Legislature’s biannual suspense file shelves more than 200 bills — Learn which ones made the cut

May 25, 2022

Last week, the Assembly and Senate appropriations committees hammered out the fate of nearly 1,000 bills as part of the suspense file process, often with positive results for cities.

Introduced in the 1980s, the suspense file is a way of reviewing the costs of financially significant bills before they reach the Assembly or Senate floor. Those that fail to pass out of the suspense file are held in the committee on the suspense file and do not move forward.

Several bills that would have imposed costly new mandates on cities, such as SB 1345 (Ochoa Bogh), SB 1044 (Durazo), and AB 2677 (Gabriel) were held in suspense or amended significantly with positive results for cities.

Others, including a Cal Cities-supported suite of bills that would provide better services to unhoused Californians, passed with no significant changes. The bills are a key part of Cal Cities’ 2022 State Action Agenda, which seeks to increased funding and resources to prevent homelessness and assist individuals experiencing homelessness

However, two key bills that would have greatly benefitted cities and advanced the 2022 Action Agenda, AB 1945 (Aguiar-Curry) and AB 2120 (Ward), were held. The former would have expedited funding for affordable housing in disaster areas and the latter would have directed additional money for local bridge repairs.

The surviving bills must now pass through their house origin before moving to the other chamber for consideration and eventually, a second suspense file.

Transportation, Communications, and Public Works

This year’s first suspense file process yielded mixed results for transportation bills.

In a win for cities, SB 1345 (Ochoa Bogh), a bill that would have imposed costly new excavation protocols for gravity-fed waste lines on cities, was held. AB 1953 (Maienschein), which would have required every city building — regardless if it is accessible by the public — to install costly water bottle refilling stations, was also permanently shelved for the year.

In a setback to cities, the Cal Cities-supported AB 2120 (Ward) was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. This critical bill would have ensured that 55% of the bridge funds headed to California through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act were allocated to local projects through a needs-based allocation. The federal infrastructure law does not require funding for local bridges, and Cal Cities remains committed to working with the state to find a dedicated funding source for aging local bridges.

Other priority bills include:

SB 932 (Portantino) General plans: circulation element: bicycle and pedestrian plans and traffic calming plans
Cal Cities Position: Oppose Unless amended (Status: Passed)
AB 2237 (Friedman) Transportation planning: regional transportation improvement plan: sustainable communities strategies: climate goals
Cal Cities Position: Oppose (Status: Passed)
AB 2438 (Friedman) Transportation funding: alignment with state plans and greenhouse gas emissions reduction standards
Cal Cities Position: Oppose Unless amended (Status: Passed)
AB 1934 (Rodriguez) Office of Emergency Services: broadband communications grant program: fairgrounds
Cal Cities Position: Support (Status: Held)

Housing, Community, and Economic Development

Most bills related to housing and land use were not placed on the suspense file, but were moved onto the Assembly or Senate for final debate. However, some notable measures were acted upon, including the Cal Cities-supported AB 1945 (Aguiar-Curry), a bill that would have established the Affordable Disaster Housing Revolving Development and Acquisition Program. This program would have expedited relief funding for the development or preservation of affordable housing in the state’s declared disaster areas. Unfortunately, AB 1945 was held in committee.

AB 2011 (Wicks), a measure opposed by Cal Cites, passed out of committee and quickly off the Assembly floor this week. AB 2011 disregards state-mandated local planning efforts and would force cities to allow certain affordable housing and mixed-use housing developments in zones where office, retail, or parking are a principally permitted use, regardless of any inconsistency with a local government’s general plan, specific plan, zoning ordinance, or regulation.

Other priority bills include:

AB 2053 (Lee) Social Housing Developments
Cal Cities Position: Oppose unless amended (Status: Passed)

Community Services

Several priority bills related to homelessness passed off the suspense file, including the Cal Cities-supported AB 2547 (Nazarian). The bill would administer a housing subsidy program for older adults and individuals with a disability experiencing or at risk of homelessness. This program would help prevent and reduce homelessness among these populations by combining housing subsidies with supportive services.

The Cal Cities-supported SB 929 (Eggman) and SB 1154 (Eggman) also passed off the suspense file. The two bills would increase data to improve access to behavioral health services — especially for unhoused residents.

Other priority bills include:

AB 1737 (Holden) Children’s Camps: Local Registration
Cal Cities Position: Concerns (Status: Passed)
AB 2346 (Gabriel) Outdoor Recreation: Outdoors for All Program
Cal Cities Position: Support (Status: Held)
SB 1047 (Limón) Early Learning and Care.
Cal Cities Position: Support (Status: Passed)

Environmental Quality

In a win for cities, AB 1985 (Robert Rivas), which is co-sponsored by Cal Cities, passed off of the Assembly suspense file and onto the Assembly floor. The measure would help cities implement SB 1383 (Lara, 2016) by creating an online database of organic waste products on the market so local governments can connect with local farmers and community members seeking organic waste products.

Other priority bills include:

AB 2247 (Bloom) Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) and PFAS Products and Product Components. Publicly Accessible Reporting Platform
Cal Cities Position: Support (Status: Passed)
SB 1393 (Archuleta) Energy. Appliances. Local Requirements
Cal Cities Position: Oppose Unless Amended (Status: Passed)
AB 2440 (Irwin) and SB 1215 (Newman) Responsible Battery Recycling Act of 2022
Cal Cities Position: Support (Passed)

Public Safety

The Legislature is considering several bills that would address the rise in catalytic converter theft, including the Cal Cities-supported SB 1087 (Gonzalez), which would limit who can legally sell and purchase a detached catalytic converter. The bill would also make a violation of this measure an infraction punishable with a fine between $1,000 to $5,000. The measure passed off the suspense file.

Cal Cities is supporting AB 2730 (Villapudua), which also passed off the suspense file. The bill would create the California Antirecidivism and Public Safety Act pilot program to help inmates reintegrate into their communities, reduce recidivism, and increase public safety.

Other priority bills include:

AB 1721 (Rodriguez) Seismic Retrofitting: Soft Story Multifamily Housing
Cal Cities Position: Support (Status: Passed)
SB 1326 (Caballero) Cannabis: Interstate Agreements
Cal Cities Position: Support (Status: Passed)

Governance, Transparency, and Labor Relations

Multiple bills in the governance, transparency, and labor relations space with negative impacts to cities were passed off of the suspense file. However, two significant bills, SB 1044 (Durazo) and AB 2677 (Gabriel), were significantly amended with mostly positive results for cities.

As originally written, SB 1044 would have allowed any employee to refuse to show up to work during a state of emergency if they felt unsafe, which could have crippled local emergency responses. However, the measure passed off suspense with a carve-out for local governments and other emergency response workers. Cal Cities remains opposed to the bill, as the bill’s ambiguity could still lead to disruptions to emergency response.

AB 2677 would have reformed aspects of the Information Practices Act of 1977 — which governs the use of personal data by state agencies — and applied those reforms immediately to cities, counties, special districts, and school districts. This would have required investments in costly new technologies and staff, such as coding for proprietary systems, with no resources from the state. Fortunately, the bill was amended to remove local governments and Cal Cities is now reassessing its oppose position.

Other priority bills include:

AB 1751 (Daly) Workers’ compensation: COVID-19: critical workers
Cal Cities Position: Oppose (Status: Passed)
AB 2381 (Daly) Address confidentiality
Cal Cities Position: Support (Status: Held)
SB 931 (Leyva) Deterring union membership: violations
Cal Cities Position: Oppose unless amended (Status: Passed)
SB 1127 (Atkins) Workers’ compensation: liability presumptions
Cal Cities Position: Oppose (Status: Passed)
SB 1173 (Gonzalez) Public retirement systems: fossil fuels: divestment
Cal Cities Position: Oppose (Status: Passed)
SB 1328 (McGuire) Prohibited investments and contracts: Russia and Belarus
Cal Cities Position: Oppose (Status: Passed)

Revenue and Taxation

Several bills in the revenue and taxation space were passed off the suspense file, with potentially positive and negative impacts to cities. AB 1951 (Grayson), which Cal Cities opposes, would extend and expand the sales and use tax exemption for manufacturing processing, refining, fabricating, and recycling to include cities until 2028. This would result in a drastic revenue loss for local governments.

The Cal Cities-supported SB 843 (Glazer) also passed out of suspense. This measure would provide financial relief to 2.4 million low- and middle-income Californians by increasing the renter’s tax credit to $1,000 for joint filers and single filers with dependents. This is a dramatic increase from the current tax credit rate. As the state and local governments continue to build upon programs that increase housing supply and affordability, this measure would provide urgently needed relief to renters throughout the state.

Other priority bills include:

SB 1449 (Caballero) Office of Planning and Research: grant program: annexation of unincorporated areas
Cal Cities Position: Support (Status: Passed)
AB 2622 (Mullin) Sales and use taxes: exemptions: California Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project: transit buses
Cal Cities Position: Support (Status: Passed)
AB 2887 (Garcia) Public resources: Sales and Use Tax Law: exclusions
Cal Cities Position: Concerns (Status: Passed)