BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 49
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Date of Hearing: May 4, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 49 (Gatto) - As Amended: March 24, 2011
Policy Committee: Local
GovernmentVote:9-0
Natural Resources 9-0
Urgency: Yes State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill reestablishes the Office of Permit Assistance (OPA)
under the Governor's Office of Planning and Research (OPR) to
help facilitate state and local review of commercial and
industrial development projects. Specifically, this bill:
1)Establishes the OPA within OPR and requires OPA to be located
exclusively in Sacramento and have no more than four staff
through 2013.
2)Requires OPA to develop guidelines providing technical
assistance to local agencies for the establishment and
operation of an expedited development permit process.
3)Provides that upon appropriation by the Legislature, OPA shall
provide grants and technical assistance to cities and counties
for the establishment of an expedited development permit
process.
4)Requires any city or county receiving a grant to enact an
ordinance adopting an expedited development permit process
according to the guidelines within 10 months of the date of
receipt of the grant.
5)Allows OPA to charge a fee to a project proponent for the
permit assistance services they could provide. Requires OPA,
prior to levying or charging a fee, to adopt or amend
regulations to provide for the fee in accordance with the
Administrative Procedure Act. Requires OPA, upon request, to
make available data indicating the cost, or estimated cost, of
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providing the services performed and the revenue sources
anticipated to cover the cost of performing the services,
including any general or special fund revenues.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Establishment of the OPA would result in an annual cost of
around $500,000 (General Fund) for OPR. Though OPA is
authorized to charge a fee to applicants to cover its costs,
the fee will not fully offset costs.
2)Significant costs to permitting agencies, in the range of
several hundreds of thousands of dollars annually (GF and
special funds), to evaluate and respond to consolidated
permitting forms forwarded to them by OPA.
3)Unknown, additional costs for grants to local governments,
depending on future actions of the Legislature.
4)The provision requiring cities and counties with population of
more than 100,000 to establish a single point of contact would
result in significant administrative costs to local agencies,
not state-reimbursable.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . According to the author, state government is
comprised of a cadre of departments and agencies that
generally operate independently of each other to achieve their
directives. For businesses attempting to do business in
California, navigating the bureaucracies of state and local
government permitting agencies can become a time consuming
process. In these times of economic turmoil, businesses
cannot afford to waste time and money on long, drawn out
permitting processes. California has prioritized attracting
business to the state, and streamlining cumbersome permitting
processes will act as a structural incentive to companies
seeking to do business in California. According to the
California Realtors Association, the bill would benefit both
businesses and governments by creating a consolidated and
streamlined system by which businesses would seek permits.
2)Background . The Permit Streamlining Act requires each state
agency and local agency to compile lists that specify in
detail the information that will be required from any
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applicant for a development project, and requires the lead
agency for a development project to approve or disapprove the
project within applicable periods of time. This Act
previously required the governor to coordinate the state
government's help to applicants. In response to this
requirement OPR set up the OPA in 1977, which the Legislature
later codified 1983. The OPA was moved to State Trade and
Commerce Agency in 1993, and was abolished along with that
agency in 2003. Although the Office of Permit Assistance no
longer exists, the Permit Streamlining Act still requires
agencies to adopt criteria and meet statutory deadlines.
The Office of Planning and Research is the state's
comprehensive planning agency. Located within the Office of
the Governor, OPR coordinates state agencies' planning
activities. OPR is also responsible for helping regional and
local officials with land use planning.
3)Prior legislation. This bill is identical to the final
version of SB 959 (Ducheny), which was vetoed by Governor
Schwarzenegger, who in his veto message, contended that the
duties SB 959 gave OPA should instead be the responsibility of
the Governor's Office of Economic Development, established in
2010 through an executive order.
Analysis Prepared by : Roger Dunstan / APPR. / (916) 319-2081