This new Legislature blew past historical records over recent past and introduced more bills than we have seen in a long time.
Typically, we see about 2,100-2,400 bills introduced every year – in 2023 we now have 1,751 Assembly Bills and 881 Senate Bills, for a total of 2,632 bills, a 16% increase over the 10 year average. That is a A LOT of bills!
Your staff in Sacramento reviews all these bills and pulls together a “first cut” list for review (attached). From here we will spend the next 2-3 weeks building and refining our list by making sure we have caught all the bills that will impact our industry; get feedback from our members and external partners on positions; and prioritize the bills to make sure we focus on those that have the most impact on your business. Our list currently has 315 bills on our list, and I suspect that will continue to grow over the next month as spot bills are amended and we hear from you and other partners on their priority bills – we typically track 400+ bills.
CBPA is a member driven organization and we rely on all of you as part of this process. That being said, the best thing you can do in this early part of the process is review the list and start letting us know bills that you think will have an impact and if that impact will be good (support) or bad (oppose), and how big that impact will be – high (1) or low (2) priority.
A “full blown” analysis is not necessary at this point, but a few sentences to put concerns into context is always helpful.
Finally, a note on positions. The positions we are currently using include:
SUPPORT – Support the bill and take action, such as send a support letter and advocate for.
OPPOSE – Oppose the bill and take action, such as send an oppose letter and advocate against.
SUPPORT/LEAN – The bill may be supportable but some action such as an amendment or other negotiation item needs to happen prior to public support.
OPPOSE/LEAN – We are not in favor of the bill but are not taking public action.
MONITOR – Need more information prior to taking a position.
NEUTRAL – This position normally indicates a bill that has been “fixed” through an amendment to remove our opposition.
You will see that some positions are already noted – this is usually because we have experience with the topic/bill and are able to make an early recommendation.
Bills are divided into generalized “subject matter” headings, just to make it easier to review bills that cover similar topics in the same tranche. If a bill seems out of place in a particular subject matter, please note that as it is easy to change.
Lastly, please note, there are A LOT of bills directed specifically at Housing issues. Although we care about those issues and will engage, at this point I have not included them on the list, just to save some space and keep our focus on commercial and business issues. We will coordinate closely with our members that build residential and our partners at CBIA to make sure these important issues are integrated into our list prior to the March meeting. If you do want to see our current Housing list, please let me know and I will send.
Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or would like additional information.
You can also reach out to Edesa Bitbadal, Chief Public Policy Strategist by contacting her at [email protected].
Best,
Matthew
See the complete bill list HERE.