TITLE
Recommendation to respectfully request City Council approval of the 2018 State Legislative Agenda as recommended by the State Legislation Committee.
DISCUSSION
Each year the City Council adopts a State Legislative Agenda, which outlines the City's State legislative priorities for the coming year. This document provides policy direction to staff on State legislative issues, and allows the City to support, oppose or work with State elected officials on advancing priorities adopted by the City Council.
At the State Legislation Committee meeting on November 21, 2017, the Committee voted to forward staff's recommended changes for the 2018 State Legislative Agenda, along with 26 additional changes from the Committee to the City Council for consideration and adoption, The Committee's proposed changes are described below:
Economic Development City Council Directives
1. Grow and Strengthen our established industry clusters and emerging sectors.
Amend Item (e) by eliminating reference to Transient Occupancy Tax as the measure by which tourism is evaluated. Item (e) shall read "Support policies, legislation, and grants to increase tourism activity,"
Strike Item (I), previously Item (i), "Support legislation that minimizes wage discrepancies between tipped and untipped workers in the restaurant industry without impacting existing scheduled minimum wage increases,"
2. Increase access to economic opportunities in low-income communities to advance economic equity.
Amend Objective 2 to read "Increase access to economic opportunities in all communities to advance economic opportunity holistically,"
Amend item (c) by replacing the term "low-income" with "underserved" so that the language reads: "Support policies, legislation, and grants to increase investment in all business corridors with prioritization for underserved business corridors."
Amend item (f) by replacing the term "low-income" with "underserved" so that the language reads: "Support policies, legislation and grants to decrease the digital divide for underserved community households."
Add new item (i) "Support policies, legislation, and grants that would ensure language access across all government documents for cultural competency."
3. Ensure the preparedness of the workforce and competitiveness of business through alignment of economic development, training, education, and community partner efforts.
Amend item (d) to include post-secondary education or certificate programs so that it reads "Support policies and legislation to increase the share of adult population with a Bachelor's degree, post-secondary education, or completion of certified certificate programs."
Add new item (j) "Support policies, legislation, and grants that assist the City in providing job training, community programming, with a focus on at-risk youth and reentry populations, as well as long term unemployed residents both to receive training and reenter the workforce."
4. Build a supportive economic ecosystem that creates reliable pathways for entrepreneurs to confidently start and grow successful businesses. Amend item (c) to "Support policies and legislation to increase availability and access to high-speed internet."
Add new Item (c) in context with amendments to Item (d), which speak to establishing Long Beach as the most business friendly city in the world. The Committee's addition of a new Item (c), which reads: "Support policies, legislation and grant to establish Long Beach as one of the most worker friendly cities in the world", is intended to ensure that Long Beach does not seek to become the most business friendly city in the world at the expense of workers.
Amend item (d) to delete reference to becoming "one of the most business friendly cities in the State". The Committee seeks to "Support policies, legislation, and grants to establish Long Beach as the most business friendly city in the world."
Un-strike and amend item (h) to remove references to enabling immigrant communities to have access to driver's licenses, and maintain language to:
"Support legislation and pursue pilot programs funding that expands workforce opportunities for immigrant communities in particular those that may utilize recent State measures related to undocumented youth and other measures that have sought to remove barriers toward self-sufficiency."
Amend Item (i) to emphasize local control and incentives with respect to partnerships with entities doing business at the Port of Long Beach to advance air quality goals so that the item now reads: "Support legislation that allows cities and/or jurisdictions to incentivize or collect fees from users of the goods movement system and from parties that impact local air quality and the environment."
5. Support workforce development activities that align with industry needs.
Amend item (c) to "Support state incentives that increase the marketability of unemployed or under-employed workers by supporting policies, legislation, and grants that assist employees in receiving training in emerging industries to maintain competitive employment."
6. Enhance our quality of life to grow businesses, jobs, and investment that support a thriving local economy.
Add new Item (g) to correspond with Objective 5, Item (d) to read: "Support green business initiatives and pursuing green business certification as a city."
Public Safety
City Council Directives
2. Ensure that Long Beach residents live in safe families and communities, attend safe schools, and are contributing citizens connected to their communities.
With the passage of Proposition 64, which legalized adult-use marijuana, the Committee recommends amending Item (e) to remove mention of "medical" as the only aspect of marijuana regulations to monitor. Additionally, the Committee proposes to include language to support State advancements towards banking on behalf of cannabis as this is a safety issue. Item (e) reads:
"Support State legislation that further clarifies marijuana laws in order to enable clear local enforcement of State law and advancements towards banking on behalf of cannabis."
With State and local governments moving forward with regulations to enable medical and adult-use marijuana in certain areas of California, the Committee recommends striking Item (f), which currently reads: "Support policies and legislation to classify medical marijuana as a recognized pharmaceutical medication dispensed through pharmacies."
Amend Item (I) by replacing "recreational marijuana" with the term "adult-use" so that the item now reads: "Support legislation that would strictly regulate the distribution of adult-use marijuana to enable clear local law enforcement vacancies."
Amend Item (m) to include facilitating out-of-State law enforcement hires so that the item now reads: "Support legislation, policies, and grants that would facilitate lateral hiring of police officers both in state and out of state to fill critical law enforcement vacancies while maintaining high standards of cultural sensitivity, performance, and values."
Add new Item (0) "Support legislation, policies and grants that establish restorative justice programs in juvenile and adult courts."
4. Embrace technology to enhance public safety services.
Add new item (g) "Monitor legislation as it relates to crypto currency or bitcoin regulation specific to businesses and support policies, legislation and grants that tackle cyber security crimes."
Education
City Council Directives
5. Support efforts to utilize technology and libraries.
Add new Item (d) to "Support policies, legislation, and grants that incentivize community partnerships with local educational institutions to utilize shared space, equipment, and playgrounds."
Sustainable and Livable Cities City Council Directives
2. Support efforts to improve air quality.
Add new item (j) "Support policies and legislation that seeks to ban nonrecyclable and non-polystyrene materials from the waste stream.
4. Support affordable housing policies consistent with the City's adopted housing policies.
Amend item (a) to specifically state the City's interest in support for affordable housing funds that can be used in the City, as opposed to simply support for funding that would not necessarily benefit Long Beach so that the item now reads: "Support policies, legislation and grants that increases funding for affordable housing when equitable to Long Beach."
5. Support energy resiliency.
Add new item (h) "Support policies, legislation, and grants that continue the option for local governments to enter into Community Choice Aggregates agreements."
Amend item (c) to strengthen support for residents with disabilities so that the item now reads: "Support policies, legislation that provide sufficient process for business and other governmental entities to implement ADA requirements and to fully support residents with disabilities."
6. Support public health programs and services.
Amend Item (g) by changing Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) to Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) so that the item now reads: "Support policies, legislation, and grants that promote and fund screening of communicable diseases, Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs), and other emerging vector borne diseases in California."
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no fiscal impact with this action.
SUGGESTED ACTION
Approve recommendation.
Respectfully Submitted,
AL AUSTIN
COUNCILMAN, EIGHTH DISTRICT
CHAIR,
STATE LEGISLATION COMMITTEE