Information related to the current status of legislation and regulations impacting California’s rural counties.
Assembly Bill 9 (Wood): Fire safety: wildfires: fire adapted communities: Assembly Bill 9 seeks to codify the Regional Forest and Fire Capacity (RFFC) program and moves several fire prevention activies from CAL FIRE to the Office of the State Fire Marshall. Status: Awaits consideration on the Senate Floor.. RCRC Status: No position
Assembly Bill 37 (Berman): Elections: vote by mail ballots. Assembly Bill 37 requires county elections officials to use a specified Secretary of State vote by mail tracking system or a system that meets the same specifications. Status: AB 37 awaits consideration on the Senate Appropriations Committee (Second Reading File). RCRC Status: Pending
Assembly Bill 246 (Quirk) Contractors: disciplinary actions. Assembly Bill 246 allows the Contractors State Licensing Board to take disciplinary actions against a contractor who violates state or local laws prohibiting illegal dumping. Status: AB 246 was signed by Governor Newsom. RCRC Status: Support
Assembly Bill 297 (Gallagher) Fire Prevention. Increases funding for forest health improvement and wildfire risk reduction projects and makes other substantive changes to help expedite project completion. Status: AB 297 is a two-year bill. RCRC Status: Support
Assembly Bill 322 (Salas): Energy: Electric Program Investment Charge program: Requires the Energy Commission to consider bioenergy projects for biomass conversion when awarding funds under the Electric Program Investment Charge program. Status: AB awaits consideration on the Senate Floor (Third Reading File). RCRC Status: Support
Assembly Bill 332 (ESTM): Hazardous waste: treated wood waste. Reestablishes a statutory pathway for the alternative management and disposal of treated wood waste in a landfill. Status: AB 332 awaits Assembly Concurrence in Senate Amendments (CONCURRENCE). RCRC Status: Support
Assembly Bill 339 (Lee): Local government: open and public meetings. Assembly Bill 339 requires all open and public meetings to include an in-person public comment opportunity, except in specified circumstances during a declared state or local emergency. The bill would require all meetings to provide the public with an opportunity to comment on proposed legislation in person and remotely via a telephonic or an internet-based service option, as provided. Status: AB 339 passed the Senate Appropriations Committee and awaits consideration on the Senate Floor. RCRC Status: Oppose
Assembly Bill 361 (Rivas): Open meetings: local agencies: teleconferences. Assembly Bill 361 authorizes a local agency to use teleconferencing without complying with the teleconferencing requirements imposed by the Ralph M. Brown Act when a legislative body of a local agency holds a meeting for the purpose of declaring or ratifying a local emergency. Status: AB 361 awaits consideration on the Senate Floor. RCRC Status: Support
Assembly Bill 428 (Mayes): Assembly Bill 428 requires each county to have a board of supervisors and provides for the organization and powers of the board of supervisors. Current law allows the board of supervisors of any general law or charter county to adopt or the residents of the county to propose, by initiative, limit or repeal a limit on the number of terms a member of the board of supervisors may serve on the board of supervisors. Status: AB 428 awaits consideration on the Senate Floor. RCRC Status: Support
Assembly Bill 431 (Patterson): Forestry: timber harvesting plans: defensible space: exemptions: Assembly Bill 431 prohibits a person from conducting timber operations, as defined, unless a timber harvesting plan prepared by a registered professional forester has been submitted to, and approved by, the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Status: AB 431 is awaiting consideration on the Seate Floor (Consent Calendar). RCRC Status: Support
Assembly Bill 759 (McCarty): Elections: county officers: Assembly Bill 759 would require an election for all county-wide offices (sheriff, assessor, district attorney, etc.) be held at the presidential general election. Initially, this bill only applied to the county sheriff but recent amendments expand it to all county-wide offices. In addition, this bill would require that these officeholder elections occur at the 2024 General Election thereby requiring affected officeholders to hold a two-year term (assuming election in 2022). Status: AB 759 passed the the Senate Appropriations Committee and awaits action on the Senate Floor. RCRC Status: Watch
Assembly Bill 819 (Levine) California Environmental Quality Act: notices and documents: electronic filing and posting. Requires lead agencies to post California Environmental Quality Act notices and documents on their internet websites and to submit CEQA documents to the State Clearinghouse in electronic form. Status: AB 819 was signed by the Governor. RCRC Status: Watch
Assembly Bill 843 (Aguiar-Curry): California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program: renewable feed-in tariff: Allows Community Choice Aggregators (CCAs) to access the CPUC BioMAT program that provides funding for renewable bioenergy electricity projects, including biomass and biogas. Status: AB 843 awaits consideration on the Senate Floor (Third Reading). RCRC Status: Support
Assembly Bill 881 (Gonzalez) Plastic waste: diversion: recycling: export. Repeals the ability for local governments to claim diversion credit for mixed plastic waste that is exported for recycling. Status: AB 881 awaits Assembly Concurrence in Senate Amendments (CONCURRENCE). RCRC Status: Watch
Assembly Bill 1078 (Patterson) Energy: building standards: photovoltaic requirements. Exempts residential buildings damaged or destroyed in a disaster during the 2020 calendar year from having to install solar energy systems under the California Energy Commission’s recently adopted building requirements. Status: AB 1078 is a 2-Year bill. RCRC Status: Support
Assembly Bill 1154 (Patterson) California Environmental Quality Act: exemption: egress route projects: fire safety. Exempts from the California Environmental Quality Act egress route projects undertaken by a public agency and that are recommended by the Board of Forestry to improve fire safety of an existing subdivision. Status: AB 1154 is a two-year bill. RCRC Status: Support
Assembly Bill 1201 (Ting) Solid waste: plastic products: labeling: composability and biodegradability. Authorizes CalRecycle to adopt regulations for plastic product labeling to ensure that plastic products labeled as compostable or home compostable are clearly distinguishable from no compostable products. Prohibits the sale of a plastic product labeled as compostable, home compostable, or soil biodegradable unless the product meets specified standards. Status: AB 1201 awaits consideration on the Senate Floor. RCRC Status: Support
Assembly Bill 1311 (Wood) Recycling: beverage containers: certified recycling centers. Makes modest changes to the Beverage Container Recycling Act to increase consumer access to redemption opportunities. Status: AB 1311 awaits consideration on the Senate Floor. RCRC Status: Support
Assembly Bill 1344 (Arambula) State Department of Public Health: Needle and Syringe Exchange Services. Exempts needle and syringe exchanges services from the California Environmental Quality Act. Status: AB 1344 awaits consideration on the Senate Floor. RCRC Status: Neutral
Assembly Bill 1346 (Berman and Gonzalez): Air pollution: small off-road engines: Assembly Bill 1346 would require the California Air Resources Board, by July 1, 2022, to adopt cost-effective and technologically feasible regulations to prohibit engine exhaust and evaporative emissions from new small off-road engines, which include portable generators as well as lawn and garden equipment. Status: AB 1346 was amended and passed off the Senate Appropriations Suspense File. RCRC Status: Oppose Unless Amended
Assembly Bill 1431 (Fraizer): Forestry: forest carbon plan: state goals: Assembly Bill 1431 codifies various portions of the 2018 California Forest Carbon Plan, and requires the Natural Resources Agency and the California Environmental Protection Agency, on or before January 1, 2023, to submit a report to the appropriate policy and budget committees of the Legislature on the positions and resources needed to achieve those state goals. Status: AB 1431 was held in the Senate Appropriations Committee. RCRC Status: RCRC Sponsored Bill
Senate Bill 37 (Cortese) California Environmental Quality Act Exemption. Senate Bill 37 eliminates the ability to use a “common sense exemption” under the California Environmental Quality Act for any projects undertaken at over 40,000 sites throughout the state that appear on the Cortese List of currently or formerly contaminated properties. The bill will require discretionary projects with no environmental impact at those locations (including many local corp yards, fire stations, airports, etc.) to undergo an initial assessment and prepare a negative declaration. Status: SB 37 awaits consideration on the Senate Floor. RCRC Status: Oppose
Senate Bill 52 (Dodd): State of Emergency: Power Outages. Senate Bill 52 clarifies that deenergization events (also known as PSPS events) qualify as events for which a local emergency can be declared under the California Emergency Services Act. Status: SB 52 awaits consideration on the Assembly Floor. RCRC Status: Support
Senate Bill 99 (Dodd): Community Energy Resilience Act of 2021. Senate Bill 99 requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to develop and implement a grant program for local governments to develop community energy resilience plans. Status: SB 99 was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee on the Suspense File. RCRC Status: Support
Senate Bill 208 (Dahle): Sierra Nevada Conservancy: Sierra Nevada Region: subregion: Senate Bill 208 requires the Sierra Nevada Conservancy to make an annual report to the Legislature and to the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency regarding expenditures, land management costs, and administrative costs. This bill would modify areas listed under the definitions of the “Sierra Nevada Region” and its “subregions,” as specified, for these purposes. Status: SB 208 passed the Assembly Appropriations Committee and awaits consideration on the Assembly Floor. RCRC Status: Support
Senate Bill 219 (McGuire): Property Tax Payments: Shelter-in-Place Order. Senate Bill 219 codifies a county tax collector’s ability to cancel late payment penalties for taxpayers who have experienced financial hardship due to shelter-in-place orders. Status: SB 219 was signed into law by the Governor. RCRC Status: Support
Senate Bill 244 (Archuleta): Lithium-ion batteries: illegal disposal: fire prevention: Senate Bill 244 seeks to prevent lithium-ion battery fires by requiring the state to develop training and best practices for the detection, safe handling, and suppression of fires that originate from discarded lithium-ion batteries in solid waste collection vehicles, transfer and processing stations, and disposal facilities. Status: SB 244 awaits consideration on the Assembly Floor. RCRC Status: Support
Senate Bill 264 (Min): Firearms: state and county property: Senate Bill 264 prohibits the sale of firearms and firearm components on state property, most notably District Agriculture Associations-operated fairs. Status: SB 264 passed the Assembly Appropriations Committee and awaits consideration on the Assembly Floor. RCRC Status: Oppose
Senate Bill 270 (Durazo): Public employment: labor relations: employee information. This bill, commencing July 1, 2022, would authorize an exclusive representative to file a charge of an unfair labor practice with the board, as specified, alleging a violation of the above-described requirements only if specified conditions are met, including that the exclusive representative gives written notice of the alleged violation and that the public employer fails to cure the violation, as specified. The bill would limit a public employer’s opportunity to cure certain violations. Status: SB 270 awaits consideration from the Assembly Appropriation Committee. RCRC Status: Oppose
Senate Bill 284 (Stern): Workers’ compensation: firefighters and peace officers: post-traumatic stress. Establishes a workers’ compensation system, administered by the Administrative Director of the Division of Workers’ Compensation, to compensate an employee for injuries sustained in the course of employment. Status: SB 284 awaits consideration from the Assembly Appropriations Committee. RCRC Status: Pending
Senate Bill 341 (McGuire) Makes several changes to increase oversight and accountability of telecommunications service outages. Status: SB 341 awaits consideration on the Assembly Floor. RCRC Status: Support
Senate Bill 456 (Laird) Fire prevention: forest health: action plan: reports. Senate Bill 456 requires the department to be responsible for, among other things, fire protection and prevention, as provided. The former Governor, Edmund G. Brown Jr., issued an executive order relating to, among other subjects, the streamlining of permitting for landowner-initiated projects for the improvement of forest health and the reduction of forest fire fuels on their properties. Status: SB 456 passed the Assembly Appropriations Committee and awaits consideration on the Assembly Floor. RCRC Status: Support
Senate Bill 533 (Stern) Electrical corporations: wildfire mitigation plans: deenergization events: microgrids. Requires utilities to discuss in their Wildfire Mitigation Plans efforts to improve their electrical systems, focused on those areas and assets that have been deenergized the greatest number of times. Status: SB 533 awaits consideration on the Assembly Floor. RCRC Status: Support
Senate Bill 586 (Bradford) SB 586 eliminates several criminal justice related fines and fees. The bill does not provide sustainable backfill funding to counties and essentially shifts the fiscal burden for core programs and services from court-involved individuals to the counties. Status: SB 586 awaits consideration in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. RCRC Status: Concern
Senate Bill 709 (Dahle) Senate Bill 709 eliminates extensions for timber harvesting plans approved by the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection from January 1, 2010, to August 31, 2012, inclusive, and instead allow for a timber harvesting plan that is approved by the department from January 1, 2014, to December 31, 2015, inclusive, to be extended for an additional 2 years if certain conditions are met. Status: SB 709 awaits consideration for concurrence on the Senate Floor. RCRC Status: Support