Opposition to AB 1729 - Only One
The 8.14.26 Senate Analysis included only one opposition: The Downtown Sacramento Partnership.
The Chair of the Board of Directors is also the Lieutenant Governor’s father.
A State Parks District Superintendent is an officer on the Board of Directors.
The Mayor of Sacramento is one of the Directors.
https://www.downtownsac.org/about/board/
Here’s their opposition:
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION:
According to the Downtown Sacramento Partnership:
“At a time when state and local governments face persistent structural budget challenges, AB 1729 undermines taxpayer investments, weakens California’s most productive economic centers, and erodes the tax base that funds essential public services.
State agencies serve as anchor institutions in employment centers throughout California. In Sacramento, they occupy more than 60% of the downtown office market, according to Department of General Services (DGS) and CoStar data.i As a result, state workplace policies carry significant economic and fiscal consequences – impacts that AB 1729 largely ignores.
While AB 1729 requires reporting on projected savings within state agencies, it provides no mechanism to evaluate the corresponding fiscal impacts shifted onto local governments and taxpayers. Property tax, sales tax, transit occupancy tax, and related revenues that fund essential public services throughout entire jurisdictions depend on healthy, circular economic activity in high occupancy commercial centers. These fiscal outcomes are closely tied to land use and transportation policies that shape residential and employment patterns, infrastructure utilization, and regional mobility.
Policies that encourage permanent or predominantly remote work diminish the value of employment centers, weakening the economic clustering that drives commercial investment, business activity, and local tax generation. State telework policies reduce Sacramento’s economic activity by more than $218.5 million annually, according to an estimate in a 2023 report by Varshey & Associates.ii
Moreover, downtown Sacramento commercial office values have declined by $800 million since 2020.iii Those effects ultimately weaken the tax base local governments rely upon to fund police, fire, parks, education, infrastructure, and other essential services. These indicators demonstrate why evaluating only state-level office savings provides an incomplete fiscal picture.”
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billAnalysisClient.xhtml
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