BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 184| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- CONSENT Bill No: SB 184 Author: Senate Governance and Finance Committee Amended: 4/9/13 Vote: 21 SENATE GOVERNANCE & FINANCE COMMITTEE : 7-0, 04/17/13 AYES: Wolk, Knight, Beall, DeSaulnier, Emmerson, Hernandez, Liu SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8 SUBJECT : Local government: omnibus bill SOURCE : Author DIGEST : This bill, the Local Government Omnibus Act of 2013, proposes nine changes to state laws governing local governments' powers and duties. ANALYSIS : Each year, local officials discover problems with the state statutes that affect counties, cities, special districts, and redevelopment agencies, as well as the laws on land use planning and development. These minor problems do not warrant separate (and expensive) bills. According to the Legislative Analyst, in 2001-02 the cost of producing a bill was $17,890. Legislators respond by combining several of these minor topics into an annual "omnibus bill." In 2012, for example, the local government omnibus bill was SB 1090 (Senate Governance and Finance Committee, Chapter 330) which contained 12 CONTINUED SB 184 Page 2 noncontroversial statutory changes, avoiding about $200,000 in legislative costs. Although this practice may violate a strict interpretation of the single-subject and germaneness rules as presented in Californians for an Open Primary v. McPherson (2006), it is an expeditious and relatively inexpensive way to respond to multiple requests. This bill, the "Local Government Omnibus Act of 2013," proposes the following changes to the state laws affecting local agencies' powers and duties: State collection of debts owed to special districts . If a person or entity owes money to a city or county, that city or county can request that the Controller withhold money that the person or entity would otherwise receive from a personal income tax refund, corporate income tax refund, sales tax refund, state lottery winnings, or a claim for payment of money from unclaimed property held by the state (Government Code Section 12419.8). The Controller can withhold money only when the debt: Has been reduced to a judgment, Is contained in a court order, Is from a bench warrant for a fine, penalty, or assessment, or Is a lien for delinquent unsecured property taxes. Special districts can only ask the Controller to withhold money from tax refunds, lottery winnings, or unclaimed property payments to collect debts from unpaid bridge tolls, high-occupancy toll lane fees, or other charges on account of nonpayment of bridge toll or high occupancy toll lane fees (Government Code Section 12419.12, enacted by AB 1175, Torlakson, Chapter 515, Statutes of 2009). California Special Districts Association staff notes that special districts could benefit from the same revenue collection efficiency that benefits cities and counties when they ask the Controller to collect debts by withholding state payments. This bill expands special districts' existing authority to use the Controller's debt collection program, giving special districts the same statutory authority that cities and counties have to request that the Controller withhold state payments to collect debts [see Sections 2 and 3 of the bill]. Gender-neutral references to city attorneys . Some statutes that govern city attorneys have not been amended for many decades and CONTINUED SB 184 Page 3 use the masculine pronouns "he" and "him" to refer to a city attorney (Government Code Section 41802, Section 41803, and Section 41805). The League of California Cities' General Counsel notes that this gender-specific language does not conform to current usage. This bill replaces outdated references to "he" and "him" with the gender-neutral term "the city attorney" [see Sections 4-6 of the bill]. "Abuse of office" definition . State law requires a local agency's employment contracts to contain a provision to reimburse the local agency for specified salary, legal, and settlement costs if an employee is convicted of a crime involving an abuse of his/her office or position (AB 1344, Feuer, Chapter 692, Statutes of 2011). For the purposes of this requirement, Government Code Section 53243.4 defines "abuse of office" as either: An abuse of public authority, including, but not limited to, waste, fraud, and violation of the law under color of authority. A crime against public justice, including, but not limited to, a crime described in Title 5 (commencing with Section 67) or Title 7 (commencing with Section 92) of Part 1 of the Penal Code. The Local Government Omnibus Act of 2012 (SB 1090, Senate Governance and Finance Committee, Chapter 330) added the cross-reference to Title 5 of the Penal Code. Assembly Local Government Committee staff notes that the current definition excludes important crimes that are contained in Title 6 of the Penal Code. This bill adds a cross-reference to Title 6 of the Penal Code to more accurately define the phrase "abuse of office" [see Section 7 in the bill]. Counties and Infrastructure Financing Districts . Cities and counties can create Infrastructure Financing Districts (IFDs) and issue bonds to pay for community scale public works: highways, transit, water systems, sewer projects, flood control, child care facilities, libraries, parks, and solid waste facilities. To repay the bonds, IFDs divert property tax increment revenues from other local governments, but not schools, for 30 years. California State Association of Counties staff notes that the statutes governing IFDs only use the term "city" because "city" is defined, for the purposes of the IFD CONTINUED SB 184 Page 4 statutes, as including a county and a city and county. The exclusive use of the term "city" throughout the IFD statutes may mislead some readers into thinking that counties are not authorized to use IFDs. This bill removes counties from the definition of a city and inserts the term "county" throughout the statutes governing IFDs [see Sections 8-16 in the bill]. Subdivision Map Act Update . The Subdivision Map Act (Government Code Section 66410, et seq.) controls how local officials approve the division of property into smaller parcels. To approve a major subdivision, local officials approve a "tentative map," the subdivider fulfills the conditions, and then local officials issue the "final map." For a minor subdivision ("lot split"), the local officials approve and issue a final "parcel map." When the county surveyor or city engineer approves a parcel map, he/she must sign the map, indicate his/her registration number, and stamp the map with his/her seal (Government Code Section 66450 [a]). When the county surveyor or city engineer approves a final map, he/she must sign the map and indicate his/her registration number, and stamp the map with his/her seal. Additionally, state law requires the licensed professional who prepared a parcel map or final map to include a specified statement on the map. The California Land Surveyor's Association wants this statement to provide additional information about the timing of a map's completion and the identification of the licensee who prepared a map. This bill amends Government Code Sections 66442.5 and 66449 to provide more complete information of the licensee who prepared a map by including the "date signed" and the actual "seal" of the licensee [see Sections 17 and 18 in the bill]. Public Cemetery District Law's Definition of "Family Member. " In 2003, the Legislature modernized and recodified the Public Cemetery District Law, which governs California's 250 cemetery districts (Health & Safety Code 9000, et seq., recodified by SB 341, Senate Local Government Committee, Chapter 57, Statutes of 2003). The Public Cemetery District Law defines the term "family member" as: any spouse, by marriage or otherwise, child or stepchild, by natural birth or adoption, parent, brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister, parent-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, nephew, niece, aunt, uncle, first cousin, or any person denoted by the prefix "grand" or "great," or the spouse of any of these persons. CONTINUED SB 184 Page 5 State law establishes a statewide domestic partnership registry (AB 26, Migden, Chapter 588, Statutes of 1999) and requires that registered domestic partners have the same rights, protections, and benefits as are granted to spouses (AB 205, Goldberg, Chapter 421, Statutes of 2003). Cemetery District officials note that the Public Cemetery District Law's definition of "family member" omits domestic partners. This bill clarifies that a domestic partner is included in the Public Cemetery District Law's definition of "family member" [see Section 19 in the bill]. Comments This bill compiles nine noncontroversial changes to state laws affecting local agencies and land use into a single bill. Sending a bill through the legislative process costs around $18,000. By avoiding eight other bills, the Committee's measure avoids over $140,000 in legislative costs. Although the practice may violate a strict interpretation of the single-subject and germaneness rules, the Committee insists on a very public review of each item. More than 100 public officials, trade groups, lobbyists, and legislative staffers see each proposal before it goes into the Committee's bill. Should any item in this bill attract opposition, the Committee will delete it. In this transparent process, there is no hidden agenda. If it's not consensus, it's not omnibus. FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: No SUPPORT : (Verified 5/1/13) California Association of Public Cemeteries California Land Surveyors Association California Special Districts Association California State Association of Counties County of Los Angeles MuniServices AGB:nl 5/1/13 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE CONTINUED SB 184 Page 6 **** END **** CONTINUED