HomeMy WebLinkAboutReso 17-24 Item 7.1 Approving the 2024 City of Dublin Legislative Platform
Reso. No. 17-24, Item 7.1, Adopted 03/05/2024 Page 1 of 1
RESOLUTION NO. 17 – 24
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL
OF THE CITY OF DUBLIN
APPROVING THE 2024 CITY OF DUBLIN LEGISLATIVE PLATFORM
WHEREAS, the 2024 City of Dublin Legislative Platform (“Platform”) outlines the City’s
legislative priorities and positions to inform residents, representatives, and policy makers; and
WHEREAS, these legislative priorities are guided by three General Legislative Principles
and Public Policy Positions which will determine the City’s position on various legislative
proposals; and
WHEREAS, the Platform provides City Staff with direction and authorizes them, on the City
Council’s behalf, to quickly respond in support or opposition to bills, and other legislative or
gubernatorial actions in time sensitive situations, in accordance with the processes identified in
the Platform.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the City Council of the City of Dublin adopts
the 2024 City of Dublin Legislative Platform attached hereto as Exhibit A.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Mayor or her designee is authorized to sign letters
of opposition or letters of support as drafted by City Staff for legislation as long as they are
consistent with the Platform.
PASSED, APPROVED AND ADOPTED this 5th day of March 2024, by the following vote:
AYES: Councilmembers Hu, Josey, McCorriston, Qaadri and Mayor Hernandez
NOES:
ABSENT:
ABSTAIN:
______________________________
Mayor
ATTEST:
_________________________________
City Clerk
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2024 LEGISLATIVE PLATFORM
FEDERAL AND STATE POLICY PRIORITIES
FEBRUARY 2024
Exhibit A to the Resolution
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Introduction
Many public policies intersect with City priorities, programs, and services. This 2024 Legislative
Platform (Platform) outlines the City of Dublin’s legislative priorities and positions on these policies
to inform residents, representatives, and policymakers. These priorities are applicable to all relevant
legislation, policies, programs, grant funding opportunities, ballot measures, mandates, and budgets.
The Mission of the City of Dublin is to promote and support a high quality of life, ensure a safe and
secure environment, foster new opportunities, provide equity across all programs, and champion a
culture of diversity and inclusion. This Mission shall guide the City’s Legislative Platform.
This Platform provides Staff with direction and authorizes them, on the City Council’s behalf, to
quickly respond in support of or opposition to bills and other legislative or gubernatorial actions in
time-sensitive situations. Additionally, the Platform enables Staff to communicate Dublin-specific
issues and impacts with state legislators. Staff may draft letters, direct our legislative advocates, or
speak on behalf of the City regarding the legislative priorities this document outlines.
Any correspondence signifying the City’s support or opposition of a given bill must be signed by the
Mayor and / or City Manager with notification to the City Council.
Any questions regarding this Legislative Platform can be directed to Jordan Foss, Management
Analyst II at jordan.foss@dublin.ca.gov.
Platform Overview and Coordination
This Legislative Platform serves as the foundation for City legislative advocacy at all levels of
government. It informs the City’s legislative representatives of the key issues and legislation that
could have a potential impact on the City and the process in which the City will participate in the
legislative process. The City will employ several strategies to advocate or advance the City’s public
policy interests, which include:
Position Development
o Reviewing analyses and positions by Cal Cities, legislative advocates, and other local
government / professional associations in formulating the City’s position.
o Working with City departments, legislative advocate(s) to develop this platform and
identify positions on proposed legislative measures.
Status Tracking
o Tracking key bills through the legislative process.
Communication and Advocacy
o Communicating the City’s position, in accordance with this Platform, through
correspondence, testimony, and meetings.
o Working cooperatively with other cities (including the Tri-Valley Cities), associations,
and Cal Cities on advocating the City’s legislative position.
o Meeting with legislators and their representatives, as well as other federal, state, and
county government officials on a regular basis, to discuss local government issues,
proposed legislation, requests for funding assistance, and City programs and services.
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The City Manager’s Office will exercise day-to-day oversight of legislative matters. In addition to
coordinating formal action through the City Council, the City Manager and their designee will
manage the City’s Legislative Platform.
Staff will follow the process below when responding to all proposed and relevant legislation,
policies, programs, ballot measures, mandates, and budgets.
1.Review and determine whether a proposal will impact the City.
2.Prepare a letter outlining the City’s position for the Mayor’s or City Manager’s signature.
3.Distribute the letter to the legislation’s author(s), key legislative committees, the City
Council, and other relevant parties.
In scenarios where a proposal or regulation arises that may impact the City and is not covered by
this Legislative Platform, Staff will prepare a draft position letter for the City Council to review prior
to distribution.
General Legislative Principles
The guiding principles for the City’s legislative advocacy efforts include:
Advancing Existing City Mission, Vision, Values, and Policies
Preserving and/or Increasing Local Government Discretion
Promoting or Enhancing Revenue Sources
Public Policy Priorities
This Legislative Platform identifies specific Public Policy Priorities by topic area. Informed by the
General Legislative Principles, these priorities will guide the positions the City will take on all
relevant legislation, policies, programs, grant funding opportunities, ballot measures, mandates, and
budgets.
The Public Policy Priorities are categorized as follows:
1.General Administration
2.Fiscal Sustainability
3.Community and Economic Development
4.Transportation and Public Works
5.Public Safety and Public Health
6.Parks and Community Services
7.Climate and Environment
8.Technology and Cybersecurity
1.General Administration
Staff recommends that the City Council support legislation that:
1.Enhances or streamlines local control and allows cities to address the needs of local
constituents within a framework of regional cooperation.
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2.Streamlines the process to apply for, to receive approval of, and to receive state or
federal funding.
3.Assures every person the right to equal treatment in and access to all government-
sponsored benefits or funded programs.
4.Provides the ability to conduct public meetings using a hybrid approach that allow for
equitable access and participation of elected officials and the public while considering
privacy, health, and safety of all stakeholders.
5.Provides alternative methods of meeting public noticing requirements through cost-
effective, innovative, and technological methods of communication, and changes the
definition of “newspaper of general circulation” due to realities of consolidated
newspaper publications and the increase in on-line publications.
6.Increases the voting requirement for future measures to be approved by the same
proportion of votes cast as the measure requires, and preserves agency rights to place
advisory questions on the ballot.
Staff recommends that the City Council oppose legislation that:
7.Attempts to restrict local authority or decision-making whether by state or federal
legislation or ballot propositions.
8.Diminishes or eliminates local governments’ ability to contract out for the provision of
services.
2.Fiscal Sustainability
Staff recommends that the City Council support legislation that:
1.Maintains or enhances ongoing revenues to the City.
2.Updates the tax structure to enhance local government revenues that have declined due
to the expansion of e-commerce, increased consumption of services rather than durable
goods, and innovations in technology.
3.Ensures timely distribution of mandated reimbursements owed to the City.
4.Removes unnecessary state-imposed mandates.
5.Provides for the use of incentives for local government action rather than mandates
(funded or unfunded).
6.Establishes new and innovative revenue options and resources to finance public
infrastructure construction and maintenance.
7.Streamlines the establishment and utilization of infrastructure financing districts or other
funding mechanisms for infrastructure improvements.
8.Changes the Communications Act of 1934 that removes the distinction between
“capital” and “operating” funds to provide more local control for community television
stations in the use of their public, educational, and government (PEG) channel fees.
9.Supports measures to increase transparency of all public employee salaries and benefits.
10.Supports measures to provide sustainable public pensions and other post-retirement
benefits.
11.Lowers the necessary voter threshold from a two-thirds supermajority to 55-percent to
approved local general obligation bonds and special taxes for affordable housing and
public infrastructure projects.
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Staff recommends that the City Council oppose legislation that:
12.Undermines and preempts local authority over local taxes and fees.
13.Shifts funds from local governments to the state or federal government.
14.Imposes unfunded or inadequately funded federal and state mandates on local
governments.
15.Eliminates development fees or limits the ability of cities to levy such fees to provide for
infrastructure or services.
16.Requires or expands state involvement in City financial audits, fiscal monitoring, general
oversight, or assistance by the State Treasurer, State Controller, or other state agencies.
17.Defers reimbursements for state mandated programs.
3.Public Works and Transportation
Staff recommends that the City Council support legislation that:
1.Ensures the City receive its fair share of transportation funding and that keeps the
funding decisions at the local level.
2.Provides for more stable and equitable long-term funding sources for transportation,
such as the Cap and Trade program and various programs funded through the revenue
generated via Cap and Trade.
3.Leverages local funds to the maximum extent possible to implement transportation
improvements through grants and partnerships with regional, state, and federal agencies.
4.Reduces Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) and encourages developing and implementing
Transportation Demand Management (TDM) plans and strategies.
5.Expands opportunities and funding for connected and shared autonomous vehicles, high
occupancy vehicles, managed lane policies, improved enforcement, new technology
deployment, and reducing traffic congestion and delay.
6.Improves multimodal freight movement between the San Francisco Bay Area and the
Central Valley and projects that reduce freight traffic on I-580.
7.Encourages active transportation, enhances the safety of all modes of transportation,
particularly bicycles and pedestrians, and reduces vehicle speeds and traffic congestion.
8.Increases and funds local control and local regulation of shared mobility, transportation
network companies (TNCs), and other emerging industries that use city infrastructure to
offer private services.
9.Enables the sale of traffic data to recover the cost of data collection.
10.Enables innovative rail connectivity projects which aim to address the
jobs/housing/transit imbalance (i.e., Valley Link).
Staff recommends that the City Council oppose legislation that:
11.Infringes upon the ability of local governments to effectively administer and modify state
and local construction provisions and standards.
12.Takes away local control of managing and operating local streets.
13.Reduces the City’s condemnation authority regarding acquisition of properties required
for public projects.
14.Reduces local government’s ability to enact transportation impact fees that fund
transportation improvements.
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15.Diverts traffic from freeways or highways to local streets.
4.Community and Economic Development
Staff recommends that the City Council support legislation that:
1.Maintains the City’s authority over land use decisions.
2.Strengthens local regulatory authority and control over the siting of medical or
recreational marijuana dispensaries.
3.Creates a more equitable Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) process.
4.Creates more flexibility for local jurisdictions to work together to provide housing that
counts toward RHNA requirements.
5.Eliminates redundant, costly, and cumbersome mandates and restrictions required by
CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act).
6.Provides incentives or new funding mechanisms for affordable housing and transit-
oriented development.
7.Increases financial assistance to provide affordable, transitional, special needs and
emergency housing to the homeless, seniors, veterans, and people with special needs.
8.Expands STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) programs in K-12,
higher education, and libraries.
9.Enhances the City’s efforts to retain existing businesses and attract new businesses.
10.Provides tangible and productive tools and incentives to support job creation, business
attraction, and business retention.
11.Advances or encourages innovation, entrepreneurship, start-ups, small business
opportunities, and/or workforce development.
Staff recommends that the City Council oppose legislation that:
12.Interferes with or reduces local land use control and decision making.
13.Diminishes or eliminates the authority of cities to zone and plan for the development of
telecommunications infrastructure, including the siting of cellular communications
towers or transmission sites.
14.Diminishes or eliminates cities’ authority to regulate condominium conversions.
15.Interferes with the ability to provide productive incentives to support job creation,
business attraction, and business retention.
5. Public Safety and Public Health
Staff recommends that the City Council support legislation that:
1.Increases funding for local law enforcement, fire suppression and prevention, hazardous
materials mitigation, and emergency medical services.
2.Funds local agencies for training, disaster preparedness, crime prevention, public
outreach, and emergency planning.
3.Ensures cities have control of regulating local medical marijuana facilities instead of the
state, protects public safety with standardized security requirements, protects public
health with uniform health and safety standards, and ensures patient safety with a quality
assurance protocol.
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4.Improves data and information dissemination, preparedness funding, and first-responder
training for oil-by-rail shipments.
5.Maintains or increases grant funding for the Community Oriented Police Services
(COPS) program.
6.Provides a greater share of asset forfeiture funds for cities and increases latitude for
spending local funds.
7.Supports funding to prepare, mitigate, adapt, and respond to extreme weather or
emergency events.
8.Supports alternative crisis response programs for mental health, substance abuse, or
homelessness related calls for emergency service.
9.Expands access and resources to public health care services, including mental health,
behavioral health, and substance abuse services.
10.Supports sensible public safety reforms, especially regarding retail theft, burglary, and
assault.
6.Parks and Community Services
Staff recommends that the City Council support legislation that:
1.Creates new funding opportunities for parks and community facilities.
2.Provides funding for ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) facility and park upgrades.
3.Increases available financial assistance to local non-profit and community-based
organizations who provide social services and mental health services to residents in need.
4.Efforts to provide funding for the rehabilitation, development, and capital
improvements for park improvements to enhance the active and passive recreational
infrastructure.
5.Supports funding or regulations for cooling strategies in local and regional parks.
6.Supports funding or promoting parks and park-related amenities to increase community
resilience, including mitigating climate change effects and increasing access.
7.Support or pursue legislation to expand funding sources available to make technological
updates to existing and new parks and recreation spaces.
Staff recommends that the City Council oppose legislation that:
8.Reduces or eliminates the City’s ability to levy park impact fees.
9.Imposes regulations that create cost prohibitive administrative burdens which may result
in the reduction of parks programming.
7.Climate and Environment
Staff recommends that the City Council support legislation that:
1.Assists local governments in meeting or exceeding local or state goals to reduce global
warming pollution levels, to develop alternate energy resources and fuel efficiency
programs, and to reduce fossil fuel dependence.
2.Streamlines development of and provides funding for electric vehicle (EV) charging and
hydrogen fueling infrastructure locally and regionally.
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3.Supports current waste diversion goals, local compliance efforts, and associated
measurement and reporting requirements.
4.Assists the City in meeting or exceeding established goals of reducing water
consumption and increasing water supply without preempting local planning decisions.
5.Supports circular economy solutions, extended producer responsibility, and requires
manufacturers be responsible for the end of useful life cost of collecting, processing,
recycling, and disposing of products they manufacture.
6.Protects the interest of California’s Community Choice clean electricity providers and
their customers.
7.Incentivizes regional and local government efforts to develop and implement programs
to reduce air pollution.
8.Funds compliance and full life cycle costs of current and new mandatory storm water
quality permit requirements.
9.Addresses litter control and abatement problems in California.
10.Reduces the financial impact of state and federal funded and unfunded mandates related
to compliance with environmental programs and regulations.
Staff recommends that the City Council oppose legislation that:
11.Preempts local planning decisions regarding solid waste facility sites.
12.Preempts local solid waste and AB 939 fee setting authority or imposes taxes or fees on
local solid waste programs to fund state programs not directly related to solid waste
management.
8.Technology and Cybersecurity
Staff recommends that the City Council support legislation that:
1.Promotes the use of data and technologies to create efficiencies, promote economic
development, enhance public safety, improve transportation and mobility, improve
sustainability, increase transparency to public information, enhance municipal quality of
life factors and help solve other civic challenges.
2.Maintains local control over municipal assets in the deployment of next generation
technological infrastructure.
3.Increases the City’s capacity to protect against cyber security attacks.
4.Provides funding for programs that seek to expand digital access for residents and
businesses.
Staff recommends that the City Council oppose legislation that:
5.Limits or removes local review and permitting of emerging telecommunications
technologies, such as Small Cell technology.
Regional Collaboration
The City of Dublin is a member of the Tri-Valley Cities (TVC), a coalition of the five Tri-Valley
municipalities who work together to advocate for issues and funding at the regional, state, and
federal levels. The TVC is governed by the five Mayors of each municipality who develop and adopt
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a TVC Legislative Framework which guides the advocacy efforts of the TVC. A copy of the 2024
TVC Legislative Framework is attached as Addendum A to this Legislative Platform.
Addendum A: 2024 Tri-Valley Cities Legislative Framework
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TRI-VALLEY CITIES
Legislative Framework
2024
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TRI-VALLEY CITIES VALUES STATEMENT
The Tri-Valley Cities of Dublin, Livermore, Pleasanton, San Ramon, and the Town of
Danville value regional leadership, innovation, collaboration, and problem solving to
maintain and improve the quality of life for Tri-Valley residents, provide a vibrant climate for
businesses, and enable continued opportunities for public and private investment within the
region.
Each City and Town provides a unique perspective on how to meet the needs of their
residents and businesses. The Cities and Town agree to respect the individuality of each
community and are committed to open and honest communication with a goal of building
consensus and a united approach to advocacy for solutions that will serve the residents and
businesses of the Tri-Valley.
TRI-VALLEY CITIES LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK
The Tri-Valley Cities Legislative Framework seeks to inform all levels of governmental
interaction (e.g., federal, state, regional, local) regarding legislation, policies, and programs
that have a direct impact on the region. The TVC has defined Legislative Focus Areas
which have an overarching objective to retain and promote local control and decision -
making as it relates to the implementation of laws and regulations and to have the ability to
integrate them in a manner that meets the unique needs of each community. The TVC will
advocate together to achieve outcomes benefiting the region in each of these Focus Areas.
Transportation and Infrastructure
Residents of the Tri-Valley region are subject to some of the heaviest commutes in the Bay
Area and are impacted by the heavy flow of traffic along the region’s freeways, which often
spills over onto the local surface streets as commuters pursue alternatives to their commute
through the Tri-Valley. A key objective of the region is to reduce congestion on the region’s
freeways, and to increase mobility of goods and people through the Tri -Valley with
continued financial investment in transportation infrastructure: developing alternative modes
of transportation, modernization of transportation corridors, and creation, modernizatio n,
and expansion of rail systems. The TVC also seeks to partner on other significant non-
transportation infrastructure projects, especially those with regional and multi-regional
benefits.
Climate, Environment, and Health
The TVC seeks to work collaboratively with federal, state, and regional partners to address
the new landscape of year-round wildfires, air quality, public safety power shutoffs, water
quality (including PFAS/PFOS contaminants) and supply issues, as well as waste and
recycling mandates. The TVC will advocate for increasing financial and technical support in
these areas, as well as for investment in key infrastructure at all levels of government.
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Public Safety
The TVC prides itself on providing the highest quality of life for its residents, businesses,
workers, and visitors alike – a critical part of which is ensuring the basic right to safety,
without fear of harm to oneself or one’s property. As such, the coalition will advocate for
reasonable public safety reforms, especially with regard to retail theft, burglary, and assault,
all while maintaining a lens of equity.
Economic Development
The Tri-Valley region is an innovation hub that spurs job growth, sustains a healthy
economy, and provides a high quality of life for residents and business. Key objectives are
developing a healthy workforce; and supporting innovation, capacity building, economic
stimulus, and growth in the region.
Affordable Housing and Homelessness
The TVC supports balanced solutions which consider housing, jobs, and transportation
together and seeks to support, promote, protect, and increase affordability in the region’s
housing stock. Key objectives are to work with federal, state, and regional partners to
provide funding for affordable housing through a variety of programs and options and to
work to address barriers to building housing at Very Low, Low, and Moderate income
levels. TVC also remains committed to mitigating and eliminating homelessness, including
working with partners at all levels of government to address the root causes of housing
insecurity and homelessness.
Mental Health
The TVC recognizes that social services are vital to supporting residents and providing
crucial safety net services in our region. While the TVC cities do not provide direct delivery
of social services, the Cities seek to work together to support local non-profits and
organizations that do provide these services, and advocate together for these vital
resources and services from all levels of government. Mental health support is a growing
need in our region, and the TVC seeks to advocate for the resources to meet the needs of
all our residents.
Fiscal Sustainability
Fiscal Sustainability is an important role for all levels of government. The TVC seeks to
advocate against the imposition of unfunded mandates and the removal of funding streams
from local governments.
2024
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