BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 551|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 551
Author: Ting (D), et al.
Amended: 9/3/13 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE GOVERNANCE & FINANCE COMMITTEE : 7-0, 7/3/13
AYES: Wolk, Knight, Beall, DeSaulnier, Emmerson, Hernandez, Liu
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 7-0, 8/30/13
AYES: De León, Walters, Gaines, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 75-0, 5/29/13 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Local government: urban agriculture incentive zones
SOURCE : San Francisco Urban Agriculture Alliance
DIGEST : This bill authorizes, until January 1, 2019, a county
to establish, by ordinance, an "Urban Agriculture Incentive
Zone" (Zone) and allows landowners to enter into voluntary
contracts restricting the use of the land to agricultural
purposes in exchange for reduced property tax assessments.
ANALYSIS : Existing law, the Williamson Act, which allows
landowners to contract with counties to conserve their
properties as farmland and open space, is comprised of three key
parts:
1.Landowners and counties voluntarily sign and enter into
contracts for a period of ten years. Landowners give up the
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right to develop their farms, ranches, and open space lands.
In return, counties must assess the contract lands to reflect
these enforceable restrictions.
2.County assessors rely on constitutional authority and
statutory formulas to determine "use value" preferential tax
assessments for contracted lands
3.The state General Fund provides counties with subventions to
replace property tax revenues that local governments forgo
because of the preferential tax assessments. The state
General Fund also pays indirect subventions to school
districts to replace property tax revenues that are lost due
to lower property tax assessments on Williamson Act contracted
lands.
In efforts to address the state's budget deficit, Governor
Brown's 2011-12 Budget eliminated Williamson Act subventions.
The Mills Act (1972) authorizes cities and counties to enter
into contracts with an owner of a qualified historic property.
The owner pledges to restore, maintain, and protect the
historical and architectural character of the property in
exchange for property tax relief. Mills Act contracts are ten
years with automatic yearly extensions and stay with the
property when transferred.
This bill establishes the "Urban Agriculture Incentive Zones
Act."
This bill authorizes a city or county, after a public hearing,
to establish by ordinance, a Zone within its boundaries for the
purpose of entering into voluntary enforceable contracts with
landowners, for the use of vacant, unimproved, or blighted lands
for small-scale production of agriculture crops and animal
husbandry.
A city or county that has established a Zone within its
boundaries can adopt rules and regulations to implement and
administer the Zone and contracts related to the Zone.
This bill authorizes the city or county to impose a fee on
contracting landowners for the reasonable costs of implementing
and administering contracts.
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The city or county must impose a fee equal to the cumulative
value of the tax benefit received during the duration of the
contract upon landowners for cancellation of any contract.
After a county adopts the ordinance, it can enter into a
contract with a landowner to enforceably restrict the use of
land, subject to the contract, to uses consistent with urban
agriculture.
This bill requires the contract to include all of the following
provisions:
1.An initial term of not less than five years.
2.A requirement that the entire property subject to the contract
must be dedicated to agricultural use.
3.A prohibition against any dwellings on property while under
contract.
4.A restriction on property that is at least 0.10 acres and not
more than three acres.
5.A notification that if a landowner cancels a contract, a city
or county will assess a cancellation fee.
This bill prohibits a contract from prohibiting the use of
structures that support agricultural activity, including
toolsheds, greenhouses, produce-stands, and instructional space.
The bill provides that a contract that prohibits the use of
pesticide or fertilizers on properties under contract must
permit pesticides or fertilizers allowed by the U.S. Department
of Agriculture's National Organic Program.
Property subject to a contract must be assessed pursuant to
state law that requires how an assessor must consider the effect
on value of any enforceable restriction when assessing land.
This bill prohibits a county from establishing a Zone within any
portion of the city's sphere of influence, unless that city has
consented to the establishment of the Zone.
This bill also requires an assessor, when assessing land, to
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consider the effect on the value of any enforceable restriction
to which the use of the land may be subjected, including a
contract entered to the Urban Agriculture Incentive Zones Act.
This bill sunsets the authority for a city or county to approve
new contracts on January 1, 2019.
This bill defines the following terms:
1."Urban" means an area within the boundaries of an urbanized
area, as that term is used by the U.S. Census Bureau, which
includes at least 250,000 people.
2."Urban Agriculture Incentive Zone" is an area within a county
or a city and county comprised of individual properties,
designated as urban agriculture preserves by the county or the
city and county for farming purposes.
3."Agriculture use" means the cultivation and tillage of soil;
production, cultivation, growing, and harvesting of any
agricultural or horticultural products; the raising of
livestock, bees, fur-bearing animals, dairy-producing animals,
and poultry; agricultural education; sale of products through
retail and farm stands; and any farming practices incident to
or in conjunction with farming.
This bill makes clarifying and conforming changes to Revenue and
Taxation Code.
This bill makes findings and declarations to support its
purpose.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Unknown General Fund impact, likely less than $1 million in
increased school aid annually in future years, related to
reductions in assessed value of land placed under contract in
a Zone. Approximately half of all losses in property tax
revenues would accrue to K-14 schools. In general, any
property tax proceeds diverted from schools results in an
equivalent General Fund cost, pursuant to Proposition 98's
minimum funding guarantees.
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Likely minor Board of Equalization costs to annually publish
the per acre land value of irrigated cropland in California,
and provide it to county assessors.
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/30/13)
San Francisco Urban Agriculture Alliance (source)
Alchemist Community Development Corporations, Sacramento
American Planning Association
California Board on Food and Agriculture President, Craig
McNamara
City of Berkeley
City Slicker Farms, Oakland
Committee for Green Foothills
Community Alliance with Family Farmers
CUESA, San Francisco
Elysian Valley Community Garden, Los Angeles
Hunger Action Los Angeles
Little City Gardens, San Francisco
Los Angeles Community Garden Council
Mission Pie, San Francisco
Oakland Food Policy Council
Oakland Roots: The School of Urban Sustainability
Ocean Beach People's Organic Food Market, San Diego
Phat Beets Produce, Oakland
Planting Justice, Oakland
Project New Village, San Diego
PUENTES, Stockton
Sacramento Housing Alliance
Sacramento Natural Foods Co-Op
San Diego Hunger Coalition
San Francisco Supervisor, David Chiu
Santa Clara Open Space Authority
Slow Food California Region
Social Justice Learning Institute, Inglewood
Soil Born Farms, Sacramento
SPUR, San Francisco
Sustainable Agriculture Education Center, Berkeley
Sustainable Economies Law Center, Oakland
Ubuntu Green, Oakland
Victory Gardens, San Diego
Women Organizing Resources Knowledge and Services, Los Angeles
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OPPOSITION : (Verified 8/30/13)
California Assessors' Association
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 75-0, 5/29/13
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Bloom,
Blumenfield, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown,
Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chesbro, Conway,
Cooley, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eggman, Fong, Fox,
Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gorell,
Gray, Grove, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hernández, Jones,
Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Logue, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Mansoor,
Medina, Melendez, Mitchell, Morrell, Mullin, Muratsuchi,
Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, V. Manuel
Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Skinner, Stone,
Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams,
Yamada, John A. Pérez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bigelow, Gordon, Holden, Linder, Vacancy
AB:ej 9/3/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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