BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNANCE AND FINANCE
Senator Robert M. Hertzberg, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
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|Bill No: |AB 1217 |Hearing |6/29/16 |
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|Author: |Daly |Tax Levy: |No |
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|Version: |6/23/16 |Fiscal: |No |
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|Consultant|Weinberger |
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Orange County Fire Authority
Prohibits the Orange County Fire Authority from appointing
alternates for its governing board's members.
Background
The Joint Exercise of Powers Act allows two or more public
agencies to use their powers in common if they sign a joint
powers agreement. Sometimes an agreement creates a new,
separate government called a joint powers authority (JPA).
The Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) is a joint powers
authority formed on March 1, 1995 to provide fire protection and
related services to 18 member cities and the unincorporated area
within Orange County. Because five additional cities have
become members of OCFA since its formation, OCFA now operates
within 23 cities and the unincorporated area in Orange County.
OCFA operates a full-service emergency response agency. The
authority manages 71 fire stations that serve more than 1.7
million residents within a land area of approximately 571 square
miles. In fiscal year 2013-14, OCFA personnel responded to more
than 113,000 incidents.
OCFA's joint powers agreement has been amended four times - in
1999, 2010, 2013, and 2015 - since the agreement took effect in
1995. The joint powers agreement establishes a 25-member board
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of directors to govern OCFA. The board is comprised of one
voting member from each member city and two voting members from
Orange County. Until last year, each member jurisdiction could
name an alternate member to OCFA's board, making 49 people
eligible to attend OCFA board meetings (25 members plus 24
alternates). The most recent amendment to OCFA's joint powers
agreement, which took effect last year, eliminated the alternate
member positions on OCFA's board.
To ensure that the governance changes OCFA members approved last
year cannot be reversed, representatives of OCFA's employees
want the Legislature to codify those changes in state law.
Proposed Law
Assembly Bill 1217, notwithstanding any other law, prohibits the
composition of the Board of Directors of the Orange County Fire
Authority from including alternate members.
AB 1217 expresses the intent of the Legislature to reevaluate
the structure of the Board of Directors of the Orange County
Fire Authority within a reasonable period from the bill's
effective date to consider the effectiveness of the board's size
and structure.
State Revenue Impact
No estimate.
Comments
1. Purpose of the bill . In response to concerns that the size
and structure of Orange County Fire Authority's Board of
Directors created governance challenges, previous versions of AB
1217 would have decreased the board's size and restructured the
process by which member agencies appointed representatives to
the board. Conversations prompted by AB 1217's previous
versions led a majority of OCFA's member agencies to conclude
that the Authority could address some of the governance concerns
raised about the board by eliminating the 24 alternate board
member positions. Although the member agencies approved an
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amendment to the Authority's joint powers agreement that
eliminated the alternate board member positions, advocates for
reforming OCFA's governance structure remain concerned that
these changes could easily be undone by the subsequent approval
of another amendment to the joint powers agreement. AB 1217 is
now a narrowly-focused bill that simply codifies in state law
the changes that OCFA's member agencies approved last year. In
practice, the bill makes no change to the existing structure or
function of OCFA's governing board. AB 1217 benefits all of the
residents who rely on OCFA's services by simply preventing OCFA
from restoring an unwieldy board structure that made consensus
and governance difficult.
2. Precedent . The purpose of the Joint Exercise of Powers Act
is to allow California government agencies to work
collaboratively through a mutually-agreeable governance
structure established pursuant to a joint exercise of powers
agreement. Having the Legislature override a joint powers
agreement to dictate a particular JPA's governing structure is
an unprecedented erosion of the broad, flexible authority
granted by the Joint Exercise of Powers Act. In practice, AB
1217 has little substantive effect on OCFA, because it merely
codifies the existing structure of OCFA's governing board, as
approved by the member agencies. However, passing AB 1217 may
invite similar proposals asking the Legislature to impose more
substantial statutory constraints on other joint powers
agreements, further eroding a fundamental purpose of the joint
exercise of powers act, which is to provide for local control
over commonly-held local governmental powers without the need
for legislative involvement.
3. Special legislation . The California Constitution prohibits
special legislation when a general law can apply (Article IV,
§16). AB 1217 contains findings and declarations explaining the
need for legislation that applies only to the Orange County Fire
Authority.
Assembly Actions
Assembly Local Government Committee: 5-2
Assembly Floor: 47-25
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Support and
Opposition (6/23/16)
Support : AFSCME District Council 36; City of Santa Ana; Orange
County Employees Association; Orange County Labor Federation;
Orange County Professional Firefighters Association; United
Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and
Pipe Fitting Industry of the United State and Canada, Local 582.
Opposition : Association of California Cities - Orange County;
Cities of Aliso Viejo, Buena Park, Burlingame, Calimesa, Costa
Mesa, Cypress, Dana Point, Fillmore, Fountain Valley, La Canada
Flintridge, La Palma, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Woods,
Lake Forest, Los Alamitos; Mission Viejo, Norwalk, Placentia,
Plymouth, Rancho Cordova, Rancho Santa Margarita, Salinas, San
Carlos, San Clemente, San Juan Capistrano, Seal Beach, Stanton,
Tehachapi, Thousand Oaks, Tustin, Villa Park, Westminster, West
Hollywood, Yorba Linda; League of California Cities; Orange
County Council of Governments; Orange County Fire Authority;
Orange County Mosquito and Vector Control District; Orange
County Supervisor Lisa A. Bartlett; Public Agency Risk Sharing
Authority; Schools Excess Liability Fund.
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