BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                            



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                                       CONSENT


          Bill No:  AB 2762
          Author:   Assembly Local Government Committee 
          Amended:  5/6/14 in Assembly
          Vote:     21

           
           SENATE GOVERNANCE & FINANCE COMMITTEE  :  7-0, 6/11/14
          AYES:  Wolk, Knight, Beall, DeSaulnier, Hernandez, Liu, Walters

          SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE:  Senate Rule 28.8

           ASSEMBLY FLOOR  :  73-0, 5/23/14 (Consent) - See last page for  
            vote


           SUBJECT  :    Local government

           SOURCE  :     California Association of Local Agency Formation  
          Commissions


           DIGEST  :    This bill makes several changes to laws affecting  
          local government organization and reorganization (LAFCOs).

           ANALYSIS  :    The Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government  
          Reorganization Act delegates the Legislature's power to control  
          the boundaries of cities and special districts to LAFCOs.  The  
          courts call LAFCOs the Legislature's watchdog over local  
          boundary changes.

          As practitioners find problems with the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg  
          Act, they ask for statutory improvements.  These minor problems  
          do not warrant separate (and expensive) bills.
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          This bill makes several changes to state laws affecting LAFCOs.

          1. In 2001 the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government Act of  
             2000 took effect, modifying its predecessor, the Cortese-Knox  
             Local Government Reorganization Act of 1985.  The 2000  
             reorganization allowed for applications pending before LAFCOs  
             to be processed, if those applications had been submitted  
             prior to January 1, 2001.  There are no longer applications  
             pending from before that date, making the code section  
             obsolete.  

             This bill repeals the obsolete code section and its reference  
             in a corresponding code section. 

          2. Independent special district members who serve on LAFCO are  
             selected using an independent special district selection  
             committee.  

             This bill modifies the authority of that committee in the  
             following manner:

             A.    Allows a majority of the committee members to  
                determine to conduct the committee's business by mail,  
                including holding all elections by mail.  

             B.    Specifies that for an election to be valid, at  
                least a quorum of special districts must submit valid  
                ballots.  If a quorum of valid ballots is not  
                submitted according to the terms of an election, the  
                executive officer is authorized to extend the date to  
                submit ballots by 60 days.  All ballot materials must  
                be retained for at least six months following the  
                announcement of results.

          3. Reauthorizes LAFCOs to review and comment on extensions of  
             services into previously unserved territory or the creation  
             of new service providers to extend urban type development,  
             consistent with the LAFCOs statutory functions.  This  
             authority was enacted by AB 2259 (Salinas, Chapter 460,  
             Statutes of 2006) and it sunset on January 1, 2013.  The  
             reauthorization under this bill sunsets on January 1, 2019. 

          4. Clarifies that a proposal for a change of organization or  

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             reorganization can be submitted by a local agency, or by  
             others, such as a petition of residents, which is common  
             practice. 

          5. Clarifies that the specific terms and conditions imposed by a  
             LAFCO, consistent with its specific authority, prevail in the  
             event of a conflict with any general provisions under  
             Government Code 57300.

          6. Corrects other non-substantive, technical and cross-reference  
             errors.

           Comments
           
          When statutory problems appear in the state law affecting  
          LAFCOs, the Assembly Local Government Committee avoids  
          legislative costs by combining several changes to the state laws  
          into a single, consensus bill.  By carefully reviewing each item  
          with the affected parties, the Committee also avoids  
          controversy.  The changes made by this bill do not raise  
          statewide policy questions, and makes a complex statute easier  
          for property owners, residents, and local officials to use.

           FISCAL EFFECT :    Appropriation:  No   Fiscal Com.:  Yes    
          Local:  Yes

           SUPPORT  :   (Verified  6/23/14)

          California Association of Local Agency Formation Commissions  
          (source)
          Amador Local Agency Formation Commission
          Butte Local Agency Formation Commission
          California Special Districts Association
          Contra Costa Local Agency Formation Commission
          Local Agency Formation Commission for the County of Los Angeles
          Local Agency Formation Commission for San Bernardino
          Local Agency Formation Commission of Napa County
          Local Agency Formation Commission of Yolo County
          Marin Local Agency Formation Commission
          Orange County Local Agency Formation Commission
          Placer County Local Agency Formation Commission
          Riverside Local Agency Formation Commission
          San Benito Local Agency Formation Commission
          San Luis Obispo Local Agency Formation Commission

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          Santa Clara County Local Agency Formation Commission
          Sonoma Local Agency Formation Commission
          Stanislaus Local Agency Formation Commission


           ASSEMBLY FLOOR  :  73-0, 5/23/14
          AYES:  Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Bigelow, Bloom,  
            Bocanegra, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon,  
            Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley, Dababneh,  
            Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier,  
            Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gorell,  
            Gray, Grove, Hagman, Hall, Holden, Jones, Jones-Sawyer,  
            Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Mansoor,  
            Medina, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Olsen, Pan, Patterson,  
            Perea, John A. Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon,  
            Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Wagner,  
            Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, Yamada, Atkins
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Bonilla, Harkey, Roger Hernández, Melendez,  
            Nestande, V. Manuel Pérez, Vacancy


          AB:d  6/25/14   Senate Floor Analyses 

                           SUPPORT/OPPOSITION:  SEE ABOVE

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