To: Sonoma County Board of Supervisors
Department or Agency Name(s): County Executive’s Office
Staff Name and Phone Number: Will Tesconi, 707-565-2431; David Guhin, 707-565-2431
Vote Requirement: Majority
Supervisorial District(s): Countywide
Title:
Title
2027 Sonoma County Legislative Platform and Request for Qualifications for State and Federal Legislative Advocacy Services
End
Recommended Action:
Recommended action
A) Receive an update on the County’s Legislative Affairs Program;
B) Adopt the Sonoma County 2027 Legislative Platform.
end
Executive Summary:
This item requests the Board adopt the Sonoma County 2027 Legislative Platform (Attachment A), which provides policy direction for Legislative Affairs staff advocating on behalf of the County on state and federal issues. The 2027 Platform continues the focused, annually adopted approach the Board established in 2024, built on Foundational Principles, issue-area policy statements, and State Policy Proposals. The issue-area policy statements allow staff to respond quickly to pending legislation or litigation, and the State Policy Proposals section advances the County’s own bill ideas in partnership with the Sonoma County legislative delegation. Since the Board first adopted the State Policy Proposals section in 2024, three proposals have been enacted: Assembly Bill (AB) 1139 (Rogers), Senate Concurrent Resolution (SCR) 78 (McGuire), and AB 1601 (Rogers). The 2027 Platform adds three new legislative proposals, policy positions responding to H.R. 1’s impact on the social safety net, and a Foundational Principle opposing unfunded state mandates.
This item also provides an update on the County’s Legislative Affairs Program, updated strategies and approaches since 2023, and proposed contract advocacy amendments.
Discussion:
The Board adopts the Legislative Platform (Attachment A) annually to ensure that the County is positioned to advocate effectively in a dynamic policy environment. Policy decisions often move more quickly than regularly scheduled Board meetings, and the Legislative Platform is a tool for staff to advocate on the County’s behalf in that often-hurried landscape. County Counsel also relies of the Legislative Platform as evidence of Board approval to join existing litigation by filing amicus, or “friend of the court,” briefs to indicate that the County supports a party’s position in the litigation, even if the County is not a party to the lawsuit. The 2027 Legislative Platform was developed throughout 2026 as staff tracked intergovernmental issues and priorities that emerged in working with individual Board members and staff, and County departments, agencies, and districts.
Background
On May 9, 2023, the Board approved the 2023-2024 State and Federal Legislative Platform. Adopted for a two-year term, it ran more than 100 pages and listed separate state and federal priorities and issues.
On November 12, 2024, the Board adopted the 2025 Legislative Platform, which introduced the approach the County uses today:
1. Review and adoption every year, rather than every two years.
2. A shorter platform that consolidates specific programs, funding streams, and policy considerations under Foundational Principles that staff can apply across a wide range of policy issues impacting County operations.
3. Policy positions organized by issue area, rather than separated into state and federal jurisdictions.
4. A State Policy Proposals section that identifies the County’s own bill ideas and authorizes staff and the Chair of the Board of Supervisors to sponsor them or join a coalition in support.
In 2024, the Board also approved the Legislative Affairs Program, which establishes guidelines for all County staff conducting legislative advocacy in their official capacity.
On October 28, 2025, the Board adopted the 2026 Legislative Platform and received an update to the Legislative Affairs Program clarifying that the Board primarily uses position letters on pending legislation, rather than adoption of a Board resolution. The Board also appropriated up to $20,000 from General Fund contingencies for signage for the Detective Sergeant Ed Wilkinson, Deputy Sheriff Brent Jameson, and Deputy Sheriff Bliss Magly Memorial Overcrossing designated by SCR 78 in 2025. An update on this effort is provided below.
On January 27, 2026, the Board approved an amendment consolidating the County’s federal advocacy under Thorn Run Partners, described further under Contract Legislative Advocacy below.
Legislative Strategy
The Legislative Platform and the Legislative Affairs Program work together. The Platform’s Foundational Principles and issue-area statements give staff standing direction to analyze legislation and recommend positions, because state and federal legislative processes often move faster than an individual Board item can accommodate. Under the Legislative Affairs Program, staff recommend positions to the Board Chair, primarily through position letters to a legislative committee, so that the County’s position reflects the most current version of each bill. Departments bring legislative proposals and positions forward during the annual Platform review, coordinate their legislative activity with Legislative Affairs staff, and work through their statewide associations on issues within their expertise.
The volume of legislation affecting counties requires a focused approach. According to the California State Association of Counties (CSAC), 2,232 bills and constitutional amendments were introduced in 2026. CSAC tracked 1,539 of them as related to county government and took
active positions on 238. The County relies on CSAC, the Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC), and departments’ statewide associations for broad coverage of issues impacting the County. Legislative Affairs staff focus the County’s own advocacy on the Board’s State Policy Proposals and on issues aligned with the policy interests and committee assignments of the County’s legislative delegation, where the County is most likely to influence the outcome. With changes to the Sonoma County legislative delegation in 2027, staff will build relationships with new members and adjust the County’s advocacy focus as committee assignments are announced. Staff will also help County departments understand how the delegation’s 2027 committee assignments may affect their specific priorities.
The State Policy Proposals section is the County’s primary tool for proactive change. Staff identify problems that a targeted change in state law could solve. Following Board authorization, staff work with the County’s legislative delegation to secure authors early in the session. Since the County’s state contract advocacy agreement ended in November 2024, Legislative Affairs staff have led this work directly in partnership with County departments.
Legislative Advocacy Results
Since the Board first adopted State Policy Proposals in the 2025 Legislative Platform, three have been enacted:
1. AB 1139 (Rogers, Chapter 391, Statutes of 2025) extends California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) exemptions for public access and nonmotorized recreation to county park agencies, expediting public access to parks.
2. SCR 78 (McGuire, Resolution Chapter 163, Statutes of 2025) designates the overcrossing on State Route 101 at Airport Boulevard as the Detective Sergeant Ed Wilkinson, Deputy Sheriff Brent Jameson, and Deputy Sheriff Bliss Magly Memorial Overcrossing. Memorial signage, funded by the Board’s October 2025 appropriation, is now installed, and staff are planning a dedication event.
3. AB 1601 (Rogers, Chapter 530, Statutes of 2026) allows the County to provide prefunded, ad hoc cost-of-living adjustments to a subset of Sonoma County Employees’ Retirement Association retirees. The law takes effect January 1, 2027. Any adjustment would require Board of Supervisors authorization and a funding source identified with the Board of Retirement.
AB 1139, SCR 78, and AB 1601 were enacted without a state contract advocate. All three were carried by members of the County’s state delegation and advanced by Legislative Affairs staff working directly with sponsoring departments.
2027 Legislative Platform
The 2027 Legislative Platform keeps the structure the Board adopted in 2024. Notable changes from the 2026 Legislative Platform include:
• A new Foundational Principle, State Mandates and Reimbursements, which opposes state mandates without full, timely, and ongoing reimbursement and supports County capacity to recover eligible costs.
• A new Civil Rights, Access, and Inclusion section.
• New and expanded statements responding to H.R. 1’s changes to Medi-Cal and CalFresh, including Indigent Health Care, Health Access, and Safety Net Eligibility Administration.
The 2027 Legislative Platform also includes three new State Policy Proposals:
1. Fairgrounds Property Reuse and Financial Sustainability: Following the discontinuation of live horse racing at the Sonoma County Fair in 2025, the County seeks narrowly tailored, property-specific flexibility under the Surplus Land Act (SLA) for underutilized portions of County-owned fairgrounds property, and access to state funding to support redevelopment of the racetrack property, while retaining public ownership and supporting the Fair’s long-term financial sustainability.
2. Remote Public Comment Access and Meeting Safeguards: The County seeks legislation that preserves live remote public participation under Senate Bill (SB) 707 (2025) while giving local agencies clear authority to adopt reasonable, viewpoint-neutral safeguards against misuse of remote public-comment systems, such as a brief audio delay and limited registration for remote speakers.
3. Veterans Memorial Building Capital Funding: The County seeks legislation to place a statewide general obligation bond on a future ballot, or to create another dedicated State capital funding source, to rehabilitate and modernize publicly owned veterans memorial buildings. The County owns seven such buildings, which serve veterans organizations and community activities and have served as evacuation centers and emergency service hubs during wildfires and floods.
Contract Legislative Advocacy
In early 2024, the County held three contract advocacy agreements: Shaw Yoder Antwih Schmelzer & Lange (SYASL) for state advocacy, and Thorn Run Partners and Van Scoyoc Associates for federal advocacy, at a combined cost of $16,500 per month. In November 2024, the County Executive terminated the state agreement with SYASL, and in December 2024 elected not to extend the Van Scoyoc Associates agreement for calendar year 2025. On January 27, 2026, the Board approved an amendment consolidating all federal advocacy under Thorn Run Partners for $2,500 per month less than the two prior federal agreements combined. Contract advocacy now costs $7,500 per month ($90,000 annually), down from $16,500 per month ($198,000 annually) in early 2024.
In October 2025, staff initially anticipated a Request for Proposals for state advocacy services to support the Board’s State Policy Proposals. Staff now recommend a single Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for both state and federal legislative advocacy services in spring 2027. Modeled on Sonoma Water’s process, the RFQ would establish a pool of qualified state advocacy firms, one qualified federal firm to serve as the County’s primary federal advocate, and an additional pool of qualified federal firms.
This structure aligns contract advocacy with the County’s focused strategy. Rather than relying on standing retainers to cover every issue, staff could engage firms from the pools for targeted scopes of service as needs arise, such as advancing a State Policy Proposal or pursuing a federal funding priority, while the primary federal firm maintains ongoing federal representation in Washington, D.C. Primary federal advocacy services will be expected to support the County’s requests for Community Project Funding and Congressionally Directed Spending. The RFQ will also test current market pricing for both state and federal services, and staff will return to the Board for approval of resulting agreements.
Next Steps
Should the Board approve the recommended Sonoma County 2027 Legislative Platform, staff will:
1. Seek authors for State Policy Proposals in the 2027-2028 legislative session.
2. Brief elected officials, including new members of the County’s delegation, on the positions and priorities in the Legislative Platform.
3. Identify legislation aligned with the Legislative Platform and direct County resources to advocate accordingly.
4. Issue an RFQ for state and federal legislative advocacy services in spring 2027 and return to the Board for approval of recommended agreements.
5. Track emerging issues for the 2028 Legislative Platform.
Strategic Plan:
This item directly supports the County’s Five-year Strategic Plan and is aligned with the following pillar, goal, and objective.
Pillar: Organizational Excellence
Goal: Goal 1: Strengthen operational effectiveness, fiscal reliability, and accountability
Objective: Objective 1: Align the Board of Supervisor’s strategic priorities, policy, and operational goals with funding and resources.
Racial Equity:
Was this item identified as an opportunity to apply the Racial Equity Toolkit?
No
Prior Board Actions:
1/27/2026 <https://sonoma-county.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=7829140&GUID=EE72861E-6079-4735-B2E8-F7BC987752E5> - Amendment to Federal Advocacy Professional Services Agreement with Thorn Run Partners
10/28/2025 <https://sonoma-county.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=7711644&GUID=248144E3-B61B-43BE-8E22-CD1657835624&Options=&Search=> - 2026 Sonoma County Legislative Platform, and Updates to the Sonoma County Legislative Affairs and Strategic Grants Programs
11/12/2024 <https://sonoma-county.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?From=RSS&ID=7011955&GUID=AC562CFC-F921-4D89-8BEB-684A356FE507> - 2025 Sonoma County Legislative Platform and Program
5/9/2023 <https://sonoma-county.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=6196039&GUID=69951154-FE03-436E-B231-040EE9559B9A&Options=&Search=> - 2023-2024 State and Federal Legislative Platform
Fiscal Summary
Narrative Explanation of Fiscal Impacts:
N/A
Narrative Explanation of Staffing Impacts (If Required):
N/A
Attachments:
Attachment A - 2027 Sonoma County Legislative Platform
Attachment B - 2027 Sonoma County Legislative Platform (Spanish Translation)
Attachment C - Presentation
Related Items “On File” with the Clerk of the Board:
None