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Receive an update from staff and the County’s State Legislative Advocate on the status of legislation that is of interest to the County; and Consider supporting the American Heart Association’s Hypertension State Budget Proposal and taking positions on SB 969, and AB 2441 which were reviewed by the County’s Legislative Committee on March 19, 2018
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Published Notice Required? Yes _______ No ___X__
Public Hearing Required? Yes _______ No ___X__
DEPARTMENTAL RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended that the Board of Supervisors Receive an update from staff and the County’s State Legislative Advocate on State and Federal legislation of interest to the County and consider taking positions on bills included within this agenda item which were reviewed by the County’s Legislative Committee on March 19, 2018.
SUMMARY:
Staff will provide an overview of legislation considered by the Board’s Legislative Committee on March 19, 2018. The County’s Legislative Advocate, Karen Lange of Shaw/Yoder/Antwih, Inc., will provide a verbal update on developments at the Capitol and key legislation of interest to the County. The informational items before the Board were reviewed by the County’s Legislative Committee on March 19, 2018 and are discussed individually in the discussion section below.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
The legislative program is designed to result in additional funding and cost avoidance relative to Solano County. The cost of preparing this report and compiling the information is a General Fund cost covered in the County Administrator’s administration budget.
DISCUSSION:
The County’s Legislative Committee Members, Supervisor Erin Hannigan (Chair) and Supervisor John Vasquez met on March 19, 2018 to discuss both Federal and State issues. Joe Krahn and Hasan Sarsour of Paragon Government Relations, the County Federal advocacy team and Karen Lange of Shaw/Yoder/Antwih Inc., the County’s State legislative advocate participated in the meeting as well.
The County’s March 19, 2018 Legislative Committee agenda (Attachment A) included a Federal update from Paragon Government Relations, a summary of which is included in Attachment B. The State advocate, Karen Lange will provide a verbal update at the Board meeting. Also on the agenda was a request from the American Heart Association to endorse their State Budget proposal related to Hypertension to help control high blood pressure and two State legislative bills, SB 969 and AB 2441, considered by the Legislative Committee, each of which is discussed individually below.
Summary of legislative action considered by the Legislative Committee (In order on the March 19, 2018 Legislative Committee agenda packet)
SB 969 (Dodd) Automatic garage door openers: backup batteries
Existing law requires an automatic garage door opener that is manufactured for sale, purchased, sold, offered for sale, or installed in a residence to comply with specified safety requirements, including that the automatic garage door opener have an automatic reverse safety device. This bill would also require an automatic garage door opener that is manufactured for sale, purchased, sold, offered for sale, or installed in a residence to have a battery backup function that is designed to operate when activated by an electrical outage. The bill would make a violation of those provisions subject to a civil penalty of $1,000.
The Legislative Committee discussed the bill and a concern was raised regarding the potential to penalize the consumer in that the bill prohibits the “purchase” of a garage door opener that does not have a battery backup function. The Legislative Committee suggested their recommendation to the Board should include edits to the legislation to remove references to prohibit the purchase of garage door openers that do not have battery backups from the various sections noted in the bill.
In addition, a question was asked about the size of the batteries and how long they might last. Staff agreed to follow up with the author’s office. Attachment C provides information related to the back up batteries obtained from Senator Dodd’s staff.
The Legislative Committee recommended a SUPPORT WITH EDITS position on SB 969 which would include a request to the author to stricken “purchase” or “purchased” from the bill.
AB 2441 (Frazier) Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Abandoned Vessel Removal Account: removal of abandoned vessels
Existing law vests with the State Lands Commission control over specified public lands in the state, including tidelands and submerged lands. Existing law requires that all rental income received for surface uses, including, but not limited to, surface drilling rights, upon lands under the jurisdiction of the commission be deposited in the State Treasury to the credit of the General Fund, except for certain income from state school lands, royalties received from the extraction of minerals on the surface of those lands, and all rental income from surface uses for lands at Lake Tahoe.This bill would additionally exclude from the above requirement relating to the use of rental income received from surface uses of public lands, all rental income from surface uses for lands in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, as defined. The bill would create the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Abandoned Vessel Removal Account in the General Fund and would require that moneys in the account be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the commission for the removal of abandoned and derelict commercial vessels from lands and waterways, including tidelands and submerged lands, in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
Assemblymember Frazier’s staff attended the meeting to encourage the legislative committee to support AB 2441.
The Legislative Committee recommended a SUPPORT position on AB 244 to alleviate the abandoned vessels throughout the Delta region.