Roseville's government relations efforts mission-critical to fostering a thriving community

The quality of life in Roseville hinges on many factors: excellent schools, well-maintained roadways and traffic circulation, quality parks, public safety and a thriving economic climate. One underlying reason that weaves these things together includes sound and stable utility services. Roseville has owned and operated its suite of utility services for over a century, making all but gas utility services community-owned. This is one of Roseville's competitive advantages because our stakeholders are the customers who depend on utility services and have a direct voice to their elected officials. In addition, we often work behind the scenes to ensure all customers' voices are heard as the state and federal governments continue to develop policies that directly impact our city. Sharing our legislative goals at Capitol Day Mayor Bruce Houdesheldt and I recently joined our government relations team and utility leadership at the California Municipal Utilities Association (CMUA) Capitol Day. This was an excellent opportunity to hear from the State Department of Water Resources, the State Water Resources Control Board, legislative consultants, and the State Senate and Assembly Committees chairs whose actions affect our utilities' future. We also had a chance to meet with Sen. Roger Niello and Assemblymember Joe Patterson to share Roseville's legislative goals. We shed light on our integrated utility services, key projects either initiated or recently completed to enhance how we deliver these services, and, more importantly, to advocate for: Increased water reliability for our community. This includes building awareness and support of a federally-recognized regional water bank that will allow us to improve water reliability by banking excess surface water in underground aquifers to use during dry periods. This effort will give us a go-to water supply, regardless of water supply conditions. Regulatory certainty. This year, Roseville banked enough water to serve 1,000 homes during a drought through our surface water contract with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. However, other agencies that worked through the state process could not divert and store surface water during the flood events. As weather patterns change and we receive more precipitation as rain versus snow, we encourage the state to adapt how they traditionally operate statewide water systems.A new raw water conveyance project with the Placer County Water Agency was envisioned to reduce reliance on Folsom Reservoir by accessing surface water in Newcastle. Building redundancy in surface water access will minimize climate change impacts, reduce the risk associated with storage performance at the Folsom Reservoir, and benefit the regional water bank. A continued focus on reliability. Reliability is fundamental to what we do as an electric utility and a priority to our customers. Several new reliability-related programs are coming out of legislation passed in 2022 that Roseville is monitoring for potential engagement. Roseville has seen firsthand where state and local partnerships have proven beneficial for bolstering grid reliability. In 2021, Roseville worked closely with the Department of Water Resources to install two emergency gas-fired generators at our Roseville Energy Park. These units operated during the September 2022 heatwave that set records across the state for peak loads and high temperatures. Roseville was glad to work with the state on this project and welcomes opportunities to collaborate in the future.Affordability as a top priority. Even after undergoing a recent rate increase, Roseville continues to offer some of the lowest electricity rates in our region. However, electricity must remain affordable to move forward on broader statewide goals, including zero-emission vehicles, renewable energy and Greenhouse Gas emission reductions. Therefore, affordability continues to be a top priority for Roseville and is a prism through which we will evaluate legislation introduced in 2023.Supply chain concerns. Utilities have been facing supply chain disruptions for the availability of critical electric equipment. Previously, an order for a distribution transformer took us three months to acquire. Now that same order could take up to two to three years. Costs have increased as well. Roseville is working to elevate this issue at the federal level to increase the production of these needed resources.Grant funding opportunities. Roseville is seeking funding opportunities from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) to keep rates low while pursuing new projects for reliability and resource diversity. This may include bringing new technology online in Roseville, improving grid resiliency, hardening Information Technology systems, and facilitating the building and transportation electrification transition. Aligning our essential services with state and federal activities CMUA Capitol Day is an example of our comprehensive legislative platform and strategy. In any given year, government relations staff, our law and regulatory committee, and the City Council review proposed legislation affecting our city and make sure they align with our ability to provide essential services. In addition, our government relations team assesses the benefit of each bill or regulation and encourages changes that might otherwise adversely impact our residents and businesses through advocacy. While our legislative and regulatory priorities shift depending on many factors, one thing that remains constant is our desire to maintain local decision-making, garner support for funding to enhance our utility infrastructure and reduce cost burdens, and advance and support policies and regulations that protect our customer's interests. Of course, this work is ongoing but Capitol Day was important to me, my colleagues on City Council and our staff because it allowed us to get face time with regulators and elected officials at the state to build relationships and awareness of our community's priorities. Roseville City Council member Pauline Roccucci was elected to a four-year term in November 2018 and was reelected in 2022. She served as mayor from 1989 to 1991 and 2010 to 2012, and on the City Council from 1989 to 1998 and 2008 to 2016. She can be reached at proccucci@roseville.ca.us.