DATE: March 25, 2025
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBMITTED BY: Paul Nerland, County Administrative Officer
SUBJECT: Fresno County State Legislative Platform Update
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
TITLE
1. Adopt recommended changes to the Fresno County State Legislative Platform;
2. Authorize the Chairman to execute letters of support, or opposition, in accordance with the platform;
3. Authorize the County Administrative Office to work with the County’s State Legislative Delegation, Sacramento lobbyists, and/or other necessary parties to support, or oppose, legislation in accordance with the platform; and
4. Receive verbal report from Paul Yoder, State lobbyist, regarding legislative actions.
REPORT
The Legislative Platform is a statement of the goals and priorities of the Fresno County Board of Supervisors and establishes the basis for its advocacy efforts with the Legislature and State agencies. The Platform is also used as a guide for support letters related to grant applications. The last recommended action will provide your Board with an update on current State legislative activities. This item is countywide.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION(S):
1. Make changes to recommendations or language in the State Legislative Platform.
2. Postpone updates to the State Legislative Platform.
3. Choose not to make changes and continue to work off the existing State Legislative Platform, last updated and approved on March 5, 2024.
If your Board chooses to postpone or not make updates to the platform, staff will need to bring items that are not currently included in the platform to your Board to be addressed on an individual basis.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no additional Net County Cost associated with the recommended actions.
DISCUSSION:
The State Legislative Platform is used by County officials and staff as policy guidelines for legislative action and to facilitate timely responses to requests from the County’s State Legislative Delegation, the County’s State lobbyists, and interested citizens. Your Board last updated the State Legislative Platform on March 5, 2024. This is the annual update to the Legislative Platform.
For letters of support or opposition, the platform serves as a guide for departments to easily identify if State issues they are working on fall within the County’s State Platform. Consistent with Administrative Policy 21, any specific State issues falling outside of the platform and any letter requesting the signature of all five Board members would require an agenda item for presentation to your Board. It should be noted, if an individual Board member wishes to submit a letter of support or opposition that is consistent with the Platform, they may do so under their Office; however, they may also utilize your Board’s letterhead.
The proposed platform contains three sections:
I. Introduction - an explanation of the purpose of the legislative platform.
II. Major Legislative Issues - identifies significant issues for the County.
III. General Principles - provides positions that will guide County actions and advocacy efforts in specified categories of Agriculture; Child Support Services; Criminal Justice and Public Protection; Economic Development and Workforce Investment; Elections; Energy/Air Quality; Environmental Quality/Natural Resources; General Government and Finance; Labor Relations and Employee Benefits; Land Use; Library; Public Health, Mental Health, and Health Care Services; Social Services; Transportation; Water; and Specific 2023 Legislation.
The primary recommended changes to the State Legislative Platform are as follows:
Major Legislative Issues:
o Increase state healthcare provider reimbursements (including medical professionals).
o Expedite Proposition 4 funding appropriations.
o Support robust broadband funding with stakeholder collaboration for equitable distribution.
Agriculture:
o Support housing legislation/programs for farmworkers and agricultural laborers (moved to Housing/Homelessness).
Criminal Justice and Public Protection:
o Fund county Proposition 36 implementation.
o Removed redundant SB 823 funding support.
o Fund technology infrastructure for Penal Code 741 (AB 2778) compliance.
General Government and Finance:
o Revised the term “green” to “environmentally conscious.”
o Support caps on non-economic damages in Government Claims Act cases for fiscal responsibility.
Housing and Homelessness:
Completely new section of the platform which supports:
o Increase state funding for counties to address homelessness/at-risk populations.
o Streamlined affordable housing regulations.
o Increased rural housing infrastructure funding.
o CalAIM expansion for rental/rehousing.
o Prioritized housing for mental health/substance use.
o Legislation for affordable housing preservation/expansion.
o Reduced affordable housing construction burdens.
o Support farmworker/agricultural laborer housing legislation/programs.
o Increased public/assisted housing funding.
o Unified state housing/homeless services.
Labor Relations and Employee Benefits:
o Support legislation to reduce healthcare financial burden on employers/employees.
Land Use:
o Support legislation for affordable housing preservation/expansion (moved to Homelessness/Housing).
Public Health, Mental Health, and Health Care Services:
o Added bullet to support increased state California Children’s Services funding for mandated programs.
o Revise state payment adjustment definitions to include fee-for-service rates.
o Increase hospital/acute care capacity in disadvantaged/rural areas via regulation changes and infrastructure funding.
o Prioritized housing for mental health/substance use (moved to Housing/Homelessness).
Social Services:
o Items within this section have been reorganized to improve clarity and coherence. Some items were moved to more relevant sections of the platform.
o Revised bullet to support updated Child Welfare Services workload study as required by SB 2030.
Approval of the recommended actions will adopt the updated State Legislative Platform, authorize the Chairman to execute letters of support or opposition in accordance with the platform, and allow the County Administrative Office to express your Board’s position on legislation in accordance with the platform.
OTHER REVIEWING AGENCIES:
The legislative platform was developed with the cooperation and input of the County’s State lobbyists.
REFERENCE MATERIAL:
BAI #5, March 5, 2024
ATTACHMENTS INCLUDED AND/OR ON FILE:
Fresno County 2025 State Legislative Platform
Fresno County 2025 State Legislative Platform - Redline
CAO ANALYST:
Fine Nai