BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair
AB 453 (Mullin) - Sustainable Communities.
Amended: July 3, 2013 Policy Vote: NR&W 9-0
Urgency: No Mandate: Yes (see staff comment)
Hearing Date: August 30, 2013 Consultant:
Marie Liu
SUSPENSE FILE.
Bill Summary: AB 453 would make local agency formation
commissions (LAFCOs) eligible for financial assistance from
Proposition 84 for planning purposes and would require that
LAFCOs to consider greenhouse gas emissions associated with
development when reviewing proposals for a change of
organization.
Fiscal Impact: Ongoing cost pressures in the tens to hundreds of
thousands to Proposition 84 (General Fund) beginning in 2013-14.
Background: LAFCOs are required under current law to complete a
municipal service review (MSR) prior to a sphere of influence
update at least every five years. The MSR assess the ability of
local government agencies to effectively and efficiently provide
services to residents and users and provides the LAFCO with
information in updating the sphere of influence for each local
agency. Factors including growth and population projects,
capacity of public facilities, and infrastructure needs related
to public services such as police, fire, and water may be used
in the MSR.
The Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Act specifies the factors that a
LAFCO must consider when reviewing proposals for a change of
organization or reorganization.
Proposition 84 included $90 million for planning grants and
planning incentives that encourage the development of regional
and local use plans that are designed to "promote water
conservation, reduce automobile use and fuel consumption,
encourage greater infill and compact development, protect
natural resources and agricultural lands, and revitalize urban
and community centers." The Strategic Growth Council (SGC), a
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multi-cabinet level agency in part to implement grants, was
created by SB 732 (Steinberg) Chapter 729/2008 in part to
implement these grants. Eligible entities for these planning
grants was set by SB 732 to include council of governments,
metropolitan planning organizations, regional transportation
planning agencies, or joint powers authorities.
Proposed Law: This bill would add LAFCOs to the list of entities
eligible to receive financial assistance from Proposition 84
monies for the development or implementation of a regional plan
or planning instrument consistent with a regional plan that
"improves air and water quality, improves natural resource
protection, increases the availability of affordable housing,
improves transportation, meets the goals of the California
Global Warming Solutions Act, and encourages sustainable land
use"
This bill would also require LAFCOs to consider the effect
development in an area is likely to have on meeting the region's
greenhouse gas emission reduction targets established by ARB
when reviewing proposals for a change of organization or
reorganization.
Related Legislation: AB 2624 (Smyth) 2012 would have made LAFCOs
eligible to receive Proposition 84 planning grants. This bill
was held on the Senate Appropriation Committee's suspense file.
Staff Comments: To date, the SGC has awarded two rounds of grant
awards for planning documents with one round remaining in 2014
before the Proposition 84 funds are exhausted. There have not
been other resources, including another bond, with funds for
this purpose. In the past grant cycles, applications for funding
outpace available funds by at least 3:1 and perhaps 4:1
according to the SGC. Adding another eligible use for these
grant dollars adds significant cost pressures to an already
oversubscribed funding source. Assuming that MSRs cost LAFCOs
somewhere in the range of the thousands to tens of thousands of
dollars depending on the size of the LAFCO, staff estimates cost
pressures to Proposition 84 in the tens to hundreds of thousands
of dollars.
The author's intent of this bill is to allow LAFCOs to be
eligible for grant dollars for completion of more extensive MSRs
in collaboration with metropolitan planning organizations. Some
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interested parties desire more extensive MSRs as it would
provide more data to complete regional transportation plans or
sustainable communities strategies, plans which are currently
eligible for Proposition 84 grants.
Staff notes that it is unclear if LAFCOs could receive funds for
MSRs in a manner that is consistent with the terms of
Proposition 84. Under the bill's current language, eligible
entities, which would be expanded to LAFCOs, could receive
grants to "adopt or implement a regional plan or other planning
instrument consistent with a regional plan" that meets certain
conditions. MSRs are not regional plans. A MSR also cannot be a
planning instrument consistent with a regional plan that meets
specified conditions, unless the regional plan had already been
completed, defeating the need for a more extensive MSR. This
bill requires LAFCOs must consider GHG emission reduction
targets when reviewing proposals for a change of organization,
which would give LAFCOs responsibilities more in line with the
intent of Proposition 84, this requirement does not impact the
fact that MSRs are not regional plans.
This bill does not create a reimbursable state mandate as LAFCOs
are able to recover their costs associated with the bill through
fees.