The California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA) has released
the draft
Climate Action Plan for Transportation Infrastructure
(CAPTI). The CAPTI is designed to implement the Governor’s
Climate Change Executive Order (N-19-19) and describes
CalSTA’s draft plans to invest discretionary transportation funds
to address climate change and promote public health, safety, and
equity.
CSAC is pursuing additional federal funding for county
transportation priorities, including local bridge, safety, and
active transportation projects, at both the federal and state
levels.
The Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development
(GO-Biz) recently launched
“The Permitting Olympics” in an effort to encourage local
governments to comply with streamlined approval requirements for
electric vehicle charging (EV) stations.
The Legislature today approved
SB 91 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review). The bill
represents the agreement the Governor and Legislative
leaders reached on federal rental assistance funding and
COVID-19 eviction limitations earlier this week. As
legislation to implement the budget, the bill
will take immediate effect upon the Governor’s
signature.
Governor Newsom’s budget
proposal for Fiscal Year 2021-22 includes a discussion of the
Administration’s ongoing work to implement Executive Order
N-19-19 through the creation of the “Climate Action Plan for
Transportation Infrastructure,” or “CAPTI.” While much of the
description in the budget document will be familiar to counties,
a new detail is the target date of July 15, 2021 for developing
the plan.
The Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR) has released
a technical advisory for the implementation of
AB 168 (Chapter 166, Statutes of 2020), which required lead
agencies considering ministerial approval of housing development
pursuant to SB 35 to consult with California Native American
tribes.
The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) will be
hosting its first-ever
Innovation Expo in November. This five-day virtual conference
will include 22 live sessions showcasing over 40 innovation
presentations. The Conference Exhibit Hall will showcase posters,
white papers, videos, and fact sheets of 25 additional
innovations.
This year, a new law went into effect, SB 234 (Chapter 244,
Statutes of 2019), that aims to increase the availability of
family child care homes. The sponsor of the legislation, the
Child Care Law Center, reached out to CSAC to share resources
with counties regarding the implementation of this law.
SB 234 makes various changes regarding licensing and zoning for
family child care homes, including several that directly impact
county regulations. These include:
Governor Newsom met the September 30 deadline to take action on
measures approved by the Legislature and delivered to his desk.
To keep counties informed of new laws that impact them, CSAC will
be publishing a series of articles to spotlight those laws in
each policy area. This week, the Housing, Land Use and
Transportation policy area provides information on new laws
affecting housing, land use, transportation, and tribal gaming.
The new laws listed below become effective January 1, 2021 unless
otherwise noted.
CSAC has filed and served comments in response to an email ruling
issued by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC)
Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) on September 3, which asked
parties to comment on several issues related to the CPUC Staff
Proposal for the Rule 20 utility undergrounding tariff program,
in light of recent developments related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Following the passage of AB 3088, the Tenant, Homeowner, and
Small Landlord Relief and Stabilization Act of 2020, the
California Department of Real Estate has developed a host of
resources for local governments and communities under the
HousingIsKey.com
umbrella. Learn more about AB 3088 from this recent
Bulletin article.
The California Transportation Commission (CTC) will host three
Expenditure Report Technical Training Webinar sessions in October
to assist agencies with the annual reporting process for the
Local Streets and Roads Funding Program for Fiscal Year 2019-20
(Cycle 3), which will open in the CalSMART system on Tuesday,
October 20.
Trainings will focus on the expenditure reporting process, report
criteria, navigation of the CalSMART reporting system and will
include a live demonstration in CalSMART.
Facing a midnight deadline to pass most bills, the Legislature
finished its 2019-2020 session in the early morning hours on
Tuesday. Like all sectors in California, the Legislature’s year
was marked by considerable challenges resulting from the COVID-19
pandemic, including extended recesses when statewide lockdown
measures were first imposed and when two Assembly Members were
diagnosed with COVID-19 in the summer.
The Legislature concluded the second year of the 2019-20
legislative session earlier this week. One of the most noteworthy
housing bills that passed both the Senate and Assembly on the
last night of session was
AB 3088 (Chiu), a COVID-related tenant and landlord
protection measure that was quickly signed by the Governor after
it arrived at his desk that same night.
The California Department of Housing and Community Development
(HCD), in partnership with its technical assistance contractors,
will be holding a virtual community workshop on conducting public
engagement when updating the sixth cycle housing element on
Tuesday, September 1, 2020 from 1:30pm – 3pm.
HCD will discuss guidance and best practices on conducting public
engagement as well as creative strategies to engage the public on
housing topics during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Governor Newsom recently signed tribal-state gaming compacts with
six tribes. The Governor also concurred with the U.S. Department
of the Interior’s decision to allow 40 acres in Tulare County to
be placed in trust for the Tule River Indian Tribe of California
in order to relocate the Tribe’s casino. In January, the Tulare
County Board of Supervisors approved a memorandum of
understanding with the Tule River Indian Tribe for the Tribe’s
casino relocation project.
The legislative session is drawing to a close as the August 31
deadline for the Legislature to pass bills approaches, and
members are working hard to get their bills out committees and
onto the Senate and Assembly floors. This has been a truncated
session as a result of changes made to legislative deadlines and
to the committee referral process after the Legislature adjourned
for an emergency recess earlier this year.
CSAC has been monitoring measures intended to prevent
homelessness and to protect renters from evictions and homeowners
from foreclosures as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, including
current funding resources available for counties to help prevent
homelessness.
Several housing bills will soon be heard by the Assembly Local
Government Committee or the Senate Housing Committee. CSAC has
been working closely with the authors to encourage amendments to
the following bills consistent with county priorities.
SB 1385 (Caballero)– Housing
in Sites Designated for Commercial Uses: Would
allow housing on qualifying commercially-zoned sites, regardless
of current local zoning.
Legislators have been working to move bills out of policy and
fiscal committees and onto the Senate and Assembly Floors the
past couple weeks to meet the house of origin deadline, which is
June 19 for the Assembly and June 26 for the Senate.
The California Department of Housing and Community Development
recently released the
Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) for approximately $18.7
million in new federal funds for the Community Development Block
Grant Coronavirus Response Round 1 (CDBG-CV1).
These funds are available pursuant to the Coronavirus Aid,
Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Funding is available
on an allocation basis for eligible non-entitlement
jurisdictions.
The Legislature has been holding hearings to consider bills in
policy and fiscal committees since it reconvened from emergency
recess in early May. The number of bills has been pared-back
significantly compared to what’s typical for this time of the
year. And although response to COVID-19 and its economic fallout
has become a key legislative focus, other legislative priorities
also continue to advance. CSAC has been actively tracking several
CEQA-related measures described below with implications for small
water projects, housing, and transportation projects.
Members of the California State Senate convened a housing working
group earlier this the year to develop a bill package to address
the housing shortage in California. Earlier this week, the Senate
housing working group released the Senate Housing Production
Package—a six-plank package aimed at increasing housing
production across the state.
Earlier this week, CSAC filed and served comments in response to
the California Public Utilities Commission’s (CPUC) staff
proposal for revisions to the Rule 20 utility undergrounding
tariff program. The CPUC’s staff proposal is
available here.
The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) recently
revised the Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) CEQA Significance
Determinations for State Highway System Projects Implementation
Timeline Memorandum (Implementation Timing Memo). Caltrans
is also soliciting feedback on the draft Transportation Analysis
Framework (TAF) and Transportation Analysis under CEQA (TAC).
