RCRC members are encouraged to share letters addressed to state and federal representatives and regulatory bodies with RCRC’s Government Affairs staff. Click “Read More” to access information related to the current status of legislation impacting California’s rural counties.
SCA 14 (Wolk): Legislative Procedure. Senate Constitutional Amendment 14 would require that legislation be in-print and available for public inspection for at least 72 hours preceding a vote in the Legislature. Status: Awaits consideration on the Assembly Floor. RCRC Position: Support
SB 885 (Wolk): Indemnity Agreements. Senate Bill 885 would eliminate the ability of a public agency to impose indemnity clauses in contract with engineers and architects for upfront legal defense costs against claims related to a project’s design work. Status: Awaits consideration in the Assembly Judiciary Committee. RCRC Position: Oppose
SB 987 (McGuire): Taxation of Medical Marijuana. Senate Bill 987 would impose a statewide excise fee on the sale of medical marijuana. Status: Failed passage in the Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee. RCRC Position: Support
SB 1250 (McGuire): Telecom: Rural Outage Reportings. Senate Bill 1250 would require telecommunications carriers to report rural 911 outages to state and local public safety agencies. Status: Awaits consideration in the Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee. RCRC Position: Support
AB 587 (Chau): Mobile Homes Fees/Tax Amnesty Program. Assembly Bill 587 would provide an amnesty program for mobile home owners who face outstanding tax and registration obligations. Status: Awaits consideration in the Senate Judiciary Committee. RCRC Position: Oppose Unless Amended
AB 1549 (Wood): State Highway Rights-of-Way: Fiber Optic. Assembly Bill 1549 requires the California Department of Transportation to maintain an inventory of broadband conduits that house fiber-optic communications located on state highway rights-of-way. The bill also requires that fiber optic conduit be installed during a major reconstruction of a state right-of-way. Status: Awaits consideration in the Senate Appropriations Committee. RCRC Position: Support
AB 2149 (Bonilla): Collection of Cash Payments for Medical Marijuana-Related Businesses. Assembly Bill 2149 would authorize counties and the Board of Equalization to accept cash transactions on behalf of several state agencies charged with regulatory responsibility of medical marijuana. Status: Awaits consideration in the Senate Governance and Finance Committee. RCRC Position: Support
AB 2243 (Wood): Medical Cannabis: Cultivation Taxation. Assembly Bill 2243 would impose state taxes on the cultivation of medical marijuana. Status: Awaits consideration in the Senate Appropriations Committee. RCRC Position: Support
AB 2686 (Mullin): All Mail Ballot Elections. Assembly Bill 2686 would allow counties the option of conducting special elections to fill the vacancy of a State Senate, State Assembly, or Congressional district via all-mail balloting. Status: Awaits consideration on the Senate Floor. RCRC Position: Support
AB 2788 (Gatto): Small Cell Wireless Facilities. Assembly Bill 2788 was a last minute gut and amend that would provide applications for “small cell” wireless telecommunication facilities a ministerial approval process to preempt local authority in the review and permitting process. RCRC joined a coalition of local government organizations in opposition to the bill earlier this week. Status: Due to strong opposition to the measure, Assembly Member Mike Gatto pulled the bill and does not plan to move forward with it this year. RCRC Position: Oppose
AB 2783 (E. Garcia): Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities. Assembly Bill 2783 would amend the guidelines and criteria for the Rural Innovation Project Area component of the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program to provide the opportunity for more rural communities to compete for these critical funds. Status: Gained passage in the Senate Transportation, Housing Committee, awaits consideration in the Senate Environmental Quality Committee. RCRC Position: Support
AB 2501 (Bloom): Housing: Density Bonus. Assembly Bill 2501 seeks to increase affordable housing through reforms to density law. Pending amendments will address ongoing concerns we raised regarding a local government’s ability to request additional documentation and reporting as part of the review process of density bonus applications that seek waivers or reductions in development standards. Status: Awaits final consideration in the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee. RCRC Position: Intent to Remove Opposition
AB 2406 (Thurmond): Junior Accessory Dwellings. Assembly Bill 2406 would provide local governments the option to adopt an ordinance regarding the development of Junior Accessory Dwelling Units in single family residential zones. Status: Awaits final consideration on the Senate Floor. RCRC Position: Support
AB 1934 (Santiago): Density Bonus. Assembly Bill 1934 would provide a commercial developer a density bonus for partnering with an affordable housing developer on a mixed-use project who also receives a density bonus. Recent amendments were made to the bill to address concerns we raised regarding whether affordable housing units would actually materialize. Status: Awaits consideration in the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee. RCRC Position: Removed Concerns
SB 1069 (Wieckowski): Land Use: Zoning. Senate Bill 1069 seeks to encourage the development of more affordable housing through various reforms to a local government’s planning requirements and zoning regulations. Status: Awaits consideration in the Assembly Local Government Committee. RCRC Position: Pending – Seeking Amendments
SB 1029 (Hertzberg): Debt Issuance. Senate Bill 1029 would require local governments to submit various reporting elements to the California Debt and Investment Advisory Committee for all bond debt that has not been fully repaid or redeemed. Recent amendments were made to address concerns regarding the data and back reporting requirements. Status: Gained passage in the Senate and awaits committee assignment in the Assembly. RCRC Position: Pending – Seeking Amendments
SB 1000 (Leyva): General Plans: Environmental Justice. Senate Bill 1000 would have required an Environmental Justice element to be added to a county General Plan. Recent amendments were made to address concerns we raised regarding the requirement of a new element, and instead provides local governments the flexibility to address environmental justice in any element as part of the next revision to the General Plan. Status: Awaits consideration in the Assembly Local Government Committee. RCRC Position: Opposition Removed
AB 2438 (Waldron): CEQA: Exemption: Recycled Water Pipelines. Assembly Bill 2438 would, until January 1, 2020, exempt from CEQA a project for the construction and installation of a new pipeline or the maintenance, repair, restoration, reconditioning, relocation, replacement, removal, or demolition of an existing pipeline, not exceeding 8 miles in length, for the distribution of recycled water within a public street, highway, or right-of-way. Status: Awaits consideration in the Senate Environmental Quality Committee. RCRC Position: Support
AB 2678 (Gray): State-Designated Fairs: Funding. Assembly Bill 2678 would dedicate the State portion of the sales and use tax collected from transactions at fairgrounds except for Los Angeles to support small - and medium-sized fairs. Status: Gained passage in the Senate Governance and Finance Committee. RCRC Position: Support
AB 2781 (Garcia): Supplemental Environmental Projects. Assembly Bill 2781 would direct 10% of all penalties collected by California Environmental Protection Agency boards, departments, and offices to fund environmental projects in disadvantaged communities using Section 39711 of the Health and Safety Code for the definition (CalEnviro Screen) of a disadvantaged community (DAC). Status: Awaits consideration in the Senate Environmental Quality Committee. RCRC Position: Opposed
SB 1170 (Wieckowski): Public Contracts: Water Pollution Prevention Plans: Delegation. Senate Bill 1170 would prohibit a public entity, charter city, or charter county from delegating to a contractor the development of a plan, as defined, used to prevent or reduce water pollution or runoff on a public works contract, except as provided. The bill would also prohibit a public entity, charter city, or charter county from requiring a contractor on a public works contract that includes compliance with a plan to assume responsibility for the completeness and accuracy of a plan developed by that entity. Status: Awaits consideration in the Assembly Local Government Committee. RCRC Position: Oppose
SB 1188 (McGuire): Wildlife Management Areas: Payment of Taxes and Assessments. Senate Bill 1188 will return the ‘may’ back to ‘shall’ in Fish and Game Code Section 1504 making future PILT payments required rather than permissive. Status: Awaits consideration in the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee. RCRC Position: Support
SB 1317 (Wolk): Conditional Use Permit: Groundwater Extraction Facility. Senate Bill 1317 would require a city or county overlying a basin designated as a high or medium priority basin to establish a process for the issuance of conditional use permits for the development of a groundwater extraction facility in order to prevent that facility from contributing to or creating an undesirable result. Status: Awaits consideration in the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee. RCRC Position: Oppose