BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                            



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                                       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  
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          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  

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          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  

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          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.


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          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


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