KINGSBURG – California voters have had their fill of rampant crime.
This was one of the themes that emerged during a legislative update presentation delivered to the Kingsburg City Council at its Nov. 20, 2024 meeting.
Spencer Street, a senior associate for Townsend Public Affairs (TPA), delivered the presentation, which also included information on housing and land use and anticipated issues for 2025. Street’s presentation was followed by the council agreeing to retain TPA’s lobbying services on behalf of Kingsburg for another year.
PUBLIC SAFETY
The California 2024 legislative session adjourned on Aug. 31. Over 2,100 bills were introduced in the session. Of these, 1,206 reached Newsom’s desk. The governor signed over 1,000 into law and vetoed 189. Street’s presentation distilled down this legislative cyclone to a manageable handful of relevant bills and actions.
Many of the issues Street addressed were not peculiar to Kingsburg. Amid a busy election year, with lots of ads and information overwhelming voters, his clear and concise presentation gave the council and audience an easy-to-understand update.
Over 10 million California voters casted yes votes for Proposition 36. The legislation increased drug and theft crime penalties and created a new class of crime – the treatment-mandated felony that allows an offender the option of receiving drug and mental health treatment instead of incarceration. But as Street pointed out, the California legislature introduced a number of public safety bills Gov. Newsom signed into law.
Street highlighted four public safety bills Newsom signed.
Senate Bill (SB) 905 closed a legal loophole that prosecutors first had to prove a vehicle door was locked before they could charge an individual with breaking and entering.
Assembly Bill (AB) 1779 allows district attorneys to consolidate theft crimes into a single case if it involves the safe defendant or defendants. The bill was a response to organized retail theft that saw the same perpetrators committing crimes in multiple counties, resulting in criminal cases. According to the bill, if the district attorneys are in agreement, multiple offenses committed in multiple counties can be tried in one jurisdiction.
Organized retail theft was evidently on legislators’ minds this session. SB 982 removed the sunset state – that is, the end date – on a provision of a law pertaining to this type of crime. Or, as Street said, “SB 982 permanently codifies the organized retail theft statute and permanently keeps it in the (criminal) code.”
Proposition 47, passed in November 2014, placed a $950 cap on the value of stolen property. Criminals soon became aware that if they committed crimes where the property value was under the cap, they would not be charged with a felony. AB 2943 undid that cap, allowing for the value of separate theft crimes to be aggregated and, thereby, paving the way for an individual to be charged with grand larceny, which is a felony. AB 2943 also permits law enforcement to make an arrest without a warrant for shoplifting if the person arrested did not shoplift in the officer’s presence, provided certain criteria are met.
HOUSING AND LAND USE
“Housing bills. There were hundreds this year,” said Street. “That’s because housing and land use are huge.”
Street said the state’s staggering budget deficit of nearly $40 billion directly impacted California’s chronic housing shortage. Street said a bright spot for future housing developments was the return of Federal Community Project Request Funding, which had been absent at the federal level for several years. Street added that the Legislative Analyst Office released a Nov. 20 report that the state’s budget for 2025 will be mostly balanced. The 2025 budget, combined with the return of request funding, could translate to more money for local communities.
“With the budget outlook for next year, we’re hoping more funding can come back to communities like Kingsburg,” said Street.
He highlighted four housing and land use bills Newsom approved.
AB 1893 establishes objective standards for builder’s remedy projects. The term “builder’s remedy” refers to a legal provision, widely used in California, that allows developers to bypass zoning laws if a city’s housing element is out of compliance with California Department of Housing and Community (HCD) standards.
Street said AB 1893 was in response to stories of cities self-certifying their housing element to prevent these developments, which were affordable housing projects. California has state-mandated housing goals that include the construction of affordable housing. Under AB 1893, a city cannot deny a builder’s remedy project if the city’s housing element does not comply with HCD standards.
The other bill, AB 98, was less controversial but still elicited a mild criticism from Mayor Brandon Pursell, Jr. The bill establishes new setback and design standards for warehouses and distribution centers and requires cities to update their circulation elements to include truck routes. A circulation element is a city’s plan for managing all types of transportation in the city’s limits.
Because circulation elements are notoriously expensive to create and update, Pursell, Jr. asked if there was funding available to help defer the costs of updating Kingsburg’s element.
“No,” said Street.
“Of course,” replied Pursell, Jr. “We received an unfunded mandate (from the state).”
Another hot topic was fire insurance. “Not only affordability but availability,” said Street. He mentioned that insurance companies across the state have dropped fire insurance policies and are not writing new ones. Other companies have left the state entirely.
“Local governments are hearing from their constituents this is not acceptable,” said Street. He said the California State Department of Insurance is trying to lure insurers back to the state, but there will be a cost.
“That will ultimately raise rates,” he said. “That’s what they have been after. Insurers want to look at potential losses instead of past losses.”
ANTICIPATED ISSUES FOR 2025
In November 2021, President Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). The act allocated over $1 trillion for infrastructure improvements nationwide. IIJA authorizes money for surface transportation projects. Street said he expects more projects will be authorized before IIJA expires in 2026.
Street circled back to the budget.
“Years of spending are catching up with the state,” he said. “Revenues have not kept up.” Despite the LAO’s report that the 2025 budget will mostly be balanced and that the state should recoup more revenue, Street those revenues have already been spent.
“They are already spoken for by previous spending,” he said, adding that the bulk of the spending was in the health and human services sector.
A bright spot for 2025 is Proposition 4 – the climate bond. Proposition 4, which began life as SB 867, raises $10 billion in funding for water, drought, wildfire and other climate resilience programs. Street said Proposition 4 funds will be available in the fiscal year 2025-26 budget. Cities will be able to apply for numerous grant programs through the bond.
Street added that Californians should prepare for more budget deficits in 2026. And beyond. “Double-digit deficits in the billions,” he said.
