HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report 2303-1074 City Council
Staff Report
From: City Manager
Report Type: ACTION ITEMS
Lead Department: City Manager
Meeting Date: April 3, 2023
Report #: 2303-1074
TITLE
Update, Discussion, and Potential Direction regarding State and Federal Legislation
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the City Council receive an update on Federal and State Legislation.
Council Members may add additional legislation to the list of bills to monitor, and Council may
provide direction regarding positions on pending legislation.
BACKGROUND AND ANALYSIS
On November 7, 2022, the City Council adopted the 2023 Legislative Guidelines (Attachment
C)1 and a tentative 2023 Legislative Workplan (Attachment D). The guidelines provide a
baseline for the City’s legislative advocates at the State and Federal level to advocate on the
City’s behalf in relation to proposed legislation. Where the Guidelines provide sufficient
direction, the City’s legislative advocates may discuss Palo Alto's interests with state legislators
and their staff and / or may prepare a letter of advocacy in alignment with the guidelines for
the Mayor's signature. This is key to enabling the City to weigh in on fast-moving developments.
The Legislative Workplan is intended to provide a roadmap of key dates throughout the
legislative year.
In February 2023, the City Council approved a contract with Townsend Public Affairs to provide
State and Federal advocacy services as well as grants applications and compliance services.
With respect to legislative advocacy, this contract continues the City‘s legislative affairs work
that has been in place for many years. With respect to grants, the contract will augment the
efforts of City staff to pursue grant opportunities that align with City goals, apply, and comply
with reporting and other requirements.
1 https://www.cityofpaloalto.org/files/assets/public/city-manager/legislation/2023-legislative-guidelines-final.pdf
and also included as Attachment C to the April 3 staff report
For the April 3 City Council discussion, Townsend Public Affairs prepared the attached memo
(Attachment A) on bills in the current legislative session. The memo is organized in the State
updates section by pulling a handful of bills to the top and including specific Palo Alto impact
information for those bills. The memo also lists other bills that Townsend is monitoring on
behalf of the City. Staff will continue to analyze these bills with Townsend as they progress. If
desired, Council members may also raise for discussion other legislation of Palo Alto interest
that is not listed in the memo or may recommend action on any of the bills listed on the
monitoring list. The memo also includes a Federal update.
The 2023 State legislative calendar (which includes deadlines and other important dates) can be
found online at: https://www.assembly.ca.gov/system/files/2023-
01/2023_legislative_calendar_final.pdf. This calendar provides helpful context when reviewing
the bills included in the Townsend memo.
Process:
The City Council expressed interest in being more involved in the legislative advocacy process,
particularly related to State legislation. Going forward, Townsend and staff will regularly share
legislative updates with the City Council based on the bills the City is monitoring or has taken
positions on. If there are additional bills that Council members feel the City should be
monitoring, please let staff know. Townsend and staff will review the bill and recommend a
course of action. For context, the listed bills are being monitored in anticipation of potentially
taking a position in the future depending on what happens with the bill.
Staff would like to confirm the process that the City Council will use for reviewing legislation. In
prior years, the process has varied between going first to the Policy and Services Committee
versus review directly by the full City Council. Given the City Council’s interest in discussing and
receiving the updates, staff could plan on a monthly agenda item on legislation between
February and June each year. For 2023, this would mean that another update will be scheduled
in May and in June.
Upcoming Visits:
Townsend and staff are working to prepare a Sacramento Day for the City Council (aiming for
April 19, but the date is tentative). The intent of the day is to meet with legislators and State
agencies to discuss City priorities, especially related to funding. Townsend and staff continue to
work on details for this visit.
Additionally, the National League of Cities conference takes place in the last week of March.
Townsend and staff are organizing meetings with relevant Federal agencies and the
Washington, DC elected officials representing Palo Alto. The Mayor will represent Palo Alto for
these meetings.
Lastly, Townsend and staff are coordinating visits from the legislators to Palo Alto. There are a
few ideas under review and staff will update the Council when more information is available.
Other Information:
The City sent a letter recently to California Attorney General Bonta, requesting an investigation
of the winter natural gas price spike. Governor Newsom requested a federal investigation
(supported by Mayor Kou) that has now received a positive response from the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission (FERC). Palo Alto’s letter requests a similar investigation at the state
level. On March 16, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) formally opened an
investigation. The letter is included as Attachment B for awareness (no action needed on it at
this time).
FISCAL/RESOURCE IMPACT
There is no additional funding needed for this update report. The City Council budgets annually
for the legislative advocacy services and these efforts are led by staff in the City Manager’s
Office with stakeholder support across departments on key issues.
STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
Staff from multiple departments are involved in the legislative process in helping to review the
impacts of bills as well as discussing grant opportunities linked to state and federal programs.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
The City’s legislative advocacy activities are not a project under section 15378(b)(25) of the
California Environmental Quality Act Guidelines (administrative activities that will not result in
direct or indirect physical changes in the environment).
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment A: Update Memo from Townsend Public Affairs
Attachment B: Letter to Attorney General Bonta - Natural Gas Prices
Attachment C: 2023 Legislative Guidelines
Attachment D: Tentative 2023 Legislative Workplan
APPROVED BY:
Ed Shikada, City Manager
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M E M O R A N D U M
To: The Honorable Lydia Kou and Members of the Palo Alto City Council
CC: Ed Shikada, City Manager
Chantal Cotton Gaines, Deputy City Manager
From: Townsend Public Affairs
Christopher Townsend, President
Niccolo De Luca, Vice President
Ben Goldeen, Federal Advocacy Manager
Alex Gibbs, Grants Manager
Carlin Shelby, Associate
Date: March 22, 2023
Subject: State and Federal Legislative Updates
Townsend Public Affairs, Inc. (TPA) has prepared this report for the City of Palo Alto to provide a
summary of State and Federal efforts, highlight the current status of the legislative process, and
identify various pieces of legislation that may be of interest to the City.
Overview
Nearing the end of March, the State Legislature has entered its high-paced period of the legislative
cycle, which includes weekly robust agendas of policy committees and bill amendments. Since
the bill introduction deadline in mid-February, the Legislature produced 1,751 Assembly Bills and
881 Senate Bills, for a total of 2,632 bills. Additionally, there are six special session bills on the
Governor’s declared special session to legislate high gas prices (3 each in the Assembly and
Senate). These numbers constitute the highest number of bill introductions in a single session
over the past decade.
Overarching legislative trends focus on opioid overdose prevention and response, housing
production and streamlining, behavioral health reform, proposals for new statewide general
obligation bonds, and public safety reforms including addressing Proposition 47. While some of
these trends will maintain relevance throughout the Session, others may be replaced by other
issues, depending on events that will transpire over the year and the progression of bills
throughout the various steps included in the legislative process.
Looking ahead, the Legislature will continue this pace of bill considerations until the focus once
again shifts back to the State’s budget for the May Revision of the previously proposed January
budget. The budget framework will guide policy considerations for bills that draw on state
resources before the focus shifts once again to legislation as bills move over to the second house.
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Priority Legislation for the City of Palo Alto
1. Bills With City Positions
The following chart provides an overview of bills with pending positions taken as of March 21,
2023. (‘Pending’ positions means that staff drafted a letter for these bills based on the Legislative
Guidelines. Though not required, staff looks for Council affirmation on these on April 3).
BILL SUMMARY/STATUS CITY IMPACT POSITION/
RECOMMENDATION
AB 1505
(Rodriguez)
Appropriates $250,000,000 for the purpose of
implementing the Seismic Retrofitting Program
for Soft Story Multifamily Housing
Status: Pending Policy Committee Referral
Seismic safety improvements
align with the Palo Alto City
Council’s 2023 Priority of
Community Health and Safety
and will help the City progress
in the seismic improvements
objective.
City Position:
Pending Support
SB 43
(Eggman)
Updates the definition of “gravely disabled” to
include a new focus on preventing serious
physical and mental harm stemming from a
person’s inability to provide for their needs for
nourishment, personal or medical care, find
appropriate shelter, or attend to self-protection
or personal safety, due to their mental or
substance use disorder.
Status: Will be heard in Senate Health
Committee March 29
One of the Palo Alto City
Council Priorities for 2023 is
Community Health and Safety
which includes some focus on
mental health. This bill seems
to align with that priority.
City Position:
Pending Support
SB 363
(Eggman)
Establishes a real-time, internet-based
dashboard to collect, aggregate and display
information about the availability of beds in a
range of psychiatric and substance abuse
facilities.
Status: Will be heard in Senate Health
Committee March 22.
One of the Palo Alto City
Council Priorities for 2023 is
Community Health and Safety
which includes some focus on
mental health. This bill seems
to align with that priority. The
City would need to further
analyze the resources required
for this legislation.
City Position:
Pending Support
SB 423
(Wiener)
Extends the provisions of SB 35 (Wiener,
Statutes of 2017) indefinitely. Removes coastal
exemption and objective planning standards
criteria.
Status: Passed the Senate Housing Committee
on a 6-1 vote. Referred to the Senate
Governance and Finance Committee.
Palo Alto has included in the
Legislative Guidelines many
principles to support local
control of land use and this bill
contrasts with that.
City Position:
Pending Opposition
SB 719
(Becker)
Requires law enforcement agencies to ensure
any non-confidential radio communications are
accessible to the public.
Status: Referred to Senate Public Safety
Committee. Pending hearing date.
The City Council supported
similar legislation in 2022. As
of Fall 2022, the City of Palo
Alto switched routine Palo Alto
Police radio transmissions to
now be broadcast on an
unencrypted channel. This bill
in it’s current form should not
affect Palo Alto operations.
City Position:
Pending Support
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2. Bills With Recommended Action
The following chart features two bills that TPA advocates have identified with recommendations
for the City to take a formal position on, pending Council consideration and approval.
BILL SUMMARY/STATUS CITY IMPACT POSITION/
RECOMMENDATION
AB 68
(Ward)
Requires ministerial approval of infill multifamily
units up to 50 feet in defined "Climate Smart
Parcels" proximate to transit and commercial
clusters.
Status: Referred to Assembly Committees on
Housing and Local Government. Pending hearing
date.
Palo Alto has included in the
Legislative Guidelines many
principles to support local
control of land use and this
bill contrasts with that.
Recommendation:
Oppose
SB 405
(Cortese)
Requires for the 7th cycle housing element that
the planning agency notify the owner of a site
included in the site's inventory. If an owner
doesn't intend to develop at least 80% of the
number of units indicated, the site cannot be
included.
Status: Referred to Senate Housing Committee.
Pending hearing date.
Palo Alto has included in the
Legislative Guidelines many
principles to support local
control of land use. This bill
could create administrative
burdens related to site
inventory certification and
site identification for future
RHNA cycles.
Recommendation:
Oppose
3. Notable bills with Recommendations to Monitor Progress
The following chart encompasses priority legislation TPA advocates are monitoring on behalf of
the City. Positions noted as “Recommendations” reflect the suggested position from TPA
advocates and are subject to change, pending review of each bills’ impact on the City. Should
the City Council or staff note any additional pieces of legislation to incorporate into this chart, TPA
advocates will gladly accommodate. TPA can also provide a recommendation regarding to
support or opposition to these bills if the City Council is interested in acting upon them at this time.
BILL SUBJECT SUMMARY STATUS POSITION/
RECOMMENDATION
AB 557
(Hart)
Open
Meetings
Extends modified teleconferencing
provisions under the Brown Act when a
declared state of emergency is in effect,
or in other situations related to public
health, indefinitely.
Referred to Assembly
Local Government
Committee. Pending
hearing date
Recommendation:
Monitor
AB 817
(Pacheco)
Open
Meetings
Allows subsidiary bodies of a local agency
to use alternative teleconferencing
provisions under the Brown Act, without
the need of a State of Emergency.
Referred to Assembly
Local Government
Committee. Pending
hearing date.
Recommendation:
Monitor
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BILL SUBJECT SUMMARY STATUS POSITION/
RECOMMENDATION
AB 1484
(Zbur)
Labor
Relations
and
Retirement
Requires temporary employees of cities
and counties to join existing bargaining
units accessible to permanent employees.
Imposes requirements on employers with
temporary employees hired to do the
same or similar work performed by
permanent employees.
Pending Policy
Committee Referral
Recommendation:
Monitor
AB 1532
(Haney)
Housing and
Land Use
Makes the conversion of vacant office
buildings into residential developments a
use by right in all areas regardless of
zoning.
Pending Policy
Committee Referral
Recommendation:
Monitor
AB 1630
(Garcia)
Housing and
Land Use
Prohibits local governments from
prohibiting a dormitory on any real
property located within 1/2 mile of a
university campus, as long as specific
conditions are met relating to affordability
and student occupancy.
Pending Policy
Committee Referral
Recommendation:
Monitor
AB 1633
(Ting)
Housing and
Land Use
Specifies that a local agency has
disapproved a housing project in violation
of the Housing Accountability Act (HAA) if
it fails to make a determination that a
project is exempt from the California
Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), or
fails to adopt, certify, or approve certain
environmental documents under specified
circumstances.
Pending Policy
Committee Referral
Recommendation:
Monitor
AB 1637
(Irwin)
Informational
Technology
(IT)
Requires cities to switch to a .gov domain
if they have not already done so.
Switching to a .gov domain is free of cost
to qualified public agencies and
incorporates additional cyber security
protections. While free of cost, the update
could create additional work for City IT
departments.
Pending bill language. Recommendation:
Monitor
AB 1764
(Housing
Committee)
Housing and
Land Use
Makes several technical and clarifying
changes to code sections pertaining to
housing and community development.
Pending Policy
Committee Referral
Recommendation:
Monitor
ACA 1
(Aguiar-
Curry)
Revenue and
Taxation
Lowers the necessary voter threshold
from a two-thirds supermajority to 55
percent to approve local general
obligation (GO) bonds and special taxes
for affordable housing and public
infrastructure projects.
Pending Policy
Committee Referral
Recommendation:
Monitor
SB 251
(Newman)
Governance
and
Transparency
Prohibits an elected officer from
employment by any other elected officer
with the same constituency.
Referred to Senate
Elections and
Constitutional
Amendments
Committee. Pending
hearing date.
Recommendation:
Monitor
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BILL SUBJECT SUMMARY STATUS POSITION/
RECOMMENDATION
SB 252
(Gonzalez)
Labor
Relations
and
Retirement
Requires CalPERS to divest existing fossil
fuel company investments on or before
July 1, 2030.
Referred to Senate
Labor, Employment,
and Retirement
Committee. Set for
hearing on April 12.
Recommendation:
Monitor
SB 429
(Bradford)
Energy and
Utilities
Requires natural gas corporations to
credit customers all revenues, including
accrued interest, received as a result of
the greenhouse gas cap and trade
program. Requires those credits to be
distributed during the February billing
cycle, so as to coincide with the highest
usage gas utility bill during the year.
Amended with new
language 3/20.
Pending committee
assignment.
Recommendation:
Monitor
SB 450
(Atkins)
Housing and
Land Use
Identified as the SB 9 (Atkins, Statutes of
2022) "Clean up bill." Among other things,
prevents local agencies from creating
zoning, subdivision, and design rules that
do not apply equally to all development
within a particular area.
Referred to the Senate
Housing Committee.
Pending hearing date.
Recommendation:
Monitor
SB 567
(Durazo)
Housing and
Land Use
Provides renter protections including
expanding the population of protected
tenants, limiting allowable rent increases,
and closing loopholes related to the no-
fault just cause for eviction.
Pending committee
assignment.
Recommendation:
Monitor
SB 572
(Stern)
Energy and
Utilities
Requires the PUC, Energy Commission,
and the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission to each consider imposing
additional requirements to protect
ratepayers from price spikes, stranded
assets, duplication of services, and the
risk of windfall profiteering and market
manipulation in wholesale and retail
markets.
Referred to Senate
Energy, Utilities, and
Communications
Committee. Pending
hearing date.
Recommendation:
Monitor
State Budget Update
The State’s budget is in a unique position this year as a result of the Internal Revenue Service
(IRS) and Franchise Tax Board (FTB)’s decision to extend the tax filing deadline for the 51
counties impacted by the winter storms to October 16, 2023.
The Legislature has a constitutional responsibility to approve a budget no later than June 15,
which is historically based on revenues received by the State through the April 15 tax filing
deadline. Since the tax filing deadline has been extended five months beyond its original date,
the Legislature approve a budget with a general frame work for its spending plan in June with
subsequent alterations towards the end of the year.
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Governor Newsom Announces Plans to Bolster the State’s Response to Homelessness
and Behavioral Health
In lieu of a State of the State this year, Governor Newsom opted to hold a statewide tour and
meet directly with residents and make major announcements related to reducing homelessness,
improving public safety, reducing health care costs, and initiating mental health care reforms.
On Sunday March 19, the Governor concluded his tour by discussing reforms that would go on
the 2024 ballot to improve how California treats mental health and substance use disorders. The
Governor’s proposal breaks down to three main components:
• A general obligation bond to finance the construction of thousands of new community
mental health facilities throughout the state.
• Reforms to the MHSA, directing $1 billion annually to pay for housing and other
community-based residential solutions, expanding treatment eligibility to include those
with substance use disorders, and creating greater flexibility in the use of remaining funds.
• Alignment of behavioral health benefits across all health plans in California and new
accountability and oversight measures for county behavioral health plans.
It is anticipated that these reforms will complement the rollout of the Governor’s CARE Court plan
initiated last year, which establishes the Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment
(CARE) Court Program and the CARE Act to provide comprehensive treatment, housing and
support services to Californians with complex behavioral health care needs.
FEDERAL UPDATES
Congressionally Directed Spending Submittal
The City/TPA team worked in partnership to draft, fine tune, and submit a congressionally directed
spending request for infrastructure funding to help redevelop the Buena Vista Mobile Home Park.
The Park, a locally significant affordable housing resource, is in desperate need of sustainable
redevelopment, including 100% electrification. An award would assist the predominantly Latinx
and very low-income residents who call it home. This application was in partnership with the Santa
Clara County Housing Authority and the requested amount was $2 million dollars. The request
was submitted to Senator Padilla, Senator Feinstein, and Congresswoman Eshoo.
President Biden Releases FY24 Budget
President Biden released the FY24 budget proposal outlining his vision to build on the
Administration’s work of lowering costs for families, protecting and strengthening Social Security
and Medicare, reducing the deficit, and more. The $6.8 trillion budget proposal for FY2024
includes tens of billions of dollars in new spending and tax increases, which will likely face
pushback from Congressional Republicans. The President’s proposal would increase spending
by $400 billion from last year.
The proposal calls for new taxes on wealthy Americans and corporations and using those funds
to help extend Medicare’s solvency by 25 years. The proposed budget increases defense
spending by $26 billion to a total of $842 billion, a 3.2% increase from last year. The Homeland
Security Department would get $4.7 billion to help respond to the migration surge at the U.S.-
Mexico border.
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Additional federal agencies would see double-digit spending boosts including proposed spending
increases to: Agriculture 14%; Commerce 11%; Education and Energy 13.6%; HHS 11.5%;
Interior 9.3%; Justice 5.9%; Labor 11.5%; State 11%; Transportation 6.7%; and Treasury 15%.
The budget brings back some of the administration’s original goals of Build Back Better, to build
off the success of the Inflation Reduction Act. These include additional education, housing, and
climate provisions. The full budget text can be found here: www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/
Highlighted provisions include:
Housing and Housing Assistance
• $59 billion in mandatory funding and tax incentives aimed at increasing the affordable
housing supply, including for extremely low-income households. Includes $10 billion in
mandatory funding to incentivize State, local, and regional jurisdictions to make progress
in removing barriers to affordable housing developments, such as restrictive zoning. The
Budget also includes $10 billion in mandatory funding for a new First-Generation Down
Payment Assistance program. And the Budget expands access to affordable rent through
the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program to well over 200,000 additional households—
including guaranteed assistance for all 20,000 youth who age out of foster care annually
and an incremental expansion to cover the 450,000 extremely low-income (ELI) veteran
families nationwide.
• $4.1 billion for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), building on
the $13 billion provided in the Inflation Reduction Act to reduce energy bills for families,
expand clean energy, transform rural power production, and create thousands of good-
paying jobs for people across rural America. Since the Low Income Household Water
Assistance Program (LIHWAP) expires at the end of 2023, the Budget proposes to expand
LIHEAP funding and allow States the option to use a portion of their LIHEAP funds to
provide water bill assistance to low-income households.
Public Safety
• Continued funding to the President’s comprehensive Safer America Plan, including
funding to put 100,000 additional police officers on our streets for accountable,
community-oriented policing; $19.4 billion over 10 years for crime prevention strategies;
and $5 billion over 10 years for community violence interventions. The Budget also
includes $17.8 billion for DOJ law enforcement, including a total of nearly $2 billion for the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) to expand multijurisdictional
gun trafficking strike forces with additional personnel, increase regulation of the firearms
industry, and implement the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.
• The Budget includes nearly $25 billion for U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The Budget includes funds for CBP to hire
an additional 350 Border Patrol Agents, $535 million for border technology at and between
ports of entry, $40 million to combat fentanyl trafficking and disrupt transnational criminal
organizations, and funds to hire an additional 460 processing assistants at CBP and ICE.
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Climate Resiliency and Disaster Preparedness
• $4.5 billion in clean energy across America. The Budget supports clean energy workforce
development and sustainable infrastructure projects across the country, including $1.8
billion to weatherize and retrofit low-income Americans’ homes.
• More than $24 billion to help build communities’ resilience to floods, wildfires, storms,
extreme heat, and drought brought on by climate change, expand conservation and
ecosystem management, strengthen America’s natural disaster response capabilities,
increase the resilience of rural housing to the impacts of climate change while reducing
rent burdens, and ensure the resilience of our nation’s defense to climate change.
• Increased investment to tackle the Wildfire crisis. FY 2024 budget request for the
Department of the Interior’s (DOI) wildland fire and hazardous fuels management totals
$1.33 billion, and for the Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service’s wildland fire
and hazardous fuels management totals $2.97 billion. These investments are designed to
increase firefighters’ pay, expand firefighting capacity, and enhance support for firefighter
health and wellbeing.
Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization
Federal lawmakers face a September 30, 2023 deadline to reauthorize the Federal Aviation
Administration and the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and Senate
Commerce Committee are working to craft the must-pass legislation. FAA Reauthorization sets
funding levels and policies for FAA programs and grants, including policy around air traffic
operations, airport improvement grants, and NextGen technology. Finding remedies for flight
disruptions, aging technology, and cramped seating, and managing new entrants into the airspace
will be at the center of the debate.
House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Sam Graves (R-MO) has set an
aggressive timeline to move FAA Reauthorization legislation, stating in February that he wanted
to bring legislation to the floor of the House of Representatives this July. This timeline would put
the House ahead of the Senate, setting up conference negotiations over August and September,
with likely final action in September or later in the fall. If a deal slips past the September 30
deadline, a short-term extension of current authorizations would be necessary.
CITY OF PALO ALTO | 250 HAMILTON AVENUE, PALO ALTO, CA. 94301 | 650-329-2100
March 10, 2023
The Honorable Rob Bonta
Attorney General, State of California
Department of Justice
P.O. Box 944255
Sacramento, CA 94244-2550
RE: Request from the City of Palo Alto to Investigate the High Cost of Natural Gas Prices
Dear Attorney General Bonta:
As the Mayor of Palo Alto, I want to respectfully request the assistance of your office to
investigate the high costs of natural gas that is having a negative impact on our families, our
energy reduction efforts, and our purchasing authority.
The City of Palo Alto is the only municipality in California that operates a full suite of city-
owned utility services, including water, electric, gas, sewer, refuse, storm drain, and a dark fiber
loop. Natural gas prices were at historic levels in January 2023 and we paid between $4 per
therm and $5 per therm for gas in January 2023 which is approximately four times the $1/therm
rate in January 2022. This is compounded by the recent storms and cold fronts that have brought
rare snow to Santa Clara County, Alameda County, and Marin County, and other locations
throughout the Bay Area.
Even with the City using reserves to mitigate the price increases and not passing the full cost of
January gas through to customers, residents are greatly impacted by these cost increases. We
have received multiple reports of residents with monthly bills exceeding $1,000, which is an
extraordinary hardship.
The City is providing free access to the Home Efficiency Genie program, sharing energy saving
tips, and offering special payment plan arrangements for those who need extra time paying their
winter gas bills for 6 to 8 months. These measures help in this situation but the stability of the
gas rates going forward is more important to ensuring continued financial stability for our
residents.
It is clear that the root causes of these extraordinary prices warrant further examination which is
why we are requesting the assistance of your office. We need the focus of our federal agencies
and State agencies to utilize all investigatory resources on assessing whether market
manipulation, anticompetitive behavior, or other anomalous activities are driving these ongoing
elevated prices in the western gas markets. If it is determined that companies profited
inappropriately, we hope that your office will hold the actors accountable, and ratepayers receive
refunds for these ill-gotten gains.
We expressed our strong support to the Governor for his recent request to the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission (FERC) for immediate attention to the matter of escalating wholesale
CITY OF PALO ALTO | 250 HAMILTON AVENUE, PALO ALTO, CA. 94301 | 650-329-2100
natural gas prices impacting customers in California and other western states. We are grateful for
his leadership and are willing and ready to partner with your office to take the necessary steps to
address high natural gas prices.
Whereas this important matter impacts my city and our region, and also has a negative impact on
the entire state of California.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Lydia Kou
Mayor
City of Palo Alto
The City of Palo Alto’s 2023 Federal and State Legislative Guidelines
Page 1 of 3
These Guidelines reflect and activate the City Council’s priorities; they do not supplant them.
They work to guide staff and the City’s legislative advocates on issues that are important to the
City Council, and likely to become a legislative issue. These Guidelines are not rank- ordered
and are meant to allow for a flexible and quick response by staff and advocates, without the
need to return to the City Council to seek guidance. The Guidelines work in conjunction with
the City Council-approved Advocacy Process Manual and the City Council action to do
“Strategic Weighing in on Issues of Interest” (June 22, 2021 CMR 12344; Minutes).
The below Foundational Principles represent the ideals that form the core of the City’s policy
agenda. The Legislative Guidelines all rise from and strengthen four foundational principles:
1. Protect local revenue sources and prevent unfunded mandates.
2. Protect, seek, and increase funding for programs, projects, and services; pursue grants.
3. Protect and increase local government discretion. Oppose items that preempt or reduce the
authority or ability of local government to determine how to effectively operate local programs,
services, activities, and governance.
4. Protect the health and safety of the community.
The Legislative Guidelines create the framework for organizing the City’s policy interests, while
guiding staff and contracted lobbyists in their advocacy efforts on behalf of the City. The items
below provide direction for the City’s efforts when addressing reasonable government actions.
Transportation
The City supports government action that:
• Deters single occupancy drivers and alleviates local traffic congestion
• Supports local and regional public transportation
• Regulates technology that diverts traffic into residential neighborhoods
• Provides funding for rail grade separations, rail efficiency improvements, and other means
of reducing the local impacts of regional transportation systems
Climate and Environment
The City supports government action that:
• Reduces GHG emissions
• Reduces airplane noise, health impacts, and/or airplane emissions
• Promotes residential and vehicle electrification programs
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• Promotes the use of renewable resources, water conservation, and the flexible use
of existing resources
• Supports a statewide ban on polystyrene containers and packaging materials
• Provides opportunities for staff to work with the San Francisquito Creek Joint Powers
Authority and other regional stakeholders in efforts to improve the creek’s watershed and
floodplain
• Supports efforts to protect local communities from sea level rise and other impacts of
climate change
• Supports proper disposal of recyclables once removed from Palo Alto
• Strengthen and modernize the State and Local electric grids
Financial
The City supports government action that:
• Supports the long-term stability of CalPERS and the ability of local governments to mitigate
and manage with flexibility its pension obligations
• Protects the funding sources and levels of City services
• Provides for COVID-19 related expenses and revenue losses
• Supports the continued deductibility of tax-exempt municipal bonds and the restoration of
Advance Refunding of Tax-Exempt Municipal Bonds
Public Employment
The City supports government action that:
• Preserves local government’s ability to manage its own employment issues, including, but not
limited to hiring, evaluating, disciplining, and/or terminating and negotiating collective
bargaining agreements with employees’ representatives
Technology
The City supports government action that:
• Supports reasonable regulatory efforts surrounding policies regarding cybersecurity,
drones, shared mobility services, returning to Obama-era net neutrality regulations, and
smart city initiatives
Housing
The City supports government action that:
• Supports reasonable housing policies that recognize local autonomy to maintain the local
public process and preserve local government’s ability to determine land use policies and
development standards
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• Provides funding for (a) affordable housing, (b) homelessness, and (c) infrastructure
(such as parks, utilities, roads, and transit) required to support the increased housing
production
• Fosters reasonable ratios between jobs and housing
• Supports the development and implementation of efficient and environmentally sustainable
land use and building practices
Police
The City supports government action that:
• Supports efforts which seek to modify policing services, including but not limited to
alternative public safety models and funding to address community mental health issues,
expansion of requirements regarding police data and rules regarding prior employment
information transparency, and expansion of data and communications including radio
encryption.
Other
The City supports government action that:
• Updates, implements, and refines processes, services, and programs affecting the City. This
includes, but is not limited to, public safety reform efforts and streamlining reporting
mandates
• Protects individual privacy and allows the City to safeguard customer information
• Provides for the equal treatment of all individuals
• Allows the City to support the collaborative work of regional partners, trade associations,
other local governments and organizations, and Joint Powers Authorities
City of Palo Alto (ID # 14913)
City Council Staff Report
Meeting Date: 11/7/2022 Report Type: Action Items
City of Palo Alto Page 1
Title: Policy and Services Committee Recommendation that the City Council
Adopt the 2023 Citywide Legislative Guidelines and Support the Tentative
2023 Legislative Work plan
From: City Manager
Lead Department: City Manager
Recommendation
The Policy and Services Committee recommends that the City Council approve the 2023 Federal
and State Legislative Guidelines (Attachment A) and support the tentative 2023 Legislative
Workplan.
Background
As part of the City’s legislative program, staff and the City’s contracted federal and state
advocates work to identify and analyze potentially impactful legislation and communicate the
City’s public advocacy positions to legislators. The program is guided by the Advocacy Process
Manual, last updated and approved by City Council on January 13, 2020 (CMR #10772).
Additionally, the City Council in June 2021, also reaffirmed the strategy desired for the City’s
legislative actions. That reaffirmation is shown in the staff report (CMR #12344; Minutes) from
June 22, 2021. The overall decision was to continue the strategy of Strategically Weighing in on
Issues of Interest to the City in the legislative approach taken by the consultant advocates and
City staff.
The City also maintains a City Council-approved set of legislative guidelines (guidelines) that
provide additional City Council policy direction to staff and the City’s state and federal
legislative advocates. These are reviewed annually. The guidelines were discussed at the Policy
& Services Committee on October 11, 2022 (CMR #14827) and the Committee made a few
suggested changes. Prior to that Policy and Service discussion, the last time the full City Council
approved the Guidelines was on February 7, 2022 (at the same meeting City Council approved
the legislative guidelines for the Utilities Department; CMR 13904; Minutes).
Staff and the legislative advocates often come to Policy and Services Committee and the full
City Council to discuss updates. The last legislative update to the Policy and Services Committee
was on May 10, 2022 (CMR 14379; Minutes).
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Discussion
The Policy and Services Committee reviewed the draft 2023 legislative guidelines and proposed
the guidelines attached in this report as Attachment A. The changes include basic information
such as the year and other technical changes such as a title change to the Environmental
section and the addition of a new bullet point in that section. The changes are clearly shown as
tracked changes in Attachment A.
What are the Legislative Guidelines
The Legislative Guidelines enhance and add content to the City Council’s overarching priorities;
they do not supplant them. The guidelines provide direction to staff and the City’s legislative
advocates on issues that are both (a) important to the City Council, and (b) likely to become a
legislative issue in 2023. The guidelines are not rank ordered and are inte ntionally reasonably
broad rather than specifically narrow to allow for a flexible and quick response.
Further, the guidelines are not proactive instructions; they act as a means by which staff and
advocates can respond to federal and state government action, without returning to the City
Council each time a bill is introduced or amended.
Utilities Legislative Guidelines
The City Council also annually adopts the Utilities Legislative Guidelines after review and
recommendation by the Utilities Advisory Commission. The Commission will make their
recommendations soon, reflecting recent City Council actions and bring the proposed 2023
Utilities Legislative Guidelines for City Council adoption on Consent in early 2023.
Legislative Update
The City’s legislative advocates in Sacramento (Townsend Public Affairs) and legislative
advocates in Washington, D.C. (Van Scoyoc Associates) provided updates in the October 11
2022 Policy and Services Committee. Those reports are available in Attachment B and also
online in the October 11, 2022 Policy and Services Committee packet (CMR #14827).
One bill that has drawn significant attention is AB 2097, which prohibits a city from imposing
parking requirements on developments that are within 1/2 mile of a major public transit stop,
as defined in state law. The bill includes limited exception s in the event a city can make certain
findings, supported by a preponderance of the evidence. To take advantage of these
exceptions, the City would have to develop evidence to support findings that the absence of
parking requirements would have a substantially negative impact on:
1) the City’s ability to meet its share of RHNA for lower income households;
2) the City’s ability to meet special housing needs identified in its housing element for
the elderly or persons with disabilities; or
3) existing residential or commercial parking within one-half mile of the housing
development project.
Of these three options, the third appears to have the broadest applicability; however, it only
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speaks to housing development projects. In other words, this would not be a basis for imposing
parking requirements on commercial projects under AB 2097. In addition, where housing
projects are concerned, AB 2097 provides several exceptions to these exceptions. For housing
projects, a city may not use these findings to impose parking requi rements if: 1) the project
reserves at least 20 percent of its units for moderate income households, students, elderly
persons, or persons with disabilities; 2) the project contains fewer than 20 units; or 3) the
project is subject to other state laws that permit reduced parking. In short, there is only a very
limited class of projects for which the City could utilize findings to impose parking
requirements: large housing projects that do not provide at least 20 percent of units for
moderate income households, students, elderly persons or persons with disabilities.
Tentative Legislative Workplan
To plan for the upcoming legislative session, staff has drafted the following tentative workplan
for City Council awareness, review, and comment.
Resource Impact
There is no resource impact associated with adopting legislative guidelines. Items on the
tentative legislative workplan have costs associated with them such as any potential visits to
Sacramento and Washington, D.C. It is anticipated that should these activities be approved by
the Council, these costs will be supported by the City Council contingent account in FY 2023.
Staff has started the procurement process (request for proposals) for the state and federal
legislative advocacy work. At the appropriate time staff will bring the contracts to City Council
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for review and approval. The City Council has already allocated funds for these contracts and
services.
Stakeholder Engagement
Staff from multiple departments are involved in the legislative process in helping to review the
impacts of bills as well as discussing grant oportunities linked to state and federal programs.
Environmental Review
Approval of the 2023 Federal and State Legislative Guidelines and tentative workplan are not
projects under the California Environmental Quality Act., See CEQA Guidelines section
15378(b)(2) (general policy making activities).
Attachments:
• Attachment12.a: October 11, Legislative Update to Policy & Services Cmte
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