2023 Legislative Session End-of-Session Wrap-Up
September 15, 2023
Late last evening, the Legislature adjourned for interim recess, concluding the 2023 legislative session, which marks the end of the first year of the two-year 2023-24 legislative cycle. As many have opined, California had a record number of new legislators – over a quarter took the oath for the first time. Along with many new faces, there were significant leadership changes: Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas was sworn in as the new Speaker mid-year and Senate President pro Tempore Toni Atkins announced that she will step down from her leadership post and be replaced by Senator Mike McGuire sometime next year.
Against this backdrop, the Legislature introduced more bills than it has in over a decade (3,028 in total) and during the last week of session, there were more than 700 bills that were still active. This set the table for a feverish final week, with the Legislature determining the fate of a number of bills important to counties, which are summarized by policy area further below. Your CSAC advocacy team remains engaged on a number of these bills that have moved to the Governor’s desk. Governor Newsom has until October 14th to sign or veto these bills.
The amount of legislation impacting counties can be difficult to conceptualize; it is largely a function of counties being the first line of government where members of our communities turn for their most basic needs. Underlining this point is a brief list of some of the legislation impacting counties that was debated during the last week: the Governor’s MHSA proposal; advance payments for the Wildfire Prevention Grants Program; local enforcement against unlicensed cannabis activities; the conveyance of accessory dwelling units from primary residences; conservatorship expansion; supportive housing units; child safety at children’s camps; minimum wage increases for health care workers; two constitutional amendments regarding voter thresholds and bond and tax measures; sympathy strikes and unemployment benefits for striking workers, and; Brown Act teleconferencing procedures during emergencies. Perhaps just as consequential, a deal to prevent the potential collapse of California’s home insurance industry and reform the FAIR Plan, the state’s insurer of last resort, fell apart at the last minute. Assembly Speaker Rivas announced that the Legislature will hold a series of hearings on the issue this fall.
Please reach out to CSAC legislative staff if you have any questions. Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend as we get a bit of respite from the end of session!
ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE
Awaiting Governor’s Action
AB 33 (Bains) Fentanyl Misuse and Overdose Prevention Task Force would, subject to an appropriation, establish the Fentanyl Misuse and Overdose Prevention Task Force to undertake various duties relating to the assessment of the nature and extent of fentanyl misuse in California and the evaluation of approaches to increase public awareness of fentanyl misuse. CSAC supports AB 33 in the development of recommendations to strengthen state and local efforts to prevent fentanyl abuse and death, protect and assist persons who misuse fentanyl or other illicit substances that may contain fentanyl, and develop policy recommendations on the implementation of evidence-based practices to reduce fentanyl overdoses. As an urgency measure, AB 33 would take effect immediately if signed by the Governor.
AB 58 (Kalra) Deferred entry of judgment pilot program would extend the sunset date of the deferred entry of judgment pilot program for Alameda, Butte, Nevada, and Santa Clara counties from January 1, 2024 to January 1, 2026. CSAC supports the extension of the pilot program, which affords transition-age youth (18-25 years of age) greater opportunities to receive age-appropriate – intensive services, coordination, and planning – for employment, housing, and education, in lieu of time incarcerated in the adult system.
AB 505 (Ting) The Office of Youth and Community Restoration would make changes to several key provisions of the 2020 legislation that realigned full responsibility for the juvenile justice continuum to county governments. CSAC, the Chief Probation Officers of California, Rural County Representatives of California, Urban Counties of California, and 33 individual counties are opposed to AB 505 for the following reasons:
- AB 505 disrupts the vital governance principle that responsibility must be accompanied by the authority to implement.
- AB 505 prematurely proposes additional and burdensome changes less than three years after the enactment of juvenile justice realignment, and not even three months after the state Division of Juvenile Justice’s closure.
- AB 505 unnecessarily elongates the local planning process and disrupts the provision of direct service delivery, while creating additional risk and heightened exposure to litigation.
AB 1329 (Maienschein) County jail incarcerated persons: identification card pilot program would authorize the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department and the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to implement a 5-year pilot program, similar to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the DMV’s California Identification Card program, which ensures that eligible incarcerated individuals are provided a valid identification card or driver’s license when they are released from a County of San Diego detention facility. CSAC supports AB 1329 as it builds upon work from 2014 that was developed to meet the foundational needs of individuals reintegrating back into the community.
SB 19 (Seyarto) Fentanyl Misuse and Overdose Prevention Task Force would establish the Fentanyl Misuse and Overdose Prevention Task Force, upon appropriation by the Legislature. This task force would play a critical role in evaluating the nature and extent of fentanyl usage, as well as developing policy recommendations to mitigate the harmful impacts of fentanyl in our communities. CSAC supports SB 19 as the opioid epidemic remains a public health and safety crisis in our communities. SB 19 would evaluate fentanyl misuse public awareness campaigns, measure and evaluate California’s progress in fentanyl overdose prevention, and develop policy recommendations on the implementation of evidence-based practices to reduce overdoses.
SB 75 (Roth) Courts: judgeships would, subject to an appropriation, authorize 26 additional superior court judgeships and require the Judicial Council to allocate the judgeships to the county superior courts, pursuant to specified standards for factually determining judicial need in each county. CSAC supports SB 75 as it is critical that the state funds additional judgeships to meet the caseload demand in every county.
SB 240 (Ochoa Bogh) Surplus state real property: affordable housing and housing for formerly incarcerated individuals would add affordable housing projects intended for formerly incarcerated individuals as a priority in the disposal of state surplus land and provide that these projects are a use by right. CSAC supports SB 240 as it aligns with our AT HOME plan by improving state efforts to increase access to affordable housing options.
AGRICULTURE, ENVIRONMENT, AND NATURAL RESOURCES
Signed By Governor
SB 642 (Cortese) Hazardous materials: enforcement: county counsel will close a loophole to provide county counsels with complete civil enforcement authority over hazardous waste violations, as originally intended by the Legislature. SB 642 will complete the Legislature’s intent by granting county counsels complete civil enforcement authority over hazardous waste violations. The bill was signed by the Governor on September 1 and was co-sponsored by CSAC.
Awaiting Governor’s Action
AB 297 (Fong) Wildfires: local assistance grant program: prescribed grazing: advance payments would extend the sunset deadline on the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’s ability to offer advance payments of up to 25 percent of the total grant reward from its Wildfire Prevention Grants program to January 1, 2034. CSAC supports AB 297.
AB 338 (Aguiar Curry) Fuel reduction work would require, starting July 1, 2026, workers conducting contracted fuel reduction work over $500,000 to be paid at least the general prevailing wage. Recent amendments have improved the bill, including by increasing the scope of the projects required to meet the new requirements. However, as the size, scope, and complexity of landscape level fuel reduction projects continues to grow, and projects include both public and private lands, this legislation would likely still serve as challenge for projects funded by public dollars. CSAC remains opposed to AB 338.
AB 345 (Wilson) Habitat restoration: flood control: advance payments would provide the Department of Water Resources with discretionary authority to utilize an advanced payment option when funding local projects that restore vital habitat and/or improve flood protection. CSAC supports AB 345.
AB 1448 (Wallis) Cannabis: enforcement by local jurisdictions would enhance local enforcement mechanisms against unlicensed cannabis activities and allow a 50/50 state-local split of the statutory penalties recovered in actions brought by local jurisdictions, as originally enacted by the Legislature in the Medical Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act. CSAC supports AB 1448.
Died in Legislature
AB 985 (Arambula) San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District: emission reduction credit system would have required the Air Resources Board to conduct an analysis of the San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District’s emission reduction credit (ERC) banks for air pollutants by January 1, 2027. The bill would have also added a strain to the limited resources on the existing ERC program. CSAC was opposed to this bill. The bill failed passage on the Assembly Floor.
GOVERNMENT FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION
Constitutional Amendments Initiated by the Legislature
ACA 1 (Aguiar-Curry) Local government financing: affordable housing and public infrastructure: voter approval. CSAC supports this constitutional amendment that would reduce the voter threshold from two-thirds to 55 percent for bond and special tax measures that help fund critical infrastructure, affordable housing projects, and permanent supportive housing for persons at risk of chronic homelessness. These changes would create parity for counties and other local governments for voter approval thresholds already granted to school districts. Now that this measure has passed the Legislature, it will go before the California voters on the March 2024 statewide ballot for consideration. Constitutional amendments introduced in the Legislature do not require the Governor’s approval.
ACA 13 (Ward) Voting thresholds. Currently, a simple majority of voters can decide to raise voter approval thresholds for future ballot measures (e.g., to at least two-thirds). CSAC supports this constitutional amendment that would require any future initiative measure that would amend the constitution to increase voter approval requirements by the same proportion of voters. In addition, this measure guarantees in the state constitution the ability of local governments to submit advisory questions to voters. Ultimately, this measure was approved in both houses and is being held at the desk until November 1, 2023 so that it will not be placed on the March 2024 ballot, but instead would be eligible for the November 2024 ballot.
Awaiting Governor’s Action
Government Liability
AB 452 (Addis) Childhood sexual assault: statute of limitations would eliminate the statute of limitations to bring a civil action against an employer, including school districts, public agencies, and others, where there has been a claim against an employee of that organization for alleged child sexual abuse. Even with the clarification that the bill is intended to be applied prospectively, this measure would create significant, unpredictable, and unsustainable fiscal pressures for counties exposed to this liability. Notwithstanding our commitment to the safety and wellbeing of California’s children and fair and reasonable compensation for victims of sexual assault, CSAC remains opposed to this measure in the interest of fiscal sustainability and long-term responsible stewardship of public funding for essential services and programs.
Labor and Workers’ Compensation
AB 504 (Reyes) State and local public employees: labor relations: strikes would declare the acts of sympathy striking and honoring a strike line a human right, disallowing provisions in public employer policies or collective bargaining agreements going forward that would limit or prevent an employee’s right to sympathy strike. AB 504 would upend the current collective bargaining processes which allows striking only in specified limited circumstances. CSAC remains opposed to this measure.
AB 1484 (Zbur) Temporary public employees would mandate that temporary employees must be included within the same bargaining unit as permanent employees. AB 1484 includes requirements that would be difficult, if not impossible, for public employers to fulfill, including provisions that conflict with existing law for permanent employees. While the coalition was successful in getting amendments to the grievance process, there are still concerns with the current definition of a seasonal employee. CSAC remains opposed to this measure.
SB 553 (Cortese) Occupational safety: workplace violence: restraining orders and workplace violence prevention plan would require employers, including public employers, to create workplace violence prevention plans with several specified, prescriptive elements. Despite amendments made to the bill on the Assembly floor to modify and refine the provisions of the bill, CSAC’s concerns regarding how this bill would circumvent existing requirements for workplace protections and the deliberative, stakeholder-inclusive regulatory process remain unaddressed. CSAC remains opposed to this bill.
SB 623 (Laird) Workers’ compensation: post-traumatic stress disorder would significantly expand California’s current workers’ compensation presumption for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to public safety dispatchers and communications workers. While acknowledging the merits of this bill and the contributions of dispatchers and emergency communications workers to our society, CSAC remains opposed to this measure on the basis that there is no evidence that the workers’ compensation system is failing to provide benefits for the employees contemplated under this measure.
SB 799 (Portantino) Unemployment insurance: trade disputes: eligibility for benefits would allow striking workers to draw unemployment benefits after two weeks of strike action. If SB 799 were to become law, a broad coalition of local governments anticipate longer lengths of impasse, higher costs associated with protracted Public Employee Relations Broad proceedings, and a decline in the quality of public services. CSAC remains opposed to this measure.
SB 525 (Durazo) Minimum wages: health care workers would have raised the minimum wage broadly across the health care sector to $21 per hour commencing on June 1, 2024, then raising to $25 per hour after June 1, 2025, and increasing wages by the lesser of 3.5% or by inflation based on the Consumer Price Index every year thereafter and requiring salaried workers to make 150% of the health care minimum wage, creating a new base salary of $78,000 per year. After meetings with legislators, the Governor’s office, Department of Finance, Department of Health Care Services, and negotiating with the author and sponsor (SEIU California), SB 525 was significantly amended to lessen the impact to counties. Public health was deleted from the bill. SB 525 now applies to county hospitals, clinics (with county clinics exempted from the clinic provisions in the bill), mental health, and correctional health.
Also, the increases will be implemented on a phased in approach, tiered by employer and county population size:
- Early adoption: For any covered health care facility employer with 10,000 or more full-time equivalent employees or a covered health facility owned, affiliated, or operated by a county with a population of more than 5,000,000 as of January 1, 2023, the minimum wage will be raised to $23 per hour from June 1, 2024, to May 31, 2025, $24 per hour from June 1, 2025, to May 31, 2026, and $25 per hour starting on June 1, 2026.
- Late adoption: For any covered health care facility owned, affiliated, or operated by a county with a population of less than 250,000 as of January 12, 2023, the minimum wage for covered health care employees will increase to $18 per hour from June 1, 2024, to May 31, 2033, but won’t get to $25 per hour until June 1, 2033. County hospitals with a high governmental payor mix fall into this tier.
- For all other covered health care facility employers (county population size 250,000 to 5,000,000), the minimum wage for covered health care employees will increase to $21 per hour from June 1, 2024, to May 31, 2026, $23 per hour from June 1, 2026, to May 31, 2028, and won’t get to $25 per hour until June 1, 2028.
- For exempt/salaried employees, salaries must be 150% or 1.5 times the health care minimum wage above or 200% of the state minimum wage.
- The 3.5% adjuster remains in the bill but following negotiations, it won’t kick in until the facility gets to $25 per hour (and won’t be required if there was negative growth).
- For counties with hospitals, if the hospital and county are in different tiers (the county population size requires them to go in one tier, but the hospital payor mix requires them to go in a different tier), the hospital follows the specified facility tier while the rest of the county follows the population-based tier.
Counties have the ability to delay implementing these provisions until January 1, 2025. After the amendments lessened the impact to counties, CSAC removed opposition.
Retirement and Pensions
AB 1020 (Grayson) County Employees Retirement Law of 1937: disability retirement: medical conditions: employment-related presumption would change the County Employees Retirement Law of 1937 by expanding the scope of medical conditions and employment-related presumptions for a disability retirement for firefighters, members in active law enforcement, and public safety members who have completed five years or more of service and that arise out of and in the course of employment. Employees are currently provided with fair access to the workers’ compensation system for injuries and this bill would add considerable new costs for public employers at a time when local budgets are facing significant headwinds. As such, CSAC remains opposed to this bill.
The Brown Act
AB 557 (Hart) Open meetings: local agencies: teleconferences would eliminate the sunset date for the authority for local agencies to use teleconferencing without complying with specified teleconferencing requirements during a proclaimed state of emergency. CSAC is a proud co-sponsor of this measure, which would preserve an effective tool for local agencies to efficiently and effectively conduct the public’s business while facing emergencies.
Elections
AB 764 (Bryan) Local redistricting would require counties and other local governments to comply with uniform requirements related to redistricting, and would require local governments to adopt district boundaries, using specified criteria, following the decision to establish district-based elections, and following each federal decennial census. CSAC removed opposition after securing amendments that addressed previous concerns and now has a neutral position on this measure.
AB 1248 (Bryan) Local redistricting: independent redistricting commissions would require counties with populations of 300,000 or above to create an independent redistricting commission for the 2030 redistricting process and each decennial redistricting process thereafter. As the bill does not provide the necessary resources for counties to execute a successful independent redistricting commission process, CSAC remains opposed to this measure unless amended, amongst other amendments, to fully reimbursed for costs and limit the scope of the bill in 2031 to those cities and counties with populations of 500,000 or more.
Broadband and Cybersecurity
AB 1637 (Irwin) Local government: internet websites and email addresses would require cities and counties to secure and migrate to a new .gov or .ca.gov domain along with all corresponding email addresses without necessarily resulting in any new protections against cybersecurity threats or consumer protections against misinformation and would impose significant costs on local governments. While the coalition was successful in getting the original implementation date pushed back from 2025 to 2029, CSAC remains opposed to this measure.
HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Awaiting Governor’s Action
AB 386 (Nguyen) California Right to Privacy Act is sponsored by the County Welfare Directors Association and would assist Adult Protective Services (APS) in effectively investigating allegations of abuse by extending the period for which APS can request records. The bill would also expand the type of items that APS can request from a bank or financial institution to include information regarding newly issued cards, changes of addresses, and information regarding trusts or Powers of Attorney. AB 386 would give APS the necessary tools to fulfill its obligation to protect seniors and disabled adults from the growing threat of financial abuse. CSAC supports AB 386.
AB 1057 (Weber) California Home Visiting Program is sponsored by the County Health Executives Association of California (CHEAC), and would give additional flexibility to local health jurisdictions to administer more Home Visiting Programs in order to address the unique needs of their communities. The bill would require the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) to add at least one new evidence-based home visiting model by January 1, 2025, and would give local health jurisdictions the opportunity to submit an alternative home visiting model to CDPH for approval. Additionally, AB 1057 would permit local health jurisdictions the opportunity to supplement home visiting with mental health supports and training. CSAC supports AB 1057.
SB 35 (Umberg) Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment (CARE) Court Program is an urgency measure that would serve as a clean-up bill to the CARE Act and make necessary clarifications and changes in order for counties and other stakeholders to implement the CARE Act ahead of the start date of October 1, 2023, for the first cohort of counties. CSAC is in support of recent amendments to this bill, which provide limited authority to county behavioral health agencies to disclose medical and mental health information to the court.
SB 43 (Eggman) Behavioral health would expand the definition of “gravely disabled” under the Lanterman-Petris-Short (LPS) Act, which provides for the involuntary detention and/or conservatorship and treatment of individuals, to include individuals with a severe substance use disorder (SUD) condition without a co-occurring mental health diagnosis. The bill would authorize counties, by adoption of a resolution of its governing body, to elect to defer implementation of the changes in SB 43 until January 1, 2026. CSAC has a position of “Concerns” on SB 43.
SB 326 (Eggman) The Behavioral Health Services Act would, along with AB 531, make up the Governor’s two-bill legislative package to modernize the state’s behavioral health system, including amendments to the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) that was passed by the voters nearly 20 years ago. The changes proposed in SB 326 would have a considerable and long-term impact on how funds are allocated to support the provision of services in our communities. The last set of amendments make progress and reflect improvements in certain areas of previously expressed county concerns as outlined in the joint letter to Governor Newsom.
AB 531 (Irwin) The Behavioral Health Infrastructure Bond Act of 2023 would, if approved by the voters at the March 5, 2024 statewide primary election, authorize the issuance of $6.38 billion in general obligation bonds to finance loans or grants for the acquisition of capital assets for the conversion, rehabilitation, or new construction of permanent supportive housing and behavioral health infrastructure. The bill specifies $1.5 billion of the total to be awarded specifically to cities, counties, and tribes across the continuum of behavioral health treatment resources. One of the bill’s provisions which is not subject to voter approval is the repeal of the sunset date of the Behavioral Health Continuum Infrastructure Program (BHCIP), thereby making it a permanent program. CSAC maintains a Support in Concept position.
Two-Year Bills
AB 262 (Holden) Children’s camps: safety and regulation would direct the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) to establish a workgroup to develop recommendations and a report to the Legislature pertaining to child safety at children’s camps. Previous versions of the measure would have inappropriately assigned the responsibility to regulate child supervision and safety at children’s camps to local health departments. After working with the author, AB 262 instead directs CDSS to lead a stakeholder process to identify entities with expertise to oversee these camps. CSAC joined a coalition in support of AB 262. However, the measure was moved to the inactive file on the Assembly Floor and may be brought back next year.
AB 1168 (Bennett) Emergency medical services (EMS): prehospital EMS would seek to overturn case law record that has repeatedly affirmed county responsibility for the administration of emergency medical services and could ultimately result in fragmented and inequitable delivery of emergency medical services. CSAC joined a coalition in opposition to AB 1168. The bill was moved to the inactive file on the Senate Floor and may be brought back next year.
HOUSING, LAND USE, AND TRANSPORTATION
Awaiting Governor’s Action
AB 400 (Rubio) Local agency design-build projects: authorization would allow local governments to continue the utilization of existing state law which allows them to use the Design-Build (DB) procurement process for qualifying public works contracts in excess of $1 million using either a low bid or best value process. This bill would achieve this by extending the existing January 1, 2025 sunset date to January 1, 2031 on the statutory DB authority. AB 400 is CSAC’s sponsored legislation.
AB 1033 (Ting) Accessory dwelling units: local ordinances: separate sale or conveyance would authorize a local agency to adopt a local ordinance to allow ADUs to be sold separately or conveyed from the primary residence. CSAC is in support of this bill.
SB 4 (Wiener) Planning and zoning: housing development: higher education institutions and religious institutions would establish that an affordable housing development is a use by right (i.e., not subject to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) or other discretionary review by the relevant city or county) on infill sites owned by a church or non-public college. CSAC is in support of this bill.
SB 91 (Umberg) California Environmental Quality Act: exemption: supportive and Transitional housing: motel conversion: environmental leadership transit projects would permanently extend existing law that allows for a motel, hotel, residential hotel, or hostel that is converted into a supportive housing or a transitional housing project to be exempt from CEQA. CSAC is in support of this bill.
SB 482 (Blakespear) Multifamily Housing Program: supportive housing: capitalized operating reserves would allow the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) to offer capitalized operating reserves to be used for eligible projects, and that assisted units may include, but not be limited to, supportive housing units funded by the Multifamily Housing Program. To determine project eligibility for capitalized operating reserves, the bill would authorize HCD to consider specified factors, including the availability of funds and the individual financial needs of the project. The bill would require HCD to offer capitalized operating reserves to supportive housing units after developers have sought capitalized reserves from other potential funding sources. CSAC is in support of this bill.
SB 706 (Caballero) Public contracts: progressive design-build: local agencies would allow counties, cities, and special districts to use the progressive design-build (PDB) project delivery method for construction contracts. Until January 1, 2030, the bill authorizes local agencies to use the PDB process for up to 10 public works projects in excess of $5 million for each project. This is a CSAC co-sponsored bill.
Two-Year Bill
SB 450 (Atkins) Housing development: approvals. For some background, SB 9 (Atkins) (Chapter 162, Statutes of 2021) allowed up to four homes on lots where currently only one exists. It did so by allowing existing single-family homes to be converted into duplexes, it also allowed single-family parcels to be subdivided into two lots, while allowing for a new two-unit building to be constructed on the newly formed lot. SB 450 amends SB 9 and would establish a ministerial approval or denial of an application for a duplex or a lot split and remove the ability of a local agency to deny a proposed duplex or lot split because the local agency has found that it would have a specific, adverse impact on the physical environment. CSAC is in support of this bill.
Signed by the Governor
AB 356 (Mathis) California Environmental Quality Act: aesthetic impacts extends the sunset date of a provision in CEQA stating that lead agencies are not required to evaluate the aesthetic effects of a project involving the refurbishment, conversion, repurposing, or replacement of an existing building that is abandoned, dilapidated, or has been vacant for more than one year and which includes the construction of housing. CSAC supported this bill.
AB 1307 (Wicks) California Environmental Quality Act: noise impact: residential projects specifies that noise generated by occupants is not a significant effect on the environment for residential projects for purposes of CEQA. CSAC supported this bill.