City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: July 18, 2023
Agenda Item: 11.A
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To: Mayor and City Council
From: David White, City Manager, City Manager's Office
Subject: Approval of the City of Santa Monica Legislative Platform for Fiscal Years 2023-2025
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Approve the attached 2023 State and Federal Legislative Agendas, which detail both the City’s historic legislative priorities and emerging concerns, aligned with the Council’s adopted community and budget priorities for FY 2023-2025;
2. Provide feedback to inform City staff’s competitive procurement process for new State and Federal representative and lobbying service to be undertaken in fall 2023; and
3. Authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute a first modification to agreement #10693 in the amount of $25,000 with Shaw Yoder Antwih Schmelzer & Lange for state legislative advocacy services for the City Manager's Office.
This will result in a five-year agreement with a new total amount not to exceed $273,021.
4. Adopt a finding of no possibility of significant effect pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) (Common Sense Exemption) of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines.
Executive Summary
In order to advocate for its interests and objectives before the State and Federal governments in Sacramento and Washington, D.C., the City retains consultant teams— currently, Shaw Yoder Antwih Schmelzer & Lange (SYASL) and The Ferguson Group as State and Federal lobbyists, respectively—who represent the City at these levels of government.
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These representatives serve to:
• further the City’s legislative objectives in Congress, the State legislature and before state and federal agencies;
• monitor, provide feedback on, and seek to influence pending and proposed legislation;
• identify and advocate for funding opportunities through appropriations and grants; and
• liaise with elected officials and their staffs to advocate for the City’s positions and funding opportunities.
Both firms, in collaboration with senior City staff, have developed updated legislative agendas to guide the City’s legislative and policy advocacy over the upcoming FY2023- 25 biennial budget cycle. Maintaining legislative platforms at both the federal and state level serves to clarify City policies, create additional transparency, and enable staff to rapidly weigh in on matters of legislative importance with the backing of Council’s adopted positions.
In addition, the five-year terms of the contracts for both SYASL and The Ferguson Group for representative and lobbying services for the City will expire in December 2023. Staff intends to undertake a competitive Request for Proposals process in the fall for these services going forward, and is seeking Council input and feedback on priorities to inform this process.
Finally, staff is seeking limited additional budgetary authority for SYASL to continue providing state legislative advocacy services through December 2023, to align with previous Council authorization for a five-year contractual term. 3 of 8
Discussion
Legislative Platform Updates
Starting in 2016, on an annual or biannual basis, staff has presented Council with comprehensive Federal and State legislative agendas drafted based on Council’s adopted budgetary and community priorities, previously adopted positions, and direction with respect to specific bills or policies introduced at the state and federal levels.
Previously, Council had been presented with proposed Federal Legislative Agendas for their consideration and approval, which included broad statements of support or opposition to programs, policies or concepts legislated by the federal government.
Additionally, the Council had taken positions on proposed state legislation of interest to Santa Monica both when presented by staff in packages or on a case-by-case basis.
Over the last seven years, the State and Federal Legislative Agendas first adopted in 2016 and updated regularly since have guided the City’s legislative advocacy and created additional transparency for the City’s state and federal policy advocacy work.
Staff is putting forward for the Council’s review and approval updated versions of those State and Federal Legislative Agendas (Attachments A & B) to align our advocacy with the Council’s priorities for the FY2023-25 biennial budget adopted at a special meeting on March 11, 2023. These adopted priorities will dictate how programs are funded and additional funds are expended across the City, and therefore staff is recommending— consistent with past practice—that we align our legislative advocacy with those priorities, which are as follows:
• Addressing Homelessness: Prevent housed Santa Monicans from becoming homeless and increase the supply of affordable housing, address the behavioral health needs of vulnerable individuals and advocate for regional capacity to address homelessness.
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• Clean & Safe Santa Monica: Create an atmosphere marked by clean and safe public spaces and neighborhoods, including parks for recreation and leisure activities.
• Cultivate Economic Recovery & Expand Community & Cultural Offerings: Cultivate economic opportunity and recovery and invest in community and cultural amenities and programs for all community members, focused on expanding opportunities for youth, teens and seniors. • Racial Justice, Equity & Social Diversity: The City of Santa Monica acknowledges the effects of generational and institutional racism and discrimination, and its consequences that continue to impact our residents and businesses. These lessons of our history cannot be ignored.
The City is committed to advancing racial equity and social diversity to improve the wellbeing of people who live, work, learn, play, and do business in our City and create a community where differences in life outcomes cannot be predicted by race, class, gender, disability or other identities. Everyone in Santa Monica must have an opportunity to thrive.
• Sustainable & Connected Community: Ensure that City policies and programs enhance our resources, prevent and remedy harm to the natural environment and human health, and benefit the social and economic wellbeing of the community for the sake of current and future generations.
Adoption of the agendas is a public statement by the Council of its legislative priorities at the state and federal level. This action, combined with consultation of positions adopted by statewide and national advocacy organizations such as the League of California Cities, National League of Cities, and U.S. Conference of Mayors, allows staff to review and adopt positions on legislative items of particular concern to Santa Monica.
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More specifically, in practice, as legislation is introduced in the U.S. Congress and the California state legislature that is of relevance to Santa Monica, the City’s federal and state representatives use the legislative agendas to develop recommended positions on each bill—typically either a “Support,” “Oppose,” or a “Watch” (i.e. monitor without supporting or opposing) position. On any bill that is a close call or where more input is needed or there are particular sensitivities or strong City implications at play, the representatives refer the bill to City staff for further analysis and feedback. The representatives then draft letters of support or opposition, as appropriate, that are reviewed by City staff and signed by the Mayor on behalf of the Council to submit to the City’s elected representatives as well as relevant authors and legislative committees for particular bills. The City’s representatives or City staff at times weigh in further to advocate for the City’s legislative positions through meeting with legislators or agency officials and providing testimony at committee hearings. In addition to legislative advocacy related to particular bills at the state and federal levels, the City’s representatives use the adopted agendas to inform advocacy for and pursuit of resources that advance the City’s priorities and positions, in the form of grants or legislative appropriations.
Direction for Federal and State Representative Procurement The current contracts for the City’s federal and state representative and lobbyist services—held by The Ferguson Group and SYASL, respectively—were approved by the Council in 2018 for a term of five years, and both expire in December 2023.
Consistent with past practice, staff will be initiating an open competitive procurement process for these services this fall via separate Requests for Proposals (RFP) for both the federal and state representative portfolios. The City has retained both of its current consultants for these services for decades, with SYASL having provided state lobbyist services to the City since 1986 and The Ferguson Group federal services since 1994. In response to increased inquiries regarding advocacy services and evolving priorities of individual Councilmembers, staff is seeking Council feedback in advance of embarking on this RFP process to identify the best state and federal representatives for the City into 2024 and beyond. In particular, staff are seeking input on:
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• Priority areas of policy expertise and relationships desired in state and federal representatives;
• Importance of in-person meetings and engagement opportunities, both in the City of Santa Monica and when Councilmembers travel to Sacramento or Washington, D.C, for conferences or other official business; and • Frequency and nature of correspondence and reporting desired on legislative advocacy and outcomes.
Should Council desire an expanded scope of representative and lobbyist services beyond what is currently budgeted (approximately $45,000-50,000/year each for state and federal services), future tradeoffs would need to be identified to support increased potential contract costs.
Additional Budget Authority for SYASL
The City’s current contract with SYASL for state representative services was executed on December 6, 2018 and currently expires on June 30, 2023. The contract, however, is authorized through December 5, 2023 based on the Council’s prior authorization to enter into a five-year term. Thus, City staff can use the existing contract authority to extend the contract from its current expiration on June 30, 2023 to December 5, 2023.
However, because the City will have expended nearly all of the allocated budget that Council approved in 2018 (not-to-exceed $248,021) following payment of SYASL’s June 2023 invoice, a small amount of additional budget authority is needed to continue payment to SYASL and ensure that these services are not interrupted pending the outcome of the competitive procurement described above.
Accordingly, staff is recommending that the Council authorize allocation of $25,000 from existing funds in the Professional Services account for SYASL to continue providing legislative advocacy services through December 2023.
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Past Council Actions
Meeting Date Description
06/12/18 (Attachment C) Most recent Award of Contracts for State and Federal Lobbying Services
04/27/21 (Attachment D) Prior Approval of Legislative Platforms Environmental Review
The contract modification is categorically exempt from CEQA pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) of the CEQA Guidelines. The contract is covered by the common sense exemption which states that CEQA does not apply, “where it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the environment.” The modification will allow the City to continue to utilize its state legislative representative services. Therefore, it can be seen with certainty that the agreement would not result in adverse physical impacts on the environment, and as such, is categorically exempt from CEQA.
Financial Impacts and Budget Actions
Staff seeks authority to approve available funding from the General Fund to increase the amount of the agreement with Shaw Yoder Antwih Schmelzer & Lange for state legislative advocacy services for the City Manager's Office through December 5, 2023.
Agreement Modification Request
Agreement #
Current Authorized
Amount
FY 2023-24
Modified Request
Amount
Dept #
Total Revised
Contract Amount
10693 $248,021 $25,000 01200009.552010 $273,021
Future year funding is contingent on Council budget approval. 8 of 8
Prepared By: Anuj Gupta, Assistant City Manager
Approved Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. 2023-25 State Legislative Platform DRAFT for City Council B. 2023-25 Federal Legislative Platform DRAFT for City Council C. June 12, 2018 Staff Report for Award of Contracts for State and Federal Lobbying Services (Web Link)
D. April 27, 2021 Staff Report for Approval of Legislative Platform (Web Link)