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M E M O R A N D U M
To: The Honorable Juan González III, Mayor of San Leandro Honorable Members of the San Leandro City Council
CC: Janelle Cameron, City Manager
Eric Engelbart, Deputy City Manager
From: Christopher Townsend, President, Townsend Public Affairs, Inc.
Niccolo De Luca, Vice President
Alex Gibbs, Grants Manager
Carly Shelby, Senior Associate
Date: December 10, 2024
Subject: Summary of 2024 State Legislative Activities
Townsend Public Affairs, Inc. (TPA) has prepared this report for the City of San Leandro following the end of the 2024 State Legislative session. This report lists our efforts to date including a summary of our legislative advocacy actions on behalf of the City.
As background, TPA has closely partnered with the City of San Leandro for almost 10 years and together the team has achieved great results. This includes 3 City sponsored legislative proposals signed into law, collaborating on numerous legislative efforts, providing critical grant writing support, and helping secure over $21.2 million in state funding for priority projects.
Summary of 2024 State Legislative Session
The 2024 legislative session came to a dramatic close just after midnight on Saturday, August 31, as both chambers were engulfed in a flurry of last-minute proposals. This adjournment marked the end of the two-year 2023-24 Legislative Session, which saw over 4,000 bills introduced during its cycle.
While last-minute policy introductions are a common feature of California's legislative process, this session was notable for the unusually high number of bills and amendments introduced in the final 72 hours. These last-ditch efforts aimed to make sweeping changes in key areas such as energy policy, industrial land use regulations, and gas pricing, among others.
Adding to the usual end-of-session frenzy, Governor Newsom called a special session just hours before the regular session's end to address new mandates on oil refineries aimed at reducing gas prices. This unexpected move effectively pushed the Legislature into overtime, forcing lawmakers to grapple with the complex and politically sensitive issue of energy affordability. In response, the Assembly convened the special session, as directed by the Governor, while the Senate chose not to.
2024 State Legislative Summary Page 2 of 3
As for the legislative output of the 2024 session, of the 2,525 total bill vehicles introduced this year, nearly 1,000 were passed by the Legislature. The Governor vetoed 183 of those measures in total making his veto rate roughly 18%. The TPA team submitted an ‘End of Session Overview’ for the City team that detailed priority measures and key events from the 2024 legislative session, organized by issue area.
The results of the November 2024 General Election are final and there are 24 new State Assembly seats and 12 new State Senate seats representing over 25% of each house. When the Legislature reconvenes in January 2025 for the start of the 2025-26 session, a wave of freshman legislators will bring new priorities, leadership styles, and political dynamics to Sacramento.
Summary of 2024 State Legislative and Grants Highlights In 2024 TPA worked with the Mayor, City Council, Administration, and Department Heads to develop and advocate for City initiatives through various means, including: formal positions and direct efforts on priority legislative proposals, drafting language for legislative amendments, engaging in numerous meetings with Senate and Assembly offices, working directly with committee consultants, senior staff, and San Leandro’s elected leaders in Sacramento to help secure critical funding, work in support and opposition of legislative proposals, direct involvement in State Budget negotiations, extensive grant funding efforts, and other topics.
More specifically the TPA team, in partnership with the City team, engaged in a number of advocacy efforts this session both legislatively and through budget. Please note the following state legislative highlights:
1. Effectively working with our State delegation, Mayor, and City Staff to stop the potential State claw-back of over $4 million dollars in critical funding for the Mulford Marina branch Library project.
2. Worked closely with staff to submit and secure $244,545 in grant funding for the city’s Extreme Heat Planning Grant through the ICARP Extreme Heat and Community Resilience Program.
3. Successful advocacy for the protection of key budget accounts that were proposed to be cut such as the Regional Early Action Planning 2.0 program, Active Transportation Program, and Homeless, Housing Assistance and Prevention (HHAP) Grant Program.
4. Successful advocacy on behalf of statewide bond proposals and the inclusion of funding for local agency projects in the $10 billion climate bond.
5. Successful advocacy efforts to support the organized retail theft package which was signed into law and provide local law enforcement agencies with additional tools to curb serial theft occurrences.
6. Opposition to legislative proposals that proposed costly mandates or the usurpation of local authority; successful advocacy to stop legislative efforts that would have restricted revenue collections, and other items.
7. Working with a coalition of libraries and advocates relating to SB 1383 implementation from CalRecycle; and
8. Providing analysis and recommendations on various state ballot measures.
Other accomplishments during the 2024 Legislative Session include:
• Ongoing daily and weekly legislative updates on bills, relevant statewide policy topics, and other matters of interest to ensure the City has up to date information and is directly involved in the decision-making process.
• Detailed analysis of priority legislation.
• Summary of the 2024 legislative session.
• Summary of the 2024 November General Election.
• Summary of the Retail Theft legislative package.
2024 State Legislative Summary Page 3 of 3
• Detailed summaries of the Governor’s 2024 Proposed Budget and the 2024 May Revised Budget.
• Ongoing monthly grant memos that go to staff the first week of every month, detailing upcoming funding opportunities at the state, federal and regional levels, as well as private grants.
• Ongoing monthly grant calls with department heads to discuss upcoming funding opportunities, discuss priority projects, and brainstorm funding solutions for unique situations. • TPA also regularly provides analysis and advice for the administration of previously funded grant projects to ensure City staff are able to navigate complex reporting requirements. • Set up a tour of the Capitol for the: San Leandro Korean College Intern program.
Next Steps
TPA has partnered with the Administration on a preliminary 2025 State Legislative platform for discussion and potential adoption (legislative platform document is attached separately). The platform includes the framework for both actions on relevant legislative proposals, as well as monitoring and recommending actions on potential funding proposals.
TPA looks forward to continuing its efforts to ensure that the City is kept up to date on state legislation, matters relating to the State’s Administration, and funding opportunities in updates that include our efforts on the City’s behalf, status of priority legislation, and other time-sensitive matters.