County Adopts 2026 Legislative Platform
Author: Board of Supervisors
Date: 2/10/2026 3:24 PM
Adopted platform sets the County’s state and federal advocacy agenda, including support for Diablo Canyon Power Plant, Prop 13 property tax protections, healthcare access, insurance reform, and water reliability.
The County of San Luis Obispo (County) Board of Supervisors have formally adopted its 2026 Legislative Platform, establishing the County’s state and federal advocacy priorities for the coming year. The platform guides the County’s engagement with legislators and regulatory agencies to advance policies that protect local taxpayers, strengthen public services, and support long-term community resilience.
Major policy areas of the platform include public safety, health and human services, housing, transportation and infrastructure, agriculture and natural resources, and economic development. A key focus of the platform is the County’s advocacy for the continued operations of Diablo Canyon Power Plant for up to 20 more years. The County also calls for the restoration of the plant’s unitary tax to ensure stable funding for local governments and school districts as well as continued conservation and public access to the lands surrounding the plant after it is eventually decommissioned.
Supervisor Jimmy Paulding played a key role in shaping the 2026 platform, successfully advancing several priorities focused on local control, fiscal stability, healthcare access, insurance affordability, water reliability, and public safety.
Among the items Supervisor Paulding advocated for and successfully included in the platform:
- Protection of Proposition 13 and taxpayer safeguards. The platform opposes any changes that would weaken Proposition 13 protections for homeowners or businesses, in alignment with the County’s longstanding position.
- Stabilization of California’s homeowners insurance market. The County will support legislative and regulatory reforms that improve insurance availability and affordability, and advocate for investments in wildfire risk mitigation.
- Medicare reimbursement reforms to improve healthcare access. The County will advocate for federal reimbursement structures that better reflect the true cost of providing care in our area which will support recruitment and retention of physicians, specialists, and other healthcare providers.
- Sustainable and reliable water supplies. The platform advocates for policies and regulations that prioritize the operational viability of reservoirs and water infrastructure while ensuring environmental protections are implemented in a manner that avoids unintended impacts to drinking water reliability, agriculture, and public safety.
- Preservation of federal support for county-administered health and nutrition programs. The platform calls for amendments to recently adopted federal legislation that will shift significant costs to counties and limit access to healthcare and nutrition assistance for vulnerable SLO County residents. The Board also received a report on Tuesday outlining how as many as 16,000 county residents may lose healthcare or food assistance as a result of recent federal changes.
- Fair and transparent Cal Fire mapping procedures. The County will advocate for a formal process allowing local governments to either appeal or modify Fire Hazard Severity Zone maps prior to adoption, ensuring that local conditions, data, and mitigation efforts are fully considered. This is in response to concerns about the accuracy of Cal Fire maps for our area that were released last year.
The draft 2026 Legislative Platform is available on the County’s website here. After the above-referenced additions are incorporated, the final adopted platform will be posted on the County website here.
