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Carlsbad legislative subcommittee outlines advocacy priorities, including library positions and housing bills
Summary
City intergovernmental staff and a council representative briefed the Library Board on the legislative subcommittee’s role, process for adopting a legislative platform and recent priorities including library privacy/net neutrality positions and several housing-related bill efforts.
Carlsbad intergovernmental affairs staff and a city council representative told the Library Board of Trustees on Sept. 24 that the city’s legislative subcommittee maintains a standing legislative platform, pursues funding opportunities and coordinates state and federal advocacy for city priorities.
"The policy documents call for the city to adopt and establish a legislative platform," said Jason Haber, the city’s intergovernmental affairs director. He described a process in which subcommittee members and contracted lobbyists meet with city departments each year to identify needed platform updates and funding requests.
The presentation, delivered by Haber and Councilmember Melanie Burkholder (the council’s District 1 representative on the subcommittee), said the subcommittee follows City Council Policy No. 39 and a council resolution that established the legislative subcommittee. The subcommittee tracks bills, takes positions (watch, support, oppose or amended positions) and, when necessary, brings matters to the full council for a final vote.
Burkholder said the subcommittee sometimes pursues direct engagement in Sacramento and Washington, D.C., including in-person testimony. "I was just in Sacramento, testifying in opposition to SB 79. It's a terrible building bill that will wreck my village," she said, describing one recent lobbying trip.
Haber described the city’s use of associations and contractors — the League of California Cities, the National League of Cities, a Sacramento-based state lobbyist, a Washington-based federal lobbyist and a contracted grant writer — to monitor legislation and funding opportunities. He said the subcommittee coordinates with regional partners (San Diego Association of Governments and neighboring cities) when relevant.
Library-specific platform items appear under the community services section of the city’s legislative platform, according to the presentation. Those listed priorities include: supporting increased and sustainable funding for local public libraries; opposing Internet-filtering laws that apply to publicly funded libraries; supporting legislation that protects library patron privacy; and supporting preservation of net neutrality. The presenters noted the city has been tracking bills that relate to libraries, including SB 321 (student access to library services) and last year’s California Freedom to Read Act, and that library plans submitted under the Freedom to Read Act have been accepted by the state librarian.
Haber and Burkholder also described recent and potential city-originated bills on topics the subcommittee has pursued or considered: allowing public-safety agencies to operate utility-terrain vehicles on city streets for access to trails and beaches; enabling electronic filing and virtual appearances for temporary restraining orders connected to third-party workplace harassment (an extension of SB 428, adopted earlier); and efforts to change state restrictions so beds at the La Posada shelter could serve the broader homeless population. The presenters said the city did not sponsor bills this year but has about eight concepts it tracked and could reintroduce during the two-year legislative session’s next cycle.
On funding, the presenters summarized how the subcommittee and lobbyists prioritize a council-approved project list and search for alignment with state and federal discretionary or formula funding, community project funding and competitive grants. The presenters cited a multi-year federal effort to trench tracks in the village as an example of recurring federal funding engagement; they said the city has received congressional community project funding in past years for that work and expected pending awards tied to congressional and presidential approval.
Board members asked clarifying questions and were invited to provide library-specific priorities for the subcommittee to consider. The presenters said they would meet soon with library staff to identify library items to include in the legislative platform and to coordinate on potential sponsorship or advocacy.
The presentation concluded with an invitation to trustees to suggest legislative items that would support library operations or access; presenters said the subcommittee would evaluate whether suggestions fit within the city’s overall platform and funding strategy.
