After sailing through its first policy committee of reference two weeks ago (Assembly Housing & Community Development Committee per a 6-2 vote), AB 1910 was pulled from this morning’s Local Government Committee agenda by its author Cristina Garcia (D-Bell Gardens).

We look forward to a day when we don’t have to “update” you with such frequency. Sadly, that day is not today. The 1^st of the two Assembly policy committees that will hear the 3^rd iteration of the Public Golf Endangerment Act (AB 1910) has set a hearing date. The Assembly Housing & Community Development Committee will hear the bill Wednesday March 23 at 9:30 AM.

The SCGA’s initial targeting of club presidents/delegates along with similar targeted efforts from allied partners like the Southern California PGA Section has yielded a healthy number of organizational letters in opposition to AB 1910 (Public Golf Endangerment Act). A second broader targeting is set to go out Monday in the form of SCGA’s “Club Digest.”

How clubs and organizations in particular can help in the 1st phase of the game’s allied effort to beat back this bill for a 3rd and final time.

As expected, at 9:00 PM Wednesday night Assembly Member Cristina Garcia (D-Bell Gardens) refiled most of the contents of the AB 672 iteration that died in Appropriations just a few weeks ago.

SCGA’s “Save Public Golf” campaign – “save” it from the Public Golf Endangerment Act (AB 672) – rolled out phase 1 last week with an E-blast to its membership, an “SCGA News” spot, a “Club Digest” offering, and a social media campaign. All points leading to the “Save Public Golf” landing page on the Association website homepage -- Public Golf Endangerment Act -- a landing page that allows persons to type in their name and be immediately directed to their Assembly and Senate members along with a few sample letters that can be easily copied and pasted into those members’ E-mail portals. So far, so good in terms of member engagement and use thereof.

As the statewide golf community prepares to cope with the twin onslaughts of drought and a bill that proposes to chop 22% of California’s golf courses into residential developments (AB 672 – Garcia; D-Bell Gardens), we’d like to take a moment to put what will necessarily be some very tactical short-term responses into an overarching strategy capable of getting beyond tactical reaction toward strategic proactivity.

California’s 2021 legislative session closed Friday. Some bills are on their way to the Governor’s Office for signature; others didn’t quite make it this session. As in all legislative sessions, the vast majority of the bills filed at the beginning of session died somewhere along the way, most of them much earlier than Friday at midnight.

All politics are local. As is the case with all clever aphorisms, that one too has its limits. Some politics are state. More germane to this update, some public policies that affect the golf industry are decided at the state level. And it is to a few of these that we address your attention today.

We were so impressed with the Golf Strategic Plan that Los Angeles County released last week that we thought we should share it with others.