OUR WORK
With more than 30 years of experience, Edelstein Gilbert Robson & Smith LLC can point to numerous significant accomplishments. Below is just a sample of the many successes the firm has produced for its clients.
$2 Billion State Budget Victory
On behalf of our local utility clients, during the COVID-19 crisis we successfully lobbied to ensure the 2021-22 California State Budget provided $2 billion to pay off the delinquent utility accounts of ratepayers economically harmed by COVID-19. The size and scope of these programs are unprecedented. We were also successful in inserting much of the language governing how these state programs were implemented, ensuring that every utility and every ratepayer that applied would receive a portion of the funding. Without this State Budget success, it is likely that many utilities would never have recovered the funds to satisfy delinquent accounts.
Successfully Leading a Coalition to Reverse Cuts to Healthcare Reimbursement in State Budget
Our client, a major healthcare provider, was continuously underpaid by the state Medi-Cal program while also absorbing clawbacks of previous revenue due to an outdated payment policy. The Administration was unwilling to correct this policy despite our successful effort putting a bipartisan bill on the Governor’s desk to do so. Undeterred, we turned to the state budget process. Our firm built and led a strong coalition of similarly situated healthcare providers and successfully pushed these reimbursement and policy changes into the state budget in 2021, thereby sending money back to our client and the other providers.
Defeating one of the most powerful interests in the Capitol
SB 649 would have effectively eliminated our local government clients’ ability to regulate the leasing of public infrastructure to private telecommunication companies for the deployment of wireless technology. It was the telecommunication industry’s number one priority in 2017. We led a coalition of local government associations who partnered with politically powerful labor unions in advocacy and media outreach. Through our work, support for the bill plummeted. It narrowly passed the State Legislature and we secured a veto of the bill after spending considerable time educating then Governor Jerry Brown’s Office.
Obtaining State Funding for Recycled Water Projects
We helped a client obtain two multi-million dollar grants from the State Water Resources Control Board for two recycled water projects, worth almost $20 million combined. We organized and attended multiple meetings for our client with key Water Board staff and worked closely with our client’s legislative delegation to communicate their strong support for the grants.
Healthcare – Defeating Knox Keene Licensure
Our firm had one of its biggest victories on behalf of our public Medi-Cal Managed Care clients when we defeated SB 260 in 2015. The bill was amended very late in the legislative process to require County Organized Health Systems to obtain a Knox-Keene License, which would give the Department of Managed Health Care new regulatory oversight of their Medi-Cal programs. Under current law, these local health systems are exempt from licensure. We defeated SB 260 on the Assembly Floor by a vote of 23-43, which was the year’s largest margin of defeat for any bill on the Assembly Floor.
Water Conservation Mandates
One of the biggest issues in the 2017-2018 Legislative Session was Governor Brown’s push for new water conservation legislation, which led to SB 606 and AB 1668. For our water agency clients, we sought amendments to the legislation focused on maintaining local control. Although these changes were opposed by the environmental community and a key member of the State Legislature, the Administration and leadership in the State Legislature came to understand it would be difficult to pass the bills without removing our clients’ opposition. We were subsequently one of only two lobbying firms invited to a meeting with the Governor’s Office, all relevant state agencies, and senior legislative staff. It was at this meeting that the final deal was negotiated, and our clients were able to obtain the objectives it required to remove its opposition to the bills, which were signed into law.
Regulatory Action on Water Contaminants
Our client faced a change to regulations which would have significantly disrupted their operations at great cost. We reached out to key contacts in the Governor’s Office, who encouraged the regulatory agencies to meet with our client. Subsequently, those agencies delayed implementation of the new rule, which enabled our client to meet with the Secretary of CalEPA and the Chair of the State Water Board. Our client eventually arrived at a satisfactory compromise with these regulatory bodies, and we sponsored legislation – AB 2560 – to correct the problematic regulation the following year, which was signed into law.
Preventing New Recycling Fees on Glass Bottles
For over 20 years, we have led lobbying coalitions to defeat legislative and state budget efforts to raise state recycling fee costs on glass containers. In 2019, the firm provided the key testimony and lobbying to defeat a bill that would have lumped glass containers into a broader effort to regulate all single use packaging. Subsequently, glass containers were exempted from both a future bill and a pending statewide ballot initiative now focused on plastic containers.
Energy - Defending Community Choice Aggregators
We represent Community Choice Aggregators (CCAs), which are locally formed and governed power providers that compete with private utilities. In response to opposition from the big power companies to the formation of early CCAs, we sponsored legislation to curtail the most egregious marketing efforts against CCA formation. At the same time, we defeated numerous legislative efforts to curtail the expansion of CCAs or allow private utilities to increase charges paid by CCA customers, which would have allowed CCA competitors to inflate CCA rates until they were no longer cost competitive. In the time that we have represented CCAs, they have grown to provide power to over 10 million Californians.
Funding for Bay Area Regional Train Electrification
Our transit agency client’s long-term vision to electrify its rail line got a much needed boost in 2012. After years of lobbying regional lawmakers to condition any ongoing state bond funding support for their local train service, we secured $600 million of high speed rail bond money for the transformation of these rail lines.
Resolving Bureaucratic Intransigence
A major manufacturer and supplier of data center cooling equipment retained our firm to eliminate delay and intransigence of mid-level, state bureaucrats who prevented the sale and utilization of newly developed, state-of-the-art thermal cooling technology in California data centers. After consulting with leadership at the California Energy Commission, we were able to have this issue prioritized by staff and expedited a commission vote and approval of this matter.
Overcoming Powerful Opposition and Growing Our Client’s Business
On behalf of a regional home inspection company, we successfully changed California law to allow home inspectors to make roofing repairs to homes on which they have completed a home inspection. California law prohibited the practice but we created a special exemption for home inspectors to make roofing repairs, if the home inspection company possessed a roofing contractors license. Initially, the powerful California Realtors Association opposed the bill, along with the trade association representing home inspectors. After an aggressive lobbying effort, the bill passed a key committee vote so the opponents were compelled to negotiate with us. They removed their opposition in exchange for minor amendments and the bill eventually passed and was signed into law. Our client was very pleased and their expanded business practices have been very profitable.
Securing Federal Funds with the Governor’s Support
A publicly owned utility client needed to secure a letter from Governor Gavin Newsom affirming the importance of its project to the State of California. Specifically, the letter had to affirm that the project was consistent with California’s State Water Plan - a necessary condition to receive a federal grant through the Water Infrastructure Improvement for the Nation (WIIN) Act. As a result of our know how and relationships within the Governor’s Office, we obtained the letter within the one-month timeframe requested by the client.