BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 184|
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 184
Author: Committee on Governance and Finance
Amended: 6/15/15
Vote: 21
SENATE GOVERNANCE & FIN. COMMITTEE: 6-0, 4/29/15
AYES: Hertzberg, Nguyen, Beall, Hernandez, Lara, Pavley
NO VOTE RECORDED: Moorlach
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 5/11/15
AYES: Lara, Bates, Beall, Hill, Leyva, Mendoza, Nielsen
SENATE FLOOR: 36-0, 5/18/15
AYES: Allen, Anderson, Bates, Beall, Block, Cannella, De León,
Fuller, Gaines, Galgiani, Hancock, Hernandez, Hertzberg, Hill,
Hueso, Huff, Jackson, Lara, Leno, Leyva, Liu, McGuire,
Mendoza, Mitchell, Monning, Moorlach, Morrell, Nguyen,
Nielsen, Pan, Roth, Runner, Stone, Vidak, Wieckowski, Wolk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Berryhill, Hall, Pavley
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 79-0, 7/16/15 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT: Local government: omnibus bill
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill, the Local Government Omnibus Act of 2015,
proposes a number of relatively minor, noncontroversial changes
to state laws governing local governments' powers and duties.
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Assembly Amendments add six more noncontroversial changes.
ANALYSIS: Each year, local officials discover problems with
the state statutes that affect counties, cities, special
districts, and redevelopment agencies, as well as the laws on
land use planning and development. 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 Senate
Governance and Finance Committee's omnibus bill was SB 1462
(Chapter 201, Statutes of 2014) which contained 10 proposals to
change state law, avoiding more than $160,000 in legislative
costs (Chapter 201, Statutes of 2014). Although this practice
may violate a strict interpretation of the single-subject and
germaneness rules as presented in Californians for an Open
Primary v. McPherson (2006) 38 Cal.4th 735, nevertheless it is
an expeditious and relatively inexpensive way to respond to
multiple requests.
This bill, the Local Government Omnibus Act of 2015, proposes
the following changes to the state laws affecting local
agencies' powers and duties:
1) County recorders. County recorders accept and officially
record legal documents, notices, or papers. Among the papers
that they record are "instruments," which are written papers
signed by the persons who are transferring real property.
The County Recorders Association of California is proposing
several amendments to clarify statutes governing county
recorders' activities and conform state law to current
document recording practices:
a) Gender-neutral language. Some statutes that govern
county recorders have not been amended for many decades
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and use the masculine pronouns "he" and "him" to refer to
a county recorder.
This bill replaces outdated references to "he" and
"him" with gender-neutral terms.
b) Internal revenue stamps. State law allows a county
recorder to make marginal notations on records to indicate
whether "internal revenue stamps" were affixed to
specified documents (Government Code §27203).
This bill deletes the references to "internal revenue
stamps" and substitutes language that allows a recorder to
make marginal notations as part of the recording process.
c) Separate index of married women's property. Section
14 of Article XI of California's 1849 Constitution
established a wife's right to own property separately from
her husband and decreed that, "Laws shall also be passed
providing for the registration of the wife's separate
property." Section 5 of Chapter 103 of the Statutes of
1850, included language authoring a complete inventory of
a wife's separate property to be filed in a county
recorder's office as notice that "all property belonging
to her, including the inventory, shall be exempt from
seizure or execution for the debts of her husband." State
law still requires county auditors to keep an index of the
separate property of married women (Government Code
§27251).
This bill repeals this antiquated requirement.
d) Electronic indexing. State law allows a county
recorder to keep a "general grantor-grantee index" of
specified recorded documents relating to real property
transfers (Government Code §27257).
This bill allows a county recorder to combine the general
grantor-grantee index in computerized or electronic format
and requires that the names of the grantors must be
distinguished from the names of the grantees by an easily
recognizable mark or symbol.
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e) Name of person requesting recordation. State law
specifies the procedures that a county recorder must
follow to record an instrument that is authorized by law
to be recorded and deposited in the recorder's office.
Among those procedures is a requirement that the recorder
must endorse upon the document the "name of the person at
whose request it is recorded" (Government Code §27320). A
more recently enacted statute specifies that the name of a
person requesting recording must be shown in the left hand
margin of a document (Government Code §27361.6, enacted by
AB 689, Tucker, 1992).
This bill deletes the outdated requirement that a recorder
must include a requestor's name in the endorsement upon
the document.
f) Returning recorded documents. Read narrowly, state
law could be interpreted as requiring a county recorder to
use the mail to return a recorded document to the person
who submitted it for recording (Government Code §27321).
This bill clarifies that a county recorder may immediately
return a document that has been recorded to the party who
submitted the document.
g) Tax statement declaration. State law requires that a
deed or instrument executed to convey fee title to real
property must, before a recorder accepts it for recording,
note across the bottom of the first page the name and
address to which future tax statements may be mailed
(Government Code §27321.5).
This bill deletes language specifying that the information
must appear "across the bottom" of the page, allowing the
tax statement declaration to appear at the top of the
page.
2) Subdivision Map Act - Payments for setting final monuments.
The Subdivision Map Act controls how counties and cities
approve the conversion of large landholdings into separate
parcels. The Act requires that an engineer or surveyor
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making a survey for a final map or parcel map must set
sufficient durable monuments so that another engineer or
surveyor may readily retrace the survey (Government Code
§66495). A city or county may require a subdivider to
provide a deposit to ensure the payment of various fees and
services related to a final map or parcel map, including
payment of the cost of setting the final monuments. The Act
requires that if an engineer or surveyor's costs of setting
final monuments are to be paid from the deposit held by the
city or county, the payment must be made by the city or
county's "legislative body" (Government Code §66497). As a
result, an item approving the release of funds from a
subdivider's deposit must be placed on the legislative body's
agenda for approval. The California Land Surveyors
Association notes that the requirement that a local
legislative body must act before an engineer or surveyor can
receive payments from a subdivider's deposit can result in
substantial delays and unnecessary costs.
This bill allows a local legislative body to designate a
public officer or employee who is qualified to prepare or
approve parcel maps or final maps to release or reduce the
amount of a deposit to pay an engineer or surveyor for
setting final monuments, subject to specified conditions and
rules.
3) Subdivision performance securities. Counties and cities
commonly impose conditions when they approve proposed
subdivisions, often requiring the subdividers to install
public works such as street lights, curbs, and sewers.
Sometimes subdividers must provide assurances that the work
will be completed, including performance bonds, deposits,
credit instruments, liens, or other property interests.
Until 2006, counties and cities followed their own procedures
in deciding when to release these securities. At the request
of builders, the Legislature adopted uniform procedures and
time limits by which counties and cities must either release
the securities provided for subdivision conditions or tell
the subdividers about the incomplete performance or
unsatisfactory work (Government Code §66499.7, enacted by AB
1460, Umberg, Chapter 411, Statutes of 2005). Wary that
these new requirements might not work, city officials asked
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the Legislature to impose a January 1, 2011 sunset clause.
In 2010, the Legislature extended the statute's sunset date
by five years, until January 1, 2016. Since the 2005 Umberg
bill, there are no reported problems with the statutory
procedures for releasing subdivision performance securities,
nor have counties and cities filed any claims for
state-mandated local costs. The California Building Industry
Association wants legislators to make the statute permanent.
This bill repeals the sunset date in the statute governing
the timeframe and procedures for releasing subdivision
performance securities, thereby allowing the statute to
remain in effect indefinitely.
4) Clerks. Several statutes governing a local government's
powers to acquire, construct, maintain and operate sanitary
sewer systems assign specified duties to the local
government's clerk (Article 4 (commencing with Section 5470)
of Chapter 6 of Division 5 of the Health and Safety Code).
Similarly, several statutes that govern improvement districts
assign specified duties to a local government's clerk (Part 7
(commencing with Section 36600) of Division 18 of the Streets
and Highways Code and Part 8 (commencing with Section 36700)
of Division 18 of the Streets and Highways Code). The
California Association of Clerks and Elections Officials
notes that some of these statutory definitions and uses of
the term "clerk" are ambiguous and could be misinterpreted to
refer to a county clerk, a court clerk, or even a county
registrar of voters.
This bill clarifies that the term "clerk," as used in several
statutes governing local governments' sanitary sewer
functions and business improvement districts, means the clerk
of the local agency's legislative body.
5) County Auditors and Sanitation and Sewage Systems. Cities,
counties, special districts, and authorized public
corporations can collect fees for the sanitation and sewage
services and facilities they provide (Health & Safety Code
§5471). If a local government wants to collect these fees as
part of its general taxes, or if it plans to place a lien on
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a parcel of land to collect these charges, the Health and
Safety Code requires officials to give written notice to
affected property owners and file a copy of this notice with
"the auditor." The Code defines "auditor" as "the financial
officer of the [local government] entity" (Id. at §§5473 and
5474 et seq., 5740). The California State Association of
Counties notes that the word "auditor" in this context is
confusing, as these code sections only relate to duties and
powers of county auditors.
This bill adds the word "county" before the word "auditor" in
the three relevant sections of the Health and Safety Code.
6) Small counties and job order contracting. Current law
allows counties to award annual contracts for "repair,
remodeling, or other repetitive work" (Public Contract Code
§20128.5). These contracts are commonly referred to as job
order contracts. Article 3.6 (commencing with Section 20150)
of Chapter 1 of Part 3 of Division 2 of the Public Contract
Code contains contracting requirements that apply only to
counties with fewer than 500,000 residents. Because Article
3.6 declares that its provisions prevail over other statutes
(Public Contract Code §20150.1), some county officials worry
that this creates ambiguity about whether smaller counties
can use the job order contracting authority that is
established elsewhere in state law. In 2007, the Legislature
passed a bill to eliminate a similar ambiguity over whether
state law allows smaller counties to participate in the
Public Construction Cost Accounting Act (SB 206, Cox, Chapter
26, Statutes of 2007). County officials want the Legislature
to similarly clarify smaller counties' authority to use job
order contracts.
This bill clarifies that counties with fewer than 500,000
residents may award contracts pursuant to the provisions of a
specified statute governing counties' job order contracts.
7) Public utility districts cross-reference correction. The
California Public Contract Code specifies rules that public
utility districts must follow when letting contracts for
certain types of work (Public Contract Code §20200 et seq.).
The Tahoe City Public Utility District notes that a Public
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Contract Code provision contains an erroneous cross-reference
to the Public Utility Code statutes that govern public
utility districts.
This bill corrects the cross-reference.
8) California Uniform Public Construction Cost Accounting Act
updates. The Public Contract Code spells out the procedures
that local officials follow when they build public works
projects, including limits on the contracts' values. When
counties, cities, special districts, school districts, and
community college districts voluntarily adopt the standards
and procedures of the Uniform Public Construction Cost
Accounting Act (UPCCAA), they can use higher limits for their
contracts (Public Contract Code §22000, enacted by AB 1666,
Cortese, Chapter 1054, Statutes of 1983). About 770 local
agencies participate. The UPCCAA created the Uniform Public
Construction Cost Accounting Commission (Commission), which
is responsible for administering the UPCCAA. The Commission
consists of 14 members: 13 are appointed by the State
Controller and one is a designated member of the Contractors
State License Board. Seven members represent the public
sector (counties, cities, school districts, and special
districts). Six members represent the private sector (public
works contractors and unions). At its December 17, 2014
meeting, the Commission voted unanimously to approve several
proposed amendments to the UPCCAA to clarify some provisions
and improve the Act's functionality:
a) School representatives. The UPCCAA requires that two
Commission members must represent school districts, one
with an average daily attendance over 25,000 and one with
an average daily attendance under 25,000 (Public Contract
Code §22010).
This bill repeals the language specifying average daily
attendance thresholds, thereby allowing the Commission's
two school representatives to come from districts of any
size.
b) Controller's appointments. The UPCCAA specifies that
the members of the commission hold office for terms of
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three years, and until their successors are appointed
(Public Contract Code §22014).
This bill clarifies that the State Controller may
reappoint members for subsequent three year terms. This
bill also increases, from 90 days to 120 days, the period
of time within which the Controller must appoint a
replacement to fill a vacancy on the Commission.
c) Travel reimbursements. Commission members cannot
receive compensation for serving on the Commission, but
must be reimbursed for travel and other expenses
necessarily incurred in the performance of their duties
(Public Contract Code §22015).
This bill specifies that the reimbursement rates must
conform to the Controller's travel guideline rates.
d) Updates to Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
circular. The UPCCAA requires the Commission, as part of
its deliberations and review, to take into consideration
relevant provisions of OMB Circular A-76, which relates to
the performance of commercial activities (Public Contract
Code §22017).
This bill clarifies that the Commission's consideration
should include any periodical revisions of that OMB
circular.
e) Informal bid solicitation procedures. The UPCCAA
requires participating local agencies to adopt an informal
bidding ordinance that, among other things, specifies the
manner in which notices inviting informal bids are to be
sent to a list of qualified contractors, construction
trade journals, or both (Public Contract Code §22034).
This bill clarifies the informal bid solicitation
procedures and allows notices inviting informal bids to be
mailed, faxed, or emailed to the appropriate contractors
list or trade journals.
f) Adoption of plans, specifications, and working
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details. The UPCCAA requires a participating agency's
governing body to adopt plans, specifications, and working
details for public projects that exceed a specified value.
This bill allows the plans, specifications, and working
details to be prepared by a designated representative of
the governing body, which will accommodate the Division of
the State Architect's role in the plan approval process
for school districts.
g) Commission findings after compliance review. The
UPCCAA requires the Commission to prepare written findings
after it reviews an agency's compliance with the Act's
provision (Public Contract Code §22044). The proposed
amendments require that the written finding must be
presented to the agency within 30 days of the Commission's
review. The UPCCAA requires a local agency to present the
Commission's findings to its governing board and requires
the board to hold a hearing within 30 days of receiving
the findings. The proposed amendments require that the
board must be presented with the findings within 30 days
and allows the board to hold a hearing within 60 days of
receiving the findings.
For Commission findings relating to non-accounting
practices, this bill requires the agency's board to notify
the Commission in writing, within 60 days of receipt of
written notice of the findings, of the public agency's
efforts to comply.
9) Summarily vacating public service easements. As a condition
of property development, cities and counties may require
developers to dedicate public service easements that provide
a legal basis for utilities and other public facilities to
occupy land within the development. In some cases, these
public service easements are never used for the purposes for
which they were originally intended. State law specifies the
manner in which cities and counties can summarily vacate
public service easements that are no longer needed (Streets
and Highways Code §8330 et seq., enacted by SB 1540, Rains,
Chapter 1050, Statutes of 1980). The California Land
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Surveyors notes that the procedures for summarily vacating
public service easements, which require a local legislative
body to adopt a "resolution of vacation" at a public hearing,
can be unnecessarily time consuming and costly.
As an alternative, this bill allows a local legislative body
to delegate the authority to vacate a public service easement
to a designated public officer or employee who is otherwise
qualified to prepare easements or approve parcel maps or
final maps. The designated officer or employee can vacate an
easement by recording a document that contains the same
information that must be stated in a "resolution of
vacation," including a certification that all entities having
any right, title, or interest on the public service easement
being vacated have been notified of this action.
10)California Water District contracting authority. All 135
California Water Districts are governed by the provisions of
the California Water District Law (Water Code §34000 et seq.,
enacted by SB 1123, Donnelly, 1951). The Law requires that
contracts necessary to carry out a California Water
District's powers and purposes must be executed by a
district's president and secretary (Water Code §35406).
Statutes governing several other types of special districts
allow the districts' boards to delegate the power to sign
contracts to district officers and employees. For example,
the Municipal Water District Law of 1911 allows a district's
board to "delegate and redelegate to officers of the district
the power to bind the district by contract" (Water Code
§71309, enacted by SB 15, Backstrand, 1963). Officials of
the Irvine Ranch Water District, which is governed by the
California Water District Law, note that a strict
interpretation of the Law's requirement that a district's
president and secretary must sign each contract would create
unnecessary administrative burdens.
Replicating statutory language that governs municipal water
districts, this bill grants California Water Districts'
governing boards the authority to delegate to district
officers and employees the power to sign contracts on the
district's behalf.
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11)Paso Robles Basin Water District. Current law authorizes,
under the California Water District Law, the governing board
structure and powers of the Paso Robles Basin Water District
in San Luis Obispo County (AB 2453, Achadjian, Chapter 350,
Statutes of 2014). State law specifies that the District's
board must be comprised of nine directors. Stakeholders note
that statutory language enacted by last year's bill
erroneously allows the District's board to adopt emergency
regulations, which become effective immediately upon
adoption, by the vote of only four or more board members.
This bill corrects this error by requiring that a
supermajority vote of seven members of the Paso Robles Basin
Water District Board is required to adopt an emergency
ordinance.
Comments
This bill compiles noncontroversial changes to state laws
affecting local agencies and land use into a single bill.
Sending a bill through the legislative process costs around
$18,000. By avoiding separate bills, this bill avoids more than
$180,000 in legislative costs. Although the practice may
violate a strict interpretation of the single-subject and
germaneness rules, the Senate Governance and Finance Committee
insists on a very public review of each item. More than 100
public officials, trade groups, lobbyists, and legislative
staffers see each proposal before it goes into the Committee's
bill. Should any item 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.:YesLocal: Yes
According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee:
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Potential minor reimbursable mandate costs related to
provisions eliminating the sunset on releasing subdivision
performance securities. No mandate claims have been filed in
the 10 years that these provisions have been in statute, so it
is unlikely that local agencies would submit a reimbursement
claim in the future.
The remaining provisions of this bill are expected to have
negligible fiscal impact.
SUPPORT: (Verified7/29/15)
Air Conditioning Sheet Metal Association
Air-Conditioning & Refrigeration Contractors Association
California Building Industry Association
California Land Surveyors Association
California Legislative Conference of the Plumbing, Heating and
Piping Industry
Construction Industry Force Account Council
County Recorders Association of California
Irvine Ranch Water District
Finishing Contractors Association of Southern California
National Electrical Contractors Association
United Contractors
OPPOSITION: (Verified7/29/15)
None received
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 79-0, 7/16/15
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom,
Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang,
Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle,
Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina
Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gray,
Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones,
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Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low,
Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin,
Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Perea,
Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago,
Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber,
Wilk, Williams, Wood, Atkins
NO VOTE RECORDED: Gordon
Prepared by:Brian Weinberger / GOV. & F. / (916) 651-4119
8/13/15 13:02:52
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