BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1217
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Date of Hearing: May 13, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Brian Maienschein, Chair
AB 1217
(Daly) - As Introduced February 27, 2015
SUBJECT: Orange County Fire Authority.
SUMMARY: Restructures the governing board of the Orange County
Fire Authority. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires, notwithstanding any other law and notwithstanding
the provisions of the joint powers agreement governing the
Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA), on and after January 1,
2018, the Board of Directors (Board) of the OCFA to be
composed of 13 members, as follows:
a) Three members of the Board of Supervisors (BOS) of the
County of Orange (County), selected by the BOS, to serve a
term of two years;
b) One member from each of the five supervisorial districts
of the County, elected by the OCFA City Selection Committee
(as described by this bill) on a population weighted voting
basis; and,
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c) One member from each of the five supervisorial districts
of the County, elected by the OCFA City Selection Committee
on a "one city, one vote" basis.
2)Requires a city that is within more than one supervisorial
district to be considered part of the district where the
highest percentage of the city's population resides. Under
this circumstance, the entire city's population shall be used
for population-weighted voting purposes.
3)Provides that OCFA Board members elected by the OCFA City
Selection Committee shall be a mayor or a city council member
of a city within the County, and shall serve for a term of two
years. An OCFA Board member elected in this manner whose term
on the city council or as mayor ends shall also cease to serve
as a member of the OCFA Board.
4)Requires the OCFA City Selection Committee to consist of
either the mayor or a member
of the city council of each city that contracts with the OCFA
for fire protection services.
5)Requires any member of the OCFA Board serving as of the
effective date of this bill to continue to serve until January
1, 2018, or until the expiration of his or her term, whichever
is sooner.
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6)Finds and declares that a special law is necessary and that a
general law cannot be made applicable within the meaning of
Section 16 of Article IV of the California Constitution
because of the challenges faced as a result of the current
governance structure of the OCFA.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Authorizes two or more public agencies, by agreement, to form
a joint powers authority (JPA) to exercise any power common to
the contracting parties, as specified.
2)Authorizes the joint powers agreement to set forth the manner
by which the JPA will be governed.
3)Authorizes the BOS of any county to contract with any local
agency within the county or with the state for services
relating to the prevention and suppression of fires.
FISCAL EFFECT: None
COMMENTS:
1)Bill Summary. This bill restructures the composition of the
OCFA Board by reducing the current, 25-member Board to 13
members, most of whom would be selected by an
as-yet-to-be-created OCFA City Selection Committee. The
existing OCFA Board - comprised of two members from the County
BOS and one member from each of the cities that are a party to
the JPA that created the OCFA - would be eliminated. Instead,
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the OCFA Board would be comprised of the following:
a) Three members of the County BOS, selected by the BOS;
b) One member from each of the five supervisorial districts
of the County, elected by the OCFA City Selection Committee
on a population weighted voting basis; and,
c) One member from each of the five supervisorial districts
of the County, elected by the OCFA City Selection Committee
on a "one city, one vote" basis.
This bill is sponsored by the author.
2)Author's Statement. According to the author, "The Orange
County Fire Authority was created through a Joint Powers
Agreement enacted in 1995. Since then, the OCFA has enlarged
its membership, with a current board of directors consisting
of 25 members, representing the 23 municipal agency (city)
partners plus the County of Orange. This is the largest JPA
board of directors providing fire services in the State of
California.
"After 20 years, it is appropriate for the current OCFA
governing board structure be reviewed and updated. In fact,
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last year the OCFA board performed a self-survey as part of a
larger review of the agency. That survey found a general
consensus of the board that its current size "increases
bureaucracy, redundancy from work already done in committees,
and makes decision making more difficult." Furthermore, there
is a more than a 30% turnover every two years on the board,
leading to an average of only two-four years of experience per
board member. This outdated structure makes consensus and
governing difficult for a dynamic agency serving over 1.7
million residents."
3)Background. The OCFA is a regional fire service agency that
serves 23 cities in Orange County and all unincorporated
areas. The OCFA protects over 1,680,000 residents from its 71
fire stations located throughout the County. OCFA Reserve
Firefighters work 10 stations throughout the County.
The OCFA was formed in 1995 to provide regional fire
protection and related services to the County of Orange and 18
member cities. Subsequent to formation, five additional
cities have become members of the OCFA. The original JPA
agreement was amended in 1999 and renewed in 2010. The term
of the JPA runs through 2030, though member cities currently
have the option to withdraw in 2020.
The OCFA Board has twenty-five members and sets policy
according to its adopted Rules of Procedure. Twenty-three of
the members represent partner cities, and two members
represent the County's unincorporated area. The OCFA Board
meets bimonthly, usually on the fourth Thursday of the month.
The Board established an Executive Committee and a Budget and
Finance Committee, both of which meet monthly. The Board also
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has a Claims Settlement Committee. The Chair of the Board
makes appointments to the Committees on an annual or as-needed
basis.
The OCFA provides fire services for the following cities:
Aliso Viejo, Buena Park, Cypress, Dana Point, Irvine, Laguna
Hills, Laguna Woods, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Woods, Lake Forest,
La Palma, Los Alamitos, Mission Viejo, Placentia, Rancho Santa
Margarita, San Clemente, San Juan Capistrano, Santa Ana, Seal
Beach, Stanton, Tustin, Villa Park, Westminster, and Yorba
Linda.
4)Joint Exercise of Powers Act. JPAs have existed in California
for nearly 100 years, and were originally created to allow
multiple local governments in a region to pool resources to
meet common needs. The Act authorizes federal, state and
local agencies to create and use a joint powers agreement,
which is a legal document that allows the contracting parties
to exercise powers that are common to all of the contracting
parties.
A joint powers agreement can be administered by one of the
contracting agencies, or it can be carried out by a new,
separate public entity called a joint powers authority (JPA).
Joint powers agreements are an attractive tool for local
governments because they facilitate more efficient service
provision through collaboration, and they allow local entities
to issue bonds without voter ratification. Public officials
have created about 700 JPAs statewide.
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The OCFA is not a special district, but was formed as a JPA
and is, therefore, governed by California's JPA laws. Its
agreement allows OCFA's member agencies to change the OCFA
Board by a two-thirds vote.
5)Policy Considerations. The Committee may wish to consider the
following:
a) Changes to OCFA's Board. Supporters of this bill
contend that reducing the size of the Board will make it
more efficient. They also contend that it will stabilize
the composition of the Board by creating more certainty
among Board members. Currently, there are 25 members and
24 alternates, which means any combination of those 49
people could be present for any Board meeting. Supporters
note that this is especially critical when issues are
debated over several meetings.
Opponents, however, raise a number of concerns with this
bill. First, they point out that the bill eliminates
direct representation among all member cities in
contravention of the JPA that created the OCFA. According
to the OCFA website, a JPA model was selected as the
governance structure for the OCFA specifically because
there was a need for "more direct oversight by all
participating agencies." Prior to the formation of the
JPA, fire services for the County were provided by the
Orange County Fire Department under the oversight of the
County BOS. The website notes, "Its initial service area
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included the unincorporated portions of the County and nine
cities. However, over time with the incorporation of five
new cities and four other cities joining the Department,
the percentage of the total service population that resided
in the Department's member cities grew from 48% in 1980 to
83% in 1995." OCFA's member agencies joined the JPA with
the agreement that each contracting city has a seat on the
Board, and the County has two. The Committee may wish to
consider whether it is appropriate for the Legislature to
dictate the terms of an already-existing JPA.
This bill also creates a disadvantage for some cities
currently represented on the Board, while favoring others.
Five cities will have virtually guaranteed seats (Buena
Park, Irvine, Placentia, Santa Ana, and Westminster). The
other 18 cities would have to jockey for the remaining five
seats. The 10 OCFA cities in south Orange County would
only have two seats, losing a combined eight seats.
Thirteen OCFA cities in the central and north parts of the
County would have eight seats, losing a combined five
seats. The Committee may wish to consider whether it
wishes to pick winners and losers on the re-configured
Board.
b) Survey Recommendations. The Author's office has cited a
survey conducted by the OCFA as justification for changing
the Board's composition. However, while the survey
contained a number of recommendations for improving
management generally at OCFA and specifically for expanding
training for Board members, it contained no recommendations
to alter the structure of the Board.
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c) OCTA as a Model. Supporters also cite the successful
operation of the Orange County Transportation Authority
(OCTA), which has 17 directors on its Board and features
population-based weighted voting as well as representation
by the County's City Selection Committee. However, the
OCTA is not a JPA. It is a special district, which garners
its authority directly from the Legislature. As such, it
is appropriate for the Legislature to exercise this
authority over OCTA's governance structure.
6)Prior legislation. AB 1104 (Maddox) of 2001 took several
forms, the last of which provided that, when the proceeds of
taxes levied by a county pursuant to the Shade Tree Law of
1909 are allocated to an agency formed pursuant to JPA law for
the purpose of providing fire protection services, those
proceeds may not be appropriated by that agency in a manner
that provides a financial advantage to any city that
participates in the agency over the other participating
cities. AB 1104 was generally panned in local press articles
as an effort by the author to gain favor with OCFA's
firefighters' union, which favored a smaller Board for the
ease of lobbying it would have provided. AB 1104 was referred
to the Assembly Local Government Committee, but was never
heard.
7)Arguments in Support. The City of Santa Ana, in support,
writes, "Assembly Bill 1217 proposes a smaller, streamlined
board of 13 members. Modeled after the Orange County
Transportation Authority, this structure will ensure that the
City of Santa Ana has a stronger voice on policy matters
considered by the OCFA Board of Directors. A smaller board
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also facilitates consensus and governing for a crucially
important agency serving over 1.7 million residents.
"In 2012, the Santa Ana City Council joined the Orange County
Fire Authority. This decision has saved Santa Ana millions of
dollars annually while maintaining all ten of our city's fire
stations. The Orange County Fire Authority has provided great
service to the city - in fact, one out of residents served by
OCFA lives in Santa Ana."
8)Arguments in Opposition. The Orange County Fire Authority, in
opposition, states, "We oppose any legislation that preempts
local authority and this bill seeks to impose a State solution
to a perceived problem that the proponents have grossly
exaggerated?The Orange County Professional Firefighters
Association has stated in public meetings that the genesis of
this bill is to address long since resolved issues with
oversight and governance. (We) have worked collaboratively
over the past year to put in place new management and
processes to ensure a more engaged Board. In contrast, this
bill would remove many Directors who have been active in
transforming the OCFA.
"Sacramento should not dictate the form, size, and structure
of local governance especially when it impacts the delivery of
fire and emergency medical service?One should ask if this bill
does become law what is to prevent other efforts to remake
local legislative bodies?"
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
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Support
City of Santa Ana
Opposition
Association of California Cities - Orange County
Cities of Aliso Viejo, Buena Park, Cypress, Dana Point, La
Palma, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Woods, Lake Forest,
Los Alamitos, Mission Viejo, Placentia, Rancho Santa Margarita,
San Clemente, San Juan Capistrano, Seal Beach, Stanton, Tustin,
Villa Park, Westminster, and Yorba Linda
Orange County Fire Authority
Analysis Prepared by:Angela Mapp / L. GOV. / (916) 319-3958
AB 1217
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