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In 1932 U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis coined the metaphor describing state and local governments as ‘laboratories of democracy.’ Cities like Berkeley can be more responsive to the public than higher levels of government through introducing and considering innovative policy initiatives.

At tomorrow’s 4 p.m. (Tuesday, October 10) Council work session, the Council will be considering significantly curtailing the public’s legislative process by limiting Councilmember responsiveness to emerging issues. This proposal includes some important reforms (e.g., new drafting guidelines, a way for City staff to provide conceptual input upfront and an enhanced policy committee checklist to guide their analysis) but is overly bureaucratic and would place the following limits on Councilmember responsiveness to the public:

• Any new piece of “major” legislation (as determined by the Agenda Committee, without any set criteria) would be subject to a time consuming near 300-day bureaucratic process before it could go into effect. This doubles the current timeline of around 120-150 days or less.
• The Council’s policy committees would only be allowed to meet to consider major legislation during less than six months of the year (down from the current nine months). I have found the policy committees (introduced in 2018) effective in identifying budgetary and implementation impacts of initiatives, ensuring that legislation is more clearly drafted and allowing members of the public interested in a given topic to engage more fully in discussions. Legislation going forward to Council is much more ready for prime time. Weakening this effective system is not a good choice.
• Councilmembers, responding to members of the public with “major” policy ideas, could only submit legislation through one process per year to be eligible for the near 300-day timeline. For example, if Councilmembers submit legislation addressing a major community need after the deadline, and the legislation is deemed not urgent by the Agenda Committee, it could not even be considered by Council for another year, let alone potentially implemented 1.8 years later.
• The proposal does not apply the same requirements to initiatives submitted by City management.

I believe the proposal on the table would undercut the effective committee system, give too much power to the Agenda Committee to define “major items” and arguably violate the City Charter which invests Council representatives on behalf of the public “all powers of legislation in municipal affairs adequate to a complete system of local government.” I do not think we should replicate top-down processes in place in the State Legislature that create gridlock.

We can fix any deficiencies in our legislative process without stripping the people’s representatives of their Charter responsibility to respond to the public’s needs and of due process to propose, debate, and consider legislation. 

I along with two colleagues, submitted an alternative legislative proposal to ensure that items now skipping the committee process are referred there and providing more definitive requirements for what Council items must include before moving forward. The policy committees are where—before passing out an item—significant budgetary impacts and feasibility, in addition to the proposal’s merits, ought to be determined. My item builds upon the alternative proposal I submitted in 2021, which better aligns the legislative process to the budget and staff implementation process without sacrificing Berkeley’s democratic process, and directly deals with referrals and budget requests submitted without sufficient budget and implementation analysis. Our proposal would also apply the same enhanced legislative process to major city management policy proposals, referrals to management by Councilmembers, and budgetary requests (which often are quite sizeable and lack needed detail and burden City management with ill-defined proposals). All of these should be incorporated in the policy committee process ahead of the respective budget process. 

Please make your voice heard on this important issue: 

Write to Council or Speak at Hybrid Council Meeting

Tuesday, October 10, 2023 - 4:00 PM

SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD ROOM - 1231 ADDISON STREET, BERKELEY, CA 94702

To submit a written communication for the City Council’s consideration and inclusion in the public record, email council@berkeleyca.gov.

Zoom Link: https://cityofberkeley-info.zoomgov.com/j/1611670896

To request to speak, use the “raise hand” icon by rolling over the bottom of the screen. 

To join by phone: Dial 1-669-254-5252 or 1-833-568-8864 (Toll Free) and enter Meeting ID: 161 167 0896. If you wish to comment during the public comment portion of the agenda, Press *9 and wait to be recognized by the Chair. 

Sincerely, 

Kate Harrison
Berkeley City Council, District 4