Here are the bills that survived the suspense file carnage

By Cal Cities Staff

Last Thursday was a busy day for the state's appropriations committees, which had to chop through 830 bills as part of the twice-annual suspense file process. For cities at least, it was a fairly positive - although not completely injury-free - affair. Well over half of all priority bill decisions went in Cal Cities' favor.

This includes measures aimed at increasing transparency around sales tax-sharing agreements, speeding up local wildfire preparedness, and providing flexibility for the state's Advance Clean Fleet regulation. Legislators also significantly improved some bills, including one that would add new categories to the state-mandated housing planning process.

In the end, legislators axed a few more bills than usual. And since Gov. Gavin Newsom has repeatedly stressed the need for fiscal responsibility this year, the fight is hardly over. In fact, he has already vetoed one high-profile environmental bill, citing a lack of funding. It's far from guaranteed that all the surviving bills will make it past the Governor's desk.

-Brian Hendershot, Cal Cities Advocate managing editor

Revenue and Taxation

Cal Cities' revenue and taxation portfolio fared well during last week's suspense file hearings. The Senate Appropriations Committee passed AB 2854 (Irwin) by a 6-1 vote. The bill would increase transparency around sales tax-sharing agreements. After productive conversations between Cal Cities and Asm. Jacqui Irwin, the author amended the bill to reduce penalties for noncompliance, allowing Cal Cities to adopt a support position.

Other priority bills include:

• AB 2061 (Wilson) Sales and Use Tax: exemptions: zero-emission public transportation ferries

  Cal Cities Position: Support (Status: Passed)

• AB 2564 (Boerner)Property tax postponement: Senior Citizens and Disabled Citizens Property Tax Postponement FundCal Cities Position: Support (Status: Passed)

- Ben Triffo, legislative affairs lobbyist

Public Safety

Lawmakers held most remaining public safety bills in both appropriations committees, including the last fentanyl bills, a measure that would regulate intoxicating hemp, and a ban on some types of drones. The two committees did pass measures related to cannabis, police canines, and traffic safety.

Cal Cities supported many of the held bills. However, the blow was lessened by the Governor's recent signature of a package of bills broadly supported by Cal Cities that seeks to reduce retail theft. Other priority bills include:

• AB 1725 (McCarty) Law Enforcement Settlements and judgments: reporting
  Cal Cities Position: Oppose (Status: Held)
• AB 2223 (Aguiar-Curry) Cannabis: industrial hemp
  Cal Cities Position: Support (Status: Held)
• AB 2309 (Muratsuchi) City attorney: state law: misdemeanor
  Cal Cities Position: Support (Status: Held)
• AB 3241 (Pacheco) Law enforcement: police canines
  Cal Cities Position: Support (Status: Passed as Amended)
• SB 99 (Umberg) Law enforcement agencies: military equipment
  Cal Cities Position: Oppose (Status: Held)
• SB 1262 (Archuleta) Crimes: supervised release
  Cal Cities Position: Support (Status: Held)
• SB 226 (Alvarado-Gil) Controlled substances: armed possession: fentanyl
  Cal Cities Position: Support (Status: Held)

- Jolena Voorhis, legislative affairs lobbyist

Community Services

Unsurprisingly, the Governor-sponsored AB 3093 (Ward) passed out of the Senate Appropriations Committee. The bill would add new income categories to the Regional Housing Needs Assessment framework. Cal Cities has had an oppose unless amended position on AB 3093 but has been in ongoing conversations with the author's office.

Sen. Chris Ward adopted clarifying amendments that went into print this week. While the bill still lacks ongoing funding - as requested by Cal Cities - these new changes are a significant improvement.

Other priority bills include:

• AB 1961 (Wicks) End Hunger in California Act of 2024

  Cal Cities Position: Support (Status: Passed)

• AB 1967 (Jackson) Food Insecurity Officer
  Cal Cities Position: Support (Status: Held)
• AB 2207 (Reyes) State Boards and Commissions: Representatives of Older Adults

  Cal Cities Position: Support (Status: Passed)

• AB 2410 (Wallis) Meal Program: Senior Citizens

  Cal Cities Position: Support (Status: Held)

• AB 2498 (Zbur) Housing: The California Housing Security Act
  Cal Cities Position: Support (Status: Held)
• SB 37 (Caballero) Older Adults and Adults with Disabilities Housing Stability Act
  Cal Cities Position: Support (Status: Passed)

- Caroline Grinder, legislative affairs lobbyist

Housing, Community, and Economic Development

Apart from a measure originally aimed at boosting housing on the coast - more on that in the next section - the biggest development in the housing space last week was AB 1893 (Wicks). The measure would prohibit cities from requiring objective standards on builder's remedy projects and limit their ability to reject some development projects.

AB 1893 passed on a 5-1 vote, with Sen. Aisha Wahab voting no and Republicans abstaining. The measure is intended to clarify how the builder's remedy works and includes some guardrails around where such projects can occur. However, the proposal lacks specifics over what cities could or could not do, opening the door to litigation if a city has not certified its housing element per the Department of Housing and Community Development's recommendations.

Other priority bills include:

• AB 1889 (Friedman) Conservation element: wildlife and habitat connectivity
  Cal Cities Position: Oppose Unless Amended (Status: Passed)
• AB 2149 (Connolly) Gates: standards: inspection
  Cal Cities Position: Oppose Unless Amended (Status: Held)
• AB 2243 (Wicks) Affordable Housing and High Roads Jobs Act of 2022: objective standards and affordability and site criteria
  Cal Cities Position: Oppose (Status: Pass)
• AB 2485 (Juan Carrillo) Regional housing need: determination
  Cal Cities Position: Support (Status: Held)

- Brady Guertin, legislative affairs lobbyist

Environmental Quality

Cal Cities' environmental quality bills sailed through the seas of suspense, with problematic bills held and positive bills surviving to see another day. AB 2330 (Holden), a Cal Cities-sponsored bill that would speed up local wildfire preparedness efforts, passed by a 7-0 vote. Another sponsored measure, SB 972 (Min), moved out of appropriations but with some changes. The measure would still improve technical assistance for local organic waste diversion programs, but no longer includes CalRecycle's reporting requirement.

Lawmakers also held a late-breaking wildfire hazard mapping measure, SB 610 (Wiener). The bill drew immediate concerns from Cal Cities, as it proposed significant changes in the final weeks of session that would impact the current fire hazard mapping process. Cal Cities negotiated closely with the author on amendments that never made it into print but anticipates it will return next year.

AB 2560 (Alvarez) also failed to advance. The unfunded mandate would have eroded local housing authority on the coast. Previous committees included amendments to the bill that would have restored housing oversight to the California Coastal Commission. AB 2560 would have forced cities to incorporate Density Bonus Law in local coastal programs, mired cities in duplicative housing planning efforts, and imposed conflicting standards. Cal Cities opposed the measure.

Other priority bills include:

• SB 1461 (Allen) State of emergency and local emergency: landslides
  Cal Cities Position: Support (Status: Passed)
• AB 2320 (Irwin) Wildlife Connectivity and Climate Adaptation Act of 2024: wildlife corridors: fish passage

  Cal Cities Position: Support (Status: Held)

• AB 2346 (Lee) Regulations: procurement of recovered organic waste products
  Cal Cities Position: Support (Status: Passed)
• AB 3121 (Hart) Urban retail water supplier: informational orders written notice: conservation order: water use efficiency standards and water use reporting: dates

  Cal Cities Position: Support (Status: Passed)

• SB 1045 (Blakespear) Composting facilities: zoning

  Cal Cities Position: Support (Status: Held)

• SB 1046 (Laird) Organic waste reduction: program environmental impact report: small and medium compostable material handling facilities or operations

  Cal Cities Position: Support (Status: Passed)

• SB 1280 (Laird) Waste management: propane cylinders: reusable or refillable

  Cal Cities Position: Support (Status: Passed)

• SB 1330 (Archuleta) Urban retail water supplier: water use
  Cal Cities Position: Support (Status: Held)

- Melissa Sparks-Kranz, legislative affairs lobbyist

Governance, Transparency, and Labor Relations

Lawmakers held two priority labor relations bills last week - both opposed by Cal Cities. AB 2557 (Ortega) would have disincentivized contractors from doing business with cities through burdensome new reporting requirements. AB 2421 (Low) would have restricted an employer's ability to conduct internal investigations into allegations of involving misconduct and created a broad, undefined privilege between public employees and their unions.

The most notable bill to make it out of suspense was AB 2561 (McKinnor). This bill would impose expensive and unnecessary burdens on local agencies that would detract from efforts to recruit and retain the public workforce. Cal Cities opposes the bill. Other priority measures include:

• SB 399 (Wahab) Employer communications: intimidation
  Cal Cities Position: Oppose (Status: Passed)

- Johnnie Pina, legislative affairs lobbyist, and Betsy Montiel, policy and legislative affairs analyst

Transportation, Communications, and Public Works

Two Cal Cities-supported measures that would provide flexibility when complying with the state's Advance Clean Fleet regulation moved off the suspense file. AB 3179 (Carrillo) would allow more emergency vehicles to qualify for an exemption from the rule. AB 637 (Jackson) would let rented zero-emission vehicles count towards the requirement.

In another bright note for cities, AB 2286 (Aguiar-Curry) advanced to the Senate Floor. Also supported by Cal Cities, this measure would require heavy-duty autonomous vehicles to have a human operator before driving on public roads. This is critical, as driverless vehicles cannot recognize risk as quickly as humans and integrating autonomous vehicles into roadways is a complex process.

Unfortunately, lawmakers resurrected a previously held bill opposed by Cal Cities - albeit with significant changes. AB 1082 (Kalra) would prevent cities from towing vehicles that violate parking rules. This latest iteration would still complicate cities' efforts to manage traffic and public safety.

Other priority bills include:

• SB 689 (Blakespear) Local Coastal Permitting
  Cal Cities Position: Support (Status: Passed)
• SB 1418 (Archuleta) Permitting: Hydrogen-Fueling Stations
  Cal Cities Position: Oppose Unless Amended (Status: Passed)
• AB 2290 (Friedman) Transportation: Class III bikeways: bicycle facilities: Bikeway Quick-Build Project Pilot Program
  Cal Cities Position: Concerns (Status: Held)
• AB 2583 (Berman) School zones: speed limits
  Cal Cities Position: Concerns (Status: Held)
• AB 3061 (Haney) Vehicles: autonomous vehicle incident reporting
  Cal Cities Position: Support in Concept (Status: Passed)

- Damon Conklin, legislative affairs lobbyist, and Waleed Hojeij, policy and legislative affairs analyst

Next steps

City leaders have about a month left to make their voices heard in the Capitol. Lawmakers have until Aug. 31 to get their bills passed and onto Gov. Gavin Newsom's desk. He then has until Sept. 30 to sign or veto any measures.

To learn more about which measures to consider advocating for or against, subscribe to Cal Cities Advocate or contact your regional public affairs manager. Action alerts can happen quickly and often, so make sure to stay informed.

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