BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE GOVERNANCE & FINANCE COMMITTEE
Senator Lois Wolk, Chair
BILL NO: SB 1462 HEARING: 4/24/14
AUTHOR: Governance & Finance CommitteeFISCAL: No
VERSION: 4/9/14 TAX LEVY: No
CONSULTANT: Weinberger
LOCAL GOVERNMENT OMNIBUS ACT OF 2014
Proposes several changes to state laws governing local
governments' powers and duties.
Background and Existing Law
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 2013, for
example, the local government omnibus bill was
SB 184 (Senate Governance & Finance Committee) which
contained 12 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.
Proposed Law
Senate Bill 1462, the "Local Government Omnibus Act of
2014," proposes the following changes to the state laws
affecting local agencies' powers and duties:
County law libraries' real property management . More than
120 years ago, the Legislature set up a system of county
law libraries (Business & Professions Code §6300, et seq.,
SB 1462 -- 4/9/14 -- Page 2
enacted by AB 691, Mathews, 1891, and recodified by SB 364,
Kenny, 1941). Each county law library has an appointed
board of trustees which supervises its operations and
finances. Current law allows a county law library's board
of trustees to sell real property, with the proceeds going
to the law library fund (Business & Professions Code
§6348.4, as amended by SB 113, Senate Local Government
Committee, 2009). The Council of California County Law
Librarians wants the Legislature to give law library
trustees more flexibility in managing libraries' real
property. Senate Bill 1462 allows a board of trustees to
lease, rent, or license real property, with proceeds going
to the law library fund. [See §2 of the bill.]
Local Bond Issuers Determination of Taxable Bond Maturity .
Most municipal bonds are tax-exempt, but the Legislature
has allowed state and local governments to issue taxable
revenue bonds. To provide state and local governments with
the flexibility to access the market for taxable bonds,
state law allows government bond issuers to determine the
denominations, forms, redemption terms, and interest rates
of taxable bonds (Government Code § 5903, as enacted by AB
939, Johnston, 1986). Current law allows a legislative
body to determine the "time or times" at which taxable
bonds are payable. Bond finance practitioners believe that
this language could be interpreted narrowly to refer only
to how the bonds' principal and/or interest must be paid
(annually, semiannually, monthly, etc.). Senate Bill 1462
clarifies that local bond issuers may also determine the
final maturity date or dates of the bonds. [See §3 of the
bill.]
County Clerks 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 the city
or county that created the district and any other
consenting local governments -- but not schools -- for 30
years (SB 308, Seymour, 1990). When they were enacted, the
statutes governing IFDs only used the term "city" because
the IFD statutes defined "city" as including a county and a
city and county. To avoid any misperceptions that IFD law
doesn't apply to counties, the Local Government Omnibus Act
SB 1462 -- 4/9/14 -- Page 3
of 2013 (SB 184, Governance & Finance Committee, 2013)
removed counties from the definition of a city and inserted
the term "county" throughout the statutes that govern IFDs.
Last year's bill omitted a reference to a county clerk in
one IFD statute. Senate Bill 1462 corrects this omission
by inserting a reference to a clerk of a county. [See §4 of
the bill.]
California Assessors' Association . The California
Assessors' Association, the statewide non-profit
professional association for County Assessors, was
previously known as the State Association of County
Assessors. Two statutes still refer to the Association's
antiquated name (Revenue & Taxation Code §670 and §671, as
amended by AB 3701, Kapiloff, 1974). Senate Bill 1462
replaces the antiquated name, "State Association of County
Assessors," with the correct association name, "California
Assessors' Association." [See §5 and §6 of the bill.]
State Revenue Impact
No estimate.
Comment
Purpose of the bill . SB 1462 compiles four
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 3 other bills, the Committee's measure avoids more
than $50,000 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 SB 1462 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.
Support and Opposition (4/21/14)
SB 1462 -- 4/9/14 -- Page 4
Support : California Assessors' Association; California
Public Securities Association; Council of California County
Law Librarians.
Opposition : Unknown.