Strong government-to-government relations are critical to
preserving and expanding essential services to mutual
constituents. CSAC recognizes and respects the tribal right of
self-governance to provide for tribal members and to preserve
traditional tribal culture and heritage. CSAC is committed to
promoting and supporting the development of positive working
relationships between counties and tribes to the mutual benefit
of both parties and the communities they respectively serve.
The Biden-Harris Administration today opened applications for the
Electric Vehicle Charger Reliability and Accessibility
Accelerator which will provide up to $100 million in Federal
funding to repair and replace existing but non-operational,
electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure.
AB 400 by Assemblymember Rubio is now enrolled and on its way
to the Governor’s Desk. This is a CSAC-sponsored bill that would
extend the sunset date in existing law which allows counties to
continue using the design-build procurement process.
This bill would allow counties to continue using this method
until January 1, 2031.
The California Transportation Commission will host the second
2025 Active Transportation Program Kick-Off Workshop for
guideline development on Thursday, September 14, 2023,
from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. The workshop will be held at
the Butte County Association of Governments and via Zoom.
Participants unable to attend in person can participate via Zoom.
Please register
here.
Copy from the Caltrans Division of Local Assistance
The Caltrans Division of Environmental Analysis/Cultural Studies
Office is surveying local and regional agencies in an effort to
establish more consistent statewide policies regarding the
participation and reimbursement of California Native American
Tribes (Tribes) in project environmental and cultural studies,
including tribal monitoring of transportation activities.
The California Department of Housing and Community Development
(HCD) will be releasing the draft 2022-23 Consolidated
Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER) for public
comment on September 1, 2023.
The Institute for Local Government (ILG), in partnership
with the California State Association of Counties,
California Special Districts Association, and the League
of California Cities is conducting a survey to better
understand the impacts and opportunities
the Advanced
Clean Fleet (ACF) regulations may have on your
city, county, or special district agency.
The Department of Transportation (Caltrans) Division of Local
Assistance (DLA) has been collaborating with the Federal Highway
Administration (FHWA) to reduce the number of inactive projects
especially those that have not been reimbursed for 24 months or
greater with an unexpended federal funds of $50,000 or more.
Local agencies are expected to invoice Caltrans regularly for
projects in accordance with Code of Federal Regulations 23
CFR 630.106.
The California Department of Housing and Community Development
(HCD) announced that amendment language will be added to the
2015-2020 Consolidated Plan (Con Plan) to adjust the State’s
allocation approach to the Community Development Block Grant
Coronavirus grant program (CDBG-CV).
HCD invites stakeholders to fill out a survey to share their
vision for how the state can refine its approach to Affirmatively
Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH).
As you fill out the survey, HCD asks counties to consider what it
looks like to AFFH across different types of neighborhoods and
multiple policy areas. In particular, HCD is looking for feedback
on:
Watch this
1-hour webinar to review the details of the California Air
Resources Board’s (CARB) recently approved Advanced Clean Fleets
(ACF) Rule. This highly impactful mandate requires large
fleet owners, drayage, state, and local government/municipal
fleets to purchase and operate an increasing number of
zero-emission vehicles starting as early as 2024.
The California Department of Housing and Community Development
(HCD) is pleased to announce an updated SB 35 Determination
displaying the California cities and counties that are subject to
streamlined housing approvals for specific housing projects under
Senate Bill 35 (SB 35).
The last day for bills to pass out of the house of origin was
June 2nd. Policy committees resumed on June
5th, meaning that every bill that passed out of the
first house is now in the second house. Any bill that did not
pass out of the house of origin is now a two-year bill. As a
reminder, position letters on legislation must be updated every
time a bill moves to a different committee.
The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is
offering all local public agencies or their designated
representative, who are owners/operators of their roadway system,
the opportunity to apply as a volunteer on a committee of design
experts to advise on improvements to Caltrans design guidance.
The Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Discretionary Grant
Program (CFI Program) application submission deadline has
been extended to June 13, 2023. The new
application due date is posted on the FHWA
website and on
Grants.gov.
The California Department of Housing and Community Development
(HCD) is soliciting ideas and input from the public for ways to
continue to improve the 7th cycle RHNA process and address
California’s housing shortage. This survey is a component of
HCD’s broader stakeholder engagement for the California’s Housing
Future 2040: The Next RHNA initiative.
The State of California Department of Housing and Community
Development (HCD) has posted proposed changes to the 2020 CDBG-DR
Substantial Action Plan Amendment (APA 2) for areas impacted by
2020 Wildfires (FEMA disasters DR-4558 and DR-4569).
HCD will discuss the proposed changes to the Homebuyer
Assistance Program and Multifamily Housing Program for the 2020
CDBG-DR grant in the following public meeting webinars:
Supervisors and county staff throughout the state convened in
Sacramento County for the 2023 CSAC Legislative Conference to
engage, empower and
elevate our collective county voice.
CSAC’s five policy committees – AOJ, AENR, GFA, HHS and HLT
– held important discussions to help steer the Association’s
policy and direction. Below is a recap from each policy
committees’ meeting.
The California Department of Housing and Community Development
(HCD) invites stakeholders to weigh in on continued improvements
to deliver more housing, faster, to communities all across the
state through the Multifamily Finance Super Notice of
Funding Availability (NOFA).
Streamlining the guidelines, application, and release of several
state affordable housing funding resources accelerates the
production and preservation of more affordable housing on our
shared mission to end and prevent homelessness.
The California Department of Housing and Community Development
(HCD) is soliciting ideas and input from the public for ways to
continue to improve the 7th cycle Regional Housing Needs
Allocation (RHNA) process and address California’s housing
shortage. This survey is a component of HCD’s broader stakeholder
engagement for the California’s Housing Future 2040: The Next
RHNA initiative.
The California State Association of Counties, along with the
League of California Cities held a webinar on February
2nd on the requirements of
Solar Access Act (SB 379, Wiener).
The deadline for legislators to introduce proposed legislation
during the first year of the 2022-23 legislative session was last
week. CSAC is currently sponsoring two public works bills,
including
AB 400 (Rubio) and
SB 706 (Caballero).
Congress passed the final budget package for 2023 in late
December, which included a significant provision to make the
American Rescue Plan’s State and Local Fiscal Relief Funds
(SLFRF) more flexible, known as ARPA Flex.
The ARPA Flex provision, which was championed by Senator Alex
Padilla, provides additional flexibility for local
government to spend their allocations of the Coronavirus State
and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds, including:
Nominate a project or program that your city or county has
deployed to preserve and protect the public’s investment in the
local street and road system. Nominations are due by 5:00 pm,
February 3, 2023. Winners will be announced in late February.
Award presentations are currently scheduled during the Cal Cities
Public Works Officers Institute/CEAC Spring Conference, March 9,
2023 in Los Angeles County.
California is exploring an alternative to the gas tax and is
recruiting members of rural and tribal communities to provide
input on the policy idea and take part in the pilot.
The California Department of Housing and Community Development
(HCD) has proposed to modify the text of proposed regulations
that establish the Prohousing Designation Program. Specifically,
HCD is proposing to modify the following sections to title 25,
division 1, chapter 6, subchapter 6.6 of the California Code of
Regulations:
The Governor has convened
a special session of the legislature to examine potential
responses targeted at oil companies to what the administration
believes are unexplainable gas price increases orchestrated by
the industry.
The Governor’s action came in response after five major oil
refiners refused to attend the California Energy Commission’s
hearing on gas price hikes amidst record profits on November
29th.
The California Department of Housing and Community Development
(HCD) in partnership with the Governor’s Office of Planning and
Research (OPR), Strategic Growth Council (SGC), and the
California Air Resources Board (CARB), recently announced
the release of the Final Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA)
and Guidelines for the Higher Impact Transformative (HIT)
Allocation of the Regional Early Action Planning Grant Program of
2021 (REAP 2.0).
CSAC recently reported on the final outcomes of measures that
were approved by the Legislature and delivered to Governor Newsom
for action. To keep counties informed of new laws of interest and
impact, CSAC will publish a series of articles to spotlight those
laws in each policy area. This week, the Housing, Land Use and
Transportation (HLT) policy area provides information on new
laws impacting zoning, parking requirements, and CEQA.
The 2022 Permanent Local Housing Allocation (PLHA) application
deadline has been extended to November 30, 2022.
Jurisdictions throughout California can use this opportunity to
apply for their 2019, 2020, and 2021 available funds. The 2019
PLHA funds have an encumbrance deadline of December 31, 2022 so
if your jurisdiction has not applied for your 2019 funds, it is
critical to apply by that November 30, 2022 deadline or 2019
funds will revert to other uses according to state law.
Last week the Department of Transportation (DOT) launched its
Thriving Communities Program, a $30 million collaboration
between DOT and HUD to help communities access
once-in-a-generation levels of federal infrastructure funding
under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and deliver
transformative projects.
The California Energy Storage Alliance (CESA) is hosting
a Energy
Storage Safety Series looking to advance safe installation of
energy storage devices in California and across the Western US.
The Statewide National Pollutant Discharge
Elimination System (NPDES) Construction Stormwater General
Permit was adopted on September 8, 2022 and will become effective
on September 1, 2023. The newly adopted permit addresses
stormwater from construction activities on sites that disturb one
or more acres of land. The new permit includes implementation
requirements for watersheds with Total Maximum Daily Loads,
dewatering, and passive treatment application, among many other
topics.
US Department of Transportation (USDOT) has published a list of
anticipated dates for Notice of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs) for
key Bipartisan Infrastructure Law programs, including the
Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation (SMART)
Grants Program and Advanced Transportation Technology and
Innovation (ATTAIN) Program. The NOFO list will
be updated periodically with new programs and dates.
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and California
Department of Transportation (Caltrans) would like to help local
public agencies (LPAs) make bundling a routine process for saving
time, money, and resources, especially as additional funds from
the IIJA are rolled out.
FHWA and Caltrans will be hosting a peer exchange
on October 4, 2022, from 8:30 AM – 5
PM and October 5, 2022, from 8:30 AM -
12:30 PM.
The U.S. Joint Office of Energy and Transportation’s signoff on
the California Deployment Plan for the National Electric Vehicle
Infrastructure (NEVI) Program makes an initial $56 million in
funding available to install charging stations throughout the
state.
AB 1932 (Daly) was signed by the Governor on September
19th. AB 1932 is CSAC’s sponsored bill, which extends
the sunset date in existing law which allows counties to enter
into construction manager at risk contracts (known as CMAR
contracts).
The California Department of Transportation Division of
Local Assistance has partnered with Sacramento State’s
College of Continuing Education (CCE) to provide trainings
and technical assistance as part of the Cooperative Training
Assistance Program (CTAP) and Local Technical Assistance Program
(LTAP). These programs provide subsidized, practical training for
transportation professionals in California’s cities, counties,
and regional transportation agencies.
