In a City Council Meeting held in February, the City Council adopted its Legislative Platform for 2025. The Legislative Platform was developed to support the successful implementation of the City’s adopted Strategic Plan. The City’s Strategic Plan serves as the roadmap to advance the City’s mission, vision, and values by aligning the City’s resources and activities, the City Council’s policy direction, and the desires of residents, businesses, and community stakeholders.
The Legislative Platform will establish the City’s position on matters of priority and importance to the City. By adopting this Platform, staff will actively collaborate with Federal, State, regional and local elected officials and their staff, partners, and stakeholders, to implement the goals and deliverables outlined by the City Council for the betterment of this community. This platform supplements and aligns with established and existing City Council goals and policies adopted in various documents such as the General Plan, the City’s Strategic Plan, and approved Resolutions.
The Platform is flexible, allowing staff to review it regularly and update it on an annual basis as needed. The adopted Legislative Platform includes the following goals:
» Streamline the ability of City staff to act on legislation, policy, or funding opportunities that either impact or benefit the City.
» Identify and support Federal, State, and regional legislation, regulatory policies, and funding programs that align with the Platform.
» Identify and oppose, Federal, State and regional proposals or policies that do not align with the Platform.
» Authorize City staff to prepare position letters and Resolution language that supports, opposes, or directs staff to work with the author on proposed legislation.
» Authorize City staff to actively and regularly brief and correspond with elected officials and their respective staff, regulatory partners, and stakeholders to advance policy priorities and funding opportunities.
» Authorize City staff, in coordination with the City Council, to invite elected officials, regulatory partners and stakeholders to attend and participate in City community events.
For emerging issues or situations not outlined in the Legislative Platform, City staff will work with the City Council for further direction.
As a result of the previously passed Legislative Platform in 2024, the City secured over $11 million in grants to fund infrastructure projects and critical programs. Over the past year, the City has been able to purchase heavy-duty electric vehicles for the City fleet, develop and implement a Climate Action Plan, improve the City’s traffic signals and school crossings, and provide clean water with a new PFAS treatment system, to name a few.
“The Legislative Platform has put the City in a better position at higher levels of government.” said City Manager Steve Carmona. “As evident in last year’s many accomplishments, this literally gives us the platform to advocate for all the things necessary for our residents to have an improved quality of life here in the City.”
With the passage of the Platform, copies of the Platform will be distributed to the City’s panel of on-call consultants that provide federal, state, and regional advocacy and grant writing support services. Furthermore, City staff will work with the City Council and the on-call advocacy consultants to implement the priorities outlined in the Platform including, but not limited to, favorable legislative outcomes and funding requests for parks and open spaces, infrastructure projects, economic development, preservation of local control, and public health and safety initiatives.
To view the full Legislative Platform, visit the City’s website at pico-rivera.org.
