LEGISLATION COMMITTEE
Meeting Date: December 9, 2024
Subject: Draft 2025-26 State Legislative Platform
Submitted For: Legislation Committee
Department: County Administrator
Presenter: E. Struthers and L. DeLaney
Contact: (925) 655-2045
Referral History:
The Legislation Committee annually reviews and considers the draft State and Federal Legislative Platforms prior to their proposal to the Board of Supervisors for adoption. The adopted Legislative Platforms of the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors are available on the County website: <https://www.contracosta.ca.gov/2859/Legislation>.
Referral Update:
In 2020, the County shifted its State and Federal Legislative Platforms from one to two-year documents running concurrently with the legislative and congressional sessions. With the start of new sessions anticipated in January 2025, the County Administrator's Office, which is responsible for coordinating the development of the Platforms, launched the Platform development process for 2025-26 in the fall of 2024.
To date, the Legislative Platform development process has included the following steps:
1. Board members, County Department Heads, and/or senior staff were invited to meetings with the County's federal and state lobbyists to discuss the department’s legislative and regulatory priorities, sponsored bill proposals, and policy interests.
2. Department Heads and their senior staff were requested to solicit input from any Board-established advisory bodies for which they provide staff support. They were also requested to provide the legislative priorities and principles of the professional associations to which they belong.
3. Policy positions, when included in the Platform, were requested to be refashioned to “principles.” This is intended to streamline the documents, moving away from program, project, or legislation-specific policy statements and toward more general principles. Principles are more basic than policy and objectives and are meant to govern both.
4. Draft Platforms are presented to the Legislation Committee for consideration in November and/or December, prior to recommendation of adoption to the Board in January 2025.
The 2023-24 adopted platform was used as the basis for content. Recommendations from departments and community partners were reviewed. Most suggestions were incorporated, or were determined to already be incorporated within the existing principles and policy statements. In limited circumstances, suggestions were not incorporated or already included, when inconsistent with the current Board’s positions and past direction.
SUMMARY OF
DRAFT 2025-26 STATE LEGISLATIVE PLATFORM CHANGES
Introduction: Demographic data was updated to reflect 2024 data from the State Department of Finance for population estimates. District V Supervisor updated reflect the newly-elected Supervisor, Shanelle Scales-Preston.
Sponsored Bill Proposals: No sponsored bill proposals have been included at this time.
Advocacy Priorities: The Board’s four current advocacy priorities remain as top issues for the upcoming legislative session. Several amendments were incorporated into the draft.
• Climate Change was updated to reflect progress, such as the passage of the Proposition 4, the Climate Bond, and other efforts underway on this topic.
• Health Care, including Mental Health, Behavioral Health and Substance Use Disorder Services received the addition of “supportive housing”.
• Housing and Homelessness: Added “support funding for housing and treatment facilities for the behavioral health population.”
• The Delta/Water and Levees: Added language to “protect and restore a healthy and sustainable ecosystem”.
Principles and Policy Statements Text Changes:
The “Finance and Administration” section of the platform was retitled to “administration and Finance” and moved to be the first element. This section contains many unifying principles that apply across many policy areas, such as opposing unfunded mandates.
Substantive changes were proposed by staff to nearly every section, including: Agriculture and Weights & Measures, Animal Services, Child Support Services, Climate Change, the Delta, Economic Development, Emergency Preparedness/Emergency Response, Flood Control and Clean Water, Health Care, Safety Net Programs, Immigration, Equity, and Inclusion, Justice Systems, Land Use and Natural Resources, Library Services, Telecommunications and Broadband, Transportation, Veterans, Waste Management, and Workforce Development. Additionally, a new section has been added on Public Information and Transparency.
The changes can be found in Attachment A, which displays the "redline" amendments.
A clean-copy version of the Draft 2025-26 State Legislative Platform is Attachment B.
Attachment C includes a proposal from the Office of Emergency Services, which was received on the publication date and were not able to be incorporated in the draft documents due to time constraints. Staff requests that the Committee provide direction on these items during the December 9 meeting.
Recommendation(s)/Next Step(s):
REVIEW and provide input on the Draft 2025-26 State Legislative Platform. PROVIDE direction to staff on the development of the 2025-26 Proposed State Legislative Platform and recommend its adoption by the Board of Supervisors in January 2025.
Fiscal Impact (if any): None.