Signed

SB 212 (Jackson) Medical and Sharps Waste Producer Takeback Program: Support – Signed. This law establishes producer funded take back programs to provide safe and convenient disposal options for unused home-generated drugs and medical sharps waste and includes provisions to provide reimbursement to local governments that dispose of medical sharps waste. CSAC supported this legislation because it provides a workable solution to a major public health and solid waste issue.

SB 821 (Jackson) Emergency Notification: Support – Signed. Authorizes counties to enter agreements that give access to the contact information of resident accountholders through the records of public utilities, water service, waste, recycling services, or other property-related service providers for the sole purpose of enrolling county residents in a county-operated public emergency warning system. CSAC supported this legislation because it allows counties to gather and use accurate contact information in the event of an emergency.

SB 833 (McGuire) Guidelines for Emergency Alert and Warning Systems: Support – Signed. This law requires the Office of Emergency Services (OES) to develop voluntary guidelines and practices for alerting and warning the public in the event of an emergency. It allows OES to use the voluntary guidelines as application conditions for distributing grants, and would require OES to provide training about the federal Wireless Emergency Act (WEA) and Emergency Alert System (EAS) to county emergency managers. CSAC supported this bill because local governments must have a variety of tools and methods of emergency communication available in order to improve outcomes in disasters and save lives.

SB 901 (Dodd) Wildfire Protection and Prevention Legislation: Support – Signed. This new law addresses forest management, fire prevention, funding, utility debt management and cost recovery, among other items. CSAC worked closely with the Legislature and Joint Legislative Conference Committee on Wildfire Preparedness and Response in the development of this legislation. CSAC supports the new law because it will protect counties and victims of fires, stabilize rates, and keep our utilities fiscally sound. 

SB 1035 (Jackson) General Plans: Support – Signed. This new requires a local planning agency to review and, if necessary, revise the safety element upon revisions of a housing element or local hazard mitigation plan (LHMP) to identify new information relating to flood and fire hazards, climate adaptation, and resiliency strategies applicable to the city or county that were not available during the previous revision of the safety element. CSAC supported this legislation because it will help local governments learn from and plan for potential environmental impacts and threats.

SB 1079 (Monning) Advance Payment Local Fire Prevention Grants: Support – Signed. This law authorizes the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal FIRE) to issue advance payments of local assistance fire prevention grants and forest health grants to nonprofits, special districts, Native American tribes, and local agencies. Counties and other local entities are critical partners in the effort to make California more resilient against threat of wildfire. Allowing Cal FIRE advanced payment authority would help provide more resources to counties and help get more projects accomplished.

SB 1215 (Hertzberg) Provision of sewer service to disadvantaged communities: Oppose – Signed. This new law authorizes California’s regional water boards to mandate the provision of sanitary sewer services to disadvantaged communities. CSAC was opposed to this measure because its specified consolidation procedure did not adequately address concerns around sanitary sewer costs and due process for local communities.

SB 1260 (Jackson) Prescribed burns:  Support – Signed. This law allows for more prescribed burning operations to abate a fire hazard with certain conditions. It also requires a local planning agency in counties that contain a State Responsibility Area (SRA) or a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone to refer adoptions or amendments of a general plan’s safety element to Cal FIRE and to local fire protection agencies that protect territory where the amendment or adoption will occur. CSAC supported this bill because prescribed burns can help improve forest health and local governments stand to benefit from more coordination with Cal FIRE.

SB 1459 (Cannella) Cannabis Provisional Licenses: Sponsored – Signed. This new law allows state licensing agencies to issue provisional commercial cannabis licenses to businesses that hold a temporary state license for the same premises and the same activity, and that have an application pending with a local jurisdiction. This will also allow local jurisdictions additional time to review pending commercial cannabis applications at the local level, and to complete the environmental review process.

AB 1956 (Limon) Fire Prevention Local Assistance Grant Program: Support – Signed. This new law requires Cal FIRE to establish a local assistance grant program for fire prevention activities and would allow for advance payments of awarded grants to local governments and other agencies. Counties are strong partners in California’s continuing efforts to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire through various forest management and fire prevention projects.

Vetoed

AB 2908 (Berman) Tire Recycling Program and Fee: Support – Vetoed. This bill would have created the Tire Recycling Incentive Program to increase tire recycling and reduce the illegal dumping of waste tires by placing a fee on the sale of new tires to fund recycling incentives. CSAC supported this bill because local government paving programs have the potential to use significantly more recycled tires in the place of traditional asphalt. This could have helped produce roads that are quieter and safer, and that last significantly longer with a smaller carbon footprint than traditional asphalt.

Signing and veto request letters to the Governor can be found on the CSAC legislative tracking website.