BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- | | | SENATE COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES AND WATER | | Senator Fran Pavley, Chair | | 2013-2014 Regular Session | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- BILL NO: AB 2446 HEARING DATE: June 24, 2014 AUTHOR: Waldron URGENCY: No VERSION: May 28, 2014 CONSULTANT: Dennis O'Connor DUAL REFERRAL: No FISCAL: No SUBJECT: Standby charges: San Luis Rey Municipal Water District. BACKGROUND AND EXISTING LAW The Municipal Water District Act authorizes a municipal water district, by ordinance, to establish a water standby assessment or availability charge in the District or in any improvement district each fiscal year, to which water is made available by the District, whether the water is actually used or not. The standby assessment or availability charge is limited to ten dollars ($10) per acre per year for each acre of land on which the charge is levied or ten dollars ($10) per year for a parcel less than one acre. The Municipal Water District Act also authorizes the specific agencies to impose, in any improvement district situated within the district, a standby fee of up to ($30) per acre per year for land on which the charge is levied or thirty dollars ($30) per year for a parcel less than one acre. The proceeds from any standby assessment or availability charge in excess of ten dollars ($10) per acre per year or ten dollars ($10) per year for a parcel less than one acre shall only be used for the purposes of the improvement district. Those specific agencies are: Eastern MWD, Western MWD of Riverside County, ElsinoreValley MWD, Rincon Del Diablo MWD, Ramona MWD, Rainbow MWD, Lake Hemet MWD, and the Otay MWD. There is no sunset on those provisions In 1989, the legislature passed and the Governor signed SB 1157 (Bergeson). That bill authorized the San Luis Rey Municipal Water District to levy an annual standby assessment or availability charge within any improvement district thereof not 1 to exceed $30 per acre or parcel less than an acre, but the proceeds from any such charge in excess of $10 is required to be used only for the purposes of the improvement district. That provision would sunset January 1, 2000. The sunset has been extended twice: Once, in 1999 by SB 807 (Committee on Agriculture and Water Resources), which extended the sunset to January 1, 2005; and again in 2004 by AB 2733 (Strickland), which extended the sunset to January 1, 2015. PROPOSED LAW This bill would remove the sunset clause on San Luis Rey's ability to impose a standby fee of up to $30 per acre, thereby making that provision permanent. 2 ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT According to the San Luis Rey Municipal Water District, "we are sponsoring this special legislation that seeks to continue what Water Code sec. 71631.7 currently provides and has provided to us for many years. The amendment of removing a sunset provision was done at the suggestion of folks on the Assembly side, and makes sense because we have had this statute for so long and, as pointed out by a consultant on the Assembly side, the other water entities in this series of statutes (Water Code sec. 71631) do not have sunset provisions in their special statutes." "This legislation is critical to our fiscal stability, and it has the wide support of our landowners, including the Pala Band of Mission Indians, as well as other groups such as the Farm Bureau and California Special Districts Association." ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION: None COMMENTS: None SUGGESTED AMENDMENTS: None SUPPORT San Luis Rey Municipal Water District (Sponsor) California Special Districts Association Farm Bureau San Diego Pala Band of Mission Indians Individuals (8) OPPOSITION: None Received 3