SCAG serves as the unified voice of the region, advocating for the legislative and funding needs of Southern California’s diverse and growing communities, and creating a strong coalition that can achieve more together.
Legislation
SCAG maintains a state and federal legislative program, which consists of the Regional Council’s positions on policies and legislative initiatives related to SCAG’s core planning and policy areas—transportation, air quality, freight/goods movement, housing, environmental impact, sustainability, economic recovery, and job creation—that need the leadership and support of the U.S. Congress and California State Legislature.
SCAG’s legislative efforts result from a bottoms-up process whereby the Legislative/Communications and Membership Committee, comprised of elected officials from throughout the region, identifies and recommends specific legislative action for consideration by the Regional Council with respect to state and federal legislation affecting the SCAG region. The Regional Council takes formal legislative positions and directs the agency’s advocacy efforts on all legislative matters.
Legislative Platforms
SCAG’s 2024 state and federal legislative platforms are the agency’s policy recommendations stemming from the Legislative/Communications and Membership Committee, and adopted by the Regional Council. These legislative platforms encompass broad, policy-oriented objectives of the agency that build upon long-standing, Regional Council-adopted policies, while also taking into account new and evolving issues.
State Legislative Platform
2024 State Legislative Platform
2024 State Legislative Priorities Booklet
2023 State Legislative Platform
2023 State Legislative Priorities Booklet
2022 State Legislative Platform
2021 State Legislative Platform
2020 Sacramento Summit Booklet
2020 State Legislative Platform
Federal Legislative Platform
2024 Federal Legislative Platform
2024 Federal Legislative Priorities Booklet
2023 Federal Legislative Platform
2023 Federal Legislative Priorities Booklet
2022 Federal Legislative Platform
2021 Federal Legislative Platform
2020 Federal Legislative Platform
Legislative Tracking
SCAG staff continuously monitors legislative activity in Sacramento. The Legislative Tracking Report provides a list of bills SCAG is tracking in the current session of the California State Legislature.
DOWNLOAD THE STATE BILL TRACKER
Legislative Delegation
SCAG regularly interacts with members of our state and federal delegation on a variety of issues of importance to the region. The following members of the U.S. Congress and California Legislature directly represent the SCAG region at the state and federal levels.
U.S. House
- Congressmember Jay Obernolte (CD-23)
- Congressmember Salud Carbajal (CD-24)
- Congressmember Raul Ruiz (CD-25)
- Congressmember Julia Brownley (CD-26)
- Congressmember Mike Garcia (CD-27)
- Congressmember Judy Chu (CD-28)
- Congressmember Tony Cardenas (CD-29)
- Congressmember Adam Schiff (CD-30)
- Congressmember Grace Napolitano (CD-31)
- Congressmember Brad Sherman (CD-32)
- Congressmember Pete Aguilar (CD-33)
- Congressmember Jimmy Gomez (CD-34)
- Congressmember Norma Torres (CD-35)
- Congressmember Ted Lieu (CD-36)
- Congressmember Sydney Kamlager-Dove (CD-37)
- Congressmember Linda Sanchez (CD-38)
- Congressmember Mark Takano (CD-39)
- Congressmember Young Kim (CD-40)
- Congressmember Ken Calvert (CD-41)
- Congressmember Robert Garcia (CD-42)
- Congressmember Maxine Waters (CD-43)
- Congressmember Nanette Diaz Barragan (CD-44)
- Congressmember Michelle Park Steel (CD-45)
- Congressmember Lou Correa (CD-46)
- Congressmember Katie Porter (CD-47)
U.S. Senate
- Senator Lephonza Butler
- Senator Alex Padilla
California State Assembly
- Assemblymember Tom Lackey (AD-34)
- Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia (AD-36)
- Assemblymember Steve Bennett (AD-38)
- Assemblymember Juan Carrillo (AD-39)
- Assemblymember Pilar Schiavo (AD-40)
- Assemblymember Chris Holden (AD-41)
- Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin (AD-42)
- Assemblymember Luz Rivas (AD-43)
- Assemblymember Laura Friedman (AD-44)
- Assemblymember James Ramos (AD-45)
- Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel (AD-46)
- Assemblymember Greg Wallis (AD-47)
- Assemblymember Blanca Rubio (AD-48)
- Assemblymember Mike Fong (AD-49)
- Assemblymember Eloise Gomez Reyes (AD-50)
- Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur (AD-51)
- Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo (AD-52)
- Assemblymember Freddie Rodriguez (AD-53)
- Assemblymember Miguel Santiago (AD-54)
- Assemblymember Isaac Bryan (AD-55)
- Assemblymember Lisa Calderon (AD-56)
- Assemblymember Reginald Byron Jones-Sawyer (AD-57)
- Assemblymember Sabrina Cervantes (AD-58)
- Assemblymember Philip Chen (AD-59)
- Assemblymember Corey Jackson (AD-60)
- Assemblymember Tina McKinnor (AD-61)
- Assemblymember Anthony Rendon (AD-62)
- Assemblymember Bill Essayli (AD-63)
- Assemblymember Blanca Pacheco (AD-64)
- Assemblymember Mike Gipson (AD-65)
- Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi (AD-66)
- Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva (AD-67)
- Assemblymember Avelino Valencia (AD-68)
- Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal (AD-69)
- Assemblymember Tri Ta (AD-70)
- Assemblymember Kate Sanchez (AD-71)
- Assemblymember Diane Dixon (AD-72)
- Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris (AD-73)
- Assemblymember Laurie Davies (AD-74)
California State Senate
- Senator Monique Limón (SD-19)
- Senator Caroline Menjivar (SD-20)
- Senator Scott Wilk (SD-21)
- Senator Susan Rubio (SD-22)
- Senator Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh (SD-23)
- Senator Benjamin Allen (SD-24)
- Senator Anthony Portantino (SD-25)
- Senator Maria Elena Durazo (SD-26)
- Senator Lola Smallwood-Cuevas (SD-28)
- Senator Josh Newan (SD-29)
- Senator Bob Archuleta (SD-30)
- Senator Richard Roth (SD-31)
- Senator Kelly Seyarto (SD-32)
- Senator Lena Gonzalez (SD-33)
- Senator Tom Umberg (SD-34)
- Senator Steven Bradford (SD-35)
- Senator Janet Nguyen (SD-36)
- Senator Dave Min (SD-37)
- Senator Catherine Blakespear (SD-38)
Bill Position Tracker
SCAG’s Bill Position Tracker makes it easy to stay informed on the status of bills in the California State Legislature on which the Regional Council took a formal position. The SCAG Bill Position Tracker monitors bills cover several policy areas such as transportation, planning, environment, finance, government, and economic development.
The Bill Position Tracker provides:
- A bill number, topic, and description for each bill.
- SCAG’s position on the bill and the date on which that position was taken.
- Bill status.
DOWNLOAD THE BILL POSITION TRACKER
Advocacy
Federal
In federal legislative matters, SCAG provides regional input to congressional lawmakers, the administration, and federal agency officials concerning the broad spectrum of issues encompassing SCAG’s core jurisdictions: transportation, land-use, environment, climate change, energy, sustainability, and water. As the nation’s largest metropolitan planning organization, SCAG seeks to both apprise and advocate for its 191 member cities, six member counties and other stakeholders/members on legislative actions in Washington, D.C. that affect the region in these areas.
State
In state legislative matters, SCAG’s efforts focus on stabilizing and enhancing transportation funding while preserving the authority and flexibility of local government and transportation entities to best utilize available resources to meet the needs of the region. SCAG seeks to implement its Regional Council-adopted legislative priorities to advance policies beneficial to the region in areas such as project acceleration and streamlining, economic development and community reinvestment, cap-and-trade revenue allocation, surface transportation authorization implementation, climate change/greenhouse gas emissions reduction, and housing/affordable housing expansion.
SCAG also pursues legislation consistent with the agency’s economic and growth strategy objectives to spur economic recovery by supporting measures such as the extension of the state’s successful film tax credit program and targeted tax incentives and beneficial regulatory treatment in the green technology industries. In all such legislative efforts, SCAG endeavors to create a collaborative, “bottom-up” approach with its constituent members and local stakeholder partners to achieve legislative policy results that are comprehensive and beneficial to the entire region.
Advocacy Letters
SCAG advocates for the region at the local, state, and federal levels on key policy issues.
When needed, SCAG will provide policy recommendations through advocacy letters.
2023 Advocacy Letters
