BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNANCE AND FINANCE
Senator Robert M. Hertzberg, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
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|Bill No: |AB 2910 |Hearing |6/8/16 |
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|Author: |Committee on Local Government |Tax Levy: |No |
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|Version: |6/1/16 |Fiscal: |No |
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|Consultant|Favorini-Csorba |
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Local government: organization: omnibus bill
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
amendments into an annual "omnibus bill." In 2015, for example,
the LAFCO omnibus bill was AB 1532 (Assembly Local Government
Committee, 2015) which contained several noncontroversial
statutory changes to LAFCO law, avoiding significant legislative
costs.
Proposed Law
AB 2910 (Committee on Local Government) 6/1/16 Page 2
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Assembly Bill 2910 makes the following changes to state laws
affecting LAFCOs:
Clarifies some changes in law enacted by SB 239
(Hertzberg, 2015). SB 239 only replaced some references to
"current service area" with "jurisdictional boundaries."
Assembly Bill 2910 ensures the consistent use of
jurisdictional boundaries throughout the law. It also
clarifies that the fiscal analysis required by SB 239 is
not a "comprehensive fiscal analysis," which is a specific
term within the context of LAFCO proceedings. [See SEC. 1
of the bill.]
Corrects statutory language that describes LAFCO
purposes. Current law states that one purpose of a LAFCO is
to efficiently provide government services. However, a
LAFCO does not directly provide services, but instead
encourages service providers, such as special districts, to
efficiently provide those services. Assembly Bill 2910
makes technical changes to reflect this purpose. [SEC. 2]
Requires public members sitting on LAFCOs to be
residents of the county of the appointing commission. The
composition of LAFCOs includes the appointment of a public
member and an alternate public member. Existing law places
only one restriction on the selection of public members:
that no officer or employee of a county, city, or district
within the county may be appointed as a public member or
alternate public member. In practice, LAFCOs require these
public members to be a resident of the county of the
commission that appoints the public member. Assembly Bill
2910 codifies this practice and includes references to
LAFCOs that have the composition of their commission
established separately in a stand-alone section. [SEC. 3]
Exempts proposals for changes of organization that are
initiated by the sole landowner in the affected area from
certain notices. Current law requires the filing of a
Notice of Intent to Circulate Petition prior to the
circulation of any petition to initiate a change of
organization. In cases when there is only a single
landowner involved, that sole landowner must currently file
this notice before they can sign their own petition.
AB 2910 (Committee on Local Government) 6/1/16 Page 3
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Assembly Bill 2910 exempts proposals initiated by a
landowner that owns all parcels in the affected territory
from this requirement. [SEC. 4]
Corrects a typo in the statute that governs city
disincorporation and ensures that any unpaid assessments
owed to a disincorporating city are tallied along with
other financial obligations. Current law requires
disincorporating cities to determine and certify the amount
of any tax levy or other obligation outstanding. Assembly
Bill 2910 adds assessments to this list to clarify that
they should be counted as well. [SEC. 5]
Corrects a typo in the statute that governs the LAFCO
decision-making process. [SEC. 6]
Clarifies that LAFCOs' ability to conduct an expedited
dissolution process for special districts generally also
applies to healthcare districts. Current law, enacted by
AB 912 (Gordon, 2011), authorizes LAFCOs to dissolve a
special district without an election in some cases, but it
mistakenly excluded a reference to another provision of
current law that states that dissolutions of local hospital
districts are subject to approval by voters. Assembly Bill
2910 adds the requisite reference and ensures that the
expedited dissolution process applies to all special
districts. [SEC. 7]
Corrects a cross reference in statute governing the
notice of changes of organization or reorganization. [SEC.
8]
State Revenue Impact
No estimate.
Comments
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
AB 2910 (Committee on Local Government) 6/1/16 Page 4
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into a single, consensus bill. AB 2910 compiles, into a single
bill, noncontroversial statutory changes to eight parts of LAFCO
law. Moving a bill through the legislative process costs around
$18,000. By avoiding seven other bills, the Committee's measure
avoids more than $126,000 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 2910 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.
AB 2910 (Committee on Local Government) 6/1/16 Page 5
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Assembly Actions
Assembly Local Government 9-0
Assembly Floor 79-0
Support and
Opposition (6/2/16)
Support : California Association of Local Agency Formation
Commissions (sponsor); Alameda LAFCO; Association of California
Water Agencies; Contra Costa LAFCO; El Dorado LAFCO; Imperial
County LAFCO; Los Angeles County LAFCO; Riverside LAFCO; San
Diego LAFCO; San Luis Obispo LAFCO; Santa Clara County LAFCO;
Solano LAFCO; Yolo LAFCO;
Opposition : None received.
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