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
CONTINUED
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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
Civitas Advisors, Inc.
County of Los Angeles
AGB:nl 5/1/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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