BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 128
Page 1
Date of Hearing: June 26, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT
K.H. "Katcho" Achadjian, Chair
SB 128 (Emmerson) - As Amended: May 15, 2013
SENATE VOTE : 36-0
SUBJECT : Community facilities districts: transfer of
governance authority.
SUMMARY : Authorizes the Hemet Unified School District to
transfer the Hemet Unified School District Community Facilities
District No. 2005-1 to the Temecula Valley Unified School
District upon written agreement between the governing boards of
the school districts. Specifically, this bill :
1)Authorizes the jurisdiction for the Hemet Unified School
District Community Facilities District No. 2005-1 (CFD) to be
transferred from the Hemet Unified School District to the
Temecula Valley Unified School District upon written agreement
between the governing boards of the school districts.
2)States that upon the effective date of the transfer of the
CFD, except as otherwise provided in the written agreement,
all of the following shall apply:
a) Authorizes the governing board of the Temecula Valley
Unified School District to exercise authority over the CFD,
pursuant to existing law;
b) Provides that the Hemet Unified School District shall
not bear any liability for any action taken with regard to
the CFD on or after the effective date of the transfer of
jurisdiction; and,
c) Provides that the Temecula Valley School District shall
not bear any liability for any action taken with regard to
the CFD before the effective date of the transfer of
jurisdiction.
3)Makes findings and declarations that legislative approval is
required because the Riverside County Committee of School
District Organization lacks the authority to approve the
transfer of the governance of the CFD from the Hemet Unified
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School District to the Temecula Valley Unified School
District.
4)Makes findings and declarations that a special statute is
necessary and that a general law cannot be made applicable
because of unique circumstances related to the transfer of
territory from the Hemet Unified School District to the
Temecula Valley Unified School District.
5)Contains an urgency clause.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Authorizes, under the Mello-Roos Community Facilities Act of
1982, a local agency to establish a CFD to finance public
facilities and certain public services through the imposition
of special taxes and the issuance of bonds.
2)Authorizes a CFD to finance the purchase, construction,
expansion, improvement, or rehabilitation of certain
facilities, including, among others, child care facilities,
undergrounding of water transmission and distribution
facilities, and the cleanup of hazardous materials.
3)Authorizes the governance of one or more CFDs to be
transferred from the jurisdiction of a county to the
jurisdiction of a city upon written agreement between the
governing boards of both the city and county, as specified.
FISCAL EFFECT : None
COMMENTS :
1)The Mello-Roos Community Facilities Act allows counties,
cities, special districts, and school districts to levy
special taxes (parcel taxes) to finance a wide variety of
public works, including schools, libraries, child care
facilities, parks, recreation centers, and utility
infrastructure. A Mello-Roos community facilities district
(CFD) issues bonds against these special taxes to finance the
public works projects. Mello-Roos is an important feature of
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the local fiscal landscape, providing local officials with a
key tool for accumulating the public capital needed to pay for
the public works projects that make new residential
development possible. Since 1985, CFDs have issued over $18
billion in long-term bonds, mostly for capital improvements.
To initiate the formation of a CFD, a local agency's
legislative body must adopt a resolution of intention to
establish the district, which must do all of the following:
describe the district's boundaries; describe the facilities
and services proposed to be financed; state that a special
tax, secured by a lien against real property, will be annually
levied; specify, in detail, the rate, method of apportionment,
and manner of collections of the special tax; and, fix a time
and place for public hearing. After holding the hearing and
considering protests, the legislative body, to establish the
CFD, must adopt a resolution of formation containing all of
the information provided in the resolution of intention; and,
if a special tax is to be levied, include additional
information about the tax levy.
Current law authorizes the transfer of jurisdiction of a CFD
from the governing board of a county to the governing board of
a city upon written agreement between the governing boards of
the county and city if specified requirements are fulfilled
before the transfer occurs.
2)This bill authorizes the transfer of the Hemet Unified School
District CFD from the Hemet Unified School District to the
Temecula Unified School District upon written agreement
between the two governing boards of the school districts.
Upon the effective date of the transfer, this bill authorizes
the Temecula Unified School District's governing board to
exercise authority over the CFD. This bill also clarifies
that the Hemet Unified School District shall not bear
liability after the CFD has been transferred, and that the
Temecula Unified School District does not bear liability
before the CFD has been transferred. This bill is
author-sponsored.
3)According to the author, "The French Valley community, which
is an unincorporated area of Riverside County, is located in
close proximity to the Temecula Valley Unified School District
(TVUSD). However, due to the district boundary lines, French
Valley technically falls within the jurisdiction of the more
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distantly located Hemet Unified School District (HUSD). This
imposes a significant hardship on French Valley students by
requiring them to travel long distances by bus to attend HUSD
schools as opposed to their neighborhood TVUSD schools.
"With the support of the HUSD and TVUSD, the community
initiated proceedings with the Riverside County Committee on
School District Organization to transfer French Valley from
HUSD to TVUSD under the French Valley Reorganization Plan.
Approval of the Reorganization Plan would authorize French
Valley students to permanently attend local schools in the
TVUSD. It's important to note that students are currently
attending schools in the TVUSD pursuant to temporary district
transfers pending approval of the Reorganization Plan.
"A portion of the French Valley area to be transferred also
includes the existing CFD. However, the County Committee
lacks the authority to approve the transfer for CFD. As a
result, the entire Reorganization Plan has been stalled. To
address this issue, this bill would authorize the transfer of
the CFD from HUSD to TVUSD to provide the necessary
educational and facility financing to accommodate the French
Valley students. By doing so, it will assure students and
their families that they may continue attending their
neighborhood school within the TVUSD on a permanent basis."
4)This type of transfer occurred previously with SB 509 (Mello),
Chapter 505, Statutes of 1992, which authorized the Perris
Union High School District to transfer the CFD 87-1 to the Val
Verde Unified School District upon written agreement between
the districts' governing boards.
5)Support arguments : Supporters argue that this bill will
authorize the transfer of the CFD from the Hemet to the
Temecula Valley Unified School District and will remove the
last impediment to the French Valley Reorganization Plan which
is supported by voters and the affected school districts.
Opposition arguments : None.
6)This bill is double-referred to the Committee on Education.
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REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Hemet Unified School District
Supervisor Jeff Stone, County of Riverside
Temecula Valley Unified School District
Individual letters (2)
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Misa Yokoi-Shelton / L. GOV. / (916)
319-3958