BILL NUMBER: AB 445 CHAPTERED 07/30/01 CHAPTER 114 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE JULY 30, 2001 APPROVED BY GOVERNOR JULY 28, 2001 PASSED THE ASSEMBLY JULY 23, 2001 PASSED THE SENATE JULY 21, 2001 AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 20, 2001 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 23, 2001 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Cardenas (Coauthors: Assembly Members Calderon, Chu, Keeley, Koretz, Longville, Washington, and Wiggins) FEBRUARY 20, 2001 An act to amend Sections 51452 and 51455 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to housing. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 445, Cardenas. School Facilities Fee Assistance Fund. Existing law establishes the Homebuyer Down Payment Assistance Program and the Rental Assistance Program, which are administered by the California Housing Finance Agency pursuant to a contract with the Department of General Services, to provide assistance in the amount of the applicable school facility fee for affordable housing developments. Existing law, for the purposes of those programs, establishes the School Facilities Fee Assistance Fund, which is continuously appropriated to the Department of General Services. Specified amounts are appropriated to that fund from the General Fund in each of specified fiscal years, including $20,000,000 in the 2002-03 fiscal year through December 31, 2002. These provisions are to be repealed as of January 1, 2003. This bill would delete that appropriation in the 2002-03 fiscal year. The bill would prohibit the agency from honoring reservations received on or after January 1, 2002, for participation in those programs, and would require any unobligated amounts in the School Facilities Fee Assistance Fund as of that date to be transferred to the General Fund, except as specified. The bill would delete the January 1, 2003, repeal date for those provisions, and would make the provisions inoperative on and after January 1, 2002, except with respect to any repayment obligation or regulatory agreement imposed as a condition of assistance. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 51452 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read: 51452. (a) The School Facilities Fee Assistance Fund is hereby established in the State Treasury and, notwithstanding Section 13340 of the Government Code, all money in the fund is continuously appropriated to the Department of General Services for the purposes of this chapter. All repayments of disbursed funds pursuant to this chapter or any interest earned from the investment in the Surplus Money Investment Fund or any other moneys accruing to the fund from whatever source shall be returned to the fund and is available for allocation by the California Housing Finance Agency to programs established pursuant to this chapter. (b) The following amounts are hereby appropriated from the General Fund to the School Facilities Fee Assistance Fund for administrative costs and to make payments to purchasers of newly constructed residential structures and housing sponsors of housing developments pursuant to this chapter from that fund by fiscal year as follows: (1) Twenty million dollars ($20,000,000) in the 1998-99 fiscal year. (2) Forty million dollars ($40,000,000) in the 1999-2000 fiscal year. (3) Forty million dollars ($40,000,000) in the 2000-01 fiscal year. (4) Forty million dollars ($40,000,000) in the 2001-02 fiscal year. (c) The funds shall be distributed to each program in proportion to the original total amounts available for each program as follows: (1) Twenty-eight million dollars ($28,000,000) shall be available for the program set forth in paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 51451, except that any funds not expended within 18 months of their appropriation and availability may also be available for programs set forth in paragraphs (2) and (3) of subdivision (a) of Section 51451. (2) Twenty-eight million dollars ($28,000,000) shall be available for the program set forth in paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 51451, except that any funds not expended within 18 months of their appropriation and availability may also be available for the program set forth in paragraph (3) of subdivision (a) of Section 51451. (3) Fifty-two million dollars ($52,000,000) shall be available for the program set forth in paragraph (3) of subdivision (a) of Section 51451. (4) Fifty-two million dollars ($52,000,000) shall be available for the program set forth in subdivision (b) of Section 51451. (d) Reservations received on or after January 1, 2002, for participation in the programs authorized by Section 51451 shall not be honored by the California Housing Finance Agency. As of that date, any unobligated amounts remaining in the School Facilities Fee Assistance Fund after the transfer made pursuant to Item 1760-115-0101 of Section 2.00 of the Budget Act of 2001 shall be transferred to the General Fund. (e) Any right to receive repayments of assistance provided for by Section 51451 shall be an asset of the School Facilities Fee Assistance Fund. Any assistance provided for by Section 51451 that is reserved but not ultimately paid, or is repaid to the California Housing Finance Agency, shall be remitted to the Department of General Services for deposit into the General Fund. SEC. 2. Section 51455 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read: 51455. (a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), Sections 51450, 51451, 51452, and 51454 shall not be operative on and after January 1, 2002. (b) The School Facilities Fee Assistance Fund established by Section 51452 and the programmatic authority necessary to operate the programs authorized by Section 51451 shall continue on and after January 1, 2002, only with respect to any repayment obligation pertaining to that assistance or to any regulatory agreement imposed as a condition of that assistance.