BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2680
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Date of Hearing: May 9, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Cameron Smyth, Chair
AB 2680 (Agriculture Committee) - As Amended: April 19, 2012
SUBJECT : Williamson Act: lot line adjustments.
SUMMARY : Extends, from January 1, 2013 to January 1, 2017, the
sunset date for the authorization to modify Williamson Act (Act)
contracts for the purposes of a lot line adjustment.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Authorizes, pursuant to the Act and until January 1, 2013, a
city or county and a landowner to agree to rescind a contract
or contracts and simultaneously enter into a new contract or
contracts to facilitate lot line adjustments.
2)Requires an application to rescind a contract for lot line
adjustments to be processed to its completion if it is
submitted before January 1, 2013.
3)Repeals this authorization as of January 1, 2013.
FISCAL EFFECT : None
COMMENTS :
1)This bill extends by four years the sunset date for the
existing statutory authorization to facilitate lot line
adjustments for properties under an Act contract. This
measure is sponsored by the Assembly Agriculture Committee.
2)The Williamson Act conserves agricultural and open space land
under a three-part program that involves voluntary contracts
that restrict land uses, reduced property tax assessments, and
state subventions to make up for the lost revenues. Land that
is subject to an Act contract cannot be subdivided into
parcels that are too small to sustain their agricultural use.
3)According to the author, "Ýt]he provisions of AB 2680 were
originally enacted in 1990 with the intention of validating
and opening rules for lot line adjustments involving the Act's
contract and non-contract lands when some of the land was
AB 2680
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being removed from the Act, when there is no other existing
statutory authority. In 1999, these provisions were changed
to include all Act lands going through lot line adjustments.
These provisions will expire on January 1, 2013.
The Act's use of the phrase, 'to facilitate a lot line
adjustment', as it relates to lot line adjustment, led some to
believe this section was optional, rather than required even
when no non-Act lands were involved. This issue has been the
subject of discussion among stakeholders over the past several
years. To date there has been no agreement. The Act lot line
adjustments sunset has been extended four times since 2004."
It is important to note that this bill merely extends the sunset
date of the authorization and attendant requirements by four
years - it does not substantively address the lot line
adjustment issue.
4)AB 1965 (Yamada), Chapter 60, Statutes of 2010, extended the
automatic termination date from January 1, 2011, to January 1,
2013, in the state law that permits local officials to rescind
an Act contract to facilitate a lot line adjustment. This
bill was approved by the Assembly Local Government Committee
on a 9-0 vote (consent calendar).
AB 1441 (Agriculture Committee), Chapter 148, Statutes of 2009,
extended the automatic termination date from January 1, 2010,
to January 1, 2011, in the state law that permits local
officials to rescind an Act contract to facilitate a lot line
adjustment.
AB 2921 (Laird), Chapter 503, Statutes of 2008, expanded and
clarified statutory procedures for the Department Of
Conservation to identify and respond to material breaches of
Act contracts, and made adjustments to provisions of the Act
dealing with contract rescissions, open space and agricultural
easements. This bill also extended the automatic termination
date from January 1, 2009, to January 1, 2010, in the state
law that permits local officials to rescind an Act contract to
facilitate a lot line adjustment.
AB 1492 (Laird), Chapter 694, Statutes of 2003, along with other
changes to the Act, extended the automatic termination date
from January 1, 2004, to January 1, 2009, in the state law
AB 2680
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that permits local officials to rescind an Act contract to
facilitate a lot line adjustment.
5)This Committee heard a related bill, AB 2351 (Gordon) on April
25, 2012, which would require a landowner wishing to cancel an
Act contract to pay a refundable five percent cancellation
fee. The bill was approved on a 7-1 vote.
6)Support arguments : This bill keeps the existing regime for
Act lot line adjustments in place for four more years while
stakeholders continue to try to reach an agreement.
Opposition arguments : None.
7)This bill was heard by the Agriculture Committee on April 25,
2012, where it was approved on a 9-0 vote (consent calendar).
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
None on file
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Hank Dempsey / L. GOV. / (916) 319-3958