BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1251| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- THIRD READING Bill No: AB 1251 Author: Gomez (D) Amended: 6/24/15 in Senate Vote: 21 SENATE GOVERNANCE & FIN. COMMITTEE: 5-0, 7/1/15 AYES: Hertzberg, Beall, Hernandez, Lara, Pavley NO VOTE RECORDED: Nguyen, Moorlach SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 5-2, 8/27/15 AYES: Lara, Beall, Hill, Leyva, Mendoza NOES: Bates, Nielsen ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 61-15, 6/3/15 - See last page for vote SUBJECT: Greenway Development and Sustainment Act SOURCE: Author DIGEST: This bill authorizes certain non-profit organizations, tribes, and state and local governments to acquire easements for the purpose of developing greenways along urban waterways. ANALYSIS: Existing law: 1)Requires every city and county to prepare and periodically update a comprehensive, long-range general plan to guide future decisions. 2)Requires the general plan to include seven mandatory elements, including an open space element that defines areas of open AB 1251 Page 2 space for, among other things, the preservation of natural resources, the managed production of natural resources, outdoor recreation, and public health and safety. 3)Authorizes qualified nonprofit organizations, the state or a local government, or a Native American tribe to hold conservation easements for the preservation or protection of land. 4)Defines a conservation easement as an easement or restriction on land for the purpose of retaining the land predominantly in its "natural, scenic, historical, agricultural, forested, or open-space condition." Similar land restrictions can also be made for scenic and trail purposes or open-space. 5)Provides that all property is taxable unless explicitly exempted by the Constitution or federal law. 6)Requires an assessor, when assessing land, to consider the effect upon the value of any enforceable restrictions on the uses of the land, including, a recorded conservation, trail, or scenic easement. This bill: 1)Defines a greenway as a separate path for bikes and pedestrians that must be located within 400 yards of an urban waterway where access to the property has been granted through some sort of agreement with the property owner or operator of any facilities on the land. Additionally, a greenway must: a) Contain landscaping that: i) "Improves" rivers and streams, ii) Provides flood protection benefits, and iii) Incorporates the significance and value of natural, historical, and cultural resources as documented in the local agency's applicable planning document; b) Provide nearby communities with easy access to the path and include features that allow the use of the path; and AB 1251 Page 3 c) Meet any design standards for greenways that are set by a relevant local agency's planning documents. 2)Defines an urban waterway to be a creek, stream, or river that crosses developed property or open space where the relevant local agency's planning document designates the land as residential, commercial, or industrial. 3)Creates a new type of enforceable restriction on the use of property, called a "greenway easement," that dedicates the land for the purpose of developing greenways along urban waterways. These greenway easements are permanent (perpetual) provisions placed into a deed, will, or other legal instrument and are binding on successive owners of the land. 4)States that greenway easements are voluntarily-created interests in real property and includes provisions specifying how they are to be recorded and enforced. 5)Allows three types of entities may acquire and hold greenway easements: a) State and federal agencies. b) Tribes. c) Nonprofit organizations created specifically for the purpose of developing greenways. 6)States that local agencies may include greenways in the open space element of their general plans. 7)Requires assessors to consider the effect of greenway easements (as enforceable restrictions) on the value of property and corrects a cross-reference in the Revenue and Taxation Code. 8)Finds and declares the importance of greenways, including that: a) Greenways provide greenhouse gas reduction benefits; b) The area along the Los Angeles River and its tributaries are particularly suited for developing a greenway; and AB 1251 Page 4 c) Developing a greenway allows a city, county, or city and county to apply for greenhouse gas reduction funds and other sources of funds. Comments 1)Purpose of this bill. Greenways can promote economic development, environmental conservation, public health, and the overall quality of life by enhancing the ability of residents to connect with natural spaces near and along urban waterways. AB 1251 promotes the development of greenways by providing government agencies and nonprofit organizations with a new tool-greenway easements-to ensure that land developed as a greenway stays that way in perpetuity, instead of being converted to other, more intensive uses in the future. It further provides an economic incentive to keep land near urban waterways as a greenway by lowering the property tax bills of landowners who allow the use of their property for greenways. 2)What's the problem? AB 1251 creates a new type of easement to encourage the development of greenways. However, it is unclear whether the lack of this tool has hindered the development of greenways up to this point. Local agencies currently have the authority to do land use planning consistent with this bill, and there are other ways of ensuring access to the land necessary for the development of greenways, such as purchasing the land. There may be other, more significant obstacles to the development of greenways, such as funding challenges, that this bill does not address. Prior Legislation AB 1251 is substantially similar to AB 1922 (Gomez, 2014), which would have allowed conservation easements to be acquired in order to develop greenways. AB 1922 included nearly identical definitions of greenways and urban waterways, and some of the same findings and declarations. AB 1922 was held in the Senate Appropriations Committee. FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal AB 1251 Page 5 Com.:YesLocal: No According to the Senate Appropriations Committee: Unknown costs, at least in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions, (General Fund) for increased Proposition 98 payments needed to replace reduced local property tax revenues used for schools. Cost pressures, likely in the millions of dollars, to the Greenhouse Gas Reduction fund (special) and various special funds for alternative fuels for greenway projects. SUPPORT: (Verified8/28/15) California League of Conservation Voters California Trout Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti Sierra Club California OPPOSITION: (Verified8/28/15) Central Coast Forestry Association ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 61-15, 6/3/15 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Baker, Bloom, Bonta, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Hadley, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, McCarty, Medina, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Perea, Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Atkins NOES: Travis Allen, Bigelow, Brough, Chávez, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Grove, Harper, Kim, Mathis, Melendez, Olsen, Patterson, Steinorth, Wagner AB 1251 Page 6 NO VOTE RECORDED: Bonilla, Chang, Dahle, Mayes Prepared by:Anton Favorini-Csorba / GOV. & F. / (916) 651-4119 8/31/15 12:47:50 **** END ****