Current Legislative Action

Overview

CALED has led the way in teaching economic developers, local elected officials, and state representatives the value of economic development and how it is used to grow businesses, generate revenue to support community development programs, and retain and create quality jobs. CALED provides tools and resources to enrich and empower their communities to build, wealthy, healthy, viable economies. One of the many ways we accomplish this is through legislative action.

As CALED drives further into this legislative session, we are looking to advance our priorities and will continue to work with partners on issues impacting economic development.

CALED’s Current Positions:

AB 2357 (Ting) Oppose–Thanks to quick action by CALED and its members, Assembly Member Ting pulled AB 2357 from committee prior to the hearing. This legislation would have expanded HCD’s role in the implementation of the Surplus Lands Act (SLA) and undermined local governments and their ability to do what is best for their communities in order to create economic development opportunities. When the bill was pulled, CALED’s CEO, Gurbax Sahota, was at the hearing prepared to provide lead opposition testimony.CALED would like to thank the leadership of Senator Anna Caballero (D-Merced), Chair of the Senate Governance and Finance Committee, for her determined opposition to provisions of the legislation which sought to further expand the SLA in ways that undercut local community flexibility.Critical to this favorable outcome was the engagement of many communities and economic development corporations that sent letters of opposition. We would not have been able to stop this bill without their voices.
AB 2780 (Arambula) Support– As Amended March 24, 2022, allows local jurisdictions that have resolved their past redevelopment dissolution issues to form an Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District (EIFD). See support letter here.
SB 1410 (Caballero) Support– Narrows the application of existing California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) guidelines for vehicle miles traveled (VMT) developed by the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR) to only apply to development projects within transit priority areas. Development projects such as housing and economic development uses located outside of transit priority areas would be subject to traditional level of service criteria. See support letter here.

CALED’s Economic Development Analysis on Key Issues:

The Taxpayer Protection and Government Accountability Act Analysis

Economic Development is the creation of wealth from which community benefits are realized. It is more than a jobs program, it’s an investment in growing your economy and enhancing the prosperity and quality of life for all residents. As such, economic development implementation is rooted in maintaining a thriving local economy which also benefits the prosperity and quality of life of residents.

Given the multiple provisions in this measure, the sponsors are obviously frustrated by actions of the Legislature, state and local tax levels, regulatory activities, a series of Court decisions, and recent voter actions they disagree with. At the same time, local leaders are elected and accountable to voters, and need to retain the flexibility to govern, which includes raising revenues for services and adopting and enforcing regulations.

CALED members should consider whether this measure effectively furthers their community’s economic development goals.

CALED’s Economic Development Highlights on Governor Newsom’s May Revise for FY2022-23 Budget Plan

To read the summary, click here.

CALED’s In-Depth Economic Development Summary on Governor Newsom’s Proposed 2022 Budget

To read the summary, click here.

CALED Responds to CERF Program Request for Information on January 18, 2022 (click to see letter)

CALED Gives Input on CERF Proposed Regions (click to see letter)

SB 162 – $600 Million Community Economic Resilience Fund (CERF) Program

Download CALED’s Analysis here

SB 162 Analysis Note from CALED CEO Gurbax Sahota

Governor Newsom signed SB 162 creating a $600 million Community Economic Resilience Fund (CERF) Program. While this program will have a regional approach, we hope to reinforce that regional solutions require local voices and engagement to ensure long-term success.

State officials are working now on an accelerated rollout of the CERF Program, with a timeline to launch the program as soon as January 2022 with more information to be released this fall for public comment. The funds will be put out by the California Labor Agency through the Workforce Services Branch at EDD. Local agencies and EDCs seeking to participate in this program should review CALED’s detailed summary of the bill and begin organizing local collaboratives now to be better positioned to compete for funding. With such a significant allocation of funds, we know several groups are already looking at the CERF for potential funding and even providing influence in program design. That said, we believe that a city or county could take the lead as a “skilled and impartial convener” for initial collaborative stakeholder discussions, so that a structure is in place as the program comes together.

As you plan for your role in this program, whether that is as an applicant or participant, here are a few points to consider:

While not detailed specifically in the legislation, we understand that there will be an effort by the state to align, to the extent possible, with the US EDA’s Build Back Better Challenge, which is absolutely an economic development program focused on long-term, transformative outcomes tied to metrics such as income levels, job creation, and business creation through the lens of equity and inclusion.
If economic development is part of the solution to the problems CERF applicants plan to address, economic developers should be heavily engaged in the implementation of this program– as in other economic development programs at the local levels.
Local governments are key/instrumental partners in regional solutions and should assume leadership roles in the collaboratives formed under CERF.
It looks like, the initial focus for the CERF will be the identification of regions and the establishment of collaboratives. That said, we believe that will shift quickly to identification and implementation of significant projects with long-term economic development outcomes. All the more reason for local governments and local economic developers to assume leading roles in these collaboratives.

CALED-Sponsored SB 780 (Cortese) signed by Governor Newsom with no opposition and bipartisan support

Download fact sheet here; read bill text here.

CALED’s In-Depth Economic Development Summary on the 2021 California Signed Budget

To read the summary, click here.

CALED’s Board of Directors Approved the Following Legislative Priorities for 2022

View CALED’s Legislative Policy

Priority 1

Legislation focused on the future of Tax Increment Financing

Priority 2

Bills that have significant impact on jurisdictions’ ability to engage in and implement economic development

Priority 3

Create a specific ask for tools and resources for economic development

Legislative Action Committee Members

The CALED Board of Directors confirmed the creation of our Legislative Action Committee (LAC) and adopted the guiding policy for how this group would review legislation and make recommendations to the Board of Directors. Robert Burris, Deputy Chief Economic Development Officer at Rural County Representatives of California, is the Chair for the LAC. Furthermore, this page includes current bills we have taken a position on and upcoming important legislative events that you should be aware of.

Robert Burris

Chair, Deputy Chief Economic Development Officer at Rural County Representatives of California

Matthew Hargrove

President and CEO of the California Business Properties Association (CBPA)

Aaron Laurel

City Manager, City of West Sacramento

Gurbax Sahota

President and CEO of California Association for Local Economic Development

Gregg Foster

Executive Director, Redwood Region Economic Development Commission

Kendall Levan

Principal Attorney, Kane, Ballmer & Berkman

Bruce Kern

Former Director, East Bay Economic Dev Alliance

Jennifer McLain Hiramoto

Economic Development Director, City of Ontario

Bobby Kahn

Executive Director, Madera County EDC

2022 Active Bills

Bill	Author	Brief Description
SB 852: Climate Resilience Districts	Senator Dodd	In its introduced form, this bill allowed a county or special district to create a Tax Increment Financing district and have new powers and authorities within cities or smaller special districts even when the city or smaller district has opted not to share revenue and participate in the districts. Status: This bill was recently significantly amended in the April 7^th Senate Governance and Finance Committee hearing to address numerous issues. CALED has raised the concern about impacts of the bill on non-participating agencies with the sponsors, and has drafted a proposed amendment to address it.
SB 1369: Permits housing on industrial and commercial sites	Senator Wieckowski	This bill Impacts local economic development, planning, and zoning by allowing any commercial, industrial, public or office building or structure with 25% occupancy or less to convert as “adaptive reuse” to housing “by right” without compliance with local plans and CEQA. Status: Not yet set. Potential concerns arise from residential uses that may undermine uses of adjacent industrial and commercial properties.
SB 1410: Vehicle Miles Traveled and Rural Areas	Senator Caballero	This bill would limit the OPR’s (Office of Planning and Research) VMT regulations and metrics to only apply emission reductions within Transit Priority Areas. Levels of Service would be used in other areas where projects are subject to CEAQ review. Status: Set for April 25^th in the Senate Environmental Quality Committee.
AB 1951: Exempts local sales taxes for manufacturing equipment	Assemblymember Grayson	This bill Proposes to eliminate all local sales and transaction and use taxes, including those portions of the sales tax dedicated for county realignment and public safety, associated with the purchase of manufacturing equipment for 10 years. The potential impact is the loss of these revenues for funds dedicated to local agencies could approach $400 million annually ($4 billion over 10 years). Status: Not yet set
AB 2342: Minor/clarifying modifications to CERF program	Assemblymember Cervantes	This bill is a legislative vehicle for potential changes to the CERF program. The introduced version includes a helpful requirement that the collaboratives “seek out and invite into the engagement process local and regional planning efforts whose mission is aligned with the purposes of this chapter.” Status: Set for hearing on April 26^th in the Assembly Jobs, Economic Development and the Economy Committee. The bill may be amended to include additional provisions before the hearing.
AB 2357: Lengthy SLA bill	Assemblymember Ting	This bill makes major changes to the Surplus Lands Act (SLA) that local governments should review closely. April 5^th amendments expand HCD’s authority to review “any action to dispose of land,” which would include properties retained for agency use, properties declared “exempt surplus.” The sweeping nature of the phrase “any action to dispose of land” also undermines any efforts by a local agency to maintain that they can still acquire and dispose of properties for economic development under the Wright/Dodd law. The bill also increases penalties for SLA violations from 30 percent of a property’s sale price to 30 percent of fair market value. Status: Set in Assembly Local Government on April 20^th. CALED is reviewing this bill and considering taking a position.
AB 2780: Redevelopment Dissolution: Enhanced Infrastructure Financing Districts (EIFD)	Assemblymember Arambula	This bill allows local agencies which are prohibited by statute from forming an Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District (EIFD) because they failed to obtain a finding of completing by a specific date, to form an EIFD if they are now in compliance with relevant laws. Status: Not yet set.
AB 2233: State Excess Lands	Assemblymember Quirk Silva	This bill requires, every four years, the Department of General Services (DGS) to survey all state agencies, create a digitized and detailed inventory and issue reports on specific affordable housing opportunities. HCD is separately empowered to sample state agency responses to determine their accuracy. Bidding requirements must include payment of prevailing wages. The bill further authorizes CalTrans to sell its excess land to DGS at below fair market rates if the land is suitable for affordable housing. Status: Set April 20^th in Assembly Local Government Committee. This measure has some parallels for state agencies with the aggressive approach of the Surplus Lands Act. It will be interesting to see how this bill progresses, and whether legislators are willing to apply these provisions, including HCD reviews, to their own agencies.

If you would like to know more about CALED’s Legislative priorities, successes, and current legislative bills list, please contact Laura Cole-Rowe, laura@caled.org, 916-448-8252 ext:13