Legislative Update & Draft 2023 Program

1. RECEIVE update on state and federal legislative issues; and
2. APPROVE the draft 2023 legislative program for distribution to committees.

On October 5, 2022, the Executive Committee received updates on state and federal legislative activities, attached for Board review, and voted to recommend the Board approve the draft 2023 legislative program for distribution to Committees.

The legislative program continues a focus on preserving and seeking transportation funding.

Attachment 1 is an end-of-year report summarizing state legislative activities. Attachment 2 is the state bill list. The bill list shows the current status of state legislation, whether the bills are signed, dead, or awaiting the Governor's signature (he has until September 30 to veto or sign legislation). Key bills signed into law include:

• Assembly Bill (AB) 2449 (Rubio, Blanca), open meetings: local agencies: teleconference, which allows local agencies to use teleconferencing without identifying the location from which Board or Committee members are participating, as long as the public can participate remotely. However, it requires the agenda cite a reason why any Board or Committee member needs to participate remotely, requires them to have their video on and to identify who else is in the room, and limits each member's remote participation to 3 consecutive months or 20 percent of the regular meetings within a calendar year.
• AB 2622 (Mullin): sales and use taxes: exemptions: California Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project: transit buses, which extends the sales and use tax exemption for the purchase of transit buses from January 1, 2024 to January 1, 2026.
• AB 2805 (Bauer-Kahan): Department of Fish and Wildlife: advance mitigation and regional conservation investment strategies (RCIS), which streamlines and clarifies the requirements of an RCIS and lifts the cap on the number of such strategies.
• Senate Bill (SB) 1175 (McGuire): Department of Transportation: intermodal passenger services: rail corridors, which expands Caltrans' rail authority to the Sacramento-Larkspur-Novato-Cloverdale corridor.

Web attachment 1 is the Governor's veto message on AB 2438 (Friedman), which would have required the agencies that administer state transportation funding programs to revise the guidelines or plans applicable to those programs to align with the California Transportation Plan (CTP), the Climate Action Plan for Transportation Infrastructure (CAPTI), and greenhouse gas emissions reduction standards.

Attachment 3 is an end-of-year report summarizing federal legislative activities. The legislature approved a Continuing Resolution governing appropriations until December 14. They are expected to take up the appropriations via an omnibus bill in mid-November, after the election.

TAMC adopts an annual legislative program to help guide staff and legislative consultants in reacting to and promoting legislation that intersect with TAMC priorities. Attachment 4 is the draft 2023 legislative program, showing changes from the 2022 adopted program (web attachment 2). The Executive Committee discussed this program, recommended changes, and recommended the Board approve the draft program, as edited, for circulation to Committees for comment. The Committees will review and comment on the program in November, staff will seek further input into the program from partner agencies, and staff will bring the program back to the Executive Committee in January for a recommendation to the Board to adopt the program in January.

1. Governor's Veto Message - AB 2438 (Friedman)
2. Adopted 2022 TAMC legislative program