Several local elected and business leaders in Fresno County are urging Gov. Gavin Newsom to veto a bill that would greatly restrict where new warehouses could be built.
Newsom has had Assembly Bill 98 on his desk for the last few weeks and has until Sep. 30 to make a decision on it.
Driving the news: AB 98 was shoe-horned in at the 11th hour after being introduced as an agricultural bill last year. The bill was shelved last year only to come back shortly before the legislative year ended with new language addressing warehouse locations and truck routes.
- AB 98 passed the Legislature and was sent to Newsom’s desk just hours before the Legislative year ended on Aug. 31.
- Assemblymembers Eloise Gomez Reyes (D–San Bernardino) and Juan Carrillo (D–Palmdale) authored AB 98, coming after years of debate between business groups and environmentalists over warehouse locations.
Zoom in: AB 98 would establish a plethora of building standards for new warehouses and ban truck traffic from being near sensitive sites, which includes homes, schools, daycare facilities, parks, nursing homes and hospitals.
- All local governments would be required to update their truck routes to avoid residential streets.
- The bill would mandate minimum distance buffer zones between homes and warehouses. It also includes language for adding decorative walls and landscaping to buffer areas.
- Further, AB 98 requires a two-to-one replacement for any demolished housing unit that was occupied within the last 10 years, with the new units required to be affordable housing for low or moderate income families.
Environmental opposition: Despite the clear push in AB 98 to provide a win for environmental justice, not all environmentalists are supportive.
- The Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice and other environmental justice groups wrote an argument in opposition to the Legislature, saying AB 98 does not do enough.
- “Unfortunately, the late gut-and-amend will not achieve what we can and must achieve to promote health and well-being in parts of the state that are bearing the impacts of warehouse development,” they wrote.
- The groups called the proposed buffer zones “toothless,” adding that AB 98 does not address impacts from warehouse growth and truck traffic, omits requirements for small warehouses and sets different standards for different communities.
Local opposition: Fresno County’s local leaders fear AB 98 would significantly hamper the region’s economic growth.
- Local leaders held a press conference at the Fresno Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday to urge Newsom to veto AB 98.
- The speakers were Fresno City Council President Annalisa Perea, Cal Cities President Daniel Parra, Fresno Chamber of Commerce CEO Scott Miller, Newmark Pearson Commercial Senior Vice President Nick Audino, Precision Civil Engineering President Ed Dunkel, Central Valley Biz Fed President and CEO Clint Olivier, INVEST Fresno Chairman Ethan Smith and Fresno County Economic Development Corporation CEO Will Oliver.
- They spoke to the importance of Fresno County’s industrial sector for the local economy, noting that over 100,000 people are employed in the sector that brings in over $13 billion in economic activity.
- Miller said AB 98 would disproportionately impact small businesses, since 77% of Fresno County warehouses are small businesses with no more than 20 employees each.
- AB 98 poses a direct threat to these businesses, which are already grappling with rising costs, increased regulation and a competitive labor market,” Miller said. “If this bill passes, it will place even more pressure on these businesses, limiting their ability to grow, hiring more workers and continue contributing to the economy of our region.”
- Perea said AB 98 creates winners and losers among cities and counties based on geography, with Audino saying California’s impoverished will be most impacted negatively by the bill, since they have the least ability to pay more for essential needs.
- “In my view, AB 98 is a job killing bill, also a revenue killing bill,” Audino said. “At a time in our community where we’re hemorrhaging jobs here locally and also across the state, now’s the wrong time for a one size fits all bill of this fashion.”
- Audino added, “The winners, frankly, will be the real estate portfolio owners, because if you short the supply of industrial space, the people with existing buildings will be able to charge more rent and those will be your winners.”
