CALBO’s Legislative Updates page has always been a useful source for our membership about CALBO’s ongoing advocacy efforts. However, with recent shelter-in-place orders and the increase of people working from home, it is an important resource to help stay informed while we are apart. Here is a helpful guide on how to navigate CALBO’s Legislative page and find useful information.

Capitol Corner Updates

This section of the website provides up-to-date articles included in the CALBO newsletter. These are an important resource as they provide context for what is happening in the State Capitol in real-time. CALBO is often tracking dozens of bills as they move through the legislative process and takes direct action on many of those bills. The Capitol Corner Update can provide the status of a bill, CALBO’s current position on the bill, and CALBO’s future plans for advocacy on the bill.

Legislative Bill Reports

CALBO members and fellow stakeholders are often most interested in this section of the Legislative Page. It contains live updates on all of the bills CALBO is tracking. You can pull reports on:

• All active CALBO Bills
• The upcoming calendar for committee hearings
• Bills that were recently amended
• Bills CALBO supports
• Bills CALBO opposes

This is the most accurate and succinct way to gather information about CALBO’s current legislative agenda.

Legislative Outreach Alerts

Legislative Outreach Alerts (LOAs) are a direct call to membership for action. When CALBO needs help supporting or opposing a current bill, we will call on our membership to help. Often lawmakers would rather hear directly from their constituents on a specific matter, and how it affects their community. When CALBO contacts its members with an LOA, CALBO staff provides you with a sample letter. This letter contains CALBO’s mission, our position on the bill, the reasoning for CALBO’s position, and the possible impacts of the bill. We encourage local jurisdictions to use the letter and modify it to fit their community’s views. This can then be sent to your local legislator who will vote on the measure as it moves through the legislative process.

Guide to Changes in State Law

This portion of the Legislative page provides information about what happens to bills after they are signed into state law. Often, measures are heard in the California Building Standards Commission before they are added to the State Building Code. This page provides updates about bills going through this process, and how CALBO is interacting with the Commission during the process.

Legislative Process

Lasty, this section of the website reviews the lawmaking process for those who might not be well versed on the subject. It gives a brief description on the current Legislative Session, and important deadlines for the legislative process. There are also links to the official legislative calendar which provide more details about important deadlines within the legislative process. CALBO has also produced a short video which goes into greater detail about the legislative process. We encourage members who are interested in advocacy to watch it in order to gain a better understanding about CALBO’s advocacy efforts.

The Legislative Updates page is a great source for our members to stay up to date on all of CALBO’s legislative activities. In addition to all of the resources discussed above, it also has quick links to a live Bill Search, CALBO’s six-point-policy, and current CALBO policy statements. If you are not able to find the information you are looking for, please contact Katie Little CALBO’s Direct of Public Affairs.