Local Government Powers

SB 109 (Kopp) makes the county board of supervisors the fiduciary for funds deposited in the county treasury, unless the board delegates the duty to the county treasurer; requires local governing boards to annually renew any delegation of investment power; requires local governing boards to approve borrowings of $100,000 as a separate item; requires the board of supervisors to annually approve an investment policy. Status: Chapter 749, 1996.

SB 1504 (Calderon) exempts from the Brown Act agencies created by legislative bodies that receive funds from the legislative bodies if the governing board's membership includes a member of a legislative body that cannot vote. Status: Chapter 1134, 1996.

SB 1626 (Kopp) prohibits redevelopment agencies from providing direct assistance to property used for gambling or gaming; provides criteria for agencies' mortgage loans; prohibits the use of inadequate/irregular lots as a single condition that causes blight; and requires agencies' annual reports to include the status of blight elimination and outstanding loans. Status: Vetoed.

SB 1914 (Johannessen) permits the cities of West Sacramento and Davis, until 2001, to use the "design and build" method for bidding construction of public buildings not exceeding $50 million. Status:Chapter 356, 1996.

SB 2169 (O'Connell) allows local agencies to deposit surplus funds in any county treasury and requires treasurers that accepts fund from agencies outside the county to to hold the funds in trust; and creates statutory liens when local agencies issue certain kinds of debt. Status: Vetoed.

AB 29 (Cannella) repeals the sunset date of the law that allows certain counties to provide numerous specified optional or enhanced services to private entities and to charge fees for those services. Status: Senate Local Government Committee.

AB 317 (Granlund) requires cities and counties to comply with specified requirements when adopting shopping cart retrieval ordinances. Status: Chapter 291, 1996.

AB 1004 (Kuykendall) permits volunteer fire-fighters to serve on their agency's governing board if the salary the volunteer firefighter would otherwise receive is applied directly by the agency toward the purchase of insurance. Status: Chapter 364, 1996.

AB 2660 (Aguiar) permits local government agencies to enter into agreements with private entities or persons for the design, construction, maintenance and operation, and any combination thereof, of public revenue-generating infrastructure projects for up to 35 years. Status: Chapter 1040, 1996.

Local Government Finance

SB 340 (Craven) allows local agencies to sell or assign the right to receive accounts receivable. Status: Senate Local Government Committee.

SB 1001 (Craven) limits 1996-97 allocations from ERAF to special education programs at $2.5 million. Status: Chapter 1111, 1996.

SB 1590 (O'Connell) prohibits retroactive application of the Guardino decision. Status: Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee.

SB 1845 (Leslie) permits counties that elect to participate in the Teeter Plan to reduce their property tax shift to the educational revenue augmentation fund. Status: Chapter 1058, 1996.

SB 1940 (Leslie) exempts volunteer fire protection districts from property tax shifts to the educational revenue augmentation fund (ERAF). Status: Assembly Appropriations Committee.

SB 1954 (Mello) restricts the investment of proceeds from Mello-Roos bonds or taxes to specified U.S. or California treasury notes, government backed certificates of deposit, and other prime quality or guaranteed investment instruments. Status: Chapter 1161, 1996.

SCA 36 (O'Connell) allows local agencies to impose special taxes with majority voter approval for education, transportation, and public safety. Status: Senate Floor.

AB 698 (Cannella) caps the losses to the six "negative bailout" counties' (Alpine, Lassen, Mariposa, Plumas, Stanislaus, and Trinity) at the 1994-95 levels. Status: Senate Appropriations Committee.

AB 1055 (Caldera) allows counties to recover additional property tax administration costs from local entities that receive property tax revenues. Status: Chapter 1073, 1996.

AB 1191 (Takasugi) modifies Proposition 172 sales tax allocations so that cities receive a percentage of the actual revenues generated by the ½¢ sales tax for public safety services. Status: Chapter 876, 1996.

AB 2797 (Aguiar) freezes local property tax allocations to ERAF at the 1996-97 levels; freezes allocations 1996-97 allocations from ERAF to special education programs at $2.5 million; eliminates ERAF allocations to special education after 1996-97. Status: Vetoed.

Local Government Organization

SB 27 (Kopp) requires new county assessors to posses a valid appraiser's certificate issued by the State Board of Equalization. Status: Chapter 201, 1996.

SB 441 (Johnston) authorizes the creation of the Sacramento Ballpark Authority with specified governing board membership, powers, and limitations. Status: Chapter 189, 1996.

SB 862 (Kopp) permits the governing board of the Broadmoor Police Protection District to require a district-wide election on proposals to annex District territory to another local agency. Status: Chapter 33, 1996.

SB 1554 (Kelley) provides that city, county, or district medical professional staff that are members of the public hospitals governing board can contract with the board, under certain circumstances, without being deemed to have a conflict-of-interest. Status: Chapter 447, 1996.

SB 1691 (Craven) allows local agency formation commissions to increase the number of special district board members to seven, nine, or 11 when consolidating or reorganizing special districts. Status: Chapter 314, 1996.

SB 1998 (Mountjoy) specifies the terms for city withdrawals of the Los Angeles County free library system. Status: Chapter 522, 1996.

AB 296 (Knight) temporarily expands the City of Lancaster's (Los Angeles County) sphere of influence to include the territory on and around Edwards Air Force Base to facilitate the Base's use as the "X-33" launch site. Status: Chapter 953, 1996.

AB 2043 (Boland) eliminated the Los Angeles City Council's ability to veto a City detachment/incorporation proposal. Status: Senate Floor.

AB 2109 (Pringle) required the Orange County Local Agency Formation Commission to undertake the reorganization of specified water agencies in Orange County. Status: Senate Appropriations Committee.

Air Pollution Control Districts (APCDs) and Air Quality Management Districts (AQMDs)

SB 1518 (Hurtt) requires the South Coast AQMD to periodically transmit all revenues to the State Treasurer and prohibits the District from spending money unless funds are appropriated by the Legislature.Status: Senate Local Government Committee.

SB 1601 (Lewis) freezes the South Coast AQMD's budget; requires district fines and fees to increase by no more than the Consumer Price Index; and subjects any new district fees to ratification by the Legislature. Status: Senate Local Government Committee.

SB 1602 (Lewis) reconstitutes the South Coast AQMD's governing board with a nine-member board with five members locally elected by cities and counties and four state appointees. Status: Senate Local Government Committee.

SB 1928 (Johnston) requires air district rules and regulations to permit use of alternative methods for stationary sources of pollution to comply with emission control requirements that provide equivalent performance in reducing emissions. Status: Chapter 1040, 1996.

SB 2070 (Hurtt) requires the South Coast AQMD to reduce it's budget by 5% each fiscal year for 10 years, reduce its staff by 50% in fiscal year 1997-98, and prohibit the District from requiring small business to obtain any District permit. Status: Senate Local Government Committee.

SB 2130 (Hurtt) exempts school districts, county offices of education, and community college districts from complying with South Coast AQMD air quality rules and regulations. Status: Senate Local Government Committee.

SB 2170 (Mountjoy) requires air districts to allow use of electronic or computer data storage to comply with emissions monitoring and record keeping and prevents the South Coast AQMD from prohibiting a hearing board from granting a variance based on standards which are more restrictive than those which apply to other districts as a matter of state law. Status: Chapter 618, 1996.

AB 924 (Rainey) prohibits an air district from adopting any new or more stringent air quality control measure for a pollutant if the state standard for that pollutant was violated less than four days during the calendar year until the district adopts a board-approved cost-benefit analysis. Status: Chapter 603, 1996.

AB 2666 (Knight) detaches the Antelope Valley (Los Angeles County) from the South Coast AQMD and creates the new Antelope Valley Air Pollution Control District. Status: Chapter 542, 1996.

AB 2981 (Brewer) allows the South Coast AQMD to prohibit hearing boards from granting variances from market-based incentive programs when monitoring and reporting systems aren't properly operating, as well as prohibit variances from specified federal requirements. Status: Chapter 609, 1996.

AB 3047 (Olberg) prohibits an air district from requiring offsets or credits for activities relating to demolition of an emission source and exempts an owner or operator of an existing permitted portable emissions unit from being required to obtain a new permit when that equipment is relocated within the same air basin. Status: Chapter 284, 1996.

AB 3248 (Napolitano) expands the duties and powers of the Public Advisor in the South Coast Air Quality Management District, providing that the District Board appoint the Advisor rather than the Executive Officer, reallocates $1.2 million in District funds to a newly created Local Government and Small Business Participation Committee, and reallocates $3 million in district funds received from the ARB to the state vehicle scrappage program. Status: Senate Local Government Committee (interim study).