BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNANCE AND FINANCE
Senator Robert M. Hertzberg, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
------------------------------------------------------------------
|Bill No: |AB 1532 |Hearing |6/24/15 |
| | |Date: | |
|----------+---------------------------------+-----------+---------|
|Author: |Assembly Local Government |Tax Levy: |No |
| |Committee | | |
|----------+---------------------------------+-----------+---------|
|Version: |5/22/15 |Fiscal: |No |
------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Consultant|Favorini-Csorba |
|: | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
LOCAL AGENCY FORMATION COMMISSIONS: OMNIBUS ACT OF 2015
Proposes several changes to laws affecting local government
organization and reorganization.
Background and Existing Law
The Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government Reorganization Act
delegates the Legislature's power to control the boundaries of
cities and special districts to local agency formation
commissions (LAFCOs). The courts call LAFCOs the Legislature's
watchdog over local boundary changes.
As practitioners find problems with the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg
Act, they ask for statutory improvements. These minor problems
do not warrant separate (and expensive) bills. According to the
Legislative Analyst, in 2001-02 the cost of producing a bill was
$17,890.
Legislators respond by combining several of these minor topics
into an annual "omnibus bill." In 2014, for example, the LAFCO
omnibus bill was AB 2762 (Assembly Local Government Committee,
2014) which contained several noncontroversial statutory changes
to LAFCO law, avoiding significant legislative costs. Although
this practice may violate a strict interpretation of the
single-subject and germaneness rules as presented in
AB 1532 (Assembly Local Government Committee) 5/22/15 Page 2
of ?
Californians for an Open Primary v. McPherson (2006), it is an
expeditious and relatively inexpensive way to respond to
multiple requests.
Proposed Law
Assembly Bill 1532 makes the following changes to state laws
affecting local agency formation commissions (LAFCOs):
Updates a reference to the "State Department of Health
Services" to its current name of the "State Department of
Health Care Services,"; corrects the location of the
Licensing and Certification Division; and deletes a
reference to the "California Medical Assistance
Commission," which was eliminated in 2012. [See SEC. 1 of
the bill.]
Standardizes terminology by uniformly applying the word
"appoint" to identify the means by which commissioners are
appointed to LAFCOs. Current law uses a variety of other
terms, including "selected," "designated," and "appointed."
[SEC. 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, and 11.]
Corrects a reference to the composition of the Santa
Clara LAFCO. As authorized by current law, Santa Clara
LAFCO added two special district members to the Commission
in 2013. Therefore, the composition of the commission is
now a seven-member commission, including one public member.
This change updates Section 56327, which states that the
public member is appointed by the other four members of the
commission. This proposed change will reflect the current
composition of the commission. Additionally, this section
deletes a reference to a repealed code section and replaces
it with the correct reference for the process by which a
LAFCO provides special districts with representation on the
commission. [SEC. 5 and 6.]
Clarifies a code section that lists the circumstances
under which a LAFCO must approve a change of organization
or reorganization of a city without allowing for a protest
proceeding. This change makes the subdivision easier to
read and emphasizes that there are two cases in which the
subdivision does not apply. [SEC. 10.]
Inserts a reference to "updating" a sphere of influence,
in addition to "amending," when describing the fees that a
LAFCO may levy for its services. This addition is
consistent with other references in LAFCO law to "amending
or updating" a sphere of influence. [SEC. 12.]
AB 1532 (Assembly Local Government Committee) 5/22/15 Page 3
of ?
Expands the circumstances where a LAFCO may appoint an
alternate legal counsel due to a conflict of interest that
affects staff counsel. Current law authorizes a commission
to appoint alternate legal counsel if there is a financial
conflict of interest as defined in the Political Reform
Act. The current definition of "conflict of interest" does
not include instances when legal counsel represents clients
with potentially adverse interests. AB 1532
expands the definition of "conflict of interest" to
authorize the commission to appoint alternate legal costs
and recover their costs for doing so. The definition of
"conflict of interest" in Rule 3-310 is currently used in
statute in instances when county counsel or a district
attorney may have a conflict of interest in representing an
assessor or sheriff. [SEC. 13]
Adds a missing cross-reference to an additional
circumstance when the commission can approve a change of
organization or reorganization without notice, hearing, and
election. [SEC. 14.]
Makes technical changes to two sections that govern the
actions LAFCOs must take at the end of their proceedings.
These changes format the two sections in the same way and
make statute more consistent. [SEC. 15 and 16.]
Corrects the terminology used to describe the document a
commission prepares to indicate that a proposal for a
change of organization or reorganization was terminated.
[SEC. 17.]
Clarifies the section that orders LAFCO to terminate
proceedings if a change of organization or reorganization
does not receive a majority of the votes cast by the
electorate. AB 1532 restructures this section to be
consistent with other sections in LAFCO law, which clearly
state that anything other than a majority of votes cast in
favor of the proposal results in termination of
proceedings.
State Revenue Impact
No estimate.
Comments
AB 1532 (Assembly Local Government Committee) 5/22/15 Page 4
of ?
Purpose of the bill . Even the best written statutes contain
minor flaws. When statutory problems appear in the state law
affecting LAFCOs, the Assembly Local Government Committee avoids
legislative costs by combining several changes to the state laws
into a single, consensus bill. AB 1532 compiles, into a single
bill, noncontroversial statutory changes to ten parts of LAFCO
law. Moving a bill through the legislative process costs around
$18,000. By avoiding nine other bills, the Committee's measure
avoids more than $160,000 in legislative costs. Although the
practice may violate a strict interpretation of the
single-subject and germaneness rules, the Committee insists on a
very public review of each item. By carefully reviewing each
item with the affected parties, the Committee also avoids
controversy. Should any item in AB 1532 attract opposition, the
Committee will delete it. In this transparent process, there is
no hidden agenda. If it's not consensus, it's not omnibus.
Assembly Actions
Assembly Floor 78-0
Assembly Local Government 9-0
Support and
Opposition (6/18/15)
Support : Alameda Local Agency Formation Commission; Butte Local
Agency Formation Commission; California Association of Local
Agency Formation Commissions (CALAFCO); Contra Costa Local
Agency Formation Commission; El Dorado Local Agency Formation
Commission; Local Agency Formation Commission for the County of
Los Angeles; Local Agency Formation Commission for San
Bernardino County; Local Agency Formation Commission of Santa
Clara County; Local Agency Formation Commission of Yolo County;
Nevada County Local Agency Formation Commission; Riverside Local
Agency Formation Commission; San Benito Local Agency Formation
Commission; San Diego Local Agency Formation Commission; San
Luis Obispo Local Agency Formation Commission; San Mateo Local
Agency Formation Commission; Santa Barbara Local Agency
Formation Commission; Santa Cruz Local Agency Formation
Commission; Sonoma Local Agency Formation Commission; Stanislaus
Local Agency Formation Commission; Tulare County Local Agency
AB 1532 (Assembly Local Government Committee) 5/22/15 Page 5
of ?
Formation Commission.
Opposition : Unknown.
-- END --