BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1058
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Date of Hearing: April 24, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT
K.H. "Katcho" Achadjian, Chair
AB 1058 (Chávez) - As Amended: March 21, 2013
SUBJECT : San Diego County Regional Airport Authority.
SUMMARY : Makes a number of changes to statutes governing the
San Diego County Regional Airport Authority. Specifically, this
bill :
1)Clarifies legislative findings and declarations by stating
that it is essential to the public health, safety, and welfare
that airports be developed and operated in the San Diego
County region so that those airports promote economic
development, protect environmental quality, and enhance social
equity.
2)Clarifies that the Board of Directors (Board) for the San
Diego County Regional Airport Authority (Authority) shall
consist of nine voting members.
3)Changes the process whereby the Authority's four regional
jurisdictions appoint their Authority member by eliminating
the requirement that the appointment be made at a meeting of
the city selection committee and instead requiring the
appointment to be made at a public meeting pursuant to a
majority vote of the regional jurisdiction's mayors.
4)Requires the public meetings referenced above to be publicly
noticed by the Authority and
by each of the cities whose mayor is eligible to participate in
the meeting, provides that the meetings are subject to the
Ralph M. Brown Act (Brown Act), and requires the meetings to
be conducted by the Authority clerk who shall record the
minutes of the meeting.
5)Clarifies that the Mayor of San Diego shall appoint the Board
chair from among the nine voting members of the Board.
6)Deletes obsolete language regarding appointments to the
Authority's Board to provide for an orderly transition of
powers and duties from the San Diego Unified Port District
(Port) and the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG)
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to the Authority.
7)Clarifies that a Board member may continue to serve until his
or her successor takes office.
8)Changes the date on which a Board member takes office, from
the first Monday in February to February 1 of the year in
which the appointment begins, and clarifies the date on which
a Board member takes office if appointed after February 1.
9)Clarifies the membership of the Board's Executive Committee.
10)Changes the date by which the allocation of vote points for
the purposes of the Board's weighted votes are to be made,
from "every July 1" to "annually."
11)Allows, rather than requires, the Authority to adopt a
comprehensive plan on the future development of San Diego's
regional international airport, and deletes language requiring
the Authority, in developing its plan, to review all options
of alternative sites, including, but not limited to, expansion
of the existing airport site and other development options
available to address future airport needs.
12)Makes a number of additional updating, technical, clarifying
and conforming changes.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes the Authority as a local entity of regional
government with jurisdiction throughout the County of San
Diego.
2)Establishes a nine-member Board for the Authority, including
one member selected by each of the following four regional
jurisdictions: east county cities; north county coastal
cities; north county inland cities; and, south county cities.
3)Defines the Authority's four regional jurisdictions as
follows:
a) "East county cities" means the Cities of El Cajon, La
Mesa, Lemon Grove, and Santee;
b) "North county coastal cities" means the Cities of
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Carlsbad, Del Mar, Encinitas, Oceanside, and Solana Beach;
c) "North county inland cities" means the Cities of
Escondido, Poway, San Marcos, and Vista; and,
d) "South county cities" means the Cities of Chula Vista,
Coronado, Imperial Beach, and National City.
4)Requires the four regional jurisdictions referenced above to
appoint their Authority board members at a meeting of their
city selection committees.
5)Creates city selection committees for any county in which two
or more cities are incorporated to appoint city
representatives to boards, commissions, and agencies as
required by law; requires the membership of each city
selection committee to consist of the mayor of each city
within the county; provides that a majority vote of the
representatives of the number of cities within a county
entitled to representation on the city selection committee is
necessary to appoint representatives to boards, commissions,
or agencies; and, requires a majority of city representatives
for a quorum.
6)Requires the Authority to have a three-member Executive
Committee, and requires the members of the Executive Committee
to be the following:
a) The chair of the Authority's Board;
b) A member of the Board appointed to the Executive
Committee by Board members appointed by the Chair of the
Board of Supervisors of the County of San Diego; and,
c) A member of the Board appointed to the Executive
Committee by Board members appointed by any of the city
selection committees.
7)Requires the Authority Board to act only by ordinance,
resolution or motion, and requires the adoption of such to be
made by both a numerical and a weighted majority vote of the
total voting membership of the Board.
8)Allocates vote points for the weighted vote, and requires the
allocation of vote points to be made every July 1 by the Board
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based on population calculations made by SANDAG.
9)Requires the Authority to adopt a comprehensive plan on the
future development of San Diego's regional international
airport. In developing its plan, the Authority shall review
all options of alternative sites, including, but not limited
to, expansion of the existing airport site and other
development options available to address future airport needs.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
1)This bill makes a number of changes to the statutes governing
the Authority, which are primarily updating, clarifying,
technical and conforming in nature. This bill is sponsored by
the Authority.
2)According to the author's office, "Since the establishment of
the Airport Authority, the legislation that created the
organization, commonly known as the 'Airport Authority Act,'
has only been amended to resolve specific policy issues.
However, legislation making all of the identified technical
corrections and related changes has not yet been considered.
This bill would serve as a 'clean up' bill, making all of the
necessary changes to the Act that have been identified by
counsel and eliminating several sections of the Airport
Authority Act which are now outdated and obsolete."
3)The Legislature created the Authority by approving AB 93
(Wayne), Chapter 946, Statutes of 2001, shifting powers from
the Port and SANDAG to create the new Authority for three
specific purposes:
a) To operate San Diego International Airport;
b) To direct a comprehensive study of potential airport
sites to serve the San Diego region into the future and to
place on the ballot a proposed site no later than November
2006; and,
c) To serve as the Airport Land Use Commission for the 16
civilian and military airports within San Diego County.
The Legislature restructured the Authority with passage of SB
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10 (Kehoe), Chapter 287, Statutes of 2007, to provide direct
accountability, save taxpayer money, improve the Authority's
ability to operate the airport, and enhance transportation
planning in the region by directly linking air and ground
transportation planning.
The following year, with approval of SB 1510 (Kehoe), Chapter
620, Statutes of 2008, the Legislature made a number of
changes to the powers and duties of the Authority dealing with
the Board and the Authority's powers regarding civil
penalties; unclaimed property; Board member benefits and
stipends; regional, mayoral and gubernatorial appointees; the
Authority's executive and audit committees; rental car fees;
and, disaster relief.
4)The Authority is seeking this legislation as a comprehensive
"clean-up" measure, because some of the original statutes are
now more than 10 years old and contain a number of obsolete
provisions. Among its many provisions, this bill:
a) Eliminates the city selection process required for the
four regional jurisdictions to appoint their Authority
Board member in favor of a majority vote at a public
meeting. The Authority notes that, although the use of the
city selection process was instituted in 2007 under SB 10,
the Authority is proposing a return to the previous
appointment method of having those cities with the ability
to vote for a Board appointment to convene and select a
Board member. Under the city selection process, a quorum
of all of the region's cities is needed even though only
four or five cities are authorized to vote on the Authority
appointment. Although this has been done during the annual
League of California Cities meetings, if a selection cannot
be made (e.g. absence of voting member(s) or a tie vote),
it may prove difficult to reconvene a quorum of all of the
region's cities to allow four or five city representatives
to vote. Under the proposed change, the meetings would be
noticed by the Authority and the participating cities, and
would be subject to the Brown Act. Authority staff would
oversee these meetings and record the meetings, thereby
reducing the burden on county staff.
b) Clarifies the membership of the Board's Executive
Committee. The Authority seeks this change to ensure that
the Executive Committee is comprised of one representative
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from each of the following jurisdictions: the City of San
Diego, the County of San Diego, and one of the Authority's
four regional jurisdictions.
c) Changes the date by which the allocation of vote points
for the purposes of the Board's weighted votes are to be
made, from "every July 1" to "annually." The Authority is
requesting this change because it has found that SANDAG
often updates its figures in August, just after the
Authority obtains figures in July. As a result, the
figures obtained in July are sometimes misaligned with
updated SANDAG figures for most of the year. The Authority
would like the flexibility to update its figures when
SANDAG updates its figures to provide for consistency.
d) Allows, rather than requires, the Authority to adopt a
comprehensive plan on the future development of San Diego's
regional international airport, and deletes language
requiring the Authority, in developing its plan, to review
all options of alternative sites, including, but not
limited to, expansion of the existing airport site and
other development options available to address future
airport needs. The Authority is requesting this change
because it was tasked with the responsibility of developing
an alternate location for San Diego International Airport
(SDIA) and placing that proposal on a region-wide ballot in
2006. Because this requirement was completed seven years
ago, the Authority is proposing to remove the word
"requires" and striking the ballot-related language.
However, because there may be a need for a future
comprehensive plan for SDIA, the Authority proposes leaving
the word "allows" in statute to clarify that the Authority
has the ability to take such action.
5)Support arguments : Supporters assert that this bill will
provide clarity in the statutes governing the Authority,
making necessary changes and deleting outdated provisions.
Opposition arguments : None
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
San Diego Regional Airport Authority [SPONSOR]
AB 1058
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Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Angela Mapp / L. GOV. / (916) 319-3958