2008 Significant Legislation

Senate Committee on Local Government

Senator Gloria Negrete McLeod, Chair

State Capitol, Sacramento, California 95814

(916) 651-4115

www.sen.ca.gov/locgov

October 6, 2008

TO: People Interested in Local Government, Public Finance, and Land Use

FROM: Senator Gloria Negrete McLeod

SUBJECT: Local Government Bills During 2008

Now that Governor Schwarzenegger has finished signing and vetoing bills, I want you to know about some of the more interesting bills affecting public finance, land use, and local governance that came to the Committee this year.  Urgency bills take effect when they are chaptered; regular bills will take effect on January 1, 2009.

The Governor vetoed about 35% of the bills that legislators sent him this year.  To read his veto messages and to retrieve copies of the bills that he signed, please use the Legislature’s public website:www.leginfo.ca.gov

LOCAL FINANCE & INFRASTRUCTURE

SB 1293 (Negrete McLeod) imposes additional transparency and accountability requirements on public agencies that provide conduit financing.  Status:  Vetoed.

SB 1335 (Negrete McLeod) eliminates the voter approval for the City of Colton to set up an Infrastructure Financing District and issue IFD bonds in the Agua Mansa area.  Status:  Vetoed.

SCA 12 (Torlakson) adds stormwater fees to Proposition 218’s voter approval exemption for sewer, water, and garbage property-related fees.  Status:  Amended and used for a different topic; no longer relevant to stormwater fees.

AB 697 (Hancock) prohibits cities and counties from making specified agreements that divert other communities’ Bradley-Burns sales tax revenues.  Status:  Vetoed.

AB 811 (Levine) authorizes contractual assessment financing for energy efficiency and renewable energy improvements on real property.  Status:  Signed; Chapter 159, Statutes of 2008.

AB 938 (Calderon) declares legislative intent to provide for water qualify committees to control pollution from stormwater and urban runoff.  Status:  Died in the Senate Rules Committee.

AB 1170 (Krekorian) imposes deadlines on deciding state mandate test claims and completing audits of state mandate reimbursement claims.  Status:  Died in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

AB 1709 (Hancock) authorizes Mello-Roos Act financing for energy efficiency and renewable energy improvements on any real property.  Status:  Vetoed.

AB 1836 (Feuer) eliminates the voter approval to set up Infrastructure Financing Districts (IFDs) and issue IFD bonds for public transit facilities.  Status:  Failed in the Senate Local Government Committee.

AB 2367 (Leno) allows San Francisco officials to use an Infrastructure Financing District (IFD) to redevelop their Port properties, with 20% of the property tax increment revenues set-aside for waterfront restoration projects.  Status:  Died in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

 

LOCAL POWERS & GOVERNANCE

SB 76 (Florez) requires school district officials to receive the same ethics training as other local government officials.  Status:  Died in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

SB 1103 (Cedillo) requires local officials to report their economic development subsidies.  Status:  Amended and used for a different topic; no longer relevant to local subsidies.

SB 1191 (Alquist) allows Community Services Districts (CSDs) to provide broadband facilities and services until private companies are ready, willing, and able.  Status:  Signed; Chapter 70, Statutes of 2008.

SB 1061, SB 1062, and SB 1063 (Senate Local Government Committee) are the annual Validating Acts.  Status:  The Governor signed SB 1061 as Chapter 10 (urgency), SB 1062 (urgency) as Chapter 614 (urgency), and SB 1063 as Chapter 7; all Statutes of 2008.

SB 1124 (Senate Local Government Committee) is the annual Local Government Omnibus Act, making 15 relatively minor and noncontroversial changes to the state laws affecting local agencies’ powers and duties.  Status:  Signed; Chapter 709, Statutes of 2008.

SB 1458 (Senate Local Government Committee) rewrites the County Service Area Law.  Status:  Signed; Chapter 158, Statutes of 2008.

SB 1519 (Yee) requires cities and counties to investigate complaints against unlicensed taxi cabs, requires taxi companies to include permit numbers in advertising, and allows local officials to enforce taxi licensing by requiring telephone companies to stop serving unlicensed taxi companies.  Status:  Signed; Chapter 721, Statutes of 2008.

SB 1732 (Romero) clarifies the Brown Act’s prohibition on serial meetings and prohibits local agencies from discriminating when providing writings to their legislative bodies.  Status:  Signed; Chapter 63, Statutes of 2008.

AB 642 (Wolk) allows all cities to use the design-build contracting method, and allows all cities, counties, and special districts to use design-build contracting for 20 wastewater, solid waste, and water recycling projects.  Status:  Signed; Chapter 314, Statutes of 2008.

AB 1400 (Hayashi) prohibits water districts’ general managers from being the districts’ general counsels.  Status:  Amended and used for a different topic; no longer relevant to special districts.

AB 1634 (Levine) requires the owners of unspayed and unneutered dogs and cats to pay graduated civil penalties if local animal control agencies get complaints.  Status:  Failed on the Senate Floor.

AB 2510 (La Malfa) allows smaller special districts to use less formal financial reports instead of annual audits.  Status:  Signed; Chapter 244, Statutes of 2008.

AB 2588 (Calderon) clarifies that state laws don’t preclude cities and counties from imposing public safety regulations on the time, place, and manner of mobile food vendors.  Status:  Signed; Chapter 139, Statutes of 2008.

AB 2610 (Davis) prohibits donation collection boxes without a local permit, but doesn’t preclude cities and counties from imposing regulations on the place and use of collection boxes.  Status:  Vetoed.

 

LAND USE PLANNING & DEVELOPMENT

SB 375 (Steinberg) aligns planning for housing, land use, transportation, and greenhouse gas emissions for metropolitan areas.  Status:  Signed; Chapter 728, Statutes of 2008.

SB 732 (Steinberg) allocates money from Proposition 84, including loans for revising local general plans and improving regional planning.  Status:  Signed; Chapter 728, Statutes of 2008.

SB 821 (Kuehl) requires the California Research Bureau to report on the implementation of the state law that requires cities and counties to impose conditions for water availability on larger subdivisions. Status:  Died in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

SB 1118 (Negrete McLeod) restores the requirement that every county with a public use airport must have an Airport Land Use Commission, with exceptions.  Status:  Failed on the Assembly Floor.

SB 1185 (Lowenthal) extends the life of existing tentative subdivision maps by one year and allows local officials to extend tentative maps by an additional year.  Status:  Signed; Chapter 124, Statutes of 2008.

SB 1237 (Cox) amends the Subdivision Map Act’s requirements for remainder parcels, property dedications, and deadlines for lot line adjustments.  Status:  Vetoed.

SB 1500 (Kehoe) prohibits county supervisors from approving proposed development in a State Responsibility Area if state officials determine that local structural fire protection services are not available. Status:  Died on the Assembly Floor.

AB 1221 (Ma) expands the definition of a transit village planning district from ¼ mile to ½ mile around a transit facility, and requires an Infrastructure Financing District (IFD) that finances public transit facilities in a transit village to set-aside 20% of the property tax increment revenues for affordable housing.  Status:  Vetoed.

AB 2447 (Jones) prohibits county supervisors from approving proposed subdivisions in fire-prone areas unless they meet fire safety requirements.  Status:  Vetoed.

AB 2921 (Laird) amends the procedures for rescinding Williamson Act contracts and dealing with material breaches of Williamson Act contracts.  Status:  Signed; Chapter 503, Statutes of 2008.

 

REDEVELOPMENT

SB 360 (Negrete McLeod) requires county auditors to calculate and pay redevelopment agencies’ mandatory property tax increment pass-through payments.  Status:  Vetoed.

SB 1689 (Lowenthal) requires redevelopment agencies to respond to audits of their affordable housing programs and allows the State Controller to review the quality of redevelopment audits.  Status:  Vetoed.

AB 887 (De La Torre) requires redevelopment officials to give more information to property owners who are subject to condemnation and to pay higher benefits when using eminent domain to condemn small businesses.  Status:  Amended and used for a different topic; no longer relevant to eminent domain.

AB 1389 (Assembly Budget Committee) shifts $350 million in property tax increment revenues from redevelopment agencies to schools.  Status:  Chapter 751, Statutes of 2008.

 

LAFCOs & BOUNDARY CHANGES

SB 301 (Romero) makes permanent the formulas for city incorporations and annexations to receive extra Vehicle License Fee revenues.  Status:  Signed; Chapter 375, Statutes of 2008

AB 1263 (Caballero) clarifies the statutory requirements for LAFCOs’ fees and charges and for annexing unincorporated islands.  Status:  Signed; Chapter 64, Statutes of 2008

AB 1998 (Silva) makes contributions and spending on LAFCO proposals subject to the Political Reform Act’s reporting and enforcement requirements.  Status:  Signed; Chapter 192, Statutes of 2008.

AB 2484 (Caballero) spells out how LAFCOs act on special districts’ requests to use their latent powers and to divest themselves of powers.  Status:  Signed; Chapter 196, Statutes of 2008.

AB 3047 (Assembly Local Government Committee) makes nine changes to the state laws affecting LAFCOs.  Status:  Signed; Chapter 68, Statutes of 2008.

* This bill did not come to the Senate Local Government Committee.

 

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The best way to get copies of these bills, their analyses, histories, voting records, and any veto messages is from the California Legislature’s official website: www.leginfo.ca.gov

More information about the Senate Local Government Committee’s work, including copies of the citizen’s guides, is available at www.sen.ca.gov/locgov