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At the Redwood City Council’s regular meeting Monday night, the council unanimously approved the city’s legislative platform, which offers guidance for state legislative advocacy efforts.
The council’s Governance Sub-Committee — manned by Mayor Elmer Martínez Saballos, Vice Mayor Kaia Eakin and Council member Jeff Gee — spearheaded several updates to the platform’s youth and transportation priorities in particular for this year.
The subcommittee expanded the city’s mission to support funding for public transportation access to community colleges to include “schools and community destinations” and for projects such as bike and pedestrian bridges along major highways. To help achieve Redwood City’s Vision Zero goals — a strategy the city adopted years ago to eliminate traffic injuries and fatalities — the city will work to qualify for AB 645, a state bill that provides funding to major cities, including San Jose and San Francisco, to address speeding.
As for youth — the city will now support the full funding of several library initiatives: the California Library Services Act, which works to provide access to materials and services for all by linking library resources across California; Lunch at the Library, a program that provides free, nutritious meals and educational activities for young people during the summer and after school; and English as a Second Language Literacy, an initiative that offers English language instruction to non-native speakers.
The city is also committed not only to preserving but also to enhancing library patron privacy and to supporting legislation that protects the freedom to read and increases access to library materials from diverse perspectives, according to the Monday presentation. The City Council also approved a priority to promote fair pricing for libraries to purchase digital content, such as eBooks, at the same rates as consumers.
The Governance Sub-Committee noted “carbon footprint and climate neutrality” as topics under Utilities, Infrastructure, and Climate Adaptation for “future discussion,” according to the Jan. 12 staff report.
The legislative platform is “built for speed and timeliness,” Gee said, so that the city’s consultants can efficiently find and focus on legislation that most affects the city.
“I can probably say no one in Sacramento looks at the Redwood City calendar,” Gee, the District 1 council member added. “They march on their own.”
In December 2024, California limited the number of bills state representatives could introduce during each two-year session, reducing them from 50 to 35 in the Assembly and from 40 to 35 in the Senate. Even with this change, up to around 5,000 bills could be introduced in the Assembly and Senate per member over two years.
“That’s a lot of reading to do on an annual basis,” Gee said. “This platform is very, very helpful for everyone involved in legislation and advocacy.”
Council member Isabella Chu requested that the platform be updated to encourage the state to reward cities that offer affordable housing, because not all have demonstrated “that eagerness,” she said.
Domestic violence was flagged by Council member Marcella Padilla as a topic that should be of focus for the city, if not in its legislative platform, through other means because “it’s happening all the time” and is “affecting our entire community,” she said.
According to the staff report’s Equity Impact Statement, this platform is meant to support “Redwood City’s vision” to be a place where people of all backgrounds and income levels can “thrive,” directing state advocacy efforts toward policies that advance “housing affordability, homelessness support and prevention, equitable transportation, youth and family services, public health and fiscal sustainability.”
The city’s annual legislative platform was shared at the City Council’s Aug. 16, 2025, special meeting to give council members the opportunity to provide feedback. The city’s executive team and the California Public Policy Group, a for-profit consulting firm that helps with policy and community development initiatives, offered additional input, and the Governance Sub-Committee finalized the platform at its last meeting Nov. 13, 2025.
While the legislative platform serves as a guide for the council’s legislative positions, the City Council can still direct staff to contribute to the state legislature throughout the year, especially on issues that matter to the city and arise during a legislative session. Individual councilmembers are entitled to express their support for or opposition to any local measures, state propositions, state or federal legislation and grassroots advocacy actions as individuals, rather than on behalf of the city, per the Council’s Legislative Advocacy Policy.
