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What’s Inside: Meet Our Bay Area Policy Champion; New Executive Order on AI; State Assembly Select Committee Meetings; San Diego Election Results; and more.
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Meet Elizabeth Redman Cleveland, City of Berkeley
Elizabeth Redman Cleveland is the chief strategist for sustainable growth with the City of Berkeley’s Office of Economic Development. She led the city’s engagement with innovation businesses when the city updated its land use definition of Research and Development in 2022, making it more inclusive to reflect the combination of lab and office needs of Berkeley startups. She brought many City of Berkeley departments and external stakeholders together to introduce the policy concepts in Councilmember Robinson’s “Keep Innovation in Berkeley” referral, a legislative package that aims to ease procedural and zoning barriers to retain and foster innovation. The Biocom California policy team has worked closely with Liz on both initiatives. It is because of her deep knowledge and understanding of the industry that the life sciences will continue to innovate and grow in Berkeley. Read more about her work here.
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House Votes to Avert Government Shutdown
On a bipartisan 336-95 vote, the House of Representatives Tuesday voted on an emergency bill to avert a government shutdown. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell both expressed support for the bill, which is now widely expected to be approved this week in time to avert a federal government shutdown before Thanksgiving.
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FDA Launches New Digital Health Advisory Committee
The newly formed Digital Health Advisory Committee will advise the Commissioner on issues and policies related to digital health technologies; the FDA is currently seeking subject matter experts to join the committee. Nominations are due to the FDA by December 11.
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Biocom California Comments on C> FDA Draft Guidance
Biocom California submitted comments on the FDA’s draft guidance document, Manufacturing Changes and Comparability for Human Cellular and Gene Therapy Products. Thank you to our members for their valuable feedback!
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Senate Confirms Dr. Monica Bertagnolli as New Director of NIH
On November 7, the Senate voted 62-36 to confirm Dr. Monica Bertagnolli as the new Director of the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Bertagnolli is a renowned cancer physician and was previously the Director of the National Cancer Institute. We look forward to working with her to continue to advance research and innovation in California!
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California State Assembly Select Committee on Biotechnology
Biocom California collaborated with the California State Assembly Select Committee on Biotechnology’s Chairman, Chris Ward, to host two roundtable discussions over the last few months. The first was on September 27 at BioscienceLA, where member companies presented on the Greater LA industry landscape and future workforce needs. The second was on October 18 in San Diego and covered rare diseases, barriers to access for patients, women’s health, and disparities in coverage. Policymakers in attendance between the two events included Assemblymembers Isaac Bryan, Juan Carrillo, Vince Fong, Mike Gipson, Diane Papan, Rick Chavez Zbur, Liz Ortega, Kate Sanchez and Akilah Weber; and Senator Catherine Blakespear. Participating Biocom California member companies were TAB Diagnostic, Grifols Biologicals, Kite, Bayer, Biogen, BioMarin, Illumina, Rady Children’s Institute for Genomic Medicine, and Ultragenyx.
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San Diego
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Election Results for San Diego County’s 2023 Special Election
Monica Montgomery Steppe won the District 4 Supervisorial race with 61.57% of the votes, with opponent Amy Reichert conceding on November 8. The Chula Vista City Attorney race will go to a run-off election, with Marco Verdugo receiving 39% of the votes and Bart Miesfeld close behind with 37.9%. Fallbrook and Rainbow residents voted overwhelmingly to detach from the San Diego County Water authority, with over 94% of the votes in support of each measure. Final results are expected on or before December 7.
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Input Needed on Future of Sorrento Valley Connector Shuttles
On October 19, the Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) Board of Directors voted to discontinue connector shuttles to Sorrento Valley Coaster Station. Citing low ridership and the need to upgrade outdated shuttles, the MTS board supported the staff decision to shift responsibility for the shuttles to the North County Transit District (NCTD). Biocom California spoke in opposition to the proposal, which had only been noticed to local employers three days in advance of the hearing. We will continue to advocate with MTS and NCTD to maintain these shuttle services. NCTD is requesting feedback from riders on the future of transit services in the Sorrento Valley area, which is open until December 1.
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Council Sends Housing Action Package 2.0 Back to Committee
The current draft of Mayor Todd Gloria’s Housing Action Package 2.0 was voted down by the City Council, halting the mayor’s efforts to incentivize and promote new home opportunities. The package aims to implement state law, such as AB 2097, to allow the construction of more new homes near transit, provide protections to existing residents, and increase the supply of land available for new home development. But two details in the package emerged as controversial in recent weeks, which ultimately resulted in the council sending the package back to its Land Use and Housing Committee.
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Greater Los Angeles
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Tackling Los Angeles’ Homelessness Crisis
Both the Los Angeles City Council and Mayor’s office are attempting to tackle the city’s homelessness crisis through housing solutions. The City Council voted to have the city’s Planning Department draft an ordinance to strip zoning and size restrictions that limit how much permanent supportive housing can be constructed on city-owned land. Mayor Karen Bass’s Executive Directive 1 aims to expedite the development of over 8,000 affordable housing units by shortening project processing times.
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City Council to Develop Climate Action Plan
LA City Council approved a motion to develop a climate action and adaptation plan to codify green efforts into law and guide the city forward. The previous climate plan, LA’s Green New Deal, set targets and policy recommendations, but is not legally binding. The updated climate action plan could include sustainability requirements for lab buildings such as building electrification. It will take time to be finalized, but once complete it will aid in policy and decision making, and consolidate the city’s green efforts.
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State of Emergency Declared After I-10 Freeway Fire
A mile-long section of the 10 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles will remain closed for 3-5 weeks after a devastating fire swept through the area over the weekend. Gov. Gavin Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass declared a state of emergency Saturday night to help speed up cleaning and the repair of the freeway to mitigate long-term traffic challenges. Both westbound and eastbound lanes of the freeway between Alameda Street and Santa Fe Avenue were closed and people are encouraged to avoid the area.
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Bay Area
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Changes to Approving New Housing in San Francisco
San Francisco is notorious for its difficult permitting process for new housing and California officials are demanding change. The California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) released a report that found the city’s policies and politics stifle the construction of apartments or condos at nearly every step, driving developers to pursue business elsewhere. Under state law, HCD’s Housing Accountability Unit will now require the city to change a number of practices and rewrite city laws governing the housing permitting and appeals process, making it easier to build homes in San Francisco.
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East Bay Economic Development Alliance’s New Resource Website
The East Bay Economic Development Alliance (East Bay EDA) recently unveiled Resilient East Bay, a website designed as a resource to support the region’s key innovation industries: life science, clean tech, electronics, food and beverage, and transportation. The website will serve a broad range of stakeholders, such as manufacturers, public agencies, industry associations, and others interested in this work.
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BART Extension to South Bay Receives Final Funding
The Metropolitan Transportation Commission voted unanimously to allocate $375 million in regional funding to BART’s extension into the South Bay. The Valley Transportation Authority’s Phase II of the project includes five miles of an underground tunnel and four additional stations, stretching the system into downtown San Jose and Santa Clara.
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Upcoming Committee Meetings and Events
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Zoe Bilis
Associate Manager of Regulatory Policy
Washington, D.C.
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Emily Cassel
Govt. Affairs Events & Project Manager
San Diego
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Laure Clark
Sr. Director, Federal Policy & Govt. Affairs
Washington, D.C.
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Melanie Cohn
Sr. Director, Regional Policy & Govt. Affairs
SD, LA, Bay Area
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Jimmy Jackson
Senior Vice President
& Chief Policy Officer
San Diego
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Biocom California Advocacy
Biocom California is the largest, most experienced leader and advocate for California’s life science sector. Our public policy staff is strategically located in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento and Washington, D.C. We work with all levels of federal, state, and local governments to collectively pursue outcomes that benefit regional life science growth and contribute to a more innovation-friendly state. With over 28 years of experience, Biocom California works on behalf of more than {{{dynamic_content_1600}}} member companies statewide.
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