How to Get Involved
Welcome to the League of California Cities!
Local city officials are the reason California's cities are resilient and diverse communities where our residents can live, work, and play. Cal Cities is here to help ensure you are the best city official you can be for your community.
To help you get started with Cal Cities, the resources below outline your membership benefits and how you can engage with and get the most out of your membership.
Learn More About Cal Cities
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Membership and Benefits
Get access to unmatched advocacy, updates about the latest policy issues, cutting-edge professional development, and more.
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Members' Roadmap
New to Cal Cities or want to get the most from your membership? We’ve created a roadmap to help you get started.
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2024 Advocacy Priorities
We stand ready to work collaboratively with the state and federal governments and other stakeholders to accomplish our strategic advocacy priorities.
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News
The League of California Cities engages with city officials through a variety of channels to keep them informed on the issues that matter most to cities.
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Western City Magazine
Dive deeper into big policy issues and trends and receive practical ideas for city officials in the monthly digital Western City magazine.
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Cal Cities Delivers
Cal Cities delivers major victories for cities year after year – protecting local control, securing billions of dollars in new funding, and preserving existing city resources.
Get Involved
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Departments
Functioning as professional societies with educational and networking opportunities, municipal departments play an essential role in forming Cal Cities policy and programs. Each department is represented on the Cal Cities’ board of directors and policy committees.
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Regional Divisions
Representing virtually every city and town in California, Regional Divisions are at the core of our advocacy efforts. City officials — both elected and career — help develop region-specific programs and carry out grassroots activities that support chosen legislative, regulatory, and ballot measure goals.
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Caucuses
Caucuses advocate for equitable state policies within Cal Cities’ internal committees and departments, ensure that the unique needs of their respective communities are responded to, and promote the advancement of officials from traditionally marginalized communities.
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Coastal Cities Group
Composed of 61 cities located within California's coastal zone, the Coastal Cities Group (CCG) collaborates on sea level rise mitigation efforts, land use regulations, and other issues of mutual interest.
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Rural City Information Exchange
Rural communities often face different challenges than their urban counterparts and, even when the issues are similar, the solutions can differ dramatically.
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Policy Committees
City officials actively debate, shape, and steer Cal Cities’ policy-making process and advocacy efforts. Over 400 officials collectively add their expertise and guidance to Cal Cities through one of seven policy committees.
Advocacy Tools
Cal Cities provides up-to-date information about the legislative process, lobbying, and which bills are scheduled for hearings. Hone your advocacy skills by diving into our Advocacy Tools.
Mission, Vision, and Beliefs
Our mission is to expand and protect local control for cities through education and advocacy to enhance the quality of life for all Californians. Our vision is to be recognized and respected as the leading advocate for the common interests of California's cities. Learn more about Cal Cities' core beliefs.
City Attorneys Spring Conference
May 7-9, 2025
Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport
1333 Bayshore Highway, Burlingame, CA
Designed for city attorneys, this conference provides attendees with in-depth information about the latest municipal law issues and provides opportunities to meet, and re-connect, with colleagues from around the state. Previous topics include emerging AI technology, risk mitigation, ethics, meeting decorum, legislative updates, and much more. MCLE credits are offered.
Save the date for our next spring conference, May 7-9, 2025, in Burlingame.
You can find more programming for city attorneys at our Annual Conference and Expo, Oct. 16-18,2025, in Long Beach.
For program questions, please contact Erin Wylder.
Please see our event and meeting policies.
Call for Proposals
Cal Cities is seeking thorough, thoughtful, and complete proposals that tell how your session can help city attorneys improve their communities, leadership abilities, and knowledge within their roles. The call for proposals for the 2025 City Attorneys Spring Conference is open through October 25.
We encourage you to take advantage of this exciting opportunity to share your ideas, knowledge, and expertise with this important audience! For questions, please contact Erin Wylder.
Please note: As we aim to provide city attorneys with MCLE credit for this conference, all proposals will be considered as panel submissions, and moderators for each session will be assigned by the city attorneys department.
Who Can Submit
How It Works
Only proposals submitted online through the proposal form will be considered. We recommend drafting the proposal in a word-processing program first, then pasting the final version into the online submission form so you retain a copy for your records. Please be aware that some formatting, like bullet points or bolded text, may not transfer when submitted. When typing directly into the submission form, you may encounter a character limit.
Target Audience
This educational event is designed to keep city attorneys up to date on issues of importance to them and their cities.
Securing a spot on the program is highly competitive, with approximately 25 percent of proposals being accepted. You can increase your chances by preparing a thorough, thoughtful, and complete proposal that tells how your session would help city attorneys and those who work within city governments to improve their careers and communities. When preparing your proposal consider the following elements:
- Is the topic new and/or critical for city government?
- Will it draw a wide audience?
- Will this issue stimulate action and further important discussion?
- Does the panel reflect the diversity of California cities (north/south, large/small, urban/rural)?
Tips for Successful Proposals
- Think big
- Vary the viewpoint
- Pare down the panel
- Speaker skills matter
- Plan for a crowd
- Try something new
- Interact with the audience
- Fill in the blanks
- Quality counts
Types of Proposals
More than 95 percent of each year's conference programming comes directly from the open call for proposals. Sessions may be scheduled as a general session or concurrent session at Cal Cities' discretion. Select one of the available formats listed below that best fits your topic and desired outcomes or propose an alternative session format.
- Keynote Speaker
Keynote speakers are high-profile and designed to bring everyone together for a general session / and may set the tone of the event. This format permits approximately 45-60 minutes of an engaging presentation by a single speaker. Depending on time restrictions, the presentation may be followed by approximately 15 minutes of questions and answers with the audience or a moderator. - Panel Discussion
Panels consist of a moderator and a maximum of three speakers who participate in a 60 minute engaging presentation and discussion followed by approximately 15 minutes of questions and answers. - Speed Sessions
Fifteen minute bursts of information on one topic by one speaker followed by five minutes of questions & answers. Typically, these engaging presentations are based on focused projects or personal experience. - Facilitated Discussion
An interactive conversation with attendees on the selected topic. A facilitator may offer a maximum of a 10 minute presentation on which the issue/concern is framed for the attendees and then guide the discussion with prepared questions. At the conclusion of the discussion, the facilitator will spend some time summarizing key findings, suggestions, and points. In total, this session is scheduled for 75 minutes. - Alternative Format
Be creative! If your session does not fit one of the above formats, this is your opportunity to propose something different. Please be sure to provide the time, room setup, and other important details. Alternative formats will be accommodated based on interest level, space, and set-up availability.
Submission Requirements and Review
Submissions will be reviewed by a program planning committee.
Successful Proposal Considerations
- Relevance - What are the practical applications of your ideas? Have you included reasoning and documentation to support your conclusions, recommendations and outcomes? Conference attendees prefer presentations focused on outcomes or results. Make the definition and background portions of your presentation brief. Highlight problems encountered, options available, choices made, documented pre- and post-change effects and lessons learned.
- Content expands attendees' knowledge - Will your presentation expand knowledge beyond entry-level basics? Most conference participants are elected officials, appointed officials, and seasoned professionals. In general, direct your presentation to an intermediate or advanced audience.
- Originality - Does your presentation advance existing ideas or present new ideas? Has this material been presented elsewhere? You might apply proven techniques to new problems or identify and apply new approaches, techniques or philosophies. Assess the degree to which an application is a new tool. Avoid highlighting a named product or service…focus instead on the general attributes, benefits and drawbacks of a given application, process or tool.
- Examples - Do you have an appropriate number of examples? Documenting comparative results convinces participants that your ideas have been tested in the real world.
- Timeliness - Will your presentation still be up-to-date and cutting-edge in six to nine months when the conference occurs? Will your topic have implications in the future? How relevant is your topic in the context of pending legislation, regulations and technology?
- Inclusion of good, solid insights - What attendees want to learn is the reality versus the hype, the positive and negative attributes, problems encountered but not often discussed, realistic expectations for the operational use and adaptability to a changing environment. They are searching for guidelines and models to simplify or manage their own application or installation.
- Logical conclusions - Are your conclusions supported by data? Attendees place a high value on supporting data in assessing the value and applicability of presentations. Include adequate and convincing details.
- Identification of outside resources - Have you included sources of information, benchmark data or other examples?
- Avoidance of product/vendor commercial - No commercials and/or proprietary information for particular products, services or vendors are permitted.
- Completeness of proposal - The quality, completeness and accuracy of the proposal will be considered during session selection process.
- Preferred Speaker Qualifications - Panelists should reflect the diversity of California with a north/south, large/small, urban/rural representation when possible.
- Five or more years of public presentation experience.
- Two or more years of experience related to working in or presenting on the topic or idea.
- More than two successful speaking engagements to large audiences at a regional or state level in the past two years.
- Must not pose a conflict of interest with subject/business area or must disclose such information in each speaker bio submitted.
- No commercialism.
To ensure a variety of perspectives, Cal Cities policy limits the number of times an individual, group, business or organization can speak at a single conference. In addition, each panel should have no more than one panelist per city/county, firm, company, or organization (exceptions may apply).
- Overall - In the end, you must make your case for the importance of this topic and its relevance to participants.
Registration and Speaker Policy
The League of California Cities is unable to provide complimentary registration or any reimbursement of expenses, travel, or other compensation. We recognize and deeply appreciate your interest and commitment. The success of our program depends on the efforts of practicing professionals willing to volunteer their time to professional education.
Conference Information
View the 2024 City Attorneys Spring Conference program here.
Complete the Spring Conference evaluation here.
View the full conference papers.
View the speaker bios.
Find papers and PowerPoints for sessions below in order of the agenda:
Land Use and CEQA Litigation Update
Speakers: Christine Leigh Crowl, Senior Partner, Jarvis Fay, LLP
John M. Luebberke, Of Counsel, Herum/Crabtree/Suntag
Paper | PowerPoint- Crowl, PowerPoint- Luebberke
Introduction to the New Surplus Land Act
Speakers: Jena S. Acos, City Attorney, Carpinteria, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP
Sydne Rennie, Associate Attorney, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP
(Not) Burning Down the House
Speakers: Rubin E. Cruse, Jr., Of Counsel, Renne Public Law Group
Jonathan Holtzman, Founding Partner, Renne Public Law Group
Kathryn Oehlschlager, Partner, Downey Brand
Mass Casualty Events: What Nobody Taught You and You Didn’t Want to Learn
Speakers: Vanessa Bechtel, President and CEO, Ventura County Community Foundation
Karl H. Berger, City Attorney, Bellflower and Monterey Park, Partner, Burke, Williams & Sorensen, LLP
Catherine Engberg, City Attorney, Half Moon Bay, Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger, LLP
Ascending the Organizational Chart – How to Get and Keep the Public Agency Job You Want
Speakers: Susana Alcala Wood, First Vice President, City Attorneys Department, City Attorney, Sacramento
Christina Burrows, Assistant City Attorney, Culver City
Valerie Gaeta Phillips, President and Owner, Bob Murray & Associates
Scott C. Smith, City Attorney, Aliso Viejo and Laguna Niguel, Parter, Best Best & Krieger LLP
The CBRT and Other Hot Topics in Municipal Revenues
Speakers: Michael G. Colantuono, Managing Shareholder, Colantuono, Highsmith & Whatley, PC
Margaret Prinzing, Partner, Olson Remcho
Paper | PowerPoint- Prinzing, PowerPoint- Colontouno
Ethics Complaints Against a Council Member
Speaker: Steven Miller, Partner, Hanson Bridgett
Segmentation, Participation and Lots of Complications
Speaker: Kevin G. Ennis, City Attorney, Moorpark, Shareholder, Richards Watson & Gershon
Municipal Tort and Civil Rights Litigation Update
Speakers: Neil Okazaki, Senior Deputy City Attorney and Constitutional Policing Advisor, Corona
Alana Rotter, Appellate Lawyer, Greines, Martin, Stein & Richland LLP
Update on Open and Public Publication – A Focus on the Brown Act
Speakers: Javan Rad, Chief Assistant City Attorney, Pasadena
Sujata Reuter, Chief Assistant City Attorney, Santa Clara
Section 1983 Liability: Best Practices for Cities to Manage and Mitigate Risk in a Changing World
Speakers: Kevin Bibler, Senior Vice President, Alliant Insurance Services, Inc.
Michael W. Pott, Chief Operating Officer/Chief Legal Counsel, Public Risk Innovation Solutions and Management (“PRISM”)
Karen Rogan, Assistant City Attorney, Chula Vista
Labor and Employment Litigation Update
Speakers: Elizabeth Arce, Partner, Liebert Cassidy Whitmore
Jennifer Rosner, Partner, Liebert Cassidy Whitmore
General Municipal Litigation Update
Speakers: Mark J. Austin, Partner, Burke, Williams & Sorensen, LLP
Meghan A. Wharton, Senior Counsel, Colantuono, Highsmith & Whatley, PC
Balancing Acts: Constitutional Rights vs. Meeting Decorum in California Cities
Speaker: David Mehretu, Principal, Meyers Nave
Are You Smarter Than an AI? (MCLE Specialty Credit for Technology in the Practice of Law)
Speaker: Marc Zafferano, Senior Counsel, Boucher Law
MCLE Credit
The League of California Cities1 is a State Bar of California minimum continuing legal education (MCLE) approved provider and certifies this activity meets the standards for MCLE credit by the State Bar of California in the total amount of
View the 2023 Officers Memo and Proposed Bylaws Amendment.
Complete the Spring Conference evaluation here.
View the full conference papers.
View the speaker bios.
Find papers and PowerPoints for sessions below in order of the agenda:
Land Use and CEQA Litigation Update
Speaker:
William Ihrke, City Attorney, Cerritos and La Quinta, Partner, Rutan & Tucker
“… and Other Duties as Required”: Talking to Non-Clients
Speakers:
Derek Cole, City Attorney, Oakley, Sutter Creek, Partner, Cole Huber
Joseph “Seph” Petta, Deputy City Attorney, Half Moon Bay, Partner, Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger
Zaynah Moussa, City Attorney,
Vernon
Deepa Sharma, Assistant City Attorney, Piedmont, Partner, Burke, Williams & Sorensen
Implementing Districts - Now That You Have Gone to Districts, What Next?
Speakers:
Holly O. Whatley, Shareholder, Highsmith & Whatley
Doug Johnson, President, National Demographics Corporation
Randi Johl, Legislative Director / City Clerk, Temecula
Housing Legislation and Status Density Bonus Law Update
Speakers:
Iman Novin, President, Novin Development Corp.
Patricia Curtin, Legal Counsel to Cities and Special Districts, Fennemore Wendel
Amara L. Morrison, Director, Fennemore Wendel
Preparation of Official Statements: Interplay between Disclosure Counsel and the Client
Speakers:
Jeffrey Massey, Senior Deputy City Attorney, Sacramento
Lawrence Chan, Shareholder, Stradling Yocca Carlson & Raut
The Unsheltered Residing in our Communities: Navigating Constitutional and Practical Concerns
Speakers:
Rene Alejandro Ortega, Partner, Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger
Eric Salbert, Deputy City Attorney, Chico, Senior Associate, Alvarez-Glasman & Colvin
Municipal Tort and Civil Rights Litigation Update
Speakers:
Alana Rotter, Partner, Greines, Martin, Stein & Richland
Neil Okazaki, Deputy City Attorney / Police Legal Advisor, Corona
Labor and Employment Litigation Update
Speakers:
Geoffrey S. Sheldon, Partner, Liebert Cassidy Whitmore
Elizabeth Tom Arce, Partner, Liebert Cassidy Whitmore
SB 1383: What it is and How it Impacts Every Jurisdiction
Speakers:
Dana Dean, Counsel, Hanson Bridgett
Beth Hummer, Counsel, Hanson Bridgett
Alene Taber, Counsel, Hanson Bridgett
DEIB, Microaggressions, and Decentering: A Path to Cultural Shift in Organizations
Speakers:
David Gonzalez, Associate, Aleshire & Wynder
Elena Gerli, City Attorney, Suisun City, Assistant City Attorney, La Cañada Flintridge and Rancho Palos Verdes, Partner, Aleshire & Wynder
Yecenia
Vargas, Assistant City Attorney, Perris and Cypress, Associate, Aleshire & Wynder
General Municipal Litigation Update
Speaker:
Pamela K. Graham, Senior Counsel, Colantuono Highsmith & Whatley
What to do When First Amendment Auditors Come to Town
Speaker:
Deborah Fox, Principal and Chair of First Amendment and Trial & Litigation Practice Groups, Meyers Nave
(MCLE Specialty Credit for Competence Issues)
Impaired Colleague? Addressing Attorney Competency, the Warning Signs, and Getting Help
Speaker:
Lita Abella, Sr. Program Analyst, Office of Professional Competence, Lawyer Assistance Program, The State Bar of California
MCLE Credit
The League of California Cities1 is a State Bar of California minimum continuing legal education (MCLE) approved provider and certifies this activity meets the standards for MCLE credit by the State Bar of California in the total amount of 11.25 hours, including .75 hours of Implicit Bias subfield credit and 1 hour of Competence Issues subfield credit.
1 Provider No. 1985
Cal Cities by the Numbers
476 Member Cities
57 Board Members
16 Regional Divisions
10 Municipal Departments
5 Diversity Caucuses
Cal Cities Bylaws
Cal Cities staff, boards, departments, finances, committees, and divisions are governed by an extensive set of bylaws.
FPPC Compliance
The League of California Cities is a “publicly funded nonprofit organization” for purposes of Government Code section 84222.5. This statute imposes several requirements, including posting Cal Cities’ FPPC ballot measure campaign filings on its website.