BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                      



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          |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE            |                   SB 668|
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                              UNFINISHED BUSINESS


          Bill No:  SB 668
          Author:   Evans (D)
          Amended:  6/22/11
          Vote:     21

           
           SENATE GOVERNANCE & FINANCE COMMITTEE  :  9-0, 5/4/11
          AYES:  Wolk, Huff, DeSaulnier, Fuller, Hancock, Hernandez, 
            Kehoe, La Malfa, Liu

           SENATE FLOOR  :  39-0, 5/23/11 (Consent)
          AYES:  Alquist, Anderson, Berryhill, Blakeslee, Calderon, 
            Cannella, Corbett, Correa, De León, DeSaulnier, Dutton, 
            Emmerson, Evans, Fuller, Gaines, Hancock, Hernandez, 
            Huff, Kehoe, La Malfa, Leno, Lieu, Liu, Lowenthal, 
            Negrete McLeod, Padilla, Pavley, Price, Rubio, Runner, 
            Simitian, Steinberg, Strickland, Vargas, Walters, Wolk, 
            Wright, Wyland, Yee
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Harman

           ASSEMBLY FLOOR  :  74-0, 7/7/11 (Consent)


           SUBJECT  :    Local government:  Williamson Act

           SOURCE  :     Author


           DIGEST  :    This bill allows a city or county to accept 
          contributions from a nonprofit, a land-trust organization, 
          a nonprofit entity, or a public agency for specific land 
          that is under a Williamson Act contract to supplement the 
          city or county's foregone property tax revenues.  This 
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          authority applies if the state fails to make all or part of 
          its subvention payments to the city or county.

           Assembly Amendments  prohibit a city or county from 
          requiring additional conditions or restriction on the land 
          or the landowner for existing or future contracts, in 
          executing the authority of this bill, and specifies that 
          this bill does not limit the rights of landowners to engage 
          in other lawful contracts or transactions relating to their 
          land or Williamson Act contracts.

           ANALYSIS  :    Landowners and local officials can cooperate 
          to conserve agricultural and open space land under a 
          three-part scheme:  

           Voluntary contracts that restrict land use under the 
            Williamson Act.  These contracts run for 10 years (or 20 
            years in the case of the Farmland Security Zones) and 
            automatically renew each year for an additional year.

           Reduced property tax assessments for those contracted 
            lands.

           State subventions to replace the foregone property tax 
            revenues.

          This bill allows a city or county to accept contributions 
          from a nonprofit, a land-trust organization, a nonprofit 
          entity, or a public agency for specific land that is under 
          a Williamson Act contract to supplement the city or 
          county's foregone property tax revenues.  This authority 
          applies if the state fails to make all or part of its 
          subvention payments to the city or county.

          This bill allows the contributor to contract with the owner 
          of Williamson Act land, with the approval of the city or 
          county, to keep the property under the Williamson Act 
          contract in exchange for the contributor's payment to the 
          city or county.  

          This bill requires that a contract between the contributor 
          and the landowner be subject to any limitation in the 
          contributor's power.  The contract cannot allow or require 
          the land's conversion into a mitigation bank site.

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          These provisions automatically terminate on January 1, 
          2016, unless the Legislature extends or repeals that date.  
          The contract between the contributor and the landowner 
          remains in effect until it terminates, for up to 10 years.  


          This bill prohibits a city or county from requiring 
          additional conditions or restriction on the land or the 
          landowner for existing or future contracts, in executing 
          the authority of this bill, and specifies that this bill 
          does not limit the rights of landowners to engage in other 
          lawful contracts or transactions relating to their land or 
          Williamson Act contracts.


           Background  

          Approximately 16.6 million acres are under Williamson Act 
          contracts.  In 2007, when 15.6 million acres were eligible 
          for state subventions, local officials claimed $37.7 
          million in direct General Fund payments.  Successive budget 
          cuts have essentially eliminated the subventions to 
          counties by cutting the appropriation to $1,000.

          In March 2010, the Senate Local Government Committee held 
          an oversight hearing on the Williamson Act.  Counties, 
          landowners, and conservation groups urged legislators to 
          find other revenues to restore the state subventions to 
          counties.  Without subventions, counties told legislators 
          that they were unlikely to continue participation in the 
          Williamson Act.

          Legislators responded by creating a temporary program that 
          counties can use when the state government does not pay its 
          full subvention.  Counties can shorten the Williamson Act 
          contracts, revalue the contracted land, and receive the 
          increased revenues (AB 2530 ÝNielsen], Chapter 391, 
          Statutes of 2010; SB 863 ÝSenate Budget and Fiscal Review 
          Committee], Chapter 722, Statutes of 2010).  By January 
          2011, eight counties had decided to implement that 
          approach:  Kings, Madera, Mendocino, Merced, Shasta, 
          Stanislaus, Tulare, and Yolo.

          Other counties stopped accepting new contracts, but 

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          continue to look for different ways to replace their 
          foregone property tax revenues.  Other local agencies and 
          private conservation groups worry what will become of 
          farms, ranches, and open space if county officials stop 
          participating in the Williamson Act.

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

           SUPPORT  :   (Verified  7/11/11)

          County of Monterey
          Mendocino County Board of Supervisors
           
          ASSEMBLY FLOOR  :  74-0, 7/7/11 (Consent)
          AYES:  Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall, 
            Bill Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford, 
            Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos, 
            Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Dickinson, 
            Donnelly, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Beth 
            Gaines, Garrick, Gatto, Gordon, Grove, Hagman, Halderman, 
            Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Roger Hernández, Hill, Huber, 
            Hueso, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Lara, Bonnie 
            Lowenthal, Ma, Mansoor, Mendoza, Miller, Mitchell, 
            Monning, Morrell, Nestande, Norby, Olsen, Pan, Perea, V. 
            Manuel Pérez, Portantino, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, 
            Swanson, Torres, Valadao, Wagner, Wieckowski, Williams, 
            Yamada, John A. Pérez
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Davis, Eng, Galgiani, Gorell, Logue, 
          Nielsen


          AGB:mw  8/11/11   Senate Floor Analyses 

                         SUPPORT/OPPOSITION:  SEE ABOVE

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