BILL ANALYSIS
AB 827
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 13, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Anna Marie Caballero, Chair
AB 827 (Yamada) - As Amended: May 6, 2009
SUBJECT : Records.
SUMMARY : Authorizes a county board of supervisors to impose a
fee, not to exceed estimated reasonable costs as well as not to
exceed $3 for the first page and $1 for any subsequent page, for
the archiving of historical county records, including, but not
limited to, records pertaining to real property, local agency
meetings and actions, roads and other public works, and other
records of general public or historical interest.
EXISTING LAW establishes a fee for recording documents with the
county recorder at $4 for the first page and $3 for each
additional page. From those fees, $1 from each page is required
to be available solely to support, maintain, improve, and
provide for the operation of a modernized creation, retention,
and retrieval of all recorded documents filed with the county.
FISCAL EFFECT : None
COMMENTS :
1)The author states that local governments are required to
permanently preserve specific documents, such as
property-related documents. County employees and the public
frequently handle the documents, which damages them. The
author says that Yolo County, for example, does not have a
stable source of funding to ensure these legal archives are
properly preserved because it ranks second to last among the
58 state counties in property tax retention and has limited
sales tax revenue streams.
The author states that archives have special storage needs
that require heating, ventilation, and cooling systems that
control temperature and humidity. Archives also need
appropriate storage containers. The author states that Yolo
County's archives have rapidly deteriorated due to improper
environmental conditions and few well-trained archival staff.
2)AB 827 would provide a revenue source for the archival of
AB 827
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county documents, including property-related documents. The
fees assessed on all documents that are housed in the county
archives would directly offset the costs associated with the
housing of the documents and the training of staff on how to
properly handle and store the documents. Ultimately, county
agencies that are using the archives for the storage of their
documents would be the ones assessed the fee.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Yolo County Board of Supervisors [SPONSOR]
Yolo County Historical Society
Individual letter
Opposition
CA Association of REALTORS
CA Taxpayers' Association [as of April 7, 2009]
Stop Hidden Taxes Coalition [as of April 16, 2009]
Analysis Prepared by : Jennifer R. Klein / L. GOV. / (916)
319-3958