BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó




           ----------------------------------------------------------------- 
          |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE            |                       AB 2910|
          |Office of Senate Floor Analyses   |                              |
          |(916) 651-1520    Fax: (916)      |                              |
          |327-4478                          |                              |
           ----------------------------------------------------------------- 


                                    THIRD READING


          Bill No:  AB 2910
          Author:   Committee on Local Government  
          Amended:  6/1/16 in Senate
          Vote:     21  

           SENATE GOVERNANCE & FIN. COMMITTEE:  7-0, 6/8/16
           AYES:  Hertzberg, Nguyen, Beall, Hernandez, Lara, Moorlach,  
            Pavley

           ASSEMBLY FLOOR:  79-0, 5/5/16 (Consent) - See last page for  
            vote

           SUBJECT:   Local government:  organization:  omnibus bill


          SOURCE:    Author


          DIGEST:  This bill makes minor clarifying changes to laws  
          affecting local government organization and reorganization.


          ANALYSIS:  Existing law establishes the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg  
          Local Government Reorganization Act, which delegates the  
          Legislature's power to control the boundaries of cities and  
          special districts to local agency formation commissions  
          (LAFCOs).


          This bill makes the following clarifying changes to state laws  
          affecting LAFCOs:


          1)Clarifies some changes in law enacted by SB 239 (Hertzberg,  
            Chapter 763, Statutes of 2015).  SB 239 only replaced some  








                                                                    AB 2910  
                                                                    Page  2



            references to "current service area" with "jurisdictional  
            boundaries."  AB 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.]


          2)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.  AB 2910 makes technical changes to  
            reflect this purpose. [SEC. 2]


          3)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.  AB 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]


          4)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 exempts proposals initiated by a  
            landowner that owns all parcels in the affected territory from  








                                                                    AB 2910  
                                                                    Page  3



            this requirement. [SEC. 4]


          5)Corrects a typographical error 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.  AB 2910 adds assessments to  
            this list to clarify that they should be counted as well.  
            [SEC. 5]


          6)Corrects a typographical error in the statute that governs the  
            LAFCO decision-making process. [SEC. 6]


          7)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, Chapter 109, Statutes of 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.   
            AB 2910 adds the requisite reference and ensures that the  
            expedited dissolution process applies to all special  
            districts. [SEC. 7]


          8)Corrects a cross reference in statute governing the notice of  
            changes of organization or reorganization. [SEC. 8]


          Background


          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.








                                                                    AB 2910  
                                                                    Page  4





          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, Chapter 114, Statutes of 2015) which contained  
          several noncontroversial statutory changes to LAFCO law,  
          avoiding significant legislative costs.  


          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  
          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.


          FISCAL EFFECT:   Appropriation:    No          Fiscal  
          Com.:NoLocal:    No


          SUPPORT:   (Verified6/10/16)


          California Association of Local Agency Formation Commissions  
          (source)
          Alameda Local Agency Formation Commission
          Association of California Water Agencies








                                                                    AB 2910  
                                                                    Page  5



          Contra Costa Local Agency Formation Commission
          El Dorado Local Agency Formation Commission
          Imperial County Local Agency Formation Commission
          Los Angeles County Local Agency Formation Commission
          Riverside Local Agency Formation Commission
          San Diego Local Agency Formation Commission
          San Luis Obispo Local Agency Formation Commission
          Santa Clara County Local Agency Formation Commission
          Solano Local Agency Formation Commission
          Yolo Local Agency Formation Commission


          OPPOSITION:   (Verified6/10/16)


          None received







           ASSEMBLY FLOOR:  79-0, 5/5/16
           AYES:  Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Arambula, Atkins, Baker,  
            Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke,  
            Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley,  
            Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier,  
            Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson,  
            Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger  
            Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey,  
            Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes,  
            McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte,  
            O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez,  
            Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting,  
            Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Rendon
           NO VOTE RECORDED:  Beth Gaines



          Prepared by:  Anton Favorini-Csorba / GOV. & F. / (916) 651-4119
          6/16/16 14:22:40








                                                                    AB 2910  
                                                                    Page  6





                                   ****  END  ****