Capitol Corner Update
Capitol Corner Update
CALBO’s 2023 Legislative Package
As California transitions from the
wet and cold winter to the welcome sights of longer, warmer
spring days, the California State Legislature is continuing to
heat up its efforts for the first year of the 2023-2024
Legislative Session. 2023 brings Sacramento 37 newly
elected officials and the fast-moving first year of California’s
two-year session. The legislature introduced just
under 3,000 bills this year. At the end of March, CALBO finalized
its 2023 Legislative Bill Package, where the CALBO Legislative
Committee has officially deemed 21 bills as a high priority, with
13 of the bills having an official position that CALBO’s Advocacy
Team is actively working on in Sacramento. CALBO members have the
opportunity to participate in these efforts through CALBO’s
Leadership and Advocacy Day, which will occur on May 17th in
Sacramento, you can register for this free member
event here. Below are some
highlights of the busy spring and the major bills CALBO is
continuing to give a voice to our members on in the
legislature.
Events and New Resources for Members
The CALBO Legislative Team is proud to announce a new webinar series highlighting the major bills CALBO is working on in the California State Legislature. Throughout the legislative session, CALBO’s Legislative Team will host 3 free webinars to update the membership on our ongoing government affairs efforts. CALBO hosted its first legislative webinar on April 13th, which highlighted the major bills impacting local building departments currently moving through the legislative process. The event was well attended with just under 100 members participating in the webinar. If you missed the presentation, you can download a PDF version of the presentation at CALBO’s new Legislative Presentations page on our website which can be found here. CALBO will be hosting another webinar this summer to update members on the fate of our high priority bills this year. The final webinar is planned for the fall after Governor Newsom signs legislation. The goal of the final webinar is to provide information about the new laws and how they will impact your jurisdiction during the upcoming year. Please keep your eyes out for the email announcing the dates later this year.
Bills and Committee Hearings
Every March through May is a busy time in Sacramento, as committee hearings occur daily to review and give input on the bills introduced by elected officials. CALBO is actively going to the swing space or capitol to voice member thoughts and concerns for bills impacting public safety. Here are some highlights of the major bills that CALBO has been actively working on in Sacramento so far.
The Return of Leadership and Advocacy Day and Resources for New State Laws
Mini Capitol Corner Update
CALBO’s Legislative Team would like to
wish everyone a Happy New Year! With the beginning of 2023,
the California Legislature has officially reconvened for the
start of the 2023-2024 legislative session. Before the new
legislative session begins, CALBO would like to announce the
return of Leadership and Advocacy Day in 2023
after a three-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Capitol Corner Update: A New Legislature and What’s to Come in 2023
As 2022 comes to an end, CALBO’s
legislative team would like to wish our CALBO family a happy
holiday season with your family and friends this
December. We hope you all have a restful and enjoyable
December in preparation for what is expected to be a busy
2023-2024 Legislative Session. In the November
elections, California voters had the first opportunity to select
their new elected officials with the newly established
legislative districts in both the California State Assembly and
the California State Senate. The elections were
officially certified last week and CALBO’s legislative team
officially knows the make-up of the legislative body we will be
working with in Sacramento next legislative session which is set
begin on January 1, 2023. Before covering the specifics of the
new legislature, let’s put a “bow” if you will on the 2021-2022
Legislative Session.
CALBO’s Legislative Team has been working hard this fall and winter in providing more resources for our membership to prepare for the incoming laws that will officially hit the books in 2023. CALBO hosted a legislative webinar on October 27th that covered the significant pieces of legislation that will impact your departments in the next couple of years. A big thank you to the 200+ participants who attended our first legislative webinar. If you were not able to attend and would like a copy of the free PowerPoint, please email bguertin@calbo.org and I am happy to provide that to you. In 2023, CALBO’s Legislative Team plans on hosting several free webinars at critical times of the legislative session to update our membership on bills coming from Sacramento and answer any questions or concerns you all may have on the bills. Please check your emails for these free opportunities to participate and have your voices heard.
Additionally, CALBO launched a new project on the CALBO Website called the “Guide to Changes in State Law”. These articles cover specific details about bills that will become law in the very near future and provide guidance on best practices that local jurisdictions can use to provide the best service to their communities while complying with new state laws. You can find our first and second installments of the project here: https://www.calbo.org/guide-changes-state-law . CALBO’s legislative team is planning on developing several articles about the new laws local jurisdictions will have to be aware of as the new year begins since this is when most of the bills signed last year will become state law.
Capitol Corner Update
As the summer winds down and people like
myself are excited for the start of football season and fall
weather, CALBO’s Legislative Team has been hard at work as the
legislature wraps up the final year of its two-year
session. At this point in the legislative process,
legislators are voting on the over 2,000 bills remaining and
deciding if they should or should not be sent to Governor
Newsom’s desk for a signature or veto. While the legislature
is busy with floor sessions and votes, CALBO’s Legislative Team
is hard at work behind the scenes getting last minute amendments
into bills, while making our elected officials aware of the
thoughts and concerns of our membership.
To this point, 2022 has brought a mixed bag of results for CALBO’s advocacy efforts including some major wins and other losses as is always the case in Sacramento. This year, our membership took positions on nearly 40 bills and with less than two weeks before session wraps up, less than 10 bills remain that CALBO has an interest in as they continue to move through the process. Below are some of the highlights of this year’s session and a preview of what is to come as CALBO looks towards next legislative session which will begin in January 2023.
CALBO’s most significant legislative win this year was on Senate Bill 897 by Senator Wieckowski. Due to the overwhelming number of letters sent by our departments to elected officials, CALBO was finally able to get amendments into the bill in the Assembly Appropriations Committee and remove our opposition to this piece of legislation.
Capitol Corner Update
House of Origin Deadline 2022
Just as the weather gets hot in
Sacramento during this time of year, so does the legislature as
May 27th this year was the deadline for bills authored in
their original house to pass to the other house. This
deadline is called the “House of Origin” deadline
by policy-wonks in Sacramento. Outside of the
fiscal deadline, this is one of the most important deadlines in
the California Legislature where bills face a key halfway point
for their fates in the final year of this two-year legislative
session.
The house of origin deadline for CALBO was a good one as 11 bills we had a position on met their fate and have stopped moving through the legislative process including several high priority bills. Additionally, several high priority bills were amended and have shifted CALBO from oppose to a neutral/watch position. Below are summaries of a few bills CALBO has received amendments on to remove our opposition and a list of bills that CALBO’s legislative team will continue to advocate for in Sacramento. Let’s begin with the accomplishments of bills that CALBO has moved from Oppose to Neutral on since our amendments were accepted:
Capitol Corner Update
House of Origin Deadline
With the first official day of summer
occurring on June 20th and California reopening on June 15th,
it’s time to address one of the key deadlines that occurs in the
legislative process: the house of origin deadline. This deadline
occurred on June 4th this year and is a good measurement of what
bills are moving through the legislative process for this
session. The house of origin, or the location where a bill was
introduced, has a deadline every year. This deadline requires the
respective house to vote and move bills introduced in their body
to the other house or the bill is considered “dead”. However, as
mentioned in my previous update, this is
the first of two years in the 2021-2022 legislative session,
meaning bills that do not pass the house of origin can still be
heard and moved next year without reintroduction (unless the bill
was voted down by the legislature).
CALBO continues to be a fierce advocate for the needs of our members in Sacramento. CALBO took positions on many bills at the beginning of this legislative session, but after the various legislative deadlines, only four bills remain for this year. I am happy to share with you another major win for the CALBO legislative team and our members that occurred in May. Due to CALBO’s advocacy efforts, our most significant bill fight, SB 617 died in the Senate Appropriations Committee and will not be moving any further for this legislative session. This was a huge victory for CALBO as this bill would have mandated an automated permitting system for residential solar energy systems. With that said, CALBO still has two important measures we are still fighting in Sacramento and hope this winning streak can continue.
Capitol Corner Update
As 2021 continues to fly by, so too does
the legislative session. As mentioned in my
previous update,
this is the first of two years of the 2021-2022 legislative
session. This means that bills that have not met legislative
deadlines can still be heard next year. Right now, the State
Legislature is at about the halfway point for a bill to become a
law. For the last couple of months, there have been policy
committee hearings on the bills CALBO is tracking. During this
time frame, CALBO has provided bill position letters, offered
amendments, given public comment, and in many cases, committee
testimony.
The highest priority of the CALBO legislative team continues to be SB 617 by Senator Wiener. This bill would mandate all local governments to develop an automated permitting process for residential solar energy systems. Just last week, CALBO President Shane Diller and CALBO Past President Ron Takiguchi sat down with the sponsors of the bill and again provided our concerns and recommendations to amend the bill and remove our opposition.
Unfortunately, CALBO has yet to see these changes in writing. Our concerns focused on the safety aspect of the technology used for automatic permitting of residential solar energy systems. CALBO has concerns that this technology has not been tested enough for safety, nor has it been used by the majority of our building departments, so we believe that a required mandate for this technology is not in order yet in California. CALBO believes without proper testing, there is no need for an inflexible, unfunded mandate for local government on this technology. The developers of SolarAPP, which is the technology recommended in the bill are working with CALBO on providing opportunities for local building departments to test this technology. CALBO will be in touch with our members once we get more information on these opportunities for you all.
CALBO In-Action: 2021 Legislative Update
Hello CALBO Members,
As you know with a full-time state legislature, the work in Sacramento never stops. I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself to you as I kick off my tenure at CALBO in the midst of a surprisingly busy year for legislative bills.
As way of introduction, my name is Brady Guertin and I am the new Public Affairs Manager for CALBO. I am tasked with the day-to-day governmental affairs priorities, which means, I’m working on your behalf each day in Sacramento. My work involves the direction and analysis of the CALBO Legislative Committee, the CALBO Board of Directors – and of course you – the members. Given that a new two-year legislative term just commenced in January, the CALBO Legislative Team thought a few of the pivotal measures that might impact the operations of your department might be of interest to you.
To date, we have been on top of tracking the over 2,000 bills that have been introduced in the California State Legislature this year and have narrowed down our list to 44 bills to keep an eye on through the legislative process. Of these 44 bills, CALBO has taken a formal Support or Oppose position on nine of them. Of all measures of CALBO interest, we have already provided bill position letters, offered amendments, given public comment, and in many cases, committee testimony.
CALBO’s efforts have been rewarded so far in this legislative session. As of April 23, nearly one-third of our priority bills have become two-year bills (meaning they will be acted upon next year as opposed to this year). Additionally, these bills have brought CALBO to the table as the authors look to shore up their language and move their respective bills forward next year. I’ve been working with several legislative offices and plan to keep the dialogue open in the coming months relative to CALBO bills of interest.
Without a doubt, our largest priority bill this year is SB 617 by Senator Wiener of San Francisco. This bill would mandate all local governments to develop an automated permitting process for residential solar energy systems. CALBO has engaged heavily with the bill sponsor and author’s office. Further, we have offered two-rounds of substantive amendments along with the League of California Cities and the California State Association of Counties (CSAC) but have yet to have our concerns addressed. Thus, CALBO remains opposed to SB 617. I have submitted our position letter on the bill to the respective stakeholders and have worked to keep a coalition of like-minded local government advocates working lock-step with CALBO. You can find our opposition letter here. Additionally, I have provided public comment stating CALBO’s position to the Senate Governance and Finance Committee. CALBO Past President and Building Official for the City of Burbank Ron Takiguchi will be providing expert testimony on this bill to the Senate Energy, Utilities, and Communications Committee on April 26. CALBO continues to be open to thoughtful and prudent efforts to address climate change; however, jeopardizing the safety of the public by circumventing the building department is not the way to achieve this goal.
The CALBO Legislative Team wanted to share a few other priority bills with you:
- AB 970 would allow automatic approval of electric vehicle charging stations after 15 business days if a building official has not made a finding that the proposed installation could harm public health or safety. CALBO is opposed to this bill and has been working with the League of California Cities, Rural County Representatives of California, California State Association of Counties, and numerous others in a joint coalition opposed to this bill. The coalition’s efforts have stalled this bill in the Assembly Committee on Local Government and the bill must be heard and passed through the committee by May 7th otherwise it will be moved to next year.
- SB 55 would limit new development in high fire hazard severity zones. You can find our opposition letter here. CALBO provided testimony in opposition to SB 55 but the measure was not voted on in committee making it a two-year bill. CALBO will be looking to meet with the author’s office later this year to discuss the bill with them before it is heard again.
- SB 736 would set new training requirements for local building officials on drowning prevention to maintain certification as a building official every three years. You can find our opposition letter here. This is a tough bill for CALBO, as we support efforts to reduce and mitigate drowning in all swimming pools and spas; yet with SB 736, onerous requirements are placed on the building department that will not work to achieve the desired goal of increased drowning prevention. CALBO has opened dialogue with the author’s office and will remain in touch, however; it does not appear that the bill is slated to move this year.
For a full listing of legislative items of interest to CALBO members, please check out our All Bills Report on the CALBO website. There are other notable measures that are of high-interest to CALBO and our stakeholders, which is why we have kept them on our radar and are actively monitoring their progress.
As always, please do not hesitate to reach out to me with any questions or concerns at bguertin@calbo.org. I look forward to continuing to advocate for our members in Sacramento and sincerely appreciate the support I have received from you all.
Capitol Corner Update
March 2021
The State Legislature reconvened on
January 11, 2021 for the 2021-2022 legislative session in
Sacramento. As this is the first year of the biennial session,
lawmakers and stakeholders, like CALBO, have a clean slate to
consider and vet new legislative proposals. Over the interim
since last year, CALBO has met with various stakeholders to
address upcoming bills that will impact our industry and local
communities. Although we hear that it will be a “quiet” year
legislatively as the pandemic continues to dominate lawmakers
time, of the over 2,000 bills introduced thus far, our work is
cut out for us.
Starting this week, both legislative houses will begin policy committee hearings, as many bills were introduced in January and February. These hearings will be held in a condensed timeframe this year due to strict COVID-19 guidelines and the lack of socially distanced hearing rooms available. While in-person access to these upcoming hearings will be very limited, CALBO will remain vigilant and well represented.
CALBO continues to focus on the policy areas of wildfire mitigation, affordable and alternative housing, and in addition to the safety of the public. To read more about CALBO’s legislative efforts, please visit the CALBO Legislative webpage, which is updated in real-time while the state legislature is in session. For a full overview of CALBO bills of interest, you can also reference our Online Bill Reports.
Capitol Corner Update
Summer 2020
July marks the beginning of Summer recess for the State Legislature. This year their recess will be shorter than normal, as there was a long recess in the spring due to the COVID-19 outbreak. This last month has been filled with policy and fiscal committee hearings, ensuring bills move forward in the legislative process. However, almost two-thirds of bills that were introduced earlier this year failed passage and ultimately died.
The COVID-19 crisis forced law makers to narrow their bill scope and move only top priority bills. The state budget is a major concern, and funding will mainly focus on relief efforts. The bills that made it through their house of origin, and are now assigned to the opposite house, are mostly emergency response bills, public safety measures, and law enforcement focused bills.