BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES AND WATER
Senator Fran Pavley, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: SB 234 Hearing Date: March 24,
2015
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|Author: |Wolk | | |
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|Version: |February 13, 2015 |
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|Urgency: |Yes |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Katharine Moore |
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Subject: Wildlife management areas: payments
BACKGROUND AND EXISTING LAW
1.The Department of Fish and Wildlife [department] operates 111
wildlife managements areas covering over 700,000 acres in
locations throughout the state. Typically the wildlife
management areas are located in rural areas and are designed
to protect natural ecosystems and improve habitat for fish and
wildlife in addition to providing recreational, hunting,
fishing, wildlife viewing and outdoor education opportunities.
2.Longstanding existing law specifies that the department
provide counties containing wildlife management areas with
ongoing annual payments, as specified, from funds available to
the department (Fish and Game Code (FGC) §1504) . These
"payments in lieu of taxes" (PILT) are designed to offset lost
property tax revenues that counties and other local
governments would be able to collect on those properties if
they were not state-owned.
3.From 1957 - 2002, PILT payments were made from the General
Fund. A partial PILT payment was made in FY 2002/03. Since
then the state has not made any PILT payments.
4.According to the department, the May 2014 estimate of PILT
arrears is $18,682,283, or about $19 million, due to 36
counties. The annual amount due under PILT is approximately
$1.6 million.
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5.The Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) recently noted that
some local governments may be providing services (for example,
maintaining local facilities) on wildlife management areas
that they do not receive property tax revenue from. Data to
evaluate this are not available.
6.The state does not pay property taxes (CA Constitution,
Article XIII, §3.)) LAO also recently noted that no other
state department makes PILT payments to local jurisdictions
for state-owned lands.
7.In the FY 2015/16 budget proposal from the Administration,
resumption of annual PILT payments of approximately $644,000
is proposed. (The difference between this proposal and the
department's calculations is discussed below.)
PROPOSED LAW
This bill would appropriate $19 million from the General Fund to
the department to make payments to the counties for unpaid
amounts due under PILT and make supporting legislative findings
and declarations.
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT
According to the author, "SB 234 ensures the [department] is
able to make unpaid in lieu or tax payments to counties that
transferred property to the state to be used as wildlife areas."
"The in lieu fees program was established with the intention of
mitigating the effects of the State's land acquisition policies
on county revenues sources. However, adequate funding for this
program has not been provided since 2001 - 02, leaving the
burden on counties to struggle to provide for their residents
with reduced revenues. The non-payment of PILT monies has been
especially burdensome on small, rural counties. While the
Governor's budget includes funding for PILT payments in the
upcoming fiscal year, this legislation is still necessary to
make the impacted counties whole."
According to RCRC, Mono and other counties, "[t]hese PILT
payments are intended to offset adverse impacts to county
property tax revenues when the state acquires private property
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for wildlife management areas."
Yuba County adds, "[l]ike other California counties, we are
committed to fulfill our responsibility to provide mandated
services to public lands yet struggle each year to overcome
inadequate funding. It's important to understand that the
solvency of California is not truly achieved until obligations
are fully met at the local level."
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION
None received.
COMMENTS
Current budget action on PILT . As noted above, the Governor's
budget for FY 2015/16 has proposed a $644,000 allocation from
the General Fund to the department to be used to resume PILT
payments to the affected 36 counties. The proposed payments
range from less than $20 (Placer and San Luis Obispo Counties)
to $132,485 (Riverside County) with an average payment of just
under $17,900. The Governor's estimate of PILT includes funding
for counties, cities and special districts, but not school
districts. According to the Administration, providing PILT
payments to school districts would be duplicative of existing
state General Fund payments to support schools. The
Administration has also proposed trailer bill language that
makes PILT payments discretionary (by modifying FGC §1504) and
that requires that no PILT funds be allocated to school
districts or similar. The Senate Budget Subcommittee #2 has not
heard this item yet, and the Assembly Budget Subcommittee #3
held it open at its March 4, 2015 hearing.
What is the appropriate amount for arrears ? The most recent
department calculations indicate approximately $19 million is
the total amount due for PILT arrears. The department
calculation does not make the adjustment for school districts
that is made in the Governor's recent budget proposal. LAO
estimates that the PILT arrears using the Administration's
adjustment to exclude school districts is approximately
$7,785,000.
Related recent (non-Budget) legislation
SB 1410 (Wolk, 2014) would have appropriated $19 million to pay
the PILT arrears and instituted a $2 million annual
appropriation for PILT payments (held in the Senate
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Appropriations Committee)
AB 1452 (Wolk, 2007) would have appropriated $7,415,000 from the
General Fund to the department to pay PILT arrears. (bill
subsequently amended into a different subject area)
SUPPORT
Rural County Representatives of California (sponsor)
California State Association of Counties
County of Yolo
Del Norte County
Humboldt County
Mono County
San Diego County Board of Supervisor
Supervisor from Tulare County
Yuba County Board of Supervisors
1 Individual
OPPOSITION
None Received
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