RCRC members are encouraged to share letters addressed to state and federal representatives and regulatory bodies with RCRC’s Government Affairs staff. Click “Read More” to access information related to the current status of legislation and regulations impacting California’s rural counties.
Assembly Bill 352 (Garcia): Wildfire Prevention, Safe Drinking Water. Assembly Bill 352 enacts the Wildfire Prevention, Safe Drinking Water, Drought Preparation, and Flood Protection Bond Act of 2020, which, if approved by the voters, would authorize the issuance of bonds in the amount of $3,920,000,000 pursuant to the State General Obligation Bond Law to finance a wildlife prevention, safe drinking water, drought preparation, and flood protection program. Status: AB 352 awaits consideration in the Senate Environmental Quality Committee. RCRC Status: Watch
Assembly Bill 1080 (Gonzalez)/Senate Bill 54 (Allen): Circular Economy and Plastic Pollution Reduction. Assembly Bill 1080/SB 54 requires the state to reduce the waste associated with single use packaging and products 75 percent by 2030, requires the state to set standards for what is considered recyclable and compostable, and promotes the development of in-state manufacturing that uses recycled materials. Status: AB 1080 and SB 54 awaits consideration in the Senate and Assembly; respectively (Inactive File). RCRC Status: Support
Assembly Bill 1509 (Mullin): Solid Waste: Lithium Ion Batteries: Assembly Bill 1509 establishes the Lithium Ion Battery Recycling Program in the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery. It requires a covered entity to provide a list of covered products that it sells or offers for sale in the state to the department and the total number of each covered product it sold in the state during the prior year, and to update those lists annually. Status: AB 1509 awaits consideration in the Senate Environmental Quality Committee. RCRC Status: Support in Concept
Assembly Bill 1840 (Ting): Recycling: Reports: Assembly Bill 1840 requires the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery to make recommendations to the Legislature on how to improve the California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act to increase recycling of beverage container materials within the state and increase consumer redemption convenience. Status: AB 1840 awaits consideration from the Assembly Natural Resources Committee. RCRC Status: Pending
Assembly Bill 1841 (Salas): District Agricultural Associations: Fiscal Audits. Assembly Bill 1841 would require district agricultural associations to annually report the salary information of their employees and requires the chief executive officer and each director of a district agricultural association to attend ethics and conflict-of-interest training classes each year. Status: AB 1841 awaits consideration from the Assembly Agriculture Committee. RCRC Position: Watch
Assembly Bill 1847 (Levine): Electrical Corporations: Public Administrator: Assembly Bill 1847 authorizes the Public Utilities Commission, if the commission adopts a decision that includes findings that an electrical corporation is not complying with state law or rules, regulations, or other directives from the commission, to appoint a public administrator to the electrical corporation up to 180 days. Vests the public administrator with oversight authority over the electrical corporation's activities that impact public safety. Status: AB 1847 awaits consideration from the Assembly Utilities and Energy Committee. RCRC Status: Watch
Assembly Bill 1907 (Santiago): California Environmental Quality Act: Shelters: Assembly Bill 1907 Exempts from environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act certain activities approved by or carried out by a public agency in furtherance of providing emergency shelters, supportive housing, or affordable housing. Status: AB 1907 awaits consideration from the Assembly Natural Resources and Housing and Community Committee. RCRC Status: Support
Assembly Bill 1915 (Chu): Electrical Corporations: Deenergization Events: Assembly Bill 1915 requires the PUC to establish rules under which PSPS events can be undertaken and to do a post-event review of the duration and geographic range of an event. If the utility failed to comply with the rules and customers incurred losses, the PUC shall order the utility to pay claims for losses. Status: AB 1915 awaits consideration by the Assembly Utilities and Energy Committee. RCRC Status: Support
Assembly Bill 1916 (Chu): Deenergization Events: Notification: Languages: Assembly Bill 1916 requires utilities to provide PSPS notifications in various languages, to survey customers to determine language preference and determine medical needs that require accommodation during a PSPS event, and to mitigate PSPS impacts for customers who rely on medical equipment or who have a medical condition that puts them at greater risk during a PSPS event. Status: AB 1916 awaits consideration by the Assembly Utilities and Energy Committee. RCRC Status: Support
Assembly Bill 1924 (Grayson): Housing Development: Fees: Assembly Bill 1924 Requires that a fee levied or imposed on a housing development project by a local agency be proportionate to the square footage of the proposed unit or units. Status: AB 1924 awaits consideration in the Assembly Local Government, Housing and Community Development Committee. RCRC Status: Pending
Assembly Bill 1936 (Rodriguez): Price Gouging: Public Safety Power Shutoffs: Assembly Bill 1936 clarifies that the state’s anti-price gouging laws apply upon the announcement of a public safety power shutoff. Status: AB 1936 awaits consideration from the Assembly Appropriations Committee. RCRC Status: Pending
Assembly Bill 1958 (Cooper): State Plan of Flood Control: Facilities: Assembly Bill 1958 would protect critical flood protection infrastructure by bolstering the maintenance of levees throughout California. Status: AB 1958 awaits consideration from the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee. RCRC Status: Support
Assembly Bill 2033 (Wood): Deenergization: Spoilage Claims: Assembly Bill 2033 requires an electrical corporation that engages in a public safety power shutoff to compensate a customer for any qualified claim for spoilage of food or medication if the customer experienced an interruption in electrical service for greater than 8 hours and received less than 24 hours’ notice of the interruption. Status: AB 2033 awaits consideration in the Assembly Utilities and Energy Committee. RCRC Status: Support
Assembly Bill 2163 (Rivas): Rural Broadband and Emergency Infrastructure Grant Act: Assembly Bill 2163 establishes the Rural Broadband and Emergency Infrastructure Grant Act to ensure that all state fairgrounds are equipped with adequate broadband and telecommunications infrastructure to support local, regional, and state emergency and disaster response personnel and systems. Status: AB 2163 awaits consideration in the Assembly Communications, Conveyance and Agriculture Committee. RCRC Status: Pending
Assembly Bill 2168 (McCarty, Chiu, Reyes): Planning and Zoning: Electric Vehicle Charging Stations Permit Application Approval: Assembly Bill 2168 would require an application to install an electric vehicle (EV) charging station to be deemed complete within 5 business days if the municipality has not determined the application to be incomplete. Deems an EV charging application approved within 15 business days if the local building official has not made findings that the proposed installation could have adverse impacts. This is an urgency measure and would take effect immediately. Status: AB 2168 awaits consideration in the Assembly Local Government Committee. RCRC Status: Oppose
Assembly Bill 2173 (Dahle): Fairgrounds: National or State Emergency: Assembly Bill 2173 Declares the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation related to fairgrounds during a national emergency or state of emergency. Status: AB 2173 has been recently introduced and awaits consideration in the Assembly. RCRC Status: Watch
Assembly Bill 2178 (Levine): Emergency Services: Assembly Bill 2178 adds deenergization events to the list of events for which a state or local emergency can be declared under the Emergency Services Act. Status: AB 2178 awaits consideration in the Assembly Governmental Organization Committee. RCRC Status: Pending
Assembly Bill 2323 (Friedman): California Environmental Quality Act: Exemption: Assembly Bill 2323 repeals a CEQA exemption for a residential development project that is undertaken to implement and is consistent with a specific plan for which an EIR has been certified. Status: AB 2323 awaits consideration in the Assembly Natural Resources Committee. RCRC Status: Oppose
Assembly Bill 2355 (Bonta): Employment Discrimination: Medical Cannabis: Assembly Bill 2355 makes it an unlawful employment practice for an employer or other entity to refuse to hire or employ a person, to refuse to select a person for a training program leading to employment, to bar or to discharge a person from employment or from a training program leading to employment, or to discriminate against an employee, because of the employee's status as a qualified patient, or as a person with an identification card, for purposes of medical cannabis, subject to certain exceptions. Status: AB 2355 awaits consideration in the Assembly Labor, Employment and Judiciary Committee. RCRC Status: Oppose
Assembly 2452 (Garcia): State Auditor: Audits: High Risk Local Government: Assembly Bill 2452 allows the State Auditor to conduct audits of association of local agencies (i.e. RCRC or the League of California Cities) if the State Auditor identifies one of these municipal associations as being at high risk for the potential of waste, fraud, abuse, or mismanagement or that has major challenges associated with its economy, efficiency, or effectiveness. Status: AB 2452 awaits consideration in the Assembly Accountability and Administrative Review Committee. RCRC Status: Oppose
Assembly Bill 2456 (Ting): Cannabis: Model Local Ordinance: Assembly Bill 2456 requires the Bureau of Cannabis Control to develop a model local ordinance, and to make the model local ordinance publicly available on its internet website. Status: AB 2456 has been recently introduced and awaits consideration in the Assembly. RCRC Status: Watch
Assembly Bill 2459 (Bigelow): Alcoholic Beverage Licenses: County of Mariposa: Assembly Bill 2459 would authorize the Alcoholic Beverage Control to issue up to 10 additional new original on‑sale alcoholic beverage licenses to bona fide public eating places in Mariposa County that have a seating capacity for 50 or more persons. Status: AB 2459 awaits consideration in the Assembly Governmental Organization Committee. RCRC Status: Support
Assembly Bill 2539 (Bigelow): Electrical Corporations: Deenergization Events: Assembly Bill 2539 requires electrical corporations to work with local elections officials and mitigate the impact pf Public Safety Power Shutoff events on elections. Status: AB 2539 awaits consideration in the Assembly Utilities and Energy Committee. RCRC Status: Support/Sponsor
Assembly Bill 2612 (Maienschein): Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund: Recycling: Appropriation Assembly Bill 2612 annually appropriates $200 million to fund in-state solid and organic waste recycling programs to reach the state’s environmental goals. Status: AB 2612 awaits consideration in the Assembly Natural Resources Committee. RCRC Status: Support/Sponsor
Assembly Bill 2642 (Salas): Multi-benefit Land Conversion Incentive Program: Assembly Bill 2642 requires the Department of Conservation to establish and administer a program named the Multi-benefit Land Conversion Incentive Program for purposes of providing grants to groundwater sustainability agencies, or other specified entities designated by groundwater sustainability agencies, for the development or implementation of local programs supporting or facilitating multi-benefit land conversion at the basin scale. Status: AB 2642 has been recently introduced and awaits consideration in the Assembly. RCRC Status: Pending
Assembly Bill 2904 (Frazier): Central Valley Flood Protection Board: Reports: Assembly Bill 2904 requires the Department of Water Resources to provide written notice to each landowner whose property is determined to be entirely or partially within a levee flood protection zone on or before September 5 of each subsequent year. Status: AB 2904 awaits consideration in the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committees. RCRC Status: Pending
Assembly Bill 3141 (Friedman): Retail Plastics Recycling Program: Plastic Bags: Assembly Bill 3141 requires online retailers to offer one of several types of opportunities for consumers to recycle plastic packaging and plastic shipping envelopes. Status: AB 3141 awaits consideration in the Assembly Natural Resources Committee. RCRC Status: Watch
Senate Bill 45 (Allen): Wildfire, Drought, and Flood Protection Bond Act 2020. Senate Bill 45 enacts the Wildfire, Drought, and Flood Protection Bond Act of 2020, which, if approved by voters, authorizes the issuance of bonds to finance projects to restore fire damaged areas, reduce wildfire risk, create healthy forests and watersheds, reduce climate impacts on urban areas and vulnerable populations, protect water supply and water quality, protect rivers, lakes and streams, reduce flood risk, protect fish and wildlife from climate impacts, and protect coastal lands and resources. Status: SB 45 has passed out from the Senate and awaits consideration from the Assembly. RCRC Status: Support
Senate Bill 182 (Beth Jackson): Local Government: Planning and Zoning: Wildfires: SB 182 creates a structure of increased fire risk strategies to be used by local governments to plan and permit for housing development in a VHFRA, defined as state, local and locally designated Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones (VHFHSZ). This bill adds reducing development pressure in VHFRA as an objective of the Regional Housing Need Allocation (RHNA) plan through considering allocating a lower portion of housing to a jurisdiction, if appropriate, due to the risk to life and safety to catastrophic wildfire. Status: SB 182 has passed out of the Senate and awaits consideration in the Assembly. RCRC Status: Support
Senate Bill 378 (Wiener): Electrical Corporations: Deenergization Events: Senate Bill 378 makes a number of changes to increase disclosure of electrical system infrastructure needs and to improve the implementation of PSPS events, evaluate their impacts, and compensate individuals and local governments for associated losses. The bill also incentivizes well-constructed, surgical PSPS events that are no larger than necessary to avoid wildfire risk. Status: SB 378 has passed out from the Senate and awaits consideration from the Assembly. RCRC Status: Support
Senate Bill 431 (McGuire): Mobile Telephony Service Base Transceiver Station Tower: Senate Bill 431 requires the commission, in consultation with the Office of Emergency Services, to develop and implement performance reliability standards for all mobile telephony service base transceiver station towers, commonly known as "cell towers," located within a commission-designated Tier 2 or Tier 3 High Fire Threat District. Status: SB 431 awaits consideration in the Assembly Communications and Conveyance Committee. RCRC Status: Pending
Senate Bill 596 (Stern): In-home Supportive Services: Senate Bill 596 requires a county human services agency to inform each applicant for benefits under the IHSS program that the applicant may be eligible to receive that higher energy allowance and any advanced notifications that may be provided by a utility in an emergency. Status: SB 596 has passed out from the Senate and awaits consideration from the Assembly. RCRC Status: Support
Senate Bill 753 (Stern): Public Social Services: Emergency Notification: Senate Bill 753 permits elderly or disabled clients telephone numbers and e-mail addresses to be disclosed to the first responder and would specifically identify a public safety power shut-off as a public safety emergency. Status: SB 753 has passed out from the Senate and awaits consideration from the Assembly. RCRC Status: Support
Senate Bill 794 (Beth-Jackson): Emergency Services: Telecommunications: Senate Bill 794 expands provisions authorizing a city to enter into an agreement to access contact information of resident accountholders through the records of a public utility; expands the types of public utilities that can enter into agreements by defining public utility ton include a local publicly owned electric utility, mobile telephony service, a public water agency and an agency responsible for solid waste or recycling services. Status: SB 794 is set for hearing in the Senate Governmental Organization Committee 03/24/2020. RCRC Status: Pending
Senate Bill 799 (Dodd): Local Agency Services: Contracts: Napa & San Bernardino: Senate Bill 799 extends the sunset date for a pilot program under the Cortese Knox Hertzberg Local Government Reorganization Act in the Counties of Napa and San Bernardino. Status: SB 799 awaits consideration from the Senate Governance and Finance Committee. RCRC Status: Watch
Senate Bill 801 (Glazer): Electrical Corporations: Wildfire Mitigation Plans: Senate Bill 801 Requires an electrical corporation to deploy backup electrical resources or provide financial assistance for backup electrical resources to a customer receiving a medical baseline allowance, if the customer meets specified conditions. Status: SB 801 awaits consideration from the Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee. RCRC Status: Pending
Senate Bill 807 (Nielson): Reclamation District No. 108: Hydroelectric Power: Senate Bill 807 Authorizes Reclamation District No. 108 to continue to exercise hydroelectric power authority until after January 1, 2021. Status: SB 807 awaits consideration from the Senate Governance and Finance Committee. RCRC Status: Support
Senate Bill 862 (Dodd): Planned Power Outage: Public Safety: Senate Bill 862 clarifies that public safety power shutoffs are included in the California Emergency Services Act and expands the universe of medically sensitive individuals for whom electrical corporations must mitigate public safety power shutoff event impacts and establishes minimum requirements for the locations, hours of operation and services provided by a Community Resource Center. Status: SB 862 has been referred to the Senate Committee on Energy, Utilities and Communications. RCRC Status: Support
Senate Bill 917 (Wiener): Consumer Energy and Conservation Financing Authority: Senate Bill 917 renames the California Consumer Power and Conservation Financing Authority the California Consumer Energy and Conservation Financing Authority it to acquire, by eminent domain, the assets or ownership of PG&E and to break up the service territory if others want to take over the provisions of electricity in their over areas. Status: SB 917 awaits consideration in the Senate Energy, Utilities, and Communications, Governance and Finance and Judiciary Committees. RCRC Status: Pending
Senate Bill 955 (Portantino): Recreational and Organizational Camps: Senate Bill 955 defines recreational camp and requires each camp to camp to obtain a license from the local agency of the jurisdiction where the camp is located before operating a camp. Status: SB 955 is set for hearing on 03/25/2020 in the Senate Health Committee. RCRC Status: Pending
Senate Bill 971 (Hertzberg): Small Water Supplier and Countywide Water Shortages: Senate Bill 971 requires a small water supplier to prepare and adopt a small water supplier water shortage contingency plan that consists of specified elements. Requires a small water supplier with a specified number of service connections to take specified actions related to water shortage planning and response. Requires small water suppliers to provide to the public and to report, the plan and specified water shortage planning information. Status: SB 971 awaits consideration in the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee. RCRC Status: Pending
Senate Bill 974 (Hurtado): California Environmental Quality Act: Water Systems: Senate Bill 974 exempts from CEQA certain projects that benefit a small community water system that primarily serves one or more disadvantaged communities or that benefit a non-transient noncommunity water system that serves a school that serves one or more disadvantaged communities, by improving the small community water system's or non-transient noncommunity water system's water quality, water supply, or water supply reliability, or by encouraging water conservation. Status: SB 974 awaits consideration in the Senate Environmental Quality Committee. RCRC Status: Pending
Senate Bill 1099 (Dodd): Emergency Backup Generators: Critical Facilities: Senate Bill 1099 requires air districts to adopt a rule, or revise its existing rules, to allow critical facilities with a permitted emergency backup generator to use that emergency backup generator during a deenergization event or other loss of power, and to test and maintain that emergency backup generator without having that usage, testing, or maintenance count toward that emergency backup generator's time limitation on actual usage and routine testing and maintenance. Status: SB 1099 has been recently introduced and awaits consideration in the Senate. RCRC Status: Support
Senate Bill 1191 (Dahle): Organic Waste: Reduction Goals: Local Jurisdictions: Senate Bill 1191 provides local governments with flexibility in complying with recently adopted organic waste laws. Status: SB 1191 awaits consideration in the Senate Environmental Quality Committee. RCRC Status: Support/Sponsor
Senate Bill 1280 (Monning):State Water Resources Control Board: Senate Bill 1280 authorizes the State Water Resources Control Board to order consolidation between a receiving water system and an at-risk water system upon receipts of a petition that substantially conforms to the above-referenced policy adopted by the state board and that is either approved by the water system's governing body or signed by at least 30% of the households served by the water system. Status: SB 1280 awaits consideration in the Senate Environmental Quality Committee. RCRC Status: Pending
Senate Bill 1363 (Allen): Comprehensive Strategy: Senate Bill 1363 requires the state to set GHG and vehicle miles traveled (VMT) targets for regional transportation plans. Status: SB 1280 has been recently introduced and awaits consideration in the Senate. RCRC Status: Watch