The Caltrans Division of Local Assistance in partnership with the
Regional Transportation Planning Agencies Group provides a
quarterly statewide webinar. Subjects include information
sharing, local project delivery policies, processes, and
procedures, and facilitating peer-sharing of best-practices. The
free webinar is open to project managers, engineers, and those
that work with local assistance processes for local and tribal
agencies. The webinar will be held on September 8, 2022 at
8:30-11:30 AM.
As state lawmakers debate proposed legislation in the final weeks
of the legislative session, CSAC is monitoring several bills of
interest for counties, including:
DOT recently issued a combined
Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for three major
transportation grant programs funded by the Bipartisan
Infrastructure Law, including the National Infrastructure Project
Assistance Program (MEGA), Infrastructure for Rebuilding America
Program (INFRA) , and the Rural Surface Transportation Grant
Program (RURAL).
CSAC’s sponsored transportation and public works bills have been
moving through the legislative process this week. Both measures
have received bipartisan support, and we appreciate the letters
counties have submitted in support of these bills. Below are
brief updates on the status of AB 2120 (Ward) and AB 1932 (Daly).
As the COVID-19 pandemic affected millions of Americans and
created turmoil for homeowners, the American Rescue Plan Act’s
Homeowner Assistance Fund has granted California $1 billion
in mortgage relief funds to help homeowners who have faced
financial hardships during these times.
As the COVID-19 pandemic affected millions of Americans and
created turmoil for homeowners, the American Rescue Plan Act’s
Homeowner Assistance Fund has granted California $1 billion
in mortgage relief funds to help homeowners who have faced
financial hardships during these times.
The deadline for the Legislature to introduce new bills was last
month, and both the Senate and the Assembly are currently in the
process of referring substantive bill proposals to policy
committees for their consideration. CSAC’s Housing, Land Use and
Transportation team is reviewing several bills that would make
changes to California Environmental Quality (CEQA) law.
The California Department of Housing and Community Development
(HCD) recently released the
2022 Statewide Housing Plan (plan), which is a statutorily
required report that is updated every four years to outline the
state’s housing challenges and strategies to address them over
the next 10 years.
AB 101 (Committee on Budget, 2019) tasked HCD with
designating jurisdictions as “Prohousing” when they demonstrate
policies and strategies to accelerate housing production. In
turn, Prohousing jurisdictions will be awarded additional points
or preference in grant programs, such as the Affordable Housing
and Sustainable Communities, Transformative Climate Communities,
and Infill Incentive Grant programs as well as other state
programs.
The deadline for legislators to introduce bills during the second
year of the 2021-22 legislative session was last week. CSAC is
sponsoring
AB 2120 (Ward) and
AB 1932 (Daly)—two transportation and public works bills—and
encourages all counties to express their support for these bills.
California recently launched the California Mortgage Relief
Program to provide one-time payments to qualified homeowners
who have fallen behind on their housing payments or to reverse
missed payments of up to $80,000 as part of the state’s Housing
is Key initiative. The $1 billion in federal funding for this
program comes from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.
UCLA Extension’s annual one-day Land Use Law Planning Conference
will be held on Friday, January 21, 2022from 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Due to the
spread of the COVID-19 Omicron variant, the conference will be
completely virtual, an in-person option will no longer be
available.
The Conference will include a big-picture view of land use law
and planning practice, updates on core state and federal case law
and legislation, as well as practice pointers on basic land use
law and planning issues.
The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) will
be hosting a workshop on the Clean California Local Grant
Program to discuss common questions related to the application
process on Wednesday, January 12 from 1:30 – 3:00
p.m.
Caltrans developed the Clean California Local Grant Program as
part of the nearly $1.1 billion Clean California Program created
pursuant to
AB 149, the transportation budget trailer bill.
The Legislature reconvened for the second year of the 2021-22
legislative session this week, and members have already started
to amend and introduce proposed legislation. Below are a couple
of two-year bills that were recently significantly amended into
land use and solar permitting measures.
The Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development has
released updated electric vehicle charging station permit
streamlining guidance to include recently passed electric vehicle
charging station (EVCS) permit streamlining law
AB 970. AB 970 builds on the State’s existing permit
streamlining law, adding timelines for EVCS application review
and approval.
The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) developed
the Clean California Local Grant Program as part of the nearly
$1.1 billion Clean California Program created pursuant to
AB 149, the transportation budget trailer bill.
The two-year Clean California Local Grant Program includes
approximately $296 million for communities to beautify and
improve local streets and roads, tribal lands, parks, pathways,
and transit centers to restore pride in public spaces.
UCLA Extension’s annual one-day Land Use Law Planning Conference
will be held on Friday, January 21, 2022from 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Attendees will
have the option to join the Conference virtually or in-person at
the Omni Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles.
The Conference will include a big-picture view of land use law
and planning practice, updates on core state and federal case law
and legislation, as well as practice pointers on basic land use
law and planning issues.
Governor Newsom met the October 10 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 and land use, permitting, transportation,
and Tribal Intergovernmental Relations.
October 10 was the deadline for final bill action by Governor
Newsom. Following is an update on major bills of interest or
concern for the Housing, Land Use, and Transportation policy area
that were among the 800+ bills awaiting action by Governor Gavin
Newsom. For additional questions, please contact Chris Lee or Marina Espinoza.
Earlier updates on signings and vetoes of Housing, Land Use, and
Transportation bills were included in these editions of the CSAC
Bulletin:
Governor Newsom signed several bills of interest to the Housing,
Land Use, and Transportation Policy Committee over the last week.
Below are brief summaries of several housing and tribal relations
bills relevant to counties. CSAC will provide more detailed
summaries of all new laws in the Housing, Land Use, and
Transportation policy area after the signing period ends on
October 10.
Both chambers of the Legislature adjourned before 9 p.m. last
Friday night, bringing an end to the 2021 session. Following
is an update on major bills of interest or concern for
the Housing, Land Use and Transporation policy area that are
now among the 800+ bills awaiting action by Governor Gavin
Newsom. CSAC staff will continue to monitor and advocate for
County priorities during the signing period, which ends
October 10, 2021.
The Assembly and Senate Appropriations Committees held their
Suspense File hearings yesterday, determining which bills with
high costs attached to them would move out of the committees and
onto the Senate and Assembly floors. Below are brief summaries of
the actions the committees took on several housing, land use and
transportation bills.
CSAC and the League of California Cities (Cal Cities) shared
the results of our 2020 California
Statewide Local Streets and Roads Needs Assessment
Report (Needs Assessment) in a
webinaron Wednesday, August 25 at 10 a.m. The
Needs Assessment is a comprehensive analysis of California’s
local roads and bridges—including essential components like
sidewalks, bike lanes, signals, and storm drains.
Join the California State Association of Counties and the League
of California Cities for an informational webinar on
Wednesday, August 25 from 10 – 11
AM to share the results of the 2020 Local Streets
and Roads Needs Assessment Report, which will be released in
August.
The summary below includes active housing, land use,
transportation, and tribal relations bills for which CSAC has
taken a formal position. The Legislature will adjourn for Summer
Recess today after spending the last few weeks holding policy
committee hearings to meet the July 14 deadline for bills to be
passed by policy committees. The Legislature will reconvene on
Monday, August 16. In the meantime, CSAC staff will continue to
work with legislative staff to address our remaining issues on
measures listed below.
The California Department of Housing and Community Development
(HCD) released the application
for its prohousing designation program upon approval of emergency
regulations for the program this week. Local governments that
receive this designation will be awarded extra points in several
state grant programs related to housing and transportation.
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.
