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In what has become a well-established routine, Mountain View is starting the year by setting its legislative priorities, this time with a renewed focus on housing, public safety oversight and promoting inclusivity.
Since 2022, Mountain View has hired lobbyists to keep an eye on key legislation and promote its interests in Sacramento and more recently, Washington D.C. The city argues that the strategy has paid off.
This past year, Mountain View’s lobbyists saw positive results on several issues, according to Christina Gilmore, the city’s intergovernmental relations manager. This included Rep. Sam Liccardo introducing federal legislation inspired by Mountain View to “unlock” restrictions on how cities can spend federal money for affordable housing.
“We’re very pleased that the city has had some very good and favorable input on current legislation,” Gilmore told the City Council at a Feb. 10 meeting.
The update provided an opportunity for the council members to weigh in on the city’s political platform for the year, including a lengthy list of “policy statements,” which lay out Mountain View’s stance on specific issues.
Council members expressed broad support for the policy statements, most of which are being carried forward from previous years. However, a few noted that the 200 or so statements could become too many to manage.
“Over time, it might be good to think about prioritization,” Council member Lucas Ramirez said. “The document, over time, risks becoming so sprawling that we’ll have 400,000 different statements, and it’s not really clear what we care most about.”
Council weighs in on legislative platform
While council members expressed concern about the number of existing policy statements, they also pitched about a dozen more ideas to add to the list, partly as a response to current political issues.
In recent months, there has been some community pushback to state housing mandates like those in Senate Bill 79, which allows developers to circumvent local zoning regulations to build more dense housing near major transit stops.
Council members raised the possibility of the city highlighting its state “prohousing” designation to leverage incentives from California lawmakers, including a more flexible timeline to carry out its housing obligations.
“The really big one for me is just figuring out some way, in the next year or two, to kind of change that dynamic so that we’re getting a little bit more credit for all the effort that we’re taking,” Council member Chris Clark said.
The council also discussed other housing issues that could be included in the city’s advocacy work, like supporting liability reform laws meant to increase condominium construction and funding for soft-story retrofits to lessen the risk of buildings collapsing during an earthquake.
“That’s a thing that, gosh, it’s fallen through every crack it could possibly fall through,” Council member Pat Showalter said. “But it should still be on the list.”
The city’s leaders honed in on other issues related to public safety as well. Showalter said that she would like to see a policy statement about regulating automatic license plate readers, especially in light of the police department’s recent revelation that unauthorized law enforcement agencies had access to Mountain View’s ALPR data.
Ramirez raised the issue of e-bikes, suggesting that he would like to see tighter regulations without deterring their use altogether.
While Council members largely focused on regional and state issues, they also touched on federal policies, with Mayor Emily Ann Ramos noting that the city could do more to back legislation supporting inclusivity, especially for immigrants.
“We are a community for all, and so we care for all our residents regardless of immigration status,” Ramos said, adding that the city should have more policies that support this stance while opposing legislation that causes harm to immigrants.
Council member Ellen Kamei backed the recommendation, adding that the city could look at state legislation with similar objectives such as the No Kings Act, which aims to hold federal agents accountable for constitutional violations.
Im not sure what departments the Mayor is thinking of that ask for immigration status. every department supports everyone regardless of status. What’s next, our Parks have an immigrant friendly designation? Good way to waste time just so she has something to say at the local Democratic Committee meeting.