TO:
Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
THROUGH:
Bruce Moe, City Manager
FROM:
George Gabriel, Assistant to the City Manager
SUBJECT:Title
Consideration of a Resolution Adopting the 2024 Legislative Platform (City Manager Moe).
(Estimated Time: 25 Mins.)
ADOPT RESOLUTION NO. 24-0019
Body
_________________________________________________________
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends that the City Council adopt Resolution No. 24-0019 adopting the 2024 Legislative Platform recommended by the Legislative Ad Hoc Subcommittee.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
There are no fiscal implications associated with the recommended action.
BACKGROUND:
The City Council periodically reviews bills, initiatives, or legislation pending in other governmental agencies.
In recent years, federal, state, and county governments have increased their involvement in local affairs and thus the City Council has increasingly taken positions on pending bills. The City has relied on the League of California Cities to flag or recommend positions that may affect the City. However, legislative bodies or actions by governments can require quick responses from the City that cannot be accommodated in our current process for taking positions, which may require up to three agendized City Council meetings to authorize an official City Council position.
Therefore, at the December 19, 2023, meeting, City Council approved the development of a legislative platform and establishing a Legislative Ad Hoc Subcommittee comprised of two City Councilmembers.
Additionally, at the January 16, 2024, meeting, City Council approved the City Council Assignments establishing the Legislative Ad Hoc Subcommittee and assigning Mayor Pro Tem Howorth and Councilmember Lesser.
DISCUSSION:
Staff has reviewed legislative platform documents from other cities and drafted the City of Manhattan Beach’s 2024 Legislative Platform for Council consideration. The document outlines statements or positons on a variety of matters which clearly state the Council’s legislative objectives that assist the Legislative Ad Hoc Subcommittee, staff, and City Council to efficiently and appropriately address proposed legislation, administrative, or regulatory actions as necessary.
The draft 2024 Legislative Platform document is organized with the following sections: 1) Overview, 2) Process, 3) General Guidance, and 4) Top Specific Priorities. Most noteworthy, the draft document proposes the following process to outline how the City may take positions on legislation:
1. “City Official or Councilmember(s) receive a request to take a position on legislation;
2. Staff reviews the legislation for conformance with the Platform:
a. If a position conforms to the Platform, two Councilmembers assigned to the Legislative Ad Hoc Subcommittee will verify the position of City Council on the legislation with city staff. (Note: Should the two members on Legislative Ad Hoc Subcommittee disagree on legislation, the matter will be taken to the entire City Council for discussion.
b. If a position does not conform to Platform, the legislation will be brought to Legislative Ad Hoc Subcommittee for a recommendation to the entire City Council. These matters may also be brought directly to the entire City Council, upon the request of the Council or in the event that timeliness of action by the City Council is required.
3. Upon approval of a position on legislation by the Legislative Ad Hoc Subcommittee or entire City Council, the Mayor is authorized to send a letter on behalf of the entire City Council to representatives of regional, state, county, and federal levels of government.
4. All letters generated based on this Platform and sent to representatives of regional, state, county, and federal levels of government a shall be posted to the City’s Legislative Positions webpage on the City website.”
The proposed process allows the City to more rapidly respond to developing legislation in communicating the City’s interests and objectives that year.
The Legislative Platform sets forth the City’s legislative objectives for the 2024 calendar year and provides direction for legislative action and must be approved on an annual basis. The Platform contains broad policy statements pertaining to a variety of issues that impact the City of Manhattan Beach with a focus on local control.
CONCLUSION:
Staff recommends that the City Council adopt Resolution No. 24-0019 adopting the 2024 Legislative Platform recommended by the Legislative Ad Hoc Subcommittee.
PUBLIC OUTREACH:
After analysis, staff determined that public outreach was not required for this issue.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW:
The City Council’s adoption of a Legislative Platform is not a “project” as defined under Section 15378 of the State California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines because it does not have a potential for resulting in either a direct physical change in the environment, or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment. Therefore, pursuant to Section 15060(c)(3) of the State CEQA Guidelines, the activity is not subject to CEQA, and no environmental review is necessary.
LEGAL REVIEW:
The City Attorney has reviewed this report and determined that no additional legal analysis is necessary.
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Resolution No. 24-0019
2. Proposed 2024 Legislative Platform
3. Sample Legislative Platforms - City of El Segundo, City of Beverly Hills, City of Santa Clarita