HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-05-10; City Council Legislative Subcommittee; ; State and Federal Legislative ReportsCity Council Legislative Subcommittee
Meeting Date:
To:
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Item 1:
May 10, 2022
City Council Legislative Subcommittee
Jason Haber, Intergovernmental Affairs Director
State and Federal Legislative Reports
Recommendation: Receive updates from representatives of U.S. Congressman Mike Levin,
State Senator Patricia Bates and State Assemblymember Tasha Boerner Horvath, and provide
feedback.
May 10, 2022 Item #1 Page 1 of 1
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Assemblymember Tasha Boerner Horvath, 76th District
AB 2593 BLUE CARBON PROJECTS IN COASTAL DEVELOPMENT PERMITS
(AS AMENDED APRIL] 8, 2022)
SUMMARY
AB 2593 would authorize the California Coastal
Commission to require an applicant seeking a
coastal development permit for a project that will
have impacts to specified coastal habitats to build
or contribute to a blue carbon project mitigate for
those impacts.
BACKGROUND
"Blue carbon" habitats such as coastal wetlands,
tidal salt marshes, kelp forests and seagrass beds
(eelgrass) can sequester more carbon per acre than
many types or terrestrial habitats. When these
ecosystems are degraded or damaged directly or
indirectly by human activities, their ability to
sequester carbon is adversely affected or lost
completely. they release stored carbon into the
atmosphere resulting in additional CO2 emissions
that contribute to an acc.elerated rate of climate
change.
Blue carbon ecosystems have lost an estimated 35
percent of their global cover since 1970. Current
estimates suggest the loss of these important
marine ecosystems is occurring at a rate of 2-7%
per year-a higher rates than other ecosystems,
even rainforests. Research indicates that if blue
carbon ecosystems continue to decline at the
current rate, 30 to 40 percent of tidal marshes and
seagrasses and approximately I 00 percent of
mangroves could be gone in the next century.
Preserving, restoring and expanding these habitat
types are a cost-effective way to slow the rate of
climate change, while also protecting the coast,
commercial fisheries and public health.
General blue carbon projects that can increase
carbon sequestration and mitigate for GHG
emissions in coastal, intertidal and ocean habitats
may include:
• Restoration, protection or creation of blue
carbon habitat areas
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• Creating, restoring and/or managing
hydrological conditions (removing tidal
barriers, improving hydrological
connectivity, restoring tidal flow to
wetlands or lowering water levels on
impounded wetlands)
• Altering sediment supply (beneficial use of
dredge material or diverting river
sediments to sediment-starved areas)
• Changing salinity characteristics (restoring
tidal flow to tidally-restricted areas)
• Improving water quality (reducing nutrient
loads leading to improved water clarity to
expand seagrass meadows, recovering tidal
and other hydrologic flushing and
exchange, or reducing nutrient residence
time)
• Introducing or reintroducing native plant
communities (Reseeding or replanting)
• Reintroducing fauna important to
ecosystem function and resilience
(Predatory sea stars, sea otters)
• Improving management practices
• Managing activities that impact carbon
sinks such as changing fishing practices
EXISTING LAW
Existing law, the California Coastal Act of 1976,
among other things, requires anyone wishing to
perform or undertake new development in the
coastal zone, to obtain a coastal development
permit from the California Coastal Commission, or
. a local government with a certified Local Coastal
Program (LCP), except as specified.
AB 2593 Fact Sheet
Assemblymember Tasha Boerner Horvath, 76th District
AB 2593 BLUE CARBON PROJECTS IN COASTAL DEVELOPMENT PERMITS
(AS AMENDED APRIL 18, 2022)
THIS BILL
Specifically, AB 2593 would authorize the
California Coastal Commission to require specified
development permit applicants to include in their
planning and design how they plan to build or will
contribute in promoting blue carbon proj ects where
feasible. This requirement is consistent with the
California Coastal Commission's task of working
with applicants, local governments, and state
agencies to protect the shoreline when approving
developments in the coastal zone consistent with
the California Coastal Act.
SUPPORT
• Midpeninsula Regional Open Space
District
OPPOSITION
• None on file
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Celia Mata, Legislative Director
(916) 319-2076 Office
Cel ia.mata@asm.ca. gov
5/2/2022 4:27 PM AB 2593 Fact Sheet
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Assemblymember Tasha Boerner Horvath, 76th District
AB 1854 WORK SHARING ONLINE APPLICATION SUNSET REPEAL
(AS AMENDED MARCH 21, 2022)
SUMMARY
AB 1854 would repeal the sunset date of
January 1, 2024 for the California Employment
Development Department (EDD) Work Sharing
Program's online application process to increase
the number of employers participating in the
program allowing them to retain employees and
avoid lay-offs.
BACKGROUND
Work-sharing, or short-time compensation
(STC), is a form of unemployment insurance
(UI) that gives employers the option of reducing
employees' hours instead of cutting their
workforce during a business slowdown. For
example, a business may determine it needs to
reduce personnel costs by laying off five
employees until business improves.
Under work-sharing, the employer can instead
reduce the hours of 25 employees by 20 percent,
and those workers would receive a pro-rated UI
payment for their one day per week of
unemployment, while maintaining any existing
health and retirement benefits. By opting for
work-sharing, the business is able to operate
during a downturn without losing valued
employees and is better positioned to ramp back
up when economic conditions improve.
Besides reducing the costs to recruit, hire, and
train workers once normal bu siness resumes,
work-sharing affords employers greater control
over UI charges by reducing schedules only as
required by production demand in any given
week.
AB 173 1, Chapter 209, Statutes of 2020,
authorized EDD to create an online process for
the submission and approval of employer work-
sharing plan applications. At the onset of the
COVID 19 pandemic, EDD was overwhelmed
with the number of work-sharing claims filed
mainly due to the department's outdated manual
3/24/2022 11:27 AM
process for employers to apply and submit
claims. The only way to apply for work sharing
was to complete a paper form and send it to
EDD by U.S. mail. By law, EDD was supposed
to approve or deny a work sharing application
within 10 working days of receipt, but many
employers reported significantly longer wait
times after the pandemic started in March 2020.
AB 173 1 requires that a work-sharing plan be
deemed approved for one year, after approved
by the Director, unless a shorter period is
requested. In addition, it requires EDD to
furnish a claim packet for each employee under
a submitted work-sharing plan and forward
those packets to the employer within five days
of receipt of that plan. After receiving the
completed documents, EDD must set up a
corresponding unemployment insurance claim.
These provisions will sunset on January 1,
2024. AB 1854 would repeal the sunset date
making the application streamlining process
permanent.
EXISTING LAW
Existing law provides for the payment of
unemployment compensation benefits to
eligible persons who are unemployed through
no fault of their own. Existing law deems an
employee unemployed in any week if the
employee works less than their usual weekly
hours of work for the employee's regular
employer as the result of the employer's
participation in a work-sharing plan.
Existing law, until January 1, 2024, creates an
alternative process for the submission and
approval of employer work sharing plan
applications. Existing law requires the Director
of Employment Development to accept an
application to participate in, or renew
participation in, the work sharing program that
is submitted electronically and requires the
Employment Development Depaitment to
AB 1854 Fact Sheet
....
Assemblymember Tasha Boerner Horvath, 76th District
AB 1854 WORK SHARING ONLINE APPLICATION SUNSET REPEAL
(AS AMENDED MARCH 2 I, 2022)
create a portal on its internet website for the
provision and receipt of these applications. For
work sharing plan applications submitted by
eligible employers between September 15,
2020, and September 1, 2023, existing law
requires that, upon approval by the director,
they be deemed approved for one year, except
as specified.
Existing law requires the department to mail to
an eligible employer a claim packet for each
participating employee within 5 business days
following approval of the application.
Existing law also requires the department,
among other things, to make online claim forms
available to the approved employer for each
participating employee within 5 business days
following approval of the application if an
employer submitted its work sharing plan
application online.
THIS BILL
Specifically, AB 1854 would extend
indefinitely the provisions that authorize EDD
to simplify the Work Sharing Program's
application process by requiring the department
to deem all program applications approved upon
receipt and send employers their claim packets
electronically within 5 days after the application
is approved, and to accept electronic signatures
on all work sharing plan documents.
AB 1854 would continue to benefit both
employees and employers, making changes that
decrease the administrative burdens on
employers and help reduce the time it takes to
submit a claim.
SUPPORT
None on file
3/24/2022 11:27 AM
OPPOSITION
None on file
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Celia Mata, Legislative Director
(916) 319-2076 Office
Celia.mata@asm.ca.gov
AB 1854 Fact Sheet
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Assemblymember Tasha Boerner Horvath, 76th District
AB 1946 E-BIKE SAFETY EDUCATION AND TRAINING
(AS AMENDED MARCH 11, 2022)
SUMMARY
AB 1946 would require the Department of the
California Highway Patrol (CHP) to develop
statewide safety standards and training programs
based on evidence-based practices for e-bike
users and to post these standards on the
department's website.
BACKGROUND
E-bikes are electric-assist bikes that can travel
longer distances and provide higher mobility and
faster speeds to users compared to conventional
bicycles. They are more popular than ever, yet
as more riders adopt this new technology, new
safety concerns have cropped up.
E-bike accident injuries can be extensive,
including fatalities. As e-bikes are faster and
heavier than conventional bicycles, the e-bike
force of impact on a pedestrian can be up to forty-
five times harder. The most common types of
injuries associated with e-bikes include:
• Head injuries, including traumatic brain
injury
• Broken bones
• Back and spinal injuries
• Cuts and bruises
There is no age requirement to ride most e-bikes
in California. However, individuals under 18 are
required to wear a helmet.
One study by National Electronic Injury
Surveillance System (NEISS) determined that
accidents involving electric bikes are more likely
to result in serious injuries than traditional pedal-
powered bicycles. Accident statistics from the
study include:
• People who ride e-bikes are more likely
to be hospitalized after a crash
• Riders of e-bikes are three times more
likely to hit a pedestrian
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• E-bike riders are more likely to suffer
internal injuries
• There were 3,075 e-bike accidents
between 2000 and 2017
• The average age for e-bike crash-related
injury is 31.9
• Men are more likely to be injured in an
e-bike accident
• Most people involved in e-bike accidents
are aged 18 to 64
Because electric bikes only became popular in
recent years, there is still a lot experts do not
know about the safety of e-bikes. Nevertheless,
local authorities are currently being challenged
by the increased concerns with e-bike safety on
their streets. For example, in the City of
Encinitas, North County San Diego, there has
been a spike of pre-teens and teenagers breaking
the rules when riding e-bikes. While most e-bike
riders follow the rules of the road, some do not.
There are those who do not obey traffic safety
rules, pile on two or three on one bike, or ride on
sidewalks. Most often than not, they are riding
too fast, going the wrong way, or are riding
without helmets. While a number of local
bicycle groups and local government agencies
provide free safety education classes and
workshops for riding bi cycles, few offer classes
dedicated specifically to e-bike safety education
and training.
AB 1946 seeks to fill this gap by requiring the
CHP to develop safety and training guidelines for
e-bike riders.
EXISTING LAW
Existing law, the Protected Bikeways Act of
2014, provides that the state's bicycle programs
have not been fully developed or funded.
Existing law establishes the Department of the
California Highway Patrol within the
Transportation Agency.
AB 1946 Fact Sheet
Assemblymember Tasha Boerner Horvath, 76th District
AB 1946 E-BIKE SAFETY EDUCATION AND TRAINING
(AS AMENDED MARCH ! I, 2022)
THIS BILL
Specifically, AB 1946 would require the CHP to
develop, by September I, 2023, statewide safety
standards and training programs based on
evidence-based practices for e-bike users
including, but not limited to, general electric
bicycle riding safety, emergency maneuver
skills, rules of the road, and laws pertaining to e-
bikes. AB 1946 would also require the safety
standards and training programs to be developed
in collaboration with relevant stakeholders and to
be posted on the department's website.
SUPPORT
• AAA Northern California
• Auto Club of Southern California
• Plug In America
OPPOSITION
None on file
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Celia Mata, Legislative Director
(916) 3 19-2076 Office
eel ia.mata@asm.ca.gov
3/24/2022 3:09 PM AB 1946 Fact Sheet