BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 1058 Page 1 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) AB 1058 Page 2 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 AB 1058 Page 3 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 AB 1058 Page 4 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 AB 1058 Page 5 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 AB 1058 Page 6 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 Page 7 Opposition None on file Analysis Prepared by : Angela Mapp / L. GOV. / (916) 319-3958