Advocacy

2025 Tahoe Summit

At this year’s Tahoe Summit, NTCA president and CEO Tony Karwowski shared with California Senator Adam Schiff, Nevada Senator Jacky Rosen, Nevada Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, California Assemblywoman Hadwick, and Senator Alvarado-Gil, among others, how the NTCA and the committees it convenes are putting TBID dollars to work on behalf of our community in support of collaborative stewardship efforts in North Lake Tahoe and beyond.

He also addressed the NTCA’s involvement in the creation of the Lake Tahoe Destination Stewardship Plan, its implementation, and the efforts we’re aligning on across agencies, businesses, NGOs and land managers to elevate the Tahoe experience for all.

Meetings with State and Federal Legislative Representatives

In mid-March, NTCA CEO Tony Karwowski was invited to join members of “Team Tahoe” on a legislative advocacy trip to Washington D.C. The team spoke about the need for Lake Tahoe Restoration Act funding in the 2026 appropriations cycle totaling $42M to address topics including forest health, water infrastructure to fight fires, aquatic invasive species, watershed restoration and water quality, and the Lahontan Cutthroat Trout. Additionally, Team Tahoe engaged Congressional representatives ahead of the coming Surface Transportation Reauthorization to identify opportunities addressing travel demand impacts in the community. This was a unique opportunity to showcase how North Tahoe’s strong private/public partnerships have collaborated on our biggest challenges and leveraged funds to benefit the community.

Meeting with Congressman Kevin Kiley

In mid-August, in advance of the Lake Tahoe Summit, NTCA met with Congressman Kevin Kiley of California’s 3rd District to ask for his support around regional trails as a form of transportation as well as educate him on the work being done to find a solution for 89 and 267 to allow TART to move freely throughout our destination. As we advocate for the future of North Lake Tahoe, we need the support of our elected officials. Please make sure you are registered to vote in the coming election this November.

Sunday Commercial Trash Service

A pilot program will run between June 2-September 1, 2024 to initiate commercial trash service on Sundays. Commercial customers with at least two weekly scheduled pick-ups can adjust one of those pick-ups to the new Sunday service.

The pilot program is funded with Tourism Business Improvement District (TBID) funds. Thank you to the members of the business community who participated in the conversation about the need for Sunday services.

Interested customers should call TTSD at (530) 583-7800 to request that one of their collection days be changed to Sunday. The call center is open 8 am-4:40 pm Monday-Friday, excluding holidays.

Legislative Advocacy

As part of its advocacy efforts on behalf of the North Tahoe business community, the NTCA, along with its counterparts from Mammoth Lakes and Visit Redding, met with legislative staff members of Senator Alvarado-Gil, Assemblymember Patterson and Assemblymember Dahle in Sacramento in May 2024. The intention of these meetings was to share the North Tahoe business community’s position and encourage support of SB 969 and the creation of a State-run Event Fund.

SB 969: Alcoholic Beverages: Entertainment Zones: Consumption

The NTCA stands in full support of SB 969, which if approved, would allow local governments to designate “Entertainment Zones.” These zones would permit local bars and restaurants to sell alcoholic beverages for consumption in designated areas, with approval from local jurisdictions, during events such as street fairs, festivals, and parades where currently only outside vendors are permitted to sell.

Allowing neighborhood, brick-and-mortar businesses to participate alongside outside vendors during special events supports the local economy, business community and workforce.

Creating a State-run Event Fund

The NTCA supports the future establishment of a state-run fund to preserve California’s ability to compete with other states for large events like the Super Bowl, FIFA World Cup matches and the 2028 Summer Olympics that bring jobs, visitor spending, and state and local tax revenue to California.

This fund, similar to the 23 other states with dedicated state-run event funds, would include a mechanism for creating a revolving program for bringing more events to California, and would assist cities with the costs associated with bidding on and hosting large events. Without a similar funding source, California is at a competitive disadvantage and is losing business to other states.

Housing Hub

To help tackle persistent workforce housing challenges in the Tahoe-Truckee region, a new 501(c)4 nonprofit organization was formed in April 2024. The Tahoe Housing Hub’s role will be to advocate for progressive housing policies, assist in developing small to mid-scale housing projects and collaborate with the community to promote a pro-housing movement.

To fortify the Hub’s foundation, the NTCA Board of Directors approved allocating $150,000 in TBID funds and extended $34,000 of in-kind contributions, spanning office space to professional services. Complementing this, Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation allocated $135,000 for the Hub’s formation and orchestrated a two-year $135,000 matching grant from the Martis Fund.

At their April 10 board meeting, the NTCA board unanimously voted to grant $479,450 to the Tahoe Housing Hub to launch an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) Accelerator Pilot Program. The ADU Pilot program will provide homeowners with free feasibility and project management support, and guidance through the entire process from design and permitting through construction management and leasing. For more information on the Housing Hub check out www.tahoehousinghub.org.

USPS

At the direction of the NTCA Board of Directors, talking points were developed as a starting point for North Lake Tahoe residents and businesses to use or customize as they saw fit if they wished to contact the United States Postal Service to speak out about diminished levels of service impacting quality of life and our businesses.

Email Template/Talking Points:

As a resident of Eastern Placer County, the unreliability of the postal service throughout the North Lake Tahoe region is causing significant daily impacts on my quality of life and the operations of local businesses in my community. The specific problems our community continues to experience, include:

• No mail delivery for multiple days in a row (and multiple weeks, in some instances), misdelivered mail, and important documents sent to local addresses that are never delivered such as mortgage and utility bills and payments, prescriptions, etc.—all of which occur regularly.
• Packages are not consistently delivered to residents or businesses. Additionally, when community members go to the post office to pick up a package, staff often cannot locate items due to the volume of packages, lack of staff, and space constraints.
• Inconsistent package delivery is made even more challenging when long wait times are the norm and not the exception.
• USPS staffing shortages due to non-competitive pay. The starting wage for postal service staff does not align with the cost of living in our area. To remedy the current staffing situation which will in turn impact service levels, this needs to be addressed.

These are critical issues, as the USPS provides a necessary service that our community needs to be able to rely on. Please take immediate steps to improve the level of service in North Lake Tahoe and communicate those actions to those who live in and run businesses in our region.

Proposed Bill SB 584

At their meeting on June 7, 2023 the North Tahoe Community Alliance Board of Directors elected to oppose the proposed bill SB 584. If enacted, the bill would impose a tax on the occupancy of short-term rentals (STR) in California at 15% of the rental price of the short-term rental. In North Lake Tahoe, this tax would be assessed on top of the 10% TOT tax and 2% TBID assessment already collected on STRs in Placer County that are being reinvested locally in transportation and workforce housing initiatives.

NTCA created a letter to email or speak to via phone call to your Assemblymember.

Outcome: 

Thanks to advocacy efforts from all around California, and the direct activation of 946 individuals who sent letters to Assembly Housing, we put a stop to SB 584 (Limon) for 2023.

SB 584 has been turned into a two-year bill, which means that it will not be heard in Assembly Housing & Community Development on Wednesday, June 28. The bill will be eligible for a hearing in January 2024, if the author decides to move forward. It will still have to pass Assembly Housing and Assembly Revenue & Taxation and go through all of the similar hurdles it would have this year, but must move out of committees and off the Assembly Floor by the end of January. A much tighter timeframe and a steeper challenge for SB 584 to overcome. 

The next steps are that we will continue to monitor SB 584 and engage in discussions with the author’s office. If activation is needed, we will send out communications in 2024.

Thank you for your engagement on this critical issue! Together we raised our industry’s voice and asserted our economic impact on California’s economy. Thank you as well to CalTravel for their lobbying efforts on behalf of all of us in California.