward for the region, ensuring that waterways are accessible to the entire community, wastewater is cleaned to high standards, and advocating treated wastewater residuals be viewed as valuable resources that 55 can be responsibly used as a source material for other purposes. The cleaning and treatment processes/technologies utilized will be advanced, reliable, and cost-effective, and any discharge from City facilities maintains a robust and healthy environment/ecosystem for people and nature.

We Support:

Infrastructure Project Funding
• Advocate for funding for the City’s priority infrastructure project. Advocate for adoption of regulatory guidelines that advance the City’s priority infrastructure projects.

Procurement and Contracting Flexibility
• Support legislation that provides flexibility in procurement and contracting processes, including innovative and streamlined project delivery methods and alternative financing mechanisms for infrastructure projects.
• Support legislation to sustain and advance Community Choice Aggregators’ procurement authority.

Proportional Grant Funding
• Support infrastructure grant funding that is formula-based and distributed proportionately based on city population and associated demographic needs.

Power Grid Infrastructure
• Support legislation and regulation, advocate for adequate resources/equipment, and timely and appropriate information and notification that will allow the City to respond to and mitigate power outage events during Public Safety Power shutoffs, Enhanced Powerline Safety Setting outages, rolling outages, or Pacific Gas & Electric Company equipment failures.
• Explore potential legislation or regulations to require greater public oversight of Pacific Gas & Electric Company outage events.
• Support exploring and evaluating policies, legislation, and regulations related to increasing grid capacity, building more transmission, and financing alternatives for critical utility infrastructure upgrades and resiliency efforts, that include, but not limited to, permitting reforms to facilitate transmission, distribution and investments in clean energy generation, securitization, and reallocating cap-and-trade revenues, amongst other financing options.

Green Infrastructure
• Support additional funding opportunities to implement regional projects and green streets projects that are essential for the treatment of stormwater runoff and diverting and preventing stormwater and runoff from localized flooding from contaminating our waterways.
• Support regional “green stormwater infrastructure” projects that can store, filter and clean runoff prior to it entering the creeks, and ultimately, the San Francisco Bay. 56 Resilient Power Supply
• Support the undergrounding of all appropriate power distribution in the City and for City facilities, upon which residents rely for service to be resilient in times of emergency. • Support microgrids and forms of power storage that can be available at all critical facilities which are necessary to provide consistent services.

Resiliency Efforts
• Support efforts that make the City more resilient to climate change, natural disasters, public health emergencies, and pandemics. This includes but is not limited to assessment of climate hazards and vulnerabilities, wildfire mitigation efforts such as infrastructure hardening, utility undergrounding, vegetation management, earthquake mitigation efforts on soft story seismic retrofits, extreme heat mitigation efforts, and flood and sea-rise impacts.
• Support efforts to integrate climate change resiliency into transportation planning to improve the sustainability and reliability of the City’s transportation infrastructure and operations, and support communities’ adaptation.

Transportation Funding
• Support transportation funding from federal, state, regional, and local sources, including both formula programs and discretionary grants, to expand mobility options, improve travel time reliability, increase safety, and provide congestion relief in San José. • Ensure that these funds remain unencumbered towards the programs and areas with the greatest need for investment. Maintain vital funding streams including but not limited to Senate Bill 1, Cap-and-Invest, Regional Measure 3, Measure B, Active Transportation, Surface Transportation Block Grant, Capital Investment Grants, Safe Streets and Roads for All, and other programs, including future revenue-generating efforts. • Support additional funding requests for investments that benefit San José’s transportation priorities. Advocate for policies that preserve local control, ensure cost recovery for use of San José’s right-of-way and street and sidewalk infrastructure, and improve project delivery, maintenance and accessibility across the transportation network.

Electric Vehicles
• Support policies and legislation that fund programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and incentivize the adoption and deployment of beneficial emerging technologies, including electric vehicle technologies and infrastructure.

Rapid Transit and Rail Infrastructure
• Support developing, improving, and funding transformative rail projects and infrastructure in San José, including BART to Silicon Valley Phase II, Diridon Station, Caltrain, and High- Speed Rail. Identify and advocate for projects which would enhance San José’s transportation network within a regional ballot measure or legislative proposal. Support legislation and funding that provides additional opportunities to develop or improve rail infrastructure in San José. Support efforts to advance and secure additional funding for 57 BART Phase II as needed. Identify and secure funding for Diridon Station planning and construction efforts. Support the extension of Caltrain electrification and frequent service to southern San José. Work closely with High- Speed Rail stakeholders to support infrastructure and right-of-way improvements in San José and support legislation that encourages collaboration with the cities it will serve. Support legislation and funding for transit operations, including for increases to service.

Regional Rail
• Support the development and funding of transformative rail projects in San José, including BART to Silicon Valley Phase II, Diridon Station, Diridon to Airport Connector, and High- Speed Rail.
• Pursue efforts to advance construction and secure additional funding for BART Phase II. • Identify and secure funding for Diridon Station planning, environmental, and construction efforts.
• Support robust Caltrain service and service increases, including increasing the frequentcy of service Caltrain to southern San José and South County. Support High-Speed Rail infrastructure in San José and advocate for state actions and funding to resolve Union Pacific right-of-way challenges.

Rapid Transit
• Support projects that strengthen San José’s regional transportation network through ballot measures, legislative proposals, and funding opportunities. • Advocate for increased and sustained funding to enhance transit operations and service levels across the regional rail network, as well as innovative approaches to transit that improve service and reduce capital and operating costs.

CMP Alignment with VMT
• Support legislation developed in coordination with regional partners to align and enhance Congestion Management Program (CMP) statutes with Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) reduction requirements.

Parks and Infrastructure Maintenance
• Support a dedicated funding source for deferred and continued park and infrastructure maintenance and repair to get to a state of zero deferred maintenance backlog in the next decade.
• Prioritize the modernization and upkeep of public safety facilities, including those that house and operate sworn public safety staff, that house the support staff for public safety staff like fleet and facilities maintenance, that the public will use in case of emergency and natural disasters, and that house the support staff providing services in the emergency and natural disaster shelters in addition to general park maintenance.

We Oppose:
58 Project Constraints
• Oppose legislative efforts that jeopardize the development or deployment of the City’s transit, rail, and clean energy infrastructure projects and other transportation and clean energy investments.

CONTRIBUTING DEPARTMENTS: THE CITY MANAGER’S OFFICE OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT; THE DEPARTMENTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES; PUBLIC WORKS; TRANSPORTATION; ENERGY; AND LIBRARY

Sustainability/Resiliency: Water
San José, through its Municipal Water System, will continue to provide safe and reliable drinking water to the more than 150,000 residents in the Alviso, North San José, Evergreen, Coyote, and Edenvale Service Areas. Through South Bay Water Recycling, the City will also continue to provide a reliable non-potable water supply. Increasing the diversity and dependability of potable and non- potable water supplies to meet the growing needs of the residential, development, and business communities, will enable the City to face the challenges of a changing climate, shifting water supplies, and achieve water resiliency. The City will continue to be a leader within the Santa Clara Valley Urban Runoff Pollution Prevention Program by collaborating and developing innovative approaches to address pollutants of concern entering the stormwater system and waterways.

We Support:

Water Conservation
• Support the expanded use of alternative water sources (recycled water, rainwater, stormwater, graywater, etc.) for non-potable purposes as well as supplementing our existing potable water supplies with additional potable sources (such as groundwater). • Support legislation and funding that offer programs to improve water efficiency, replacement of non-functional turf with native landscaping, water conservation and innovation (including drought relief programs), and water usage benchmarking, particularly for low-income residents, disadvantaged communities, and small business owners.

Local Waterways
• Support legislation and secure funding to restore and protect watershed habitats from human causes, and to increase awareness through outreach and education to communities and schools in protecting watershed habitats and to improving water quality in local waterways.
• Support legislation that maintains the health of the San Francisco Bay, creeks, and waterways.
59 Regional Water Supply
• Support local and regional efforts that address procuring permanent status regarding treated water supply from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission for the San José Municipal Water System.
• Partner with other local and regional water supply agencies to address the challenges of extended drought conditions.

Stormwater Management
• Support legislation and secure funding to implement innovative approaches to improve water quality by reducing pollutants (i.e., Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs), mercury, pesticides, trash) entering the storm sewer system that will ultimately improve water quality through various structural methods such as green infrastructure and full trash capture systems or other maintenance methods such as street sweeping or in-line pipe and inlet cleaning.
• Support efforts to increase water capture and storage of precipitation delivered by atmospheric river storms.
• Support local flood protection agencies in seeking state and federal funding to address flooding from intensified storms and sea level rise.

Wastewater Management
• Support legislation in wastewater, recycled water, nutrient, contaminants of emerging concerns (CEC), microplastics, Polyfluoroalkyl substance/Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFAS/PFOA), air emissions, renewable energy resources (biogas), recycled water, and biosolids, that are based on science and data driven at the state, local and federal levels. • Secure funding for wastewater treatment plant infrastructure, recycled water, sanitary sewer, and direct/indirect potable water reuse.

CONTRIBUTING DEPARTMENTS: DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES

Technology
San José will transform its information technology services by championing equity solutions using technology and data. The City will strengthen the resiliency of City services against cybersecurity risks and natural disasters that are increasingly affecting communities. The City will maximize efficiencies and the impactful use of limited resources through service innovation in partnership with departments, as well as support the transition to a digital workforce, embracing digital public participation and augmenting collaboration. The City will work to equitably protect the privacy of residents and keep their data safe and secure. Furthermore, the City will respond to service 60 requests and inquiries from San José residents and businesses, achieving high customer experience ratings through robust 311 access.

We Support:

Emerging Technologies
• Support state and federal legislation and regulations that encourage the responsible development of shared mobility options, advanced aerial mobility, transportation networking companies, autonomous vehicle technologies, and artificial intelligence tools that enable the City to balance the potential harms and benefits, including allowing local control of these new technologies where practical.
• Identify future regulatory needs to mitigate potential impacts from commercial advanced aerial mobility services. Continue to work with state agencies as regulations are implemented.

Innovative Technologies
• Support efforts that explore innovative technologies, such as replacing thin film plastics and meterless parking.

Transportation & Traffic Data Reporting
• Support legislation and regulations that provide travel data from transportation companies for transportation and land use planning, traffic management, and operational purposes. • Support legislation that creates comprehensive data reporting requirements for all freight and passenger services in the right-of-way, including existing commercial services and emerging services such as advanced aerial mobility. Data should include safety reporting and movement data.
• Ensure that public agencies can collect and access data for managing attendance and completing Point of Sale Purchases, while protecting the privacy of individuals and limiting the sharing of personally identifiable information to align with the City’s Digital Privacy Policy.

Library Data Privacy
• Support legislation that expands and modernizes the definition of what is included in the patron record for the purposes of protecting and enhancing the confidentiality of library activities for library patrons.

Cybersecurity Data Sharing
• Support legislation that enables organizations to share information to better deter malicious cybersecurity actors.
• To encourage intelligence sharing and “getting ahead of the breach, ” support legislation that explicitly protects cybersecurity information sharing from liability that puts the organization at risk and disclosure of information that would open the organization to cyberattacks. 61 Transportation Data
• Support legislation and regulations that provide travel data from transportation companies for transportation and land use planning, traffic management, and operational purposes.

Encourage the development of inclusive mobility options that can provide equitable and accessible transit options for all of San José’s residents.

Retention Period Decrease for Sensing Technology Data
• Support legislation to reduce privacy risk and potential harm of a data breach by minimizing the time data is stored.

Digital Accessibility
• Support efforts to secure funding for improving and maintaining digital accessibility to ensure effective communication for people with disabilities and compliance with federal and state laws.

Uniform Signage and Iconography for Smart City Technologies • Support state and federal efforts to standardize signage for sensing technology (ex:
automated traffic enforcement) in public spaces.

Regulation of Vendor Algorithms
• Support state and federal efforts to allow local governments to inspect algorithms used by vendors providing products or services that local governments procure. • Support stronger regulation on algorithmic transparency, bias, and demonstration of effectiveness.

Local Control of Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) and Advanced Air Mobility (AAMs) • Support efforts to increase and/or enhance local authority relating to the emergence of AVs and AAMs to ensure any implementation of this technology is done equitably, safely, and in concert with local transportation goals.
• Support coalition efforts such as through the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) and CACTI to strengthen oversight over these specific emerging mobility industries.

Cross-Industry Privacy Protection
• Support federal legislation addressing cross-industry privacy that defines general requirements for handling personal information and that does not pre-empt states from setting stricter data handling requirements (i.e. California Consumer Privacy Act).

Energy Efficiency Technology Programs
• Support state and federal standards for new technology, software, and hardware manufacturers to minimize energy consumption while systems are idle.

Broadband
62 • Support legislation that takes a balanced approach to accelerating broadband deployment including fiber, small cell, and macro cell towers in an equitable and inclusive manner. • Support continued scientific studies and research on telecommunications technologies. • Support efforts to expand broadband availability, affordability, and competition. • Support efforts to improve fiber, wireline, and wireless access in San José to enhance services and reduce costs for residents and businesses as well as Smart City and Internet of Things (IoT) services, including transportation management and other information systems that the City relies on to communicate and to improve the efficiency and delivery of City services.
• Advocate for funding and support efforts to improve the resilience of wireline and wireless networks to enhance public safety and community communications during and after natural disasters that are increasingly affecting communities. • Advocate for funding to expand existing roadway information and warning systems to improve travel safety and efficiency, enable transportation and non-transportation warning systems, and improve safety conditions for people that work in the roadway space.

Digital Access
• Support exploring public private partnerships around federal infrastructure funding including, but not limited to, broadband deployment partnerships with telecom providers, and partnerships to enable secure Smart City, IoT, and transportation data management systems and operations. Support efforts to secure funding for bridging the digital divide that are additive to funding for low-income families’ other basic needs (such as food, affordable housing, childcare, and wealth building).
• Support efforts to reenact the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) or a successor subsidy program and to enhance the Universal Services Fund. • Support efforts to modernize the Education Rate (ERATE) program to allow reimbursement for wireless and Wi-Fi enabled devices to be lent through libraries without onerous restrictions.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Guardrails
• Support efforts that promote disclosure of AI-generated content, an individual’s right to transparency, and the right to know the basis of an AI-generated decision that concerns them, including the factors, logic, and techniques that produced the outcome. • Support efforts that promote an individual’s right to have a final decision made by a human and ensure AI systems are developed and deployed with a human-centered approach. • Support efforts that promote institutions being held responsible for decisions made by an AI system they operate.
• Support efforts that promote fairness and equity in algorithmic decision-making. • Support efforts that require institutions to promote the accuracy, reliability, validity, and replicability of AI-generated outcomes.
• Support equity in AI to mitigate possible harms and to benefit marginalized groups.

AI Protections
63 • Support legislation and regulations that prevent and protect against the use of AI for deceptive and malicious purposes, such as generating or producing harmful images, audio, and video.

Privacy, Safety, and Transparency in AI
• Support legislative efforts to ensure privacy is preserved in all AI systems by safeguarding personally identifiable information (PII) and sensitive data from unauthorized access, disclosure, and manipulation.
• Support efforts to ensure AI systems maintain confidentiality, integrity, and availability through safeguards that prevent unauthorized access and use. Implementation of AI systems should be reliable and safe, and minimize risks to individuals, society, and the environment.
• Support the purpose and use of AI systems to be proactively communicated and disclosed to the public in an understandable manner.

Equity in AI
• Support legislative efforts to ensure AI systems support equitable and inclusive outcomes for everyone. Bias in AI systems should be effectively managed with the intention of reducing harm for anyone impacted by its use.

Accountability and Effectiveness in AI
• Support legislative efforts to require roles and responsibilities in organizations that govern, deploy and maintain AI systems, while acknowledging capacity constraints in smaller organizations.
• Support efforts to ensure AI systems are reliable, meet their objectives, and deliver precise and dependable outcomes for the utility and contexts in which they are deployed.

Workforce Empowerment through AI
• Support efforts to empower the existing and incoming workforce to use AI in their roles through programs that educate, train, and connect workers with opportunities to enhance their work with AI tools.

Automation to Provide Civic Value
• Support the promotion of innovation that provides residents and their governments with better, broader, and more equitable services.
• Support efforts that hold vendors and governments accountable for evaluating automation attempts for their civic benefit before and after implementation.

AI-Powered Translation Technologies
• Support expanding translation tools to better connect our diverse community and make government services more accessible to all.

AI Technology for Waste Stream Optimization:
64 • Support the expanding use of AI, computer vision, and robotics at our contracted Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) to improve sorting efficiency, reduce contamination in recycling and organics streams.
• Support the utilization of AI on city vehicles, in bins/dumpsters, and by field staff when inspecting recycling carts, and the related data to inform public education campaigns and advance the City's sustainability and waste diversion goals.

Resilient Utility Infrastructure Technology
• Support legislation and funding for technologies that enhance the climate resilience of our critical water and sewer infrastructure. This includes smart sensor networks for predictive maintenance, AI models for inflow/infiltration reduction, and systems to ensure continuity of essential utility services during and after natural disasters.

Automation for Public Health and Safety
• Support the responsible use of automation and robotics for tasks in high-risk environments, such as sewer inspection and hazardous materials management, to protect worker safety and improve operational efficiency.

Data-Driven Environmental Enforcement
• Support the use of sensing technology (e.g., cameras, acoustic sensors) and data analytics to proactively identify sources of pollution, illegal dumping, and other public health nuisances, enabling a more efficient and effective enforcement strategy.

Equitable Access to Environmental Services
• Support "Digital Access" initiatives that ensure all residents can easily access our services online, including bill pay, service requests (e.g., illegal dumping, missed collection), and educational resources, aligning with the goal of bridging the digital divide.

Broadband for Smart Utility Management
• Advocate for robust broadband infrastructure to support the reliable, city-wide connectivity required for Smart City IoT applications, such as smart water metering and remote infrastructure monitoring, which are essential for conservation and efficient service delivery.

We Oppose:

Broadband Restrictions
• Oppose legislation that weakens local government’s ability to regulate wireless attachments on vertical infrastructure and the deployment of fiber/coax.

Barriers to Local Preventative Regulations
65 • Oppose efforts that prevent San José from developing emerging technology regulations independent from state and federal statutes.

Retention Period Minimums for Sensing Technology Data
• Oppose the one-to-two-year retention minimum for data collected through sensing technology, such as video from cameras, established in CA Government Code 34090.

Biased Biometrics
• Oppose the use of non-consensual facial recognition or emotions analysis given the widely recognized biases.

Autonomous Weapons
• Oppose the use of autonomous weapons.

Reducing Data Privacy
• Oppose any legislation that erodes patron privacy and confidentiality including that of library patron activities.

Social Scoring
• Oppose the use of AI-powered social scoring or social credit systems that assign a score to individuals based on their behaviors or immutable characteristics.

Barriers to Local Public Health Regulations
• Oppose efforts that prevent San José from using sensing technology and data to locally regulate sources of pollution, illegal dumping, or other public health nuisances.

Technology that Increases Infrastructure Burden
• Oppose the deployment of emerging technologies, such as certain high-intensity utility users, that do not meet stringent energy efficiency and water conservation standards, thereby placing an undue burden on the City's water and sewer infrastructure.

CONTRIBUTING DEPARTMENTS: THE CITY MANAGER’S OFFICE OF RACIAL AND SOCIAL EQUITY AND OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS; AND THE DEPARTMENTS OF FINANCE; INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY; TRANSPORTATION; ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES; PUBLIC WORKS; AND LIBRARY

2025 Federal Priorities

66 Reduce Unsheltered Homelessness, Support Unhoused
Residents, and Increase Opportunities for Affordable Housing Support Funding for Homelessness Programs, Affordable Housing Development, and Mental Health Services
• Support additional, flexible homelessness funding for emergency and temporary housing, outreach, and wraparound services (including trash removal and sanitation services). • Support legislation to lift the Community Development Block Grant public services cap. • Support increased funding and flexibility for key affordable housing programs, including expansion of the Low- Income Housing Tax Credit and HOME. • Support expanding the federal Supplemental Security Income to provide income and health insurance. Advocate for legislation that requires health insurance and mental health benefits.
• Support funding for encampment management services, including sanitation and environmental restoration.
• Advocate for federal support to assist people impacted by federal encampment clearance orders prompted by safety and/or environmental remediation concerns. • Support funding for the PRO Housing grant program as well as funding for modular and flexible use shelter solutions.

Support Tenant Protections
• Advocate for sufficient federal resources for tenant protections and anti-displacement initiatives, including fair housing enforcement and education. • Support increased funding for rental vouchers to meet local needs and expand housing choices for residents experiencing homelessness and other vulnerable populations. • Support voucher program rules and allocations recognizing the increased need in high-rent areas.
• Support efforts to permit race-targeted or race-conscious housing and community development assistance in jurisdictions with documented findings of past race-based housing discrimination.

Enhance Community Safety Initiative and Realize Vision Zero Double Down on Safety and Vision Zero Initiatives
• Support efforts to achieve Vision Zero traffic safety goals to reduce traffic fatalities and injuries.
• Support proposals that provide funding, support, or local discretion for municipal governments to implement traffic safety programs and initiatives consistent with Vision Zero.

Support Local Control of Emerging Mobility Industries
67 • Support efforts to increase and/or enhance local authority regarding the emergence of Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) and Advanced Aerial Mobility (AAMs) to ensure any implementation of these technologies is done equitably, safely, and in concert with local transportation goals.
• Support coalition efforts, such as through the National Association of City Transportation Officials, to strengthen oversight over these specific emerging mobility industries. • Support efforts to utilize technological innovation to transform transportation infrastructure.

Support Disaster Preparedness, Response, Mitigation, and Recovery • Support dedicated funding for training, tools, and facilities to prepare for and respond to emergencies.
• Support legislation and funding for developing emergency management staffing, programs, and facilities, including Community Resource Centers. Advocate for resources that support the long-term management of current and future emergencies, including adapting to environmental threats as they evolve.
• Support local government flexibility in regulations, program implementation, and processes due to any future natural or human caused emergency.
• Support and advocate for resources and policies to protect the public health, safety, and economic viability of residents and businesses in San José, including services to the unhoused, isolation support, reemployment workforce development, small business recovery, food and essential necessities distribution, digital equity, and childcare support for the City’s most vulnerable populations during disaster recovery.

Enhance Crime Prevention and Prevent Discrimination
• Support federal legislation to prevent and address hate crimes, including improved data collection and reporting.
• Support efforts to prevent sexual assault, including increased funding and investigative tools for law enforcement and collaboration across agencies. • Support federal sentencing guidelines so that intoxication cannot be used to show a lack of culpability for committing sexual assault offenses.
• Support efforts to reduce gun violence, including support for legislation that prevents theft and unauthorized usage, addresses un-serialized firearms and gun kits, provides active shooter training, restricts concealed carry license issuance, and allows employers, co- workers, and teachers to request a gun violence restraining order. • Support policies and legislation that support and fund youth violence prevention and early intervention strategies.

Advocate for Public Safety Investments and Public Safety Policy Change • Support investments in public safety and expediting the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act implementation.
• Support federal legislation for drug and alcohol early intervention programs and increased mental health resources for first responders.
68 • Advocate for federal legislation and funding that furthers 21st Century Policing practices, including de-escalation and eliminating racial disparities in policing. • Support federal legislation to support community partnerships and fully fund coordinated police mental health response models.
• Support resources for domestic violence survivors, including full funding for the Violence Against Women Act, Victims of Crime Act, and the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act.
• Support federal legislation to curb illegal fentanyl and synthetic opioid distribution and sales.
• Support increased funding for substance abuse prevention and treatment. • Support federal legislation and regulations prohibiting e-cigarettes and flavored tobacco products.

Advocate for Educational and Employment Opportunities that Foster Equitable Outcomes for San José Families
Invest in Safe and Equitable Employment Opportunities
• Support CHIPS Act implementation in San José and advocate for workforce development pipelines from our community colleges.
• Support policies and funding opportunities to expand youth workforce development programs, such as AmeriCorp’s State and National grant program, and the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act reauthorization bill.
• Support legislation to prevent and address sexual harassment and assault in the workplace. • Support family-friendly workplaces, including quality childcare, lactation accommodations, and parental leave. Improve access and reduce barriers to quality childcare, including increasing the income eligibility for federal programs.

Further Immigrant Rights
• Support federal protections against discrimination based on immigration status for residents who seek government benefits.
• Support federal expansion of social safety net services for undocumented immigrants. • Support policies that protect the rights of all immigrants regardless of immigration status, and provide pathways for citizenship or legal permanent residency, including but not limited to supporting legislation that protects DACA and DAPA recipients from deportation. • Support legislation that holds employers accountable for withholding passports or other immigration documents from workers and requires employers to provide a “Workers Bill of Rights. ”
• Support policies that increase admissions, expand services, and strengthen protections for all humanitarian-based immigration.
• Oppose policies that separate immigrant or refugee families, require long-term detainment, remove due process rights, undermine the humanity of immigrants and refugees, and weaken data privacy or confidentiality rights.
• Oppose federal action to withhold public safety funds based on local immigration policies. 69 Elevate Inclusion and Access for All
• Support legislation that protects and strengthens rights for the LGBTQIA+ community, including marriage equality, and transgender individuals’ right to healthcare and gender identity expression.
• Oppose legislation that removes federal protections for transgender individuals. • Support race- and gender-conscious policies to provide equitable, contracting, and employment opportunities.
• Support educational programming for students of all ages through the U.S. Department of Education.
• Support funding and policy change to increase disability equity, language access, and inclusion.
• Support legislation that protects and promotes reproductive freedom, including access to abortion and reproductive care.
• Oppose restructure and decreased funding of Medicaid (Medi-Cal in California) to ensure equitable access to healthcare.
• Protect funding of Medicaid for individuals with disabilities, pre-existing conditions, and other historically under-resourced populations.

Voting Rights
• Support the right to vote, including absentee ballots and early voting, as well as legislation that increases translated voting materials and accessible voting. • Support legislation that furthers free and fair elections including court review of electoral maps to protect against racial and partisan gerrymandering. • Oppose legislation that would discourage voter registration, fair voter access, and/ or discriminate against Black, Latino/a/x, Indigenous, and People of Color communities.

High Cost of Living Adjustments
• Support regulatory changes to federal funding allocations based on population size and/or local cost of living adjustments, increased income eligibility above current state and federal poverty levels.
• Update guidelines for childcare and early education, healthcare, nutrition, and workforce development programs.

Strengthen Family Safety Net
• Support increased resources for youth in foster care. • Support funding and legislation to increase access to food insecurity programs and eradicate hunger.

Increase Educational and Workforce Opportunities
• Advocate for funding to support early education, including Head Start, transitional kindergarten, and new federal childcare/ preschool programs. 70 • Support increased grants and scholarships funding for community colleges and wraparound support for students, including accessing affordable housing and food assistance.
• Support legislation and funding that bolsters transition services for high school students to community colleges and higher education institutions as well as workforce programs. • Protect and support increased funding for Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (special education) to ensure the civil rights of people with disabilities and equal access to education.

Financial Relief for Families
• Advocate for equitable access to credit and loans, including regulation to stop predatory lending.
• Support increased funding for education on the Earned Income Tax Credit. • Support adopting an expanded Child Tax Credit and SALT deductions for low-income households.
• Support increased Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program funding to assist low-income households and multilingual families with tax preparation assistance. • Oppose regulation that gives low-income individuals higher interest rates than borrowers from higher-income families and communities.

Digital Equity
• Support legislation that requires digital books to be licensed to libraries as they are licensed to consumers.
• Support efforts to restore and expand broadband availability, affordability, and competition. • Support efforts to expand Affordable Connectivity Program funding, enhance the Universal Services Fund, and bridge the digital divide.
• Support efforts to modernize the Education Rate program to allow reimbursement for wireless and Wi-Fi-enabled devices lent through the library. • Oppose legislation that weakens local government’s ability to regulate wireless attachments on vertical infrastructure and the deployment of fiber/coax. • Oppose legislation and regulations that limit a person’s access to information and legal content.

Protecting Privacy
• Support federal privacy legislation that defines general requirements for handling personal information that does not preempt states from setting stricter data handling requirements.

Emerging Technology
• Support efforts that promote fairness and equity in algorithmic decision-making. • Support efforts that require institutions to promote the accuracy, reliability, validity, accessibility, and replicability of AI-generated outcomes. • Oppose efforts that prevent San José from developing emerging technology regulations independent from state and federal statutes.
71 • Support federal efforts to increase cybersecurity.

Drive Downtown Revitalization and Cultivate Equitable
Investment in our Neighborhoods
Support Urban Greening and Investment in Green Spaces
• Support funding for equity-focused urban projects that promote green streets, tree canopies, green infrastructure for stormwater and flooding management, parks, and streets-related infrastructure for climate adaptation and heat mitigation.

Support for Water Management
• Support funding for stormwater infrastructure and waterways to address pollutants of concern that will help improve water quality.
• Support legislation for wastewater, recycled water, nutrients, contaminants of emerging concerns (CEC), microplastics, PFAS/PFOA, air emissions, renewable energy resources (biogas), recycled water, and biosolids that are based on science and data. • Secure funding for wastewater treatment plant infrastructure, recycled water, sanitary sewer, and direct/indirect potable water reuse.

Invest in Small Businesses and Communities
• Support federal funding to equip local businesses to meet the needs of people of all abilities and maintain ADA compliance.
• Support protecting the Community Reinvestment Act and advocate to ensure that financial institutions adequately serve the range of needs in San José for mortgage lending, multifamily financing, and small business financing.
• Support legislation that provides access to traditional banking services for licensed cannabis businesses and protects the City’s ability to tax cannabis sales. • Support legislation permitting FDIC banks to lend to cannabis businesses. • Support legislation and funding for further investments in transit-oriented development.

Funding for Space Activation, Placemaking, and Art
• Support integration of placemaking, pedestrian space activation, and public art as eligible elements and expenses for federal grant programs in addition to increased funding for the arts through the National Endowment for the Arts.

Pursue Funding for Equitable, Sustainable, and Resilient Infrastructure and Accelerate San José’s Climate Smart Goals Support NEPA Reform

• Support legislative and administrative efforts that streamline the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) process and facilitate efficient land use and housing regulation by 72 cities, reduce barriers to expediently deliver housing production and multi-modal transportation plans, and enhance project delivery and grant coordination. • Support legislative and administrative efforts to modernize and accelerate permitting for clean energy projects and infrastructure to diversify Community Choice Aggregator’s power supply portfolio.

Support Federal Efforts that Advance San José’s Climate Smart Goals • Support and defend funding and policies that will accelerate the City’s Climate Smart goals. • Support and defend policies and funding allocations that advance utility bill affordability, and energy efficiency incentives, rebates, and electrification programs, improve grid resiliency and reliability, increase power provider accountability, accelerate clean energy and electrification workforce development, and prioritize Community Choice Aggregator autonomy.
• Oppose regulatory rollbacks that further the reliance on fossil fuels. • Support policies that mitigate climate impacts from consumption of goods and the disposal of solid waste, including, but not limited to: reuse and refill systems, efforts to reduce single-use plastics and food waste, and support consumers’ Right to Repair.

Support for Solid Waste Management
• Support efforts that fund investment and improvements in recycling and composting infrastructure.
• Support efforts to gather more comprehensive data on composting and/or recycling facility capacities nationwide.
• Support reuse and effective recycling of hazardous waste, e-waste (including electric vehicle batteries), gas cylinders, textiles, pharmaceuticals and sharps, and other materials that cannot safely be collected through curbside recycling streams. • Support efforts that uphold the City’s environmental ordinances, including plastic bags and Expanded Polystyrene Foam, and ensure federal regulations do not preempt the City’s existing ordinances.
• Support efforts to increase consumer awareness of how to properly dispose of waste, including through product labelling requirements and education campaigns.

Advocate for Opportunities to Make San José More Resilient • Support efforts that make the City more resilient to climate change, natural disasters, and pandemics. This includes but is not limited to assessment of climate hazards and vulnerabilities, wildfire mitigation efforts such as infrastructure hardening, vegetation management, earthquake mitigation efforts on soft story seismic retrofits, extreme heat mitigation efforts, and flood and sea-rise impacts.

Promote Climate Equity and Inclusion
• Support and defend policies and funding initiatives that provide financial and technical assistance to environmental justice communities to prevent and reduce disproportionate impacts of climate change.
73 • Support and defend investments and innovative technologies in environmental justice communities to address the disproportionate burden of pollution (including plastic pollution) and the heat island effect.
• Support policies that provide financial and technical assistance to schools and organizations that primarily serve low-income residents and other under-resourced communities to encourage systems of reuse and repair.

Advocate for and Preserve Energy Efficiency and Electrification Incentives • Advocate for and defend greater access to clean and zero-carbon electric generation, including tax credits, financial incentives, and grants to enhance local economic development related to clean energy procurement and reduced ratepayer costs. • Support and defend energy efficiency and electrification incentives for households and families to access clean energy that is reliable, sustainable, and affordable. • Support and advocate for funding of capital improvements of City-owned facilities that will increase energy efficiencies and full building electrification. • Support policies and seek funding to enhance energy efficiency, electrification, and decarbonization in existing buildings, particularly for small business owners, under- resourced communities, and affordable housing and in all-electric buildings. • Support and preserve policies that encourage adaptive reuse of existing structures and provide financial incentives for zero-net-carbon buildings. Support Distributed Energy Resource projects in public and private sector development and promote green building and retro-commissioning practices that reduce toxins and indoor air contaminants.

Support Continued and Sustained Investment in Transportation and Zero Emission Mobility • Support growth in and continue to advocate for the use of zero-emission vehicles, other clean mobility choices, and low carbon fuels.
• Support and safeguard sufficient and dedicated electric vehicle rebate funding and other relevant clean mobility program funding, especially for low-income communities. • Support and advocate for funding for cities and municipalities to transition fleet vehicles to zero-emission or the lowest-emissions practical for the job use. • Support transportation funding that helps maintain, improve and expand transportation systems and mobility in San José, including bikes, e-bikes, etc. • Support and defend policies and funding at the federal level that promotes transit supportive commercial uses, employment uses, affordable housing adjacent to transit, and anti-displacement measures.

Transmission Financing and Grid Reliability
• Continue to advocate for federal policies and funding opportunities that enhance grid reliability and accelerate the deployment of distributed energy resources, grid enhancing technologies and renewable energy projects and infrastructure. • Support policies that modernize transmission planning and permitting that cost-effectively expand the electricity grid to help meet growing electricity demand needs.

74 Municipal Bonds Tax Status

• Support maintaining the federal tax-exempt status of municipal bonds that ensure Community Choice Aggregators and local governments can finance large-scale clean energy projects to help meet increased energy demands.
• Support and defend prepay financing through municipal bonds to reduce Community Choice Aggregator’s costs in diversifying their power supply portfolio and help provide ratepayer relief.

Clean Energy Tax Credits

• Support policies and budget allocations reinstituting federal clean energy and electric vehicle tax incentives from the Inflation Reduction Act. • Oppose tariffs and project cancelations that hinder clean energy generation and electric vehicle adoption, increase energy costs, and impede San José’s Climate Smart and economic goals.