Five things city leaders need to know about the final five days of session

Don't miss Cal Cities' sign/veto briefing on Sept. 3

By Brian Hendershot, Cal Cities Advocate managing editor. Additional contributions by the Cal Cities Advocacy Team.

The end of the two-year legislative cycle is almost here, and with it, the usual assortment of late-session plays that now seem to characterize the final days of session. With just five days remaining until the Aug. 31 midnight deadline, there's little room for error. In short, the biggest hurdle right now for hundreds of bills is time.

Wildfire liability changes have sucked the air out of the room

The biggest bill in town is one that’s not even in print: Gov. Gavin Newsom’s attempt to dramatically reshape who pays for the damages created by a utility-caused wildfire. Earlier this month, the Governor floated a proposal that dramatically limits how much money cities, survivors, and insurance companies can receive.

“I don’t trust it, and I won’t support it,” Steve “Woody” Culleton, the vice mayor of Paradise, told Cal Cities. Culleton told Politico that he was “duped’ into appearing in a television spot advocating for Newsom’s proposal.

Culleton is hardly alone. Close to 200 local governments and officials have formally expressed their opposition to the measure, which, again, is still not in print.

“The costs of wildfire damage to critical infrastructure are enormous and cannot be absorbed by our residents,” said Clearlake Mayor Dirk Slooten. His community was devastated by the 2017 Sulphur Fire, which was started by a broken PG&E pole. “Utilities should be responsible for their own systems, not allowed to pass that responsibility along to others.”

There does seem to be promising development though, thanks to weeks of sustained opposition from city officials and others. Politico reported on Monday that the Assembly wants to remove a provision that would prevent local governments from getting the full replacement cost of damaged infrastructure. Newsom also indicated he is open to amending parts of the proposal.

All that said, there’s still no deal in print, so we don’t actually know which provisions will stay or go. Stay tuned for more information.

Cal Cities issues action alert on AB 1383

Cal Cities is urging its members to call their senators and express their opposition to AB 1383 (McKinnor), a retirement benefit bill opposed by Cal Cities due to its long-term costs. The measure expands pension benefits and rolls back crucial provisions of the Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act (PEPRA). CalPERS estimates the measure would create at least $4.8 billion in new costs, and potentially as much as $8.2 billion. The estimate does not include costs to county retirement systems or independent public pension systems.

Proponents of the bill framed AB 1383 as a way to increase retention and recruitment for police and firefighters by, among other things, lowering the retirement age for public safety workers from 57 to 55.  However, some of the bill's provisions — including an automatic increase to the pensionable compensation cap — would apply to all PEPRA employees.

The California Department of Finance recently released its analysis, making public their opposition to the bill. The department noted that the measure would partially unwind PEPRA, significantly increase costs, and create a potential equity issue between safety members and non-safety members. Echoing PEPRA's architect, the department stated, "Pension benefits are difficult to reduce once accrued, so an underestimate of costs is borne later by employers, employees, service recipients, and taxpayers."

Cal Cities bills still in play

Lawmakers will send hundreds of bills to Gov. Gavin Newsom for approval, including several Cal Cities-sponsored bills. This includes:

• AB 2296 (Papan), a bill that makes it easier for cities to get their housing elements certified and approved on time. The measure is awaiting a floor vote in the Senate.
• SB 922 (Laird), which helps maintain funding for local roads and services. The bill is on the Governor's desk.
• AB 1941 (González, Mark), a bill that strengthens penalties for organized metal theft, and SB 758 (Umberg), which seeks to reduce the illegal use of nitrous oxide. AB 1941 is awaiting action from the Governor and SB 758 is pending on the Senate Floor for concurrence.
• SB 490 (Umberg) and SB 329 (Blakespear), two measures that increase state oversight of residential alcohol and drug treatment facilities. The bills are pending a final vote in the Assembly.
• AB 1821 (Pacheco), which shifts the number of days local governments have to respond to records requests from calendar days to business days. The bill is on the Governor’s Desk.

SB 1187 (Durazo), a measure strongly supported by Cal Cities, is also on its way to the Governor’s desk. The bill removes certain Brown Act language-access requirements enacted by SB 707 (Durazo) last year for eligible legislative body meetings — including requirements related to agenda translation and certain language-access services — and allows local agencies to voluntarily implement additional language accessibility. The measure would take effect immediately upon the Governor’s signature.

Cal Cities moves to neutral on voting rights bill

Cal Cities moved to a neutral position on SB 1164 (Cervantes), a voting rights bill that raised liability concerns for cities. Sen. Sabrina Cervantes introduced the measure in response to a major U.S. Supreme Court decision that narrowed federal voting rights protections. Among other concerns, the bill would have exposed cities to new litigation, lacked clear compliance standards, expanded litigation incentives, and created uncertainty over common local governance structures.

Cal Cities worked closely with the author's office to address all these concerns. Among other things, the bill now includes a limited safe harbor provision for many cities that have already moved to district elections, goes a long way to protect some existing governance structures, and gives local governments more time to develop thoughtful election reforms.

Everything else we know about what we don't know

Wildfire liability isn’t the only fast-moving and contentious issue left for lawmakers to resolve. State leaders failed to reach an agreement over the summer on how to spend $3.77 billion from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and $2.1 billion from the 2024 climate bond. Earlier this week, the Senate released a favorable spending plan for the fund that partially funds several local government programs, including a key affordable housing program.

The Senate proposal caps and sunsets manufacturing incentives made by the California Air Resources Board earlier this year that could shrink the fund to give more pollution allowances. It’s unclear how the Governor’s Office or Assembly will react to the proposal.

Additionally, lawmakers have yet to act on a resubmitted sustainable aviation fuel tax credit from the Governor. The proposal, opposed by Cal Cities, would redirect up to $300 million annually from local streets and roads to benefit one company.

Cal Cities and a broad coalition are also urging the Legislature to enact meaningful reform for civil actions against public entities. Data from the California Association of Joint Powers Authorities suggests that rapidly increasing public entity liability exposure may force public agencies to dramatically cut services in the next few years.

There's also a last-minute attempt to muscle through changes to the state's landmark single-use plastics and packaging law. The group is framing the changes as an affordability fight — an argument that's swayed more than a handful of Democratic lawmakers. Cal Cities and a broad coalition pushed back on the proposal, which may get punted to next year.

Legislators have until Friday at midnight to amend any bill that addresses these crucial issues.

What's next?

Gov. Gavin Newsom has until Sept. 30 to sign or veto bills passed by the Legislature. To learn which bills to advocate on, sign up for Cal Cities' Sept. 3 briefing or contact your regional public affairs manager.