Amended in Senate May 24, 2013

Amended in Senate April 23, 2013

Senate BillNo. 553


Introduced by Senator Yee

February 22, 2013


An act to add Section 53755.5 to the Government Code, relating to local government.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 553, as amended, Yee. Local government: assessment: elections procedures.

Articles XIII C and XIII D of the California Constitution generally require that assessments, fees, and charges be submitted to property owners for approval or rejection after the provision of written notice and the holding of a public hearing. Existing law, the Proposition 218 Omnibus Implementation Act, prescribes specific procedures and parameters for local jurisdictions to comply with Articles XIII C and XIII D of the California Constitution.

Existing statutory law provides notice, protest, and hearing procedures for the levying of new or increased assessments, fees, and charges by local government agencies pursuant to Articles XIII C and XIII D of the California Constitution.

This bill would, where a proposed fee or charge is submitted to the electorate for approval, require a county elections official to conduct that election. This bill would also require, if a local government agency opts to submit the proposed fee or charge for approval by a vote of the subject property owners, as provided, that specified procedures be applied regarding the form and tabulation of ballots. The bill would become operative on July 1, 2014.

By creating new requirements for property assessments conducted by counties and cities, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: yes.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

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SECTION 1.  

Section 53755.5 is added to the Government
2Code
, to read:

3

53755.5.  

When an agency proposes to impose or increase any
4fee or charge subject to Section 6 of Article XIII D of the California
5Constitution that is not exempt from the requirements of
6subdivision (c) of Section 6 of Article XIII D of the California
7Constitution, the following procedures, in addition to any other
8procedures adopted by the agency pursuant tobegin insert subdivision (c) ofend insert
9 Section 6 of Article XIII D of the California Constitution, shall
10apply to the election:

11(a) If the agency opts to submit the proposed fee or charge for
12approval by a two-thirds vote of the electorate residing in the
13affected area, the election shall be conducted by the agency’s
14elections official or his or her designee. If the election is conducted
15by the county elections official, the agency, if other than the county,
16shall reimburse the county for the actual and reasonable costs
17incurred by the county elections official in conducting the election.

18(b) If the agency opts to submit the proposed fee or charge for
19approval by a majority vote of the property owners who will be
20subject to the fee or charge,begin insert then in addition to the procedures set
21forth in Section 6 of Article XIIIend insert
begin insertend insertbegin insertD of the California Constitution, end insert
22 the following procedures shall apply to the election:

23(1) On the face of the envelope in which the notice of election
24and ballot are mailed, there shall appear in substantially the
25following form in no smaller than 16-point bold type: “OFFICIAL
P3    1BALLOT ENCLOSED.” Below that, an agency may repeat the
2phrase “OFFICIAL BALLOT ENCLOSED” in a language or
3languages other than English.

4(2) The ballot shall include the agency’s address for return of
5thebegin delete ballotend deletebegin insert ballot, the date and location where the ballots will be
6tabulated,end insert
and a place where the person returning it may indicate
7his or her name, a reasonable identification of the parcel, and his
8or her support or opposition to the proposed fee.begin insert The ballots shall
9be tabulated in a location accessible to the public.end insert
The ballot shall
10be in a form that conceals its content once it is sealed by the person
11 submitting it. The ballot shall remain sealed until the ballot
12tabulation pursuant to paragraph (3) commences.

13(3) An impartial person designated by the agency who does not
14have a vested interest in the outcome of the proposed fee shall
15tabulate the ballots submitted in support of or opposition to the
16proposed fee. For the purposes of this section, an impartial person
17includes, but is not limited to, the clerk of the agency. If the agency
18uses agency personnel for the ballot tabulation, or if the agency
19contracts with a vendor for the ballot tabulation and the vendor or
20its affiliates participated in the research, design, engineering, public
21education, or promotion of the fee, the ballots shall be unsealed
22and tabulated in public view to permit all interested persons to
23meaningfully monitor the accuracy of the tabulation process.

24(4) The ballot tabulation may be continued to a different time
25orbegin insert differentend insert location accessible to the public, provided that the time
26and location are announced at the location at which the tabulation
27commencedbegin insert and posted by the agency in a location accessible to
28the publicend insert
. The impartial person may use technological methods
29to tabulate the ballots, including, but not limited to, punchcard or
30optically readable (bar-coded) ballots. During and after the
31tabulation, the ballots and, if applicable, the information used to
32determine the weight of each ballot, shall be treated as public
33records, as defined in Section 6252, subject to public disclosure
34and made available for inspection by any interested person. The
35ballots shall be preserved for a minimum of two years, after which
36they may be destroyed as provided in Sections 26202, 34090, and
3760201.

38(c) The proceedings described in subdivision (b) shall not
39constitute an election or voting for purposes of Article II of the
40California Constitution or of the Elections Code.

P4    1(d) This section shall become operative on July 1, 2014.

2

SEC. 2.  

If the Commission on State Mandates determines that
3this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to
4local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made
5pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division
64 of Title 2 of the Government Code.



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