BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2762| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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. CONTINUED AB 2762 Page 2 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 CONTINUED AB 2762 Page 3 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 CONTINUED AB 2762 Page 4 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 **** END **** CONTINUED