City lobbyist updates committee on key bills, budget outlook and CARB proposals that could shift housing and transit funding

Ross Buckley, the city's contract state lobbyist, told the Sacramento City Council Law and Legislation Committee on April 30 that this week's appropriations "suspense" hearings and the governor's May revise will be decisive for many bills the city is tracking.

"This is actually kind of a critical week," Buckley said, describing the suspense process as "a black box of some sorts," where bills that carry state costs are vetted and often stopped. He cautioned that while Department of Finance figures showed roughly $8.6 billion in revenue above earlier estimates through early April, much of that is already committed to obligations such as Proposition 98 and reserve payments, so apparent surpluses can be overstated.

The city's priority bills include SB 802 (Sen. Ashby) addressing homelessness, SB 865 (Sen. Ashby) creating a California Music Festival Preservation Grant Program, AB 2016 (Asm. Soria) to ease spay/neuter barriers for animal shelters, AB 1349 (Asm. Isaac Bridal) targeting predatory secondary ticket sales, and AB 2069 (Asm. Krell) concerning a limited sales and use tax suspension to support fairgrounds infrastructure.

Buckley also summarized competing budget blueprints from the Senate and Assembly that contain proposals the city supports, including multi-hundred-million and billion-dollar allocations for housing programs, homeownership assistance, and other priorities. "It gives us a good sense of where things will be discussed," he said of the May revise.

On regulatory actions, Buckley described recently revised California Air Resources Board staff proposals to implement the cap-and-invest extension and said those proposals have drawn widespread stakeholder comment. He reported staff amendments that increase certain climate credits (described in the presentation as moving from 8,000,000,000 to 10,000,000,000), expand a manufacturing decarbonization incentive from $2 billion to $4 billion, and add an $800 million compliance-cost fund. Buckley said some stakeholders are concerned those revisions could reduce funding for programs that currently support affordable housing and transit projects.

Council members pressed Buckley on specific items: a return-to-office bill for state workers, where he said the governor and unions are negotiating; AB 2214, which staff reported is still awaiting a first policy committee hearing; and whether the Assembly's budget language referenced the Housing Accelerator Program (HAP), which Buckley said was briefly mentioned but without specific funding numbers.

On the CARB amendments, former Assemblymember Roger Dickinson cited a state transit-agency letter dated April 30 signed by agencies including Sacramento Regional Transit that says certain programs could "be zeroed out" under the proposal and that those programs could lose up to $1.65 billion. Buckley said the League of California Cities, transit agencies, environmental justice and housing advocates have engaged with CARB and the legislature on the issue and that the Senate held an informational hearing raising concerns.

The committee had no public speakers on the item and thanked Buckley for the update. Chair Maple emphasized the city remains actively engaged through its firm and government affairs staff.

The committee did not take further action on specific bills at this meeting; Buckley said the city will monitor which items move off the suspense calendar and report back.