BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 416
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 416 (Liu)
As Amended September 3, 2013
2/3 vote
SENATE VOTE :39-0
HOUSING 7-0 TRANSPORTATION 16-0
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|Ayes:|Chau, Beth Gaines, |Ayes:|Lowenthal, Linder, |
| |Atkins, Brown, | |Achadjian, Ammiano, |
| |Maienschein, Quirk-Silva, | |Bloom, Bonta, Buchanan, |
| |Mullin | |Daly, Frazier, Gatto, |
| | | |Holden, Logue, Morrell, |
| | | |Nazarian, Patterson, |
| | | |Quirk-Silva |
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APPROPRIATIONS 17-0
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|Ayes:|Gatto, Harkey, Bigelow, |
| |Bocanegra, Bradford, Ian |
| |Calderon, Campos, |
| |Donnelly, Eggman, Gomez, |
| |Hall, Holden, Linder, |
| |Pan, Quirk, Wagner, Weber |
| | |
| | |
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SUMMARY : Makes a number of changes to the Roberti Act governing
the sale of surplus properties in the State Route (SR) 710
corridor. Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires the fair market value price that the Department of
Transportation (Caltrans) offers to non-income qualified
buyers to reflect the "as-is" condition of the property,
taking into account any repairs required to make the property
safe and habitable.
2)Allows Caltrans, at the request of an income-qualified person,
to offer a residence or property for sale in an "as-is"
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condition.
3)With respect to market-rate residential sales, gives first
priority only to tenants in good standing with all rent
current and paid in full, rather than any tenant, and second
priority to former occupants who were in good standing at the
time they left the home, with priority given to the most
recent tenants first, before the home can be offered to
purchasers who intend to be owner-occupants.
4)Specifies that the selling agency may commence the sales of
properties that former tenants may possess a right to purchase
30 days after the selling agency has done both of the
following:
a) Posted information regarding the sales on the selling
agency's Web site and;
b) Made a good faith effort to provide written notice, by
first-class mail, to the last known address of each former
tenant.
5)With respect to non-residential properties, gives tenants in
good standing priority to purchase the property at fair market
value.
6)Creates the SR 710 Rehabilitation Account and requires
Caltrans to deposit proceeds from sales of SR 710 properties
into the account.
7)Limits the total funds that can be maintained in the account
to $500,000, and specifies that funds exceeding that amount,
less any reimbursements due to the federal government, shall
be transferred to the State Highway Account to be used for
allocation by the California Transportation Commission
(commission) exclusively to fund projects located in Pasadena,
South Pasadena, Alhambra, La Canada Flintridge, and the 90032
postal ZIP Code.
8)Specifies that projects shall be selected and prioritized by
the affected communities in consultation with the Los Angeles
County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) pursuant to
guidelines developed by the commission.
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9)Requires MTA to submit a proposed program of projects and
gives the commission final authority to approve the projects.
10) Specifies that eligible projects include, but are not
limited to, sound walls; transit; rail capital improvements;
bikeways; pedestrian improvements; signal synchronization;
left turn signals; and major street resurfacing,
rehabilitation, and reconstruction.
11) Appropriates, continuously, funds in the SR 710
Rehabilitation Account for the purpose of making required
repairs to homes being purchased by income-qualified
residents, and requires any funds exceeding the amount needed
for repairs to be transferred to the State Highway Account.
12) Prohibits funds from the sale of surplus properties
in the SR 10 corridor from being used to advance or construct
any proposed North State Route 710 tunnel.
13) Requires that any funds remaining in the SR 710
Rehabilitation Account after the last property is repaired,
less any reimbursements due to the federal government, be
transferred to the State Highway Account to be used
exclusively for eligible projects in the specified
communities.
14) Requires that the preliminary project alternative
referred to as Alternative F-6 in the December 2012
Alternative Analysis Report of the MTA, for purposes of the
California Environmental Quality Act, no longer be deemed a
feasible alternative for consideration in any state
environmental review process for the Interstate 710 North Gap
Closure project, State Clearinghouse number 1982092310.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee:
1)According to a March 1, 2012, estimate by Caltrans, the market
value of the SR 710 parcels is approximately $279 million,
although this estimate is not based on an official appraisal.
Under current law, net proceeds from the sale of these surplus
properties would be deposited into the Transportation Debt
Service Fund to offset General Fund debt service payments for
general obligation bonds. In contrast, this bill places the
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revenues, up to the prescribed $500,000 limit, into the
rehabilitation account (for repairs to those properties sold
to low- and moderate-income households), with the excess
placed in the State Highway Account for use in the specified
communities. Thus the redirection of net proceeds from these
property sales, which will occur over several years, will
require corresponding increases in General Fund allocations
for transportation debt service.
2)By allowing a portion of the revenues from surplus property
sales to be used for needed repairs to other 710-corridor
properties, the bill could help to expedite the property
sales.
COMMENTS : For decades, Caltrans has proposed the SR 710
extension project to close a roughly 4.5-mile unconstructed gap
in the freeway from just north of SR 10 in Los Angeles to SR 210
in Pasadena. This gap affects the cities of Alhambra, Pasadena,
South Pasadena, and a portion of Los Angeles. The project has
been in the planning stage since 1953 for a variety of reasons
related to the federal environmental review process. The Los
Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), on
behalf of Caltrans, is currently preparing a Draft Environment
Impact Report to assess alternatives for ameliorating traffic
congestion in the area between the current terminus of SR 710
and SR 210 in Pasadena. At this point in the process, the
originally proposed surface route has been eliminated from
consideration. Alternatives remaining include a tunnel, light
rail, bus rapid transit, and transportation demand and traffic
flow management. By 2014, Caltrans plans to identify how it
intends to proceed.
Caltrans currently owns 460 properties within the originally
proposed right-of-way, including 330 single-family homes and 103
multifamily housing units. According to the author, the Bureau
of State Audits has cited Caltrans a number of times over the
years for poor performance as a real estate manager and
landlord. The author believes this is a role outside of
Caltrans' primary mission and one that Caltrans is not anxious
to continue. Given that a surface route is no longer under
consideration, the most expeditious means of taking Caltrans out
of the real estate management business is to sell the
properties. This will restore community integrity and have the
added advantage of returning the properties to private ownership
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and to the local tax rolls.
This bill makes a number of minor changes to the Roberti Act
governing the sale of surplus properties in the SR 710 corridor
aimed at expediting the sale of Caltrans-owned properties in the
corridor that are no longer needed to construct the freeway
extension. The bill additionally creates the SR 710
Rehabilitation Account and requires that Caltrans deposit
proceeds from the sale of SR 710 properties into the account for
the purposes of making repairs required by the Roberti Act to
homes being purchased by income-qualified residents. The bill
limits the account to having a maximum of $500,000 on deposit at
any one time. Funds in excess of $500,000 would be deposited
into the State Highway Account to be used to fund eligible
projects, such as sound walls, transit, rail capital
improvements, bikeways, pedestrian improvements, signal
synchronization, left turn signals, and major street
rehabilitation, in Pasadena, South Pasadena, Alhambra, La Canada
Flintridge, and the 90023 ZIP code. The bill prohibits any of
the proceeds from the sales of SR 710 properties be used to
advance or construct the proposed North State Route 710 tunnel,
and requires that the surface freeway alternative known as
Alternative F-6 no longer be deemed a feasible alternative for
consideration in any state environmental review process for the
Interstate 710 North Gap Closure project.
Analysis Prepared by : Anya Lawler / H. & C.D. / (916)
319-2085
FN: 0002180