City Council Adopts Federal and State Legislative Platforms

The Pasadena City Council on Monday adopted the city’s recommended federal and state legislative platforms for the coming year.

The city’s political platforms were first presented to the City Council’s Legislative Policy Committee.

The platforms are prepared every year by the City Manager’s Office, which oversees Pasadena’s legislative activities, in coordination with city departments and the city’s state and federal lobbyists. Once adopted by the council, these platforms provide guidance to staff that analyzes the numerous bills that are being discussed.

Access to housing is a big plank of the city’s legislative platform.

“I am surprised by omitting from the California Legislative Platform opposition to this session’s bills aimed, again, at eliminating both single-family zoning and neighborhoods in California,” wrote Nina Chomsky.

SB 50 is back in piecemeal form. Senator Wiener again proposes that converting single-family lots into luxury market-rate multi-units will increase affordable housing. To the contrary, this is an enormous gift to speculative developers cloaked in the guise of “trickle down housing”. Luxury multi-unit housing on formally single-family lots has nothing to do with producing affordable housing.

The worst of the Bills is SB 9. SB 9 replaces single-family homes with up to 6-units by right, including a by right subdivision, and 8-units with some local control. Are historic neighborhoods protected? Yes, to some extent. Will most single-family neighborhoods survive? No. Is more “local control” lost? Yes.

Our city-wide unique single-family neighborhoods distinguish Pasadena. As part of the Platform, Pasadena should advocate for their survival. Why oppose SB 9 and related Bills now? They are in Committee and are more easily defeated or changed now.

Also, consider supporting Senator Portantino’s SB 15 which will assist cities to address housing needs by facilitating the conversion of certain unneeded commercial buildings into housing.’

Another significant recommendation in the city’s platforms is the inclusion of language on COVID-19 so that cities of all sizes may receive direct assistance and not just those with large populations.

In previous COVID-19 relief legislation, Pasadena did not meet the required population thresholds to qualify for direct local aid. This includes the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and the rental assistance program in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, signed into law by President Trump on Dec. 27.

This language is a new section in the legislative platforms and includes support for direct assistance to local governments of all population sizes to address the catastrophic loss of revenue resulting from the pandemic and other disasters, said a report prepared for Monday’s meeting.

“The language also includes support for increasing the federal cost share for the FEMA Public Assistance program to 100 percent,” the report reads. “Additionally, the language notes support for direct financial assistance to local health jurisdictions to support expanded case investigation, contact tracing, testing, and vaccine distribution.”

The section also includes support for direct financial assistance to publicly owned utilities to credit delinquent utility bills for their customers, the report said.

Another COVID-19 related addition to both federal and state platforms is the consideration of “added support for funding public libraries” to provide programs and resources to those impacted by the pandemic such as those who have lost their jobs or are underemployed, those experiencing mental health issues, needing help with schoolwork, and experiencing social isolation.

The City Manager’s Office regularly consults with the city’s lobbyists and legislative advocates, CapitalEdge Advocacy, Inc. for the federal aspect, and Emanuel Jones and Associates for the state, to build close working relationships with city staff and legislators and prepare the legislative platforms.

Aside from the regular work of preparing the legislative platforms, the lobbyists also alert staff about critical bills before federal and state legislative bodies; do extensive research, analysis and monitoring on important bills; lobby the state Legislature, the governor’s office, Congress, and the executive branch; do research about various grant programs and assist in applying for them; assist in drafting bill amendments; serve as the city liaison with the federal and state governments; and schedule one-on-one meetings with elected officials.