Information related to the current status of legislation and regulations impacting California’s rural counties.
Assembly Bill 434 (Daly): Housing Financing Programs: Uniform Procedures.Assembly Bill 434 authorizes the Department of Housing and Community Development, in administering the Multifamily Housing Program, to establish set asides for specific project types or projects that serve specific target populations. Authorizes Joe Serna, Jr. Farmworker Housing Grant Program funds to be used for additional purposes, including loans for the construction or rehabilitation of rental housing for lower income agricultural employees. Status: AB 434 awaits the consideration of the Governor. RCRC Status: Support
Assembly Bill 570 (Aguiar-Curry): Broadband Services: State Advanced Services Fund. Assembly Bill 570 would have authorized local educational agencies to report to the Department of Education their pupils' estimated needs for computing devices and internet connectivity adequate for at home learning. Authorizes the Board of Supervisors of a county to acquire, construct, improve, maintain, and operate broadband internet access services. AB 570 would have required the Office of Planning and Research to provide long range planning and research, as the comprehensive state planning agency. Status:AB 570 failed passage in the Senate. RCRC Status: Pending
Assembly Bill 995 (Garcia): Hazardous Waste. Assembly Bill 995 creates a new governance structure for the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) and increases a wide variety of fees to partially offset DTSC’s fiscal imbalance. Specifically, AB 995 establishes a new board to oversee and establish goals for DTSC’s operation and consider appeals from permit decisions. AB 995 requires the state to establish a task force to make recommendations on changes to the existing fees and taxes that fund DTSC’s operations and the cleanup of contaminated sites. Status: AB 995 awaits the consideration of the Governor. RCRC Status: Concerns
Assembly Bill 1080 (Gonzalez)/Senate Bill 54 (Allen): Circular Economy and Plastic Pollution Reduction. Assembly Bill 1080/SB 54 would have required the state to reduce the waste associated with single use packaging and products 75 percent by 2030, requires the state to set standards for what is considered recyclable and compostable, and promotes the development of in-state manufacturing that uses recycled materials. Status: AB 1080 and SB 54 failed passage when the Legislative clock ran out of time for their consideration. RCRC Status: Support
Assembly Bill 1958 (Cooper): State Plan of Flood Control: Facilities. Assembly Bill 1958 would have protected critical flood protection infrastructure by bolstering the maintenance of levees throughout California. Status: AB 1958 failed passage in the Senate Natural Resources & Water Committee. RCRC Status: Support
Assembly Bill 2167 (Daly): Homeowners Insurance IMAP. Assembly Bill 2167 would have established the Insurance Market Action Plan program under which residential property insurance policies in a county may qualify for IMAP protection, if the requirements of the program are met. AB 2167 would have required a rate required as part of an IMAP filing to be subject to the prior approval of the Commissioner and in accordance with Proposition 103. Status: AB 2167 failed passage in the Senate. RCRC Status: Support
Assembly Bill 2168 (McCarty, Chiu, Reyes): Planning and Zoning: Electric Vehicle Charging Stations Permit Application Approval. Assembly Bill 2168 would have required an application to install an electric vehicle (EV) charging station to be deemed complete within 5 business days if the municipality has not determined the application to be incomplete. Deems an EV charging application approved within 15 business days if the local building official has not made findings that the proposed installation could have adverse impacts. This is an urgency measure and would take effect immediately. Status: AB 2168 failed passage in the Assembly Local Government Committee.” RCRC Status: Oppose
Assembly Bill 2296 (Quirk): Local Primacy Agencies. Assembly Bill 2296 authorizes the State Water Resources Control Board to delegate partial responsibility for the Safe Drinking Water Act's administration and enforcement by means of a local primacy delegation agreement. Authorizes the state board, for counties that have not been delegated primary responsibility as of January 2021, to offer an opportunity for the county to apply for partial or primary responsibility if the state board determines that it needs assistance. Status: AB 2296 awaits the consideration of the Governor. RCRC Status: Support
Assembly Bill 2323 (Friedman): California Environmental Quality Act: Exemption. Assembly Bill 2323 would have made several changes to improve the utility of various CEQA exemptions while maintaining adequate environmental protections. Among other things, AB 2323 allows CEQA exemptions to be used on infill, low-income, and agricultural housing projects proposed within the boundaries of a state conservancy. Status: AB 2323 failed passage in the Senate Appropriations Committee. RCRC Status: Support
Assembly Bill 2421 (Quirk): Emergency Standby Generators. Assembly Bill 2421 requires local agencies to make the installation of an emergency standby generator within the physical footprint of a macro cell tower site that meets specified requirements a permitted use subject only to local agency administrative review. Status: AB 2421 awaits the consideration of the Governor. RCRC Status: Support
Assembly Bill 2459 (Bigelow): Alcoholic Beverage Licenses: County of Mariposa Assembly Bill 2459 would authorize the Alcoholic Beverage Control to issue up to 10 additional new original on sale alcoholic beverage licenses to bona fide public eating places in Mariposa County that have a seating capacity for 50 or more persons. Status: AB 2459 has been signed into law by the Governor. RCRC Status: Support/Co-Sponsor
Assembly Bill 2642 (Salas): Multi-benefit Land Conversion Incentive Program. Assembly Bill 2642 would have required the Department of Conservation to establish and administer a program named the Multi-benefit Land Conversion Incentive Program for purposes of providing grants to groundwater sustainability agencies, or other specified entities designated by groundwater sustainability agencies, for the development or implementation of local programs supporting or facilitating multi-benefit land conversion at the basin scale. Status: AB 2642 failed passage in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. RCRC Status: Support
Assembly Bill 3012 (Wood): Residential Property Insurance. Assembly Bill 3012 requires, for a total loss of a furnished residence related to a declared state of emergency, a residential property insurer to provide a payment for contents of no less than a certain percent of the policy limit without requiring an itemized claim. Requires a notice of nonrenewal for a policy to be accompanied by certain information, including information about the Home Insurance Finder and FAIR plan policies. Status: AB 3012 awaits the consideration of the Governor. RCRC Status: Support
Assembly Bill 3030 (Kalra): Resource Conservation: Land and Ocean Conservation. Assembly Bill 3030 would have declared it to be the goals of the state to protect thirty percent of land areas and waters, to help advance the protection thirty percent of the nation's oceans, and to support regional, national, and international efforts to protect at least thirty percent of the world's land areas and waters and thirty percent of the world's ocean. AB 3030 would have declared it a further goal of the state to improve access to nature for all people in the state. Status: AB 3030 failed passage in the Senate Appropriations Committee. RCRC Status: Oppose
Assembly Bill 3074 (Friedman): Fire Prevention: Wildfire Risk: Defensible Space. Assembly Bill 3074 relates to defensible space. Requires more intense fuel reductions between 5 and 30 feet around the structure, and to create an ember-resistant zone within 5 feet of the structure, as provided. Status: AB 3074 awaits the consideration of the Governor. RCRC Status: Support
Assembly Bill 3164 (Friedman): Fire Prevention: Wildland Urban Interface. Assembly Bill 3164 requires the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to develop a wildland urban interface wildfire risk model to determine the risk for a community or parcel within a local responsibility area or state responsibility the department to establish, and consult with, an advisory workgroup, with specified members, to develop the model. Requires the department to update the model and guidelines when fire hazard severity zones are revised. Status: AB 3164 awaits the consideration of the Governor. RCRC Status: Support
Assembly Bill 3256 (Garcia): Bond Act. Assembly Bill 3256 would have enacted the Economic Recovery, Wildfire Prevention, Safe Drinking Water, Drought Preparation, and Flood Protection Bond Act, which, if approved by the voters, would authorize the issuance of bonds in a specified amount to finance projects for an economic recovery, wildfire prevention, safe drinking water, drought preparation, and flood protection program. Status: AB 3256 failed passage in the Assembly Rules Committee. To note, the deadline for submission to the Secretary of State for the November 2020 ballot was June 25, 2020. RCRC Status: Watch
Senate Bill 45 (Allen): Wildfire, Drought, and Flood Protection Bond Act 2020. Senate Bill 45 would have enacted the Wildfire, Drought, and Flood Protection Bond Act of 2020, which, if approved by voters, authorizes the issuance of bonds to finance projects to restore fire damaged areas, reduce wildfire risk, create healthy forests and watersheds, reduce climate impacts on urban areas and vulnerable populations, protect water supply and water quality, protect rivers, lakes and streams, reduce flood risk, protect fish and wildlife from climate impacts, and protect coastal lands and resources. Status: SB 45 failed passage in the Assembly. To note, the deadline for submission to the Secretary of State for the November 2020 ballot was June 25, 2020. RCRC Status: Support
Senate Bill 68 (Galgiani): Hazardous Waste: Treated Wood Waste. SB 68 repeals the sunset date for the existing regulatory framework for disposal of treated wood waste. Without this change, there will be very limited disposal options for treated wood wastes, thereby significantly increasing management and disposal costs associated with those wastes. Status: SB 68 awaits the consideration of the Governor. RCRC Position: Support
Senate Bill 182 (Jackson): Local Government: Planning and Zoning: Wildfires. SB 182 creates a structure of increased fire risk strategies to be used by local governments to plan and permit for housing development in a VHFRA, defined as state, local and locally designated Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones (VHFHSZ). This bill adds reducing development pressure in VHFRA as an objective of the Regional Housing Need Allocation (RHNA) plan through considering allocating a lower portion of housing to a jurisdiction, if appropriate, due to the risk to life and safety to catastrophic wildfire. Status: SB 182 awaits the consideration of the Governor. RCRC Status: Support
Senate Bill 292 (Rubio): Wildfire Risk Reporting. SB 292 would have created the algorithm to identify counties eligible under the Insurance Market Action Plan (IMAP) program as well as form a commission to convene stakeholders to develop regionally specific community hardening standards that have the propensity for reducing loss due to wildfires. Status: SB 292 failed passage in the Assembly. RCRC Status: Support
Senate Bill 872 (Dodd): Residential Property Insurance: State of Emergency. Senate Bill 872 relates to actions taken during a state of emergency. Requires an insurer of residential property to provide extensions to collect the full replacement cost of an insured acting in good faith and with reasonable diligence encounters delays in approval for, or reconstruction of, the property that are beyond the insured's control. Requires coverage for loss of use relating to a state of emergency to be for a specified period, plus an extension, as specified. Status: SB 872 awaits the consideration of the Governor. RCRC Status: Support
Senate Bill 974 (Hurtado): California Environmental Quality Act: Water Systems. Senate Bill 974 exempts from CEQA certain projects that benefit a small community water system that primarily serves one or more disadvantaged communities or that benefit a non-transient noncommunity water system that serves a school that serves one or more disadvantaged communities, by improving the small community water system's or non-transient noncommunity water system's water quality, water supply, or water supply reliability, or by encouraging water conservation. Status: SB 974 awaits the consideration of the Governor. RCRC Status: Support
Senate Bill 989 (Dahle): Sierra Nevada Conservancy: Sierra Nevada Region. Senate Bill 989 would have modified areas listed under the definitions of the Sierra Nevada Region and its subregions as specified for purposes of the Sierra Nevada Conservancy. Status: SB 989 failed passage in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. RCRC Status: Support
Senate Bill 1130 (Gonzalez): Telecommunications: California Advanced Services Fund. Senate Bill 1130 would have made changes to the California Advanced Services Fund that would require broad band projects to provide high quality, future proof infrastructure to be eligible for state funding. Status: SB 1130 failed passage in the Assembly. RCRC Status: Support
Senate Bill 1159 (Hill): Workers Compensation: Coronavirus. Senate Bill 1159 would provide enhanced workers’ compensation presumption benefits for coronavirus infections. Status: SB 1159 awaits the consideration of the Governor. RCRC Status: Oppose