Before the Sept. 30 deadline to sign legislation, Governor Gavin Newsom signed seven priority bills sponsored by the City of San Diego and advocated for by Mayor Todd Gloria. The successful package of legislation includes bills that will help the City address challenges such as stormwater channel maintenance, homelessness, and behavioral health.  

“These bills will make it easier to perform stormwater channel maintenance, provide behavioral health treatment for our most vulnerable residents, create new protections against hate littering, and more,” said Mayor Todd Gloria. “I want to thank Governor Newsom and our state legislative delegation for delivering critical victories to improve the lives of San Diegans.  Without a doubt, our successful partnership with state leaders is moving San Diego forward.”

Mayor Gloria traveled to Sacramento multiple times during the legislative session to meet and advocate with lawmakers and state leaders about this priority legislation for the City of San Diego.

Here is a summary of City-sponsored bills that will become law: 

• AB 2501 (Assemblymember David Alvarez): Allows for expedited review of permit applications for critical infrastructure projects addressing storm channel maintenance, climate change adaptation, and ecosystem restoration.
• AB 3024 (Assemblymember Chris Ward): Known as the “Stop Hate Littering Act,” AB 3024 will protect individuals from the distribution of hateful propaganda in the form of flyers, posters, or symbols with the intent to terrorize vulnerable communities. It strengthens the Ralph Civil Rights Act of 1976 to ensure victims are provided adequate protections against hate littering and create new legal tools to deter terrorizing activity and hold offenders accountable. 
• AB 3227 (Alvarez): Eliminates administrative delays and streamlines routine maintenance of stormwater channels in California. It includes specific exemptions to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) for routine maintenance of stormwater channels and facilities that are fully concrete or have a conveyance capacity of less than a 100-year storm event. Given the increasing frequency and intensity of rain events in California, it is imperative to minimize administrative delays in channel maintenance to prevent catastrophic flooding. 
• SB 689 (Sen. Catherine Blakespear):  Cuts unnecessary red tape in the development of bike lanes, dedicated transit lanes and pedestrian walkways along California’s coastline by providing findings acknowledging the benefits and importance of “complete streets” and specifies that traffic studies will not be required to convert a travel lane to a bike lane. Additionally, the measure stipulates that if a local coastal plan amendment is required to accommodate a bike lane within an existing, developed right-of-way, it will qualify to be processed through the existing “de minimis” process. 
• SB 1072 (Sen. Steve Padilla):  Clarifies the types of remedies available to customers who successfully challenge water, sewer, and trash collection rate structures and streamlines how public agencies credit customers for improperly collected monies. This change in law would make it so future customers would not be forced to pay refunds for past customers.
• SB 1238 (Sen. Susan Eggman): This bill makes it easier for people who are held on a temporary conservatorship for a substance-use disorder to receive care. It does so by expanding the types of facilities where such individuals may receive treatment to include mental health rehabilitation centers and psychiatric health facilities. 
• SB 1361 (Blakespear): Prevents shelters and services provided to homeless residents from being delayed or blocked by frivolous legal challenges under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), allowing cities to more quickly get people off the street, into shelter, and on a path to permanent housing.

The success of these bills builds on Mayor Gloria’s effective advocacy in the state Capitol during the past three-plus years as he has fought for and secured funding for critical local projects and passage of legislation, on priority issues such as homelessness, housing, infrastructure and behavioral health, that will help move San Diego forward.