Subcommittee adopts revisions to Carlsbad’s legislative platform, adds sober-home and e-bike priorities and keeps housing protections under watch

The Carlsbad legislative subcommittee approved revisions to the city’s 2026 legislative platform, which include both carryover items from 2025 and several staff‑proposed additions focused on public safety, housing regulation, and transportation safety.

On carryover items, the subcommittee retained five proposals: (1) authorize electronic filing and virtual appearance for workplace violence and harassment restraining orders, (2) permit certain off‑highway utility terrain vehicle use by public-safety staff on city streets, (3) oppose short-term vacation rental use of units that received density-bonus waivers or concessions, (4) pursue options to reallocate 50 beds at La Posada now limited to farmworker occupancy, and (5) consider requiring occupants of some supportive-housing units to accept case management as a condition of occupancy.

New staff proposals the subcommittee endorsed for the platform include enabling local requirements for e-bike safety training and licensing and seeking state authority to better regulate recovery-based group homes (commonly called sober-living homes). The sober-living recommendations are framed as a request for state law changes to permit local conditional-use permitting, separation standards, required on-site management, and inspection authority while ensuring protections for residents under the Fair Housing Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Community Development Director Jeff Murphy explained those federal and state legal constraints and why state-level change is necessary to give cities regulatory tools.

Public commenters pushed the subcommittee to add language supporting legislation that would hold major polluting companies financially accountable for environmental damages; Councilmember Acosta offered that student-drafted language for consideration. The motion to add 'polluters pay' language to the platform received no second on the floor and therefore was not adopted. The subcommittee agreed to monitor pending two‑year bills on producer responsibility and data-center reporting and to revisit specific amendments if bill text emerges.

The subcommittee voted unanimously to adopt the revised platform text as presented and to forward the recommendation to the full City Council; it also scheduled a special meeting on Dec. 2 to finalize the subcommittee’s recommendation prior to council consideration on Dec. 9.

No state or local law changed as a result of the vote; the action updates the city’s advocacy priorities and directs staff to monitor and, as appropriate, pursue regulatory or legislative fixes with the city’s legislative delegation.