BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 951|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 951
Author: Wilk (R)
Amended: 6/10/15 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE GOVERNANCE & FIN. COMMITTEE: 7-0, 7/8/15
AYES: Hertzberg, Nguyen, Beall, Hernandez, Lara, Moorlach,
Pavley
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 77-0, 5/7/15 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT: Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill requires regular and special meetings of the
Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District (SCVSD) related to a
policy decision on total maximum daily load (TMDL) of any
pollutant to be held within the boundaries of the territory over
which the district exercises jurisdiction.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Requires the meetings of local governments' legislative bodies
to be "open and public," thereby ensuring people's access to
information so that they may retain control over the public
agencies that serve them.
2)Requires, under the Ralph M. Brown Act, the meetings of local
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Page 2
governments' legislative bodies to be "open and public,"
thereby ensuring people's access to information so that they
may retain control over the public agencies that serve them.
3)Requires local agencies to hold all regular and special
meetings within the boundaries of the territory over which
they have jurisdiction. An exception under the Brown Act
allows an agency to meet outside of its area of jurisdiction
if the agency's principal office is located outside of its
territory.
This bill:
1)Requires SCVSD to hold regular and special meetings within the
boundaries of the territory over which the agency exercises
jurisdiction, where such meetings involve policy decisions
related to a TMDL of any pollutant.
2)Directs that the statute allowing a local agency's legislative
body to meet at the principal office of the local agency even
if the office is located outside of the agency's territory
does not apply to SCVSD.
3)Makes findings and declarations that this bill furthers the
purpose of Section 3 of Article I of the California
Constitution, since it requires SCVSD to meet in Santa Clarita
instead of at the principal office of the district, which is
over 50 miles away.
Background
SCVSD collects and treats wastewater from Santa Clarita homes
and businesses and discharges the resulting treated water into
the Santa Clara River. SCVSD is one of 24 independent special
districts that make up the Los Angeles County Sanitation
Districts (LACSD), a regional public agency organized under the
County Sanitation District Act. To maximize efficiency and cost
effectiveness, the 24 districts work together under a Joint
Administration Agreement with one administrative staff
headquartered near the City of Whittier, which is approximately
50 miles away from Santa Clarita.
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After regional water control authorities fined SCVSD $225,000
for chloride levels above the state-mandated minimum in the
agency's treated wastewater, SCVSD prepared a proposed cleanup
strategy for public comment in April of 2013. Among other
things, the cleanup plan involved brine disposal by deepwell
injection. The extended 90-day public comment period on SCVSD's
cleanup plan closed in July of 2013 and SCVSD published a
revised plan including responses to public input and
recommendations in October of that same year. At a meeting
later that month in Santa Clarita, SCVSD's Board of Directors
approved the final cleanup plan, including brine disposal by
deepwell injection.
At subsequent public meetings in Santa Clarita on the subject,
the proposed brine disposal element of the project generated
significant pushback from local residents, who expressed
concerns that a deepwell injection site could adversely affect
their quality of life, cause earthquakes, and harm the
community's image.
Concerned residents believe SCVSD should be required to make
policy decisions related to TMDL of pollutants in Santa Clarita,
rather than at LACSD's headquarters near Whittier, 50 miles
away. They want the Legislature to eliminate the exception to
the Brown Act that allows SCVSD to meet outside of the area over
which it has jurisdiction.
Comments
1)Purpose of the bill. Continuing to allow SCVSD to meet in
Whittier when making policy decisions, relating to pollutant
levels makes public testimony and access to information a
burden for residents living 50 miles away in the Santa Clarita
area. By removing the Brown Act exception that allows SCVSD
to hold meetings on these matters in Whittier instead of the
Santa Clarita area, AB 951 makes the agency's meetings more
accessible to residents and ratepayers, thereby forcing SCVSD
to be more transparent and accountable to the public.
2)Water under the bridge? AB 951 requires SCVSD to meet within
the agency's area of jurisdiction to encourage transparency
and public participation. However, information published
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online and provided by SCVSD suggests that the public input
process, was effective in the case of the proposed deepwell
injection site. Constituents communicated their concerns to
SCVSD, which then abandoned the proposed brine well in
response to strong public opposition. The substantial public
input provided to SCVSD and its response makes it unclear
whether it is necessary to require SCVSD to relocate its
meetings.
3)Brown Act precedent. The Brown Act currently requires regular
and special meetings of a legislative body to be held, within
the boundaries of the territory over which the local agency
exercises jurisdiction, except that the local agency may meet
at its principal office, if that office is located outside the
territory over which the agency exercises jurisdiction. This
bill effectively amends the Brown Act to require a single
agency, the SCVSD, to hold its regular and special meetings in
a single, specified location. The Brown Act does not
otherwise specify meeting locations for a particular entity.
Creating a district-specific exemption may set a precedent
that invites further amendments to the Brown Act.
4)Special legislation. The California Constitution prohibits
special legislation when a general law can apply (Article IV,
§16). AB 951 contains findings and declarations explaining
the need for legislation that applies only to the SCVSD.
5)Mandate. Because AB 951 sets forth where SCVSD can hold its
meetings, the Legislative Counsel's Office says that AB 951
creates a new state-mandated local program. But this bill
disclaims the state's responsibility for reimbursing the SCVSD
for this new requirement, since California voters amended the
State Constitution in 2012 (Proposition 42) to eliminate the
state's responsibility to pay local governments for compliance
with the Brown Act and its amendments.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: Yes
SUPPORT: (Verified8/18/15)
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Page 5
None received
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/18/15)
None received
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 77-0, 5/7/15
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom,
Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Chang, Chau,
Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly,
Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina
Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez,
Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Holden, Irwin, Jones,
Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low,
Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin,
Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Perea,
Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Mark
Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams,
Wood, Atkins
NO VOTE RECORDED: Campos, Roger Hernández, Steinorth
Prepared by:Toren Lewis / GOV. & F. / (916) 651-4119
8/19/15 20:42:55
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