Council Member Sylvia RoblesOn January 14-15, 2021, Council Member Sylvia Robles attended the League of
California Cities (Cal Cities) Policy Committee General Briefing and Revenue & Taxation
Committee meeting to discuss the following:
• Proposed Amendment to Cal Cities Existing Policy and Guiding Principles – Fair
and Equitable Distribution of State and Federal Aid
o Policy statement that affirms Cal Cities’ commitment to ensure fair and
equitable distribution of emergency state and federal aid to all California
cities.
o 2021 State Legislative Session unveiling a record -breaking $227.2 billion
budget proposal for the 2021-22 fiscal year.
o Housing, Community and Economic Development
o Environmental Quality
o Community Services
o Public Safety
o Revenue and Taxation
o Transportation, Communications, and Public Works
o Governance, Transparency, and Labor Relations
A full copy of the briefing is located on Page 2 of this Communication Report.
January 14-15, 2021 Policy Committees
General Briefing
Thank you for your continued participation in the League of California Cities policy committee
and development process. Your leadership is critical as federal, state and local government
officials take responsive action to the COVID-19 public health emergency.
To support city officials, Cal Cities launched a Coronavirus Resources Webpage for California
Cities at the beginning of the pandemic. The Cal Cities dedicated webpage curates COVID-19
news, resources, and guidance specifically geared toward local leaders to help navigate the
current situation. To support California cities, Cal Cities has partnered with the Governor’s
Office, the California Office of Emergency Services, the California Department of Public Health,
and federal agencies to provide cities with important information as it becomes available.
In following federal, state, and local public health guidance, January policy committees are
convening via Zoom, allowing us to safely continue the important work of advocating for cities
through your leadership.
While responding to the COVID-19 emergency remains the highest priority, the Cal Cities
advocacy team also remains your steadfast eyes and ears in the State Capitol as legislative and
budget activity continues.
In accordance with the customary practice of convening all policy committee members for a
general briefing prior to the start of policy committee meetings, your Cal Cities advocacy team
has provided here an update of the latest on federal and state legislative matters affecting cities
within their respective policy areas.
Overview
To kick off the 2021 legislative session, Governor Gavin Newsom unveiled a record-breaking
$227.2 billion budget proposal for the 2021-22 fiscal year.
The proposed budget includes a $164.5 billion General Fund and projects $34 billion in total
reserves and surplus. The budget significantly restores the state’s rainy day fund, and economic
support reserves that were diminished last year. A surplus of $15 billion, largely in one-time
funds, are available for spending to address COVID-19 and support resilience and recovery.
During his press conference, the Governor said his budget proposal focused on the “most
urgent needs” of Californians, including vaccinations, the safe reopening of schools, support for
small businesses, money in the pockets of Californians, and wildfire preparedness.
Notably, aid to local governments for COVID-19 costs and budget impacts are absent from the
Governor’s proposal - setting the stage for renewed advocacy and coalition building in 2021 to
secure funding.
While the budget takes center stage, the Legislature is beginning its annual introduction of
thousands of measures. To date, a fraction of these measures have been formally introduced
but the number of measures is expected to increase.
More details on Governor Gavin Newsom’s Proposed 2021-22 State Budget can be found in the
Cal Cities 2021-22 State Budget Analysis.
Housing, Community and Economic Development (HCED)
Addressing California’s persistent housing supply and affordability crisis continues to be a top
priority for many Legislators and Governor Newsom. The 2021 legislative session, which kicked
off on December 7, 2020, has gotten off to a fast start with nearly two dozen housing and land
use bills already introduced. Some of the measure are reintroductions of bills that failed in
2020. Below are a few key bills cities should consider examining:
• SB 5 (Atkins) Housing Bond.
This measure expresses the intent of the Legislature to authorize the issuance of a
bond, of an unspecified amount, to fund housing-related programs.
• SB 6 (Caballero) Local Planning. Housing in Commercial Zones.
This measure would create the Neighborhood Homes Act, which establishes a housing
development project as an authorized use on a neighborhood lot, defined as a lot
zoned for office or retail commercial that is not adjacent to an industrial use.
• SB 9 (Atkins) Housing Development Approvals. Duplexes and Lot Splits.
This measure would require a local government to ministerally approve a housing
development containing two residential units (duplex) in single-family zones.
Additionally, this measure would require local governments to ministerally approve
urban lot split.
• SB 55 (Stern) Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone. State Responsibility Area.
Development Prohibition.
This measure would prohibit the creation or approval of a new commercial or
residential development in a very high fire hazard severity zone (VHFHSZ) or a state
responsibility area (SRA).
• AB 15 (Chiu) COVID-19 Relief. Tenant Stabilization Act of 2021.
This measure would extend the definition of “COVID-19 rental debt” as unpaid rent or
any other unpaid financial obligation of a tenant that came due between March 1, 2020,
and December 31, 2021.
• ACA 1 (Aguiar-Curry) Local Government Financing. Affordable Housing and Public
Infrastructure. Voter Approval.
This measure would create an additional exception to the 1 percent limit that would
authorize a city, county, city and county, or special district to levy an ad valorem tax to
service bonded indebtedness incurred to fund the construction, reconstruction,
rehabilitation, or replacement of public infrastructure, affordable housing, or permanent
supportive housing, or the acquisition or lease of real property for those purposes, if the
proposition proposing that tax is approved by 55 percent of the voters of the city,
county, or city and county.
-Jason Rhine, Assistant Legislative Director
Environmental Quality (EQ)
Many of the Legislature’s environmental goals in 2020 were halted due to the COVID-19
outbreak and the associated truncated legislative timeline. Efforts around passing a climate
resilience bond, making reforms to electric utilities regarding wildfire prevention, and
overhauling the recycling system in California all died along the way. A similar story was true for
the adopted 2020-21 budget, with many of the bold and expensive environmental programs
being stripped from the adopted budget due to the foretold economic downturn as a result of
COVID-19 stay-at-home orders. It is anticipated that many of the environmental bills this year
will be redux of last year's proposals.
Of those bills already introduced, city officials can anticipate a number of bills related to regional
climate change adaptation planning as the Legislature continues to push for more to be done to
address climate change. Along these lines there has also been a slew of bills introduced related
to sea level rise and how to provide resources to local governments to address its effects.
Wildfires and disaster preparedness continue to be top of mind for legislators as 2020 saw
another devastating year of catastrophic wildfires. The usual casts of legislators, such as
Senators Dodd, McGuire, and Stern have bills seeking to make changes in this space. Some of
these bills also attempt to address the energy shortfalls experienced this summer with record
temperatures and widespread power shutoffs. Senator Portantino is taking up the mantle of
carrying a wildfire and climate resilience bond measure as the Legislature makes its third
attempt at passing such a measure.
Lastly, solid waste and recycling issues are expected to come to a head this year as cities will
face increasing costs to recycle and implement new state organic waste mandates. Many are
pushing for significant reforms for the Bottle Bill and taking a look at retooling the entire
recycling system in California. Cal Cities is engaged in these conversations and will be
advocating for flexibility and additional time to help cities address these issues, including
organic waste diversion, in ways that work for all cities.
-Derek Dolfie, Legislative Representative
Community Services (CS)
The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically changed how cities deliver and operate their
community services. Once vibrant senior centers and parks and recreation programs are now
closed or suspended. More health services are increasingly needed as our communities are
hurting from being isolated and apart from loved ones.
The 2021 legislative year is shaping up to address some of the issues our communities face in
the time of COVID-19. There have been several bills introduced seeking to help residents have
expanded access to mental health services and nutritional food. Additionally, the legislature and
Governor will be focusing on implementing the newly released “Master Plan for Aging” to help
our senior and aging populations grow older with care and dignity.
We can also expect the distribution of vaccines to be an issue that the Legislature will be
discussing as communities around the state are racing to get as many residents vaccinated as
quickly as possible. There may be overlap between our community services and parks and
recreation departments to offer their help in establishing vaccine centers or creating public
awareness campaigns on why residents should get the vaccine.
Lastly, disaster and community resiliency continues to be top of mind for the Legislature. We
anticipate there will be several bills introduced to establish creative ways for communities to
come to the table to establish more holistic and inclusive plans for what to do before, during,
and after a disaster happens.
-Derek Dolfie, Legislative Representative
Public Safety (PS)
In response to the death of George Floyd and the ensuing demonstrations across the country,
the 2021 legislative session will feature efforts to address matters of institutional racism, police
reform, and racial equity. To facilitate this work, legislative leaders have formed an Assembly
Select Committee on Police Reform chaired by Assembly Member Mike Gipson. The Select
Committee is tasked with developing meaningful changes to policing and enhancing public
safety.
Although early in the session, there have already been several notable police reform bills
introduced, such as AB 89 (Jones-Sawyer), which sets minimum qualifications to becoming a
police off icer, such as a bachelor's degree requirement for officers under the age of 25. There
have also been several placeholder bills introduced that Cal Cities will be monitoring this
legislative session, such as AB 17 (Cooper) relating to police officer disqualifications from
employment, and SB 2 (Bradford), which would provide for expanded decertification of peace
officers.
To inform Cal Cities efforts in this area, Cal Cities is establishing a task force of city officials to
examine a wide range of public safety and policing programs and to make recommendations
regarding state and federal policy actions to better support local policing. The work of the task
force will complement the work of the Public Safety Policy Committee in the year ahead.
Finally, in June 2020 , the Public Safety Policy Committee voted to support AB 2481 (Lackey) to
establish a timeline for when specified sexual assault forensic evidence must be submitted to a
crime lab, and when such evidence must be tested by a crime lab. While this measure ultimately
failed in the Assembly Appropriations Committee, Assembly Member Lackey has decided to
reintroduce this bill as AB 18 (Lackey). Cal Cities will be submitting a support letter on this
measure.
-Caroline Cirrincione, Legislative Policy Analyst
Revenue and Taxation (RT)
To the interests of local government revenue and taxation, the budget seeks to expand existing
sales tax exclusions to support green manufacturing and implement new revenue reductions to
support installation of electric vehicle charging stations and small business rehiring. Cal Cities
will engage on these items to mitigate local government impacts.
To the broader tax policy landscape, open questions remain as to the reaction of the Legislature
to the defeat of Proposition 15 (“split roll”) on the 2020 ballot and the passage of Proposition 19
(“base-year transfers”). Furthermore, proposed tax hikes on wealthy individuals were put aside
in the previous session in queue of the proposition outcomes. With pressure intensifying to
increase per-pupil funding, correct structural deficits facing core safety net programs, and hoist
local government funding all while supporting economic recovery, these discussions will
certainly continue in 2021.
To dive deeper into the proposed budget, I recommend review of the Legislative Analyst’s
analysis (here).
-Nick Romo, Legislative Representative
Transportation, Communications, and Public Works (TCPW)
COVID-19 has shined a bright light on the lack of access to reliable and affordable broadband
service in unserved and underserved communities who have struggled to stay connected to
school, work, and healthcare in the digital environment. Anticipating increased attention on
broadband issues in the Legislature, the Transportation, Communications, and Public Works
Policy Committee adopted new policy in June 2020, supporting efforts to close the digital divide,
especially in unserved and underserved communities. Additionally, broadband deployment was
included in Cal Cities 2021 Strategic Priorities. Legislative leaders have already begun
introducing comprehensive broadband bills, including AB 14 (Aguiar-Curry) and SB 4
(Gonzalez), which seek to extend the ongoing collection of funds deposited into the California
Advanced Services Fund (CASF) to provide communities with project grants. Additionally, AB
34 (Muratsuchi) proposes a $10 billion general obligation bond measure for approval by the
voters during the statewide general election in 2022. Cal Cities anticipates engaging on several
of these measures during the course of the legislative session.
In September 2020, the Governor issued an executive order requiring that by 2035, all new cars
and passenger trucks sold in California be zero-emission vehicles and emphasizing that zero-
emission vehicles are a key part of California’s clean, innovative economy. The Governor
renewed his commitment to reaching these targets in his January proposed budget, with $1
billion in future revenues for electric vehicle charging and hydrogen fueling stations, and $465
million in Cap-and -Trade funding to improve access to new and used zero-emission vehicles.
Cal Cities anticipates the Governor’s Administration's continued focus on zero-emission vehicles
could translate to legislation in this space. Last year, Cal Cities opposed AB 2168 (McCarty),
which would have created a 15 -day permit shot clock for electric vehicle charging stations.
While this measure failed to pass out of the Assembly Local Government Committee, Cal Cities
would anticipate that similar legislation, as well as other attempts to speed the deployment of
electric vehicle infrastructure, may be introduced in the coming year.
Lastly, while Cal Cities had success last year in the micromobility space with the passage of the
our sponsored AB 1286, additional legislation in this area is anticipated including efforts to both
restrict and expand access to user trip data. Cal Cities will continue to oppose efforts to limit
cities authority to access meaningful data from companies operating within their jurisdiction.
-Caroline Cirrincione, Legislative Policy Analyst
Governance, Transparency, and Labor Relations (GTLR)
In 2020, local governments faced many challenges in the Governance, Transparency and Labor
Relations area. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic there was a significant expansion of
worker protections and we will most likely see an emphasis on those protections and related
workers’ compensation issues persist until the nation is sufficiently inoculated against the
coronavirus. Cal Cities was very active in negotiating with coalition partners on AB 685 (Reyes)
and SB 1159 (Hill) which made the final forms of these measures much more workable for
public and private employers.
The Governor issued executive orders that enabled seamless teleconferencing for local
governments to maintain continuity of government and pausing the need to transition from at
large to district elections under the California Voting Rights Act. We intend to work with our local
government partners in advocating for greater flexibility under the Brown Act to allow public
agencies to modernize their operations while respecting transparency.
With regard to CalPERS, they again did not meet their investment target as a result of the
pandemic induced recession and also saw the ouster of their Chief Investment Officer. Cal
Cities continues to advocate for support for local governments in meeting their financial
obligations while also supporting the investment strategies that will deliver the returns CalPERS
needs in order to protect cities from exorbitant rate increases.
-Bijan Mehryar, Legislative Representative
REVENUE & TAXATION COMMITTEE
Proposed Amendment to Cal Cities Existing Policy and Guiding Principles –
Fair and Equitable Distribution of State and Federal Aid
January 15, 2021
Staff: Nicholas Romo, Legislative Representative (916) 658-8232
Johnnie Pina, Legislative Policy Analyst (916) 658-8214
Proposed Amendment to Cal Cities Existing Policy and Guiding Principles – Fair and
Equitable Distribution of State and Federal Aid
Summary:
Chair Middleton proposes a policy statement that affirms Cal Cities’ commitment to ensure fair
and equitable distribution of emergency state and federal aid to all California cities. The
proposed amendment would be to the Cal Cities “Summary of Existing Policy and Guiding
Principles” which encapsulates the policy positions adopted by the Board of Directors and
guides the organization’s state and federal advocacy.
Proposed Changes:
Amend page 52 of the Cal Cities “Summary of Existing Policy and Guiding Principles” [May
2020 version], “Revenue and Taxation”, “Additional Revenue” section as follows:
“When disasters or emergencies occur statewide or in various areas of the state , state
government has traditionally stepped in to assist with recovery efforts through various means,
including the passage of legislation to provide income and property tax relief to affected
individuals and businesses, and reimbursing local governments for their losses. The League Cal
Cities supports disaster recovery legislation that includes mitigation for losses experienced by
local governments. Cal Cities supports this aid being allocated to cities through a process
that objectively accounts for the impacts that a disaster or emergency has had on a city’s
residents, infrastructure, economy, and revenues. In the event that aid is provided solely on
a per-capita basis, Cal Cities supports that it be done equally per resident.
The League Cal Cities also supports establishing a federal debt guarantee program that supports
state catastrophe insurance programs for post-event debt that they incur as a result of paying for
insured losses caused by major natural catastrophes.”
.
Staff Recommendation:
Support
Committee Recommendation:
Unanimous Support
Board Action: