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Carlsbad councilmembers outline annual legislative platform, recent sponsored bills and funding priorities
Summary
City Council legislative subcommittee members reviewed the city's annual legislative platform, recent sponsored bills that became law, current bill positions and a prioritized list of capital projects for state and federal funding requests.
Councilmember Teresa Acosta and Intergovernmental Affairs Director Jason Haber updated the Public Safety Commission on the City of Carlsbad's intergovernmental affairs program, its annual legislative platform and the city's current state and federal funding requests.
Acosta, who represents District 4 and serves on the City Council's legislative subcommittee, said the subcommittee meets monthly and reviews state and federal bills and regulatory matters that could affect city operations. She said the city works with departmental staff, the League of California Cities, the National League of Cities and retained lobbyists in Sacramento and Washington, D.C., to track proposals and pursue funding.
Haber described the legislative platform as a standing document reviewed annually by the legislative subcommittee and the full council. The platform, he said, guides the city's positions (watch, support, oppose, support-if-amended or oppose-if-amended) and the issuance of formal letters or testimony. He said the subcommittee consults departments across the city, including police and fire, before recommending council positions.
The presentation listed bills the city has sponsored or supported in recent years. According to the subcommittee's summary: in 2022 the city sponsored two bills authored by Assemblymember Berner related to lifeguard deployment; in 2023 the city sponsored a bill authorizing employers to seek temporary restraining orders on behalf of harassed employees; and in the last two years the city sponsored bills including a pilot allowing local jurisdictions to consider an e-bike rider ban for riders under a specified age and a bill allowing certain cybersecurity matters to be discussed in closed session under a Brown Act exception. Acosta and Haber said the city had about eight concepts endorsed by council this year for possible sponsorship or inclusion in an omnibus measure.
Haber also described the city's approach to funding requests. The council maintains a prioritized list of capital projects that staff and lobbyists match to federal and state funding opportunities (for example, community project funding, CDBG-competitive grants or larger budget bills). He cited the multi-year effort to trench the railroad in Carlsbad Village as an example of a transportation priority the city has asked Congressman Mike Levin to help fund.
Acosta said the subcommittee's guiding principles include preserving local control, fiscal responsibility (opposing unfunded mandates), protecting quality of life and aligning legislative priorities with the city's strategic plan (community character, safety, sustainability, economic vitality and organizational excellence).
The presentation concluded with a review of the state legislative calendar and a reminder that the city actively engages at all stages of the process.
Commissioners had no follow-up questions during the meeting.
