Six things to know about the last week of session

It’s a busy week for the Legislature, albeit one somewhat of its own making. Besides the usual slew of unfinished business — delayed further by this year’s national political conventions — lawmakers are trying to jam through large policy proposals by gutting and amending existing measures. This includes a problematic warehouse zoning bill — more on that here.

Legislators pulled two of the more extreme proposals, but there are still a few hours left in the day for last-minute legislative shenanigans. We’ve rounded up the biggest legislative developments, good and bad, that city leaders need to know about before the session ends late Saturday night.

Housing bills invite more lawsuits and fines

It wouldn’t be a legislative session without a few tweaks to in-progress housing plans. But a measure by Sen. Scott Wiener somehow became worse. SB 1037 would allow the attorney general to seek new legal penalties if a city fails to plan for enough housing. The bill now requires a city to bring its housing element into compliance within 120 days if a court finds its housing element is out of compliance. Cities that don’t could receive a $50,000 per month fine until the element is adopted and approved by the state.

Cal Cities opposes SB 1037, as it sets many cities up to fail and lacks protections for cities acting in good faith to comply with state law. Current law requires cities to submit a draft element to the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) 45 days before adopting the plan. HCD then has 45 days to report its findings to the city. This would give cities a few weeks to get their housing elements into compliance.

Legislators are also debating changes to the builder’s remedy. AB 1886 (Alvarez) would ban cities from self-certifying housing plans that are “in substantial compliance with housing element law.” Cal Cities opposes the measure. Like SB 1037, this measure would be a major departure from existing law and punish cities acting in good faith.

Another measure, AB 1893 (Wicks), would prohibit objective standards on builder’s remedy projects and limit cities’ ability to reject some development projects. The measure is intended to clarify how the builder’s remedy works and place some guardrails around it. However, the proposal lacks specifics over what cities could or could not do, opening the door to potential litigation. Cal Cities will oppose the measure unless the author adds clarifying amendments.

Lawmakers revived dead bills

Lawmakers resuscitated several dormant ideas in the last weeks of the session, including a measure that would limit warehouse development: AB 98 (Carillo, Juan and Reyes). The authors negotiated the far-reaching, barely-in-print bill behind closed doors without key stakeholders — including cities.

The proposal's impacts are many and very few are good. It would create economic winners and losers based on geography that is not based on sound scientific data, trigger expensive updates to local plans, and saddle all cities with fines. The measure is so egregiously crafted that Cal Cities took the unusual step of opposing the bill before it was in print.

Another bad idea, AB 1082 (Kalra), would prevent cities from towing vehicles that violate parking rules and place a cap on what cities can recover. Parking enforcement helps keep streets and water systems clean, allows cities to deliver vital services, and provides access to local businesses. Cal Cities opposes the measure, as it would remove one of the few parking enforcement tools cities have left.

Sometimes these resuscitations go in cities' favor. Asm. Steve Bennett brought back a bill first championed by Cal Cities last year. AB 1168 would clarify a city or fire district’s right to provide emergency ambulance services. Oxnard tried to launch its own ambulance services to improve response times in disadvantaged neighborhoods. However, a court in 2021 ruled the city lost that right when it joined a joint powers authority. Lawmakers sent AB 1168 to the Governor today.

Key senior housing and homelessness housing bills move forward

It’s not all doom and gloom in the housing space. AB 2564 (Boerner) would provide funding to a program that helps keep seniors and disabled adults from defaulting on their property taxes, therefore keeping them in their homes. The bill would have a negligible impact on future budgets but an outsized impact on some of the state’s most vulnerable residents. Cal Cities supports the measure.

Another bit of bright news: A bill that would add new income categories to the Regional Housing Needs Assessment framework is in much better shape. Cal Cities has had an oppose unless amended position and worked closely with the author's office on several clarifying amendments. Last week, AB 3093 was significantly changed to incorporate Cal Cities' requested changes. However, Cal Cities remains opposed to AB 3093.

With many cities still navigating the sixth cycle, now is not the time to add new complicated, duplicative, and costly requirements. The state budget also included significant cuts to affordable housing programs and still lacks ongoing funding. Simply put, there is no new funding to develop these plans, implement strategies, or support the construction of affordable housing.

Gov. Gavin Newsom is sponsoring AB 3093, making a veto statistically and historically unlikely.

Sponsored bills likely to land on the Governor's desk

Two recovering housing measures sponsored by Cal Cities are awaiting Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature. AB 2081 (Davies) would require licensed treatment facilities to share resources about their licensure status with potential patients. AB 2574 (Valencia) would expand financial reporting requirements to improve the state's oversight of sober living homes operating as an integral part of a licensed treatment facility located elsewhere in the community.

Both bills are part of a four-bill package Cal Cities sponsored this year to protect residents and hold providers accountable for maintaining high-quality treatment and care.

Two sponsored environmental bills are also still in play. AB 2330 (Holden) would speed up local wildfire preparedness efforts while upholding environmental laws and permitting authorities. SB 972 (Min) would improve technical assistance for local organic waste diversion programs. Cal Cities expects both bills will advance to the Governor’s desk.

Labor bills endanger city services

Lawmakers have thus far avoided passing major changes to the state’s labor laws that would jeopardize public services. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t a few questionable proposals still percolating.

SB 399 (Wahab) is designed to protect workers from adverse action if they refuse to attend a meeting about politics or religion. Although not directed at cities, Cal Cities opposes the bill due to its broad definition of “political matters.” This definition would treat many routine government functions as political matters, interfere with basic government operations, and create new legal risks for cities.

Asm. Tina McKinnor did tweak AB 2561, a measure aimed at reducing vacancy rates. The measure no longer includes the onerous meet and confer requirements. However, it would still impose other expensive and unnecessary requirements that would detract from efforts to recruit and retain workers. The new version now requires all local agencies to have a vacancy rate hearing regardless of the vacancies in their cities. Cal Cities remains opposed to the bill.

More good news for cities

In the Senate, lawmakers yanked a proposal that would force cities to approve certain green energy projects. The bill is part of a larger, last-minute effort to deal with to expedite clean energy infrastructure developments in response to increased energy demand, brownouts, rising utility costs, and clean energy goals.

Details about the rest of the package, such as tax credits, are still trickling in. Although this is a win for now, it comes with a caveat. This idea will likely come up again next year — hopefully with more time and productive conversations between stakeholders.

On the executive side, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an ethics bill co-sponsored by Cal Cities and the Fair Political Practices Commission. AB 2631 (Fong) will ensure that a key ethics training course remains free online indefinitely. The training was in danger of losing funding just as 2,000 new agencies and several thousand agency officials had to start taking the course.

Another Cal Cities-supported measure, SB 689 (Blakespear), is also awaiting the Governor’s signature. The bill would make it easier for coastal cities to convert motorized vehicle lanes into dedicated bicycle lanes. Most coastal cities need to update their local coastal programs to convert motorized vehicle lanes. This can be a time-consuming and costly process to the detriment of residents.

Next steps

City leaders have about a month left to make their voices heard in the Capitol. Lawmakers have until Aug. 31 to send any remaining bills to the Governor. He then has until Sept. 30 to sign or veto any measures. For more information about the remaining priority bills, sign up for Cal Cities’ Sept. 9 webinar on the top measures pending before the Governor.