BILL ANALYSIS ------------------------------------------------------------ |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2554| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ------------------------------------------------------------ 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 AB 2554 Page 2 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 AB 2554 Page 3 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. AB 2554 Page 4 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 AB 2554 Page 5 AGB:nl 8/11/10 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END ****