BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                       



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                                 THIRD READING


          Bill No:  AB 2554
          Author:   Brownley (D)
          Amended:  8/5/10 in Senate
          Vote:     21

           
           SENATE LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE  :  3-2, 6/30/10
          AYES:  Kehoe, DeSaulnier, Price
          NOES:  Cox, Aanestad

           SENATE LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE  :  3-1, 8/11/10
          AYES:  Kehoe, DeSaulnier, Price
          NOES:  Aanestad
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Vacancy

           ASSEMBLY FLOOR  :  48-28, 6/1/10 - See last page for vote


           SUBJECT  :    Los Angeles County Flood Control District:   
          fees and charges

           SOURCE  :     Author


           DIGEST  :    This bill authorizes the Los Angeles County  
          Flood Control District to impose a fee or charge, anywhere  
          in the Districts territory, in compliance with Article XIII  
          Dof the California Constitution, to pay the cost and  
          expenses of carrying out projects and providing services  
          authorized under existing law.

           Senate Floor Amendments  of 8/5/10 allow the District to  
          impose fees inside cities and specify how to allocate fee  
                                                           CONTINUED





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          revenues.

           ANALYSIS  :    The Los Angeles County Flood Control District  
          is a special act special district that provides flood  
          control and water quality services to 85 cities and most of  
          the unincorporated area in Los Angeles County.  Governed ex  
          officio  by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, the  
          District has statutory authorization to levy ad valorem  
          taxes and assessments.  

          The Legislature has authorized counties, cities, sanitary  
          districts, county sanitation districts, sewer maintenance  
          districts, and other districts responsible for sanitary  
          sewers and sewerage systems to impose fees in connection  
          with storm drainage services and facilities (SB 682, Mello,  
          Chapter 1110, Statutes of 1991).  In 2005, the Legislature  
          authorized the Ventura County Watershed Protection District  
          to impose property related fees to fund storm drainage  
          services and facilities (AB 554, Nava, Chapter 510,  
          Statutes of 2005).  

          This bill authorizes the Los Angeles County Flood Control  
          District to impose a fee or charge anywhere within the  
          District's territory, in compliance with Article XIII D of  
          the California Constitution, to pay the costs and expenses  
          of the District and to carry out the purposes of the  
          district.

          This bill requires the fees to be collected with county  
          taxes.  The revenues must be paid into the county treasury  
          to District's credit.  The board of supervisors may spend  
          the funds to pay for the District's costs.

          This bill requires the District to allocate revenues from  
          the fee or charge as follows:

          1.10 percent to the District to implement and administer  
            water quality programs and to pay the District's costs  
            for levying and collecting the fee and distributing  
            revenues.

          2.40 percent to Los Angeles County and to the cities within  
            the District, divided proportionally among each  
            jurisdiction, to be expended for water quality  







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            improvement programs.

          3.50 percent to nine watershed authority groups that the  
            District must authorize by ordinance, divided  
            proportionally among each watershed, to implement  
            collaborative water quality improvement plans or programs  
            in the watersheds.

          This bill requires nine watershed authority groups to be  
          established under the Joint Exercise of Powers Act for the  
          following watersheds:  Ballona Creek, Dominguez Channel,  
          Upper Los Angeles River, Lower Los Angeles River, Rio  
          Hondo, Upper San Gabriel River, Lower San Gabriel River,  
          Santa Clara River, and Santa Monica Bay.

          This bill specifies that implementation of a watershed  
          authority group's collaborative water quality plan or  
          program requires the consent of any member agency whose  
          jurisdiction comprises more than 40 percent of the total  
          land area in a watershed.

          This bill requires the District's governing board to adopt  
          an ordinance to implement its fee authority.

          The bill makes other technical amendments to the District's  
          authorizing statutes.

          Comments
           
          The Los Angeles County Flood Control District covers more  
          than 3,000 square miles and includes the vast majority of  
          drainage infrastructure within incorporated and  
          unincorporated Los Angeles County.  Storm water and urban  
          runoff drain into the District's system and ultimately into  
          the Pacific Ocean, carrying trash, bacteria, and other  
          pollutants.  Aging infrastructure, increasingly stringent  
          clean water laws, and unmet drainage needs require the  
          District to invest in costly flood protection, water  
          quality, and water conservation projects that threaten to  
          overwhelm its existing revenue stream.  This bill gives the  
          District, with voter approval, a stable and long-term  
          revenue stream for constructing and maintaining watershed  
          management projects.








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           Prior Legislation  

          AB 564 (Brownley), 2008, would have authorized the Los  
          Angeles County Flood Control District to charge property  
          related fees throughout the district, died on the Senate  
          Floor.

          AB 139 (Brownley), 2009, would have also authorized the  
          District to charge property-related fees, was never heard  
          by a policy committee.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :    Appropriation:  No   Fiscal Com.:  No    
          Local:  No

           SUPPORT  :   (Verified  8/9/10)

          County of Los Angeles
          Association of California Water Agencies
          California State Association of Counties
          Los Angeles and San Gabriel Rivers Watershed Council
          Los Angeles Stormwater Quality Partnership
          Tree People

           OPPOSITION  :    (Verified  8/9/10)

          Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association   

           ASSEMBLY FLOOR  :  
          AYES:  Ammiano, Arambula, Bass, Beall, Block, Blumenfield,  
            Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Charles  
            Calderon, Carter, Chesbro, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De  
            Leon, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani,  
            Galgiani, Hall, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill, Huber, Huffman,  
            Jones, Lieu, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Monning,  
            Nava, Portantino, Ruskin, Salas, Saldana, Skinner,  
            Swanson, Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Yamada, John A.  
            Perez
          NOES:  Adams, Anderson, Bill Berryhill, Blakeslee, Conway,  
            Cook, DeVore, Emmerson, Fletcher, Fuller, Gaines,  
            Garrick, Gilmore, Hagman, Harkey, Jeffries, Knight,  
            Logue, Miller, Nestande, Niello, Nielsen, Norby, V.  
            Manuel Perez, Silva, Smyth, Tran, Villines
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Tom Berryhill, Solorio, Audra Strickland







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          AGB:nl  8/11/10   Senate Floor Analyses 

                         SUPPORT/OPPOSITION:  SEE ABOVE

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