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LRC 01-08-2021 (Special)Legislative Review Committee Approved Minutes January 8, 2021 CITY OF CUPERTINO APPROVED MINUTES LEGISLATIVE REVIEW COMMITTEE Friday, January 8, 2021 11:00 AM SPECIAL MEETING ROLL CALL The meeting was called to order at 11:01 a.m. Present: Vice Mayor Chao, Councilmember Moore, City Manager Deborah Feng, Assistant to the City Manager Katy Nomura, Townsend Public Affairs (TPA) APPROVAL OF MINUTES 1.Subject: Minutes from September 2, 2020 Recommended Action: Approve minutes from September 2, 2020 Councilmember Moore motioned to approve the September 2nd Legislative Review Committee minutes. Vice Mayor Chao seconds. The motion carries unanimously. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS Jennifer Griffin is concerned about the housing bills. PUBLIC COMMENT (including comments on all agenda items) This item was not conducted as the Chair decided to take public comments on agenda items when the agenda items were discussed. AGENDA REVIEW This item was not conducted. ACTION ITEMS 2.Subject: Discuss the appointment of Chair and Vice Chair for the Legislative Review Committee Recommended Action: Appoint the Chair and Vice Chair for the Legislative Review Committee Vice Mayor Chao motioned to nominate herself as Chair. Councilmember Moore seconded. The motion carries unanimously. Legislative Review Committee Approved Minutes January 8, 2021 Vice Mayor Chao motioned to nominate Councilmember Moore as Vice Chair. Councilmember Moore seconded. The motion carries unanimously. 3. Subject: Legislative Updates Recommended Action: Receive legislative update and provide input TPA mentioned that currently the Governor is preparing the January budget. The Governor should be announcing a current year budget surplus of about $15 billion as well as an ongoing operating deficit. The Governor has unveiled significant funding for COVID relief for businesses and individuals. Currently, small business owners can apply for the Small Business Relief Grant in order to receive a grant between $5,000- $25,000 depending on the business size. The Governor is proposing in another $575 million into the grant program to continue this program. The Governor is also proposing $600 checks to individuals that are currently eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit. The Governor is also including around $300 million to fund vaccine administration as well as about $2 billion to help schools safely reopen. The Governor supports extending the states eviction moratorium and providing monetary assistance to renters. There are about 2000-2500 bills that are expected to be introduced by the bill introduction deadline on February 19th. This year we can expect a large number of bills related to housing, public safety, COVID response, and fire safety. On the federal side, the Biden administration will be coming into the presidency in a couple of weeks. The recent election results from Georgia have established a democratic majority in the House and a 50/50 split of republicans and democrats in the Senate. Since the Vice President serves as the deciding vote in the Senate, there will effectively be democratic control of both houses. This has allowed the Biden administration to create a more robust policy agenda and will allow them to be more aggressive in their policy proposals that they are looking to advance. Most immediately, we can expect more COVID relief and possibly direct funding for state and local governments. The administration is considering allowing state and local governments to use these funds to offset revenue losses. Public Comment: Jennifer Griffin is concerned about SB 9 and SB 10. TPA mentions that the public can use leginfo.ca.gov to search for any state bills, past and present. The League of California Cities website is also a great tool for searching bills, tracking action alerts, and viewing draft letters. 4. Subject: Discuss the City's draft 2021 Legislative Platform Recommended Action: Discuss the City's draft 2021 Legislative Platform and Legislative Review Committee Approved Minutes January 8, 2021 recommend for City Council's adoption Katy Nomura, Assistant to the City Manager, explained that the platform’s purpose is to allow the LRC to take positions on bills that fall within the scope of the legislative platform, which is approved by the full council. If there are aspects of the legislation that fall outside of the scope of the legislative platform then the bill must be brought to the full council for position consideration. A monitor position expresses that the item is of interest to the City, but the LRC cannot take an official position and instead would ultimately require a vote of the full Council. Katy Nomura explained that this platform is very robust and similar to the 2020 Legislative Platform. The main changes include a new section on homelessness and an increased focus on emergency preparedness. Public Comment: Jennifer Griffin supports the legislative platform. Action Taken: Vice Mayor Chao made a motion for the LRC to recommend that the City Council adopt the draft 2021 Legislative Platform with the added amendments related to teleconference meetings and education funding. Councilmember Moore seconded. The motion carried unanimously. FUTURE AGENDA SETTING At the next meeting, an overview online resources, such as https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/, will be provided to show how the public can participate in the legislative process. The next LRC meeting is scheduled for February 26th at 11:00 a.m. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 12:48 p.m.