BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 707
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB
707 (Wood)
As Amended August 24, 2015
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: | 74-0 | (May 22, |SENATE: |40-0 |(August 31, |
| | |2015) | | |2015) |
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Original Committee Reference: AGRI.
SUMMARY: Requires the Department of Conservation (DOC) to
provide a preliminary valuation of the Williamson Act (Act)
contract land to the county assessor and the city council or
board of supervisors (local government) at least 60 days prior
to the effective date of the agreed upon cancellation valuation
if the contract includes additional local cancellation fees.
The Senate amendments:
1)Delete the provision that removes the ability of a land owner
and DOC to negotiate Act cancellation fees, if the land in an
Act contract is within a county that has a local cancellation
assessment for Act contract lands.
2)Require the DOC, if an Act contract has additional local
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government cancellation fees, to provide to the county
assessor and local government preliminary valuation of the
land with the reason for the cancellation value, as specified.
3)Allow the county assessor to provide information on the
preliminary valuation to the local government and allow the
local government to provide comments to DOC on the preliminary
valuation and cancellation value.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Creates the Act, also known as the California Land
Conservation Act of 1965, which authorizes local governments
to enter into agricultural land preservation contracts with
landowners who agree to restrict the use of their land for a
minimum of 10 years in exchange for lower assessed valuations
for property tax purposes. The Division of Land Resource
Protection in DOC administers the Act.
2)Provides for a 12.5% cancellation fee, based on the value of
the land, for canceling a Williamson Act contract, as
specified.
3)Allows DOC and the landowner to agree on a cancellation
valuation of the land.
4)Allows a city or county to pass an ordinance that requires an
additional cancellation fee that goes to the local
jurisdiction.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs.
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COMMENTS: The Act conserves agricultural and open space land by
allowing private property owners to sign voluntary contracts
with counties and cities, restricting their land to agriculture,
open space, and other compatible uses. In return, county
assessors must lower the assessed value of the contracted lands
to reflect their use as agricultural or open space instead of
the market value. Making sure that private property owners use
their Act land appropriately is essential to maintaining the
statute's constitutional integrity.
Due to the elimination of state subvention payments to the
counties, some local jurisdictions passed ordinances that impose
an additional cancellation penalty fee. If a property owner
wanted to cancel an Act contract before the ten-year period, the
landowner must petition the local board or council to terminate
a contract. The board/council may grant cancellation if certain
statutory findings are met. If the local government approves
the cancellation, the landowner is required to pay a
cancellation fee equal to 12.5% of the cancellation valuation of
the property to the state. Merced County and Humboldt County
(Humboldt) are the only counties to have local cancellation
fees, in addition to the state cancellation fee. Humboldt's
local cancellation fee is 12.5%.
According to the author, this bill is needed to address
situations where a local government has imposed an Act
cancellation fee in addition to the state Act cancellation fee.
The need was demonstrated by the following incident: On August
21, 2011, the Ambrosini Dairy Property (Riverside Ranch), in
Humboldt, requested to cancel their Act contract. The
cancellation was initiated by the Western Rivers Conservancy
(WRC), who purchased the land. The request for cancellation
triggered the Humboldt County Assessor's Office to begin to
determine the fair market value of the land, which determines
the Act cancellation fee. The WRC requested a waiver to the
Humboldt's fee. The Humboldt's Act Advisory Committee
recommended to the Board of Supervisors that the local
cancellation fee not be waived. On April 23, 2012, the DOC sent
a letter to Humboldt informing the local jurisdiction that WRC
and the DOC had reached an agreement on a cancellation
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valuation, as allowed by current law. This negotiation between
the DOC and WRC took place without Humboldt's input. This bill
addresses this issue by allowing the county, if it has a local
cancellation fee, to be part of the discussion of land
valuation.
This bill is substantially similar to the version passed by the
Assembly.
Analysis Prepared by:
Victor Francovich / AGRI. / (916) 319-2084 FN:
0001576