Top environmental bills still in play this year

By Melissa Sparks-Kranz, legislative advocate (environmental quality)

The Legislature is reconvening next week for the final month of session, with many of Cal Cities' major environmental priorities still on the table. Several bills would positively impact cities but may create new costs for the state. That makes it likely that they will either be held for the year or put on the chopping block entirely. Now is the time for city officials to elevate their voices and help push this critical legislation to the Governor's desk.

Sponsored measures advance amid fiscal concerns

Cal Cities sponsored three bills this year that would help cities better prepare for disasters and become more climate resilient. Two of the measures are still progressing with strong support.

AB 846 (Connolly) would provide a streamlined path to obtain environmental permits in high fire-risk areas for wildfire preparedness programs. AB 996 (Pellerin) would provide support to coastal and bay cities for now-required sea level rise plans. Both bills are on the Senate Appropriations Committee's suspense file due to cost concerns.

However, a Senate policy committee held the third sponsored bill, AB 262 (Caloza), due to the potential impact on state funding. The measure would create safeguards in the state's disaster assistance should federal disaster aid become unavailable. The bill was held at the request of the author due to cost concerns amid federal proposals to eliminate FEMA, but could come back next year.

Another key priority is to help cities fund and modernize essential infrastructure. The Cal Cities-sponsored SB 454 (McNerney) would create a mitigation fund to help cities and water agencies remove forever chemicals from water supplies. Such infrastructure is costly, but necessary - especially given that new federal drinking water standards will take effect in the coming years. new federal drinking water standards will take effect in the coming years.

SB 454 has sailed through the Legislature with bipartisan support and is now on the Assembly Appropriations' suspense file. Cal Cities is urging lawmakers to take into account the 2024 climate bond, which earmarked money for PFAS remediation projects and could serve as the initial infusion of money.

Warehouse clean-up bill still a work in progress

The promised changes to last year's late gut-and-amend warehouse bill are also still in play. The bill created restrictions on new or expanding warehouses and a sweeping, costly statewide mandate that requires all cities to update their circulation elements to account for these changes - including truck movement.

Lawmakers introduced twin bills, AB 735 (Carrillo) and SB 415 (Reyes), as clean-up measures. So far, Cal Cities secured the following changes:

• Give cities with 50,000 or fewer residents and counties with 100,000 or fewer residents until 2035 to complete the required circulation element updates. This would benefit smaller jurisdictions with fewer resources.
• Revise the bill's definition of local roads to prevent warehouse development near sensitive receptors.

  However, the authors have not yet addressed several requests, including:

• Prevent penalties to local governments that are working in good faith to follow the law.
• Allow local governments to develop a plan or ordinance rather than mandating a truck traffic update in the circulation element.
• Completely exempt a city or county from the circulation element update if it is not approving new or expanded logistics use projects in its community. If that changes, the city or county would need to update its circulation element according to the law.
• Clarify that the circulation element update does not trigger in that same timeframe as existing law, which already requires local governments to update their circulation elements with proactive measures for bicyclists and pedestrians. This lack of clarity increases the likelihood that cities will be fined because they must now complete two circulation element updates within strict timelines.

Cal Cities is working with the authors' offices on these remaining issues and will provide an update as negotiations progress.

CEQA reform changes?

The recent CEQA reform included in the budget deal is already garnering requests for clean-up among environmentally friendly lawmakers. The end of session may include some clean-up language, but what that looks like remains to be seen.

What's next?

Lawmakers have until late August to get any measures out of appropriations and onto the floor for a full, final vote. The final day for lawmakers to send bills to the Governor's desk is Sept. 12. Cities can click on the links in each bill for sample letters for all pending measures.