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California session: lawmakers push wildfire response, water and teleconferencing fixes; Carlsbad interests mapped to bills
Summary
State lobbyists and legislative staff told the Carlsbad subcommittee that the Legislature is introducing large numbers of bills—many as placeholders—while special-session budget bills have set aside roughly $2.5 billion for Los Angeles wildfire response and other wildfire-related legislative packages are expected. Key topics for Carlsbad include a
State legislative staff and the city’s contract lobbyists briefed the Carlsbad legislative subcommittee on early 2025 activity in Sacramento, including wildfire response funding, water-supply and recycled-water proposals, teleconferencing (Brown Act) changes and density-bonus clarifications that could affect local housing outcomes.
Sharon Gonzales of the California Public Policy Group told the subcommittee that more than 900 bills had been introduced at the time of her remarks, many of them “spot bills” (placeholders). She said the governor signed two special-session budget bills providing more than $2.5 billion to bolster Los Angeles-area recovery and rebuilding after recent wildfires; those special-session bills also included executive orders creating targeted CEQA and Coastal Commission exemptions intended to speed reconstruction.
Gonzales outlined water-related measures that could matter for Carlsbad, including a reintroduction of a statewide water-supply planning bill (AB72 reintroduction of earlier SB366 language), a recycled-water cleanup/mitigation proposal tied to PFOS remediation (SB31 spot language), and efforts from the California Municipal Utilities Association to create a low-income rate-assistance program. She also said the Special Districts Association will seek to remove a sunset on limited teleconferencing authority for public bodies (AB2449) and that Senator Josh Adejin is reintroducing a bill to allow certain non-decision-making subsidiary bodies to meet remotely.
Francine Busby, district director for Senator Catherine Blakespear, summarized five bills introduced by the senator that the subcommittee may be asked to support later in the year: a waste-diversion requirement for state facilities, a gun-dealer oversite bill to improve record-keeping and tighten the “infrequent seller” definition, a density-bonus realignment that would require two-thirds of square footage in certain projects be residential, a military-childcare bill to ease Department of Defense-licensed provider reciprocity, and a Medigap enrollment-access bill. Busby said wildfire-focused bills are expected later in the session.
Anna Madanovic, a field representative for Assemblymember Tasha Burner, described three bills from the assemblymember’s office: AB242 (expand newborn screening for Duchenne muscular dystrophy), AB353 (placeholder to require ISPs offer affordable home internet plans), and AB399 (reintroduced blue carbon bill to allow the California Coastal Commission to consider blue carbon demonstration projects in mitigation discussions for coastal permits). Madanovic also listed committee assignments for the assemblymember that may affect local priorities.
City staff and the subcommittee discussed opportunities to fold Carlsbad’s locally approved bill ideas into state proposals. Staff noted two proposals with traction: giving HCD authority to open certain beds at La Posada with priority for farmworker housing, and a proposal to allow remote appearances in workplace violence restraining order cases; staff said the latter may be a candidate for inclusion in an omnibus bill pending sign-off from the California District Attorneys Association.
No formal positions were taken at the meeting; state lobbyists asked the city to continue coordinating and to provide examples and testimony if requested by bill authors.
