HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report 9722
City of Palo Alto (ID # 9722)
City Council Staff Report
Report Type: Informational Report Meeting Date: 10/22/2018
City of Palo Alto Page 1
Summary Title: Result of 2018 state legislation
Title: Final Results of 2018 State Legislation Affecting Cities
From: City Manager
Lead Department: City Manager
RECOMMENDATION
This is an informational report and no action is required.
BACKGROUND
The Governor finished signing all State bills on Sunday, September 30. The final disposition of
many bills affecting local governments is noted below.
Bills with City positions
These are bills where the City submitted a position letter and our lobbyist advocated on behalf
of our positions with legislative offices, and by providing testimony at legislative hearings.
AB 2308 (Stone) Cigarettes: single-use filters. The City supported this bill that would have
banned the sale of single use filter cigarettes. Did not pass the legislature
AB 2809 (Patterson) California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program: hydroelectric
generation facilities. The City supported this bill, aimed at allowing energy from large
hydroelectric generation to become an eligible renewable resource for purposes of the State’s
Renewable Portfolio Standard. Did not pass the legislature
AB 3014 (Quirk) Brake friction materials: copper limits: high-performance road- and
track-capable vehicle exemption. The City opposed this bill would have exempted certain
vehicles from the requirement to reduce copper in brake material. Did not pass the legislature
SB 212 (Jackson) Solid waste: pharmaceutical and sharps waste stewardship. The City
has a support position on this bill that will create a pharmaceutical waste and sharps take-back
program, operated by manufactures. Signed into law
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SB 328 (Portantino) Pupil attendance: school start time. The City submitted a letter of
concern regarding student safety to the author of this bill that would mandate middle and high
schools start no earlier than 8:30. Vetoed
SB 827 (Wiener) Planning and zoning: transit-rich housing bonus. The City opposed this
bill that would have increased zoning densities and building heights around major transit hubs.
Did not pass the legislature
SB 881 (Wieckowski) Flood control: County of Santa Clara: South San Francisco Bay
Shoreline Project. The City has a support position on this bill that will help authorize funding
for the South San Francisco Bay Shoreline Project. Signed into law
SB 998 (Dodd) Discontinuation of residential water service: urban and community
water systems. The City has an opposed position on this bill that would impose many
restrictions on water utilities before terminating residential water service to non-paying
customers. Signed into law
In summary, the outcomes described above indicate that State action was consistent with the
City of Palo Alto’s advocacy position in 5 of the 8 bills on which the City engaged.
Other Key bills
AB 553 (Daly) Workers’ Compensation: Return-to-Work Program. Requires the State to
distribute $120 million annually to injured workers from the Return to Work Program — a public
and private employer funded program. Places an additional administrative and cost burden on
cities by requiring employers to contribute annually to the fund and shifts the responsibility to
administer the program funds away from the state to both public and private employers as well
as their insurers. Vetoed
AB 748 (Ting) Peace Officers: Video and Audio Recordings: Disclosure. Establishes a
standard for the release of body-worn camera footage that removes local authority over the
determination to release footage to the public. Potentially exposes cities to Public Record Act
lawsuits and would increase costs. Signed into law.
AB 828 (Wiener) Land use: housing element. Requires a city or county’s inventory of land
suitable for residential development to meet 125 percent of its regional housing need allocation
for all income levels, and makes a number of changes to the regional housing needs
assessment methodology and process. Signed into law
AB 1771 (Bloom) Regional Housing Needs Assessment. Makes a number of changes to
the RHNA methodology and allocation process. Limits flexibility for two local governments to
agree to an alternative distribution of appealed housing allocations. Allows a Council of
Government (COG) to identify significant barriers to affirmatively furthering fair housing at the
regional level and recommend strategies or actions to overcome those barriers. This would
allow a COG to second-guess city land use decisions. Signed into law.
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AB 1870 (Reyes) Employment discrimination: limitation of actions. Changes the statute
of limitations for filing an employment discrimination claim from one year to three years. Vetoed
AB 2020 (Quirk) Local jurisdiction licensees: temporary event license. Allows the State
to issue a temporary state event license for a venue that has been expressly approved by a
local jurisdiction under specific conditions. Provides cities with more control over authorizing a
temporary cannabis event. Signed into law.
AB 2123 (Cervantes) District-based elections. Provides up to an additional 90 days to
convert to district-based elections through the ordinance process upon mutual agreement
between a prospective plaintiff and a city. Signed into law.
AB 2164 (Cooley) Cannabis. Allows local agencies to adopt an ordinance providing for the
immediate imposition of administrative fines or penalties for the violation of building, plumbing,
electrical, or other similar structural, health and safety, or zoning requirements if the violation
exists as a result of, or to facilitate, the illegal cultivation of cannabis. Signed into law.
AB 2363 (Friedman) Zero Traffic Fatalities Task Force. Requires the Secretary of
Transportation to create a task force inclusive of local government representatives to produce a
study of how to best reduce traffic fatalities and injury to zero. Signed into law.
AB 2415 (Calderon) CalPERS: Officers and Directors: Appointment and Compensation.
Adds the positions of a chief operating officer and a chief health director to the list of existing
positions for which the CalPERS Board of Administration has compensation-setting authority.
Helps ensure CalPERS is competitive when it comes to the recruiting, hiring, and retaining the
highest quality personnel. Signed into law.
AB 2495 (Mayes) Code Enforcement. Makes it unlawful for a city or county government to
charge a person for the costs of investigation, prosecution, or appeal in code enforcement
actions that the city or county sustains in a criminal case. Signed into law
AB 2538 (Rubio) Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems: Financial Capability
Analysis.
Requires the State to adopt guidelines for Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System permittees
that consider the costs to local jurisdictions. Vetoed
AB 2544 (Lackey) Parking Penalties
Retroactively requires cities to verify the indigent status of persons with unpaid parking
violations over the last five years. Creates an undue burden on local governments and their
ability to enforce basic local laws. Signed into law.
AB 2598 (Quirk) Enforcement of Local Building and Safety Codes. Updates for inflation
the existing statutory fine caps for violations of local building and safety codes, adds a hardship
appeal process for repeat violators, and establishes a higher maximum fine for commercial
property owners who fail repeatedly to maintain their properties. Signed into law.
AB 2681 (Nazarian) Seismic Safety: Potentially Vulnerable Buildings. Creates an
unfunded mandate requiring localities to compile inventories of potentially vulnerable buildings
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and other prescriptive requirements without any funding secured for the program. Vetoed.
AB 2880 (Harper) Political Reform Act of 1974: Local Enforcement. Authorizes local
governments to contract with the Fair Political Practices Commission for the administration and
enforcement of local campaign finance and government ethics laws. Signed into law.
AB 3081 (Gonzales-Fletcher) Employment: Sexual Harassment. Potentially exposes cities
to increased false workplace retaliation claims and places a significant burden on them to prove
their actions were legitimate and valid. Provides a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation
by an employer. Vetoed.
SB 100 (DeLeon). California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program: emissions of
greenhouse gases. Increases the 2030 target for electric utilities to procure renewable energy
for their electric portfolio from 50% renewables to 60% by 2030. Creates the policy of planning
to meet all of the state's retail electricity supply with a mix of certain renewables and zero-
carbon resources by December 31, 2045. Signed into law
SB 822 (Wiener) Communications: broadband Internet access service. Establishes net
neutrality in California. Signed into law
SB 833 (McGuire) Emergencies: Alert and Warning Systems. Requires CalOES to
collaborate with the League of CA Cities, the CA State Association of Counties, and other
stakeholders in developing uniform guidelines for mass notification during major emergencies.
Signed into law.
SB 901 (Dodd) Wildfires. Mandates electric utilities create, and the governing body approve,
wildfire mitigation plans annually. Utilities must contract with a qualified independent evaluator
to review the plans. Signed into law
SB 1012 (Delgado) Homeless Multidisciplinary Personnel Team. Allows a city to
participate in a county-established homeless adult and family multidisciplinary personnel team.
Expedites identification, assessment, and linkage of homeless individuals to housing and
supportive services, and allows provider agencies to share confidential information for the
purpose of coordinating housing and supportive services to ensure continuity of care. Signed
into law.
SB 1333 (Wieckowski) Planning and Zoning: Charter Cities. Applies nearly all of the
planning and zoning laws to charter cities. Signed into law
SB 1413 (Nielsen) Public Employees’ Retirement: Pension Prefunding. Provides CalPERS
the authority to establish a Pension Prefunding Trust Program. Gives cities the ability to reflect
dollars set aside in a trust in their federal Government Accounting Standards Board reporting
requirements. Signed into law.
SB 1416 (McGuire) Code Enforcement: Nuisance Abatement. Allows cities and counties to
recover fines related to nuisance abatement through liens and special assessments. Restricts
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the use of funds to code enforcement efforts and facilitate compliance with local building and
fire codes. Vetoed
SB 1459 (Cannella) Cannabis: Provisional License. Allows state licensing agencies, such as
the Bureau of Cannabis Control, to issue provisional commercial cannabis licenses to businesses
that are currently in the process of becoming licensed at both the state and local level.
Preserves local control by requiring local authorization as a condition to obtain a provisional
license. Signed into law.
SB 946 (Lara) Sidewalk Vending
Prohibits a local authority from adopting rules or regulations that regulate or prohibit sidewalk
vendors unless it first adopts a sidewalk vending licensing program that requires a sidewalk
vendor to obtain a license from the local authority before selling food or merchandise. Prohibits
restricting the location of a licensed sidewalk vendor unless the restriction is directly related to
objective health, safety, or welfare concerns. Signed into law.
SB 1300 (Jackson) Unlawful Employment Practices: Discrimination and Harassment.
Specifies that an employer may be responsible for the acts of nonemployees with respect to
other harassment activity. Imposes personal liability onto individual supervisors and overturns a
California Supreme Court’s decision. Signed into law.
SB 1421 (Skinner) Peace officers: Release of Records. May expose peace officers to the
risk of having their identity revealed for non-sustained or exonerated incidents. Signed into law.