BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNANCE AND FINANCE
Senator Robert M. Hertzberg, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
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|Bill No: |SB 974 |Hearing | 4/6/16 |
| | |Date: | |
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|Author: |Committee on Governance and |Tax Levy: |No |
| |Finance | | |
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|Version: |3/29/16 |Fiscal: |No |
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|Consultant|Weinberger |
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Local government omnibus ACT OF 2016
Proposes several changes to state laws governing local
governments' powers and duties.
Background
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,
the cost of producing a bill in 2001-02 was $17,890.
Legislators respond by combining several of these minor topics
into an annual "omnibus bill." In 2015, for example, the local
government omnibus bill was SB 184 (Senate Governance & Finance
Committee) which contained noncontroversial statutory changes to
11 areas of local government law, avoiding more than $150,000 in
legislative costs. 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), it is an expeditious and relatively inexpensive way to
respond to multiple requests.
SB 974 (Committee on Governance and Finance) 3/29/16 Page 2
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Proposed Law
Senate Bill 974, the "Local Government Omnibus Act of 2016,"
proposes the following changes to the state laws affecting local
agencies' powers and duties:
County recorders . County recorders accept and officially record
legal documents, notices, or papers, including survey maps.
State law requires that a record of survey filed with a county
recorder must be securely fastened into a suitable book provided
for that purpose. The County Recorders Association of
California notes that this requirement does not conform to
modern best practices for storing recorded final and parcel
maps. Senate Bill 974 allows a county recorder, as an
alternative to fastening maps in a book, to store recorded
survey maps in any manner that assures the maps will be kept
together. In the same statute, the bill also replaces outdated
references to "he" and "him" with gender-neutral terms. [See
SEC. 2 of the bill.]
Veterans' records . State law requires that certified copies of
specified recorded documents related to an individual's military
service may be made available only to four types of requesters,
including a county office that provides veterans' benefit
services. The County Recorders Association of California notes
that this requirement prohibits county recorders from providing
certified copies of military service records to city or state
offices that provide veterans' benefit services. Senate Bill
974 allows any state, county, or city office that provides
veterans' benefit services to request and receive certified
copies of military service records. [SEC. 3.]
Notaries and certified mail . State law requires that specified
communications between a notary public and the Secretary of
State's Office be made using certified mail. The California
Association of Clerks and Elections Officials notes that a
narrow reading of the certified mail requirement could prohibit
a notary public from communicating with the Secretary of State's
Office using other similar means of delivery that provide a
receipt, like overnight or express delivery services. Senate
Bill 974 allows specified communications between a notary public
and the Secretary of State's Office to use, in addition to
certified mail, any other means of physical delivery that
provides a receipt. [SEC. 4, SEC. 5, SEC. 7, and SEC. 8.]
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Notaries' oaths . State law specifies the manner in which a
notary public must file an oath of office with a county clerk.
The California Association of Clerks and Elections Officials
notes that state law does not require a county clerk to confirm
the identity of an individual taking the oath as a notary
public. Senate Bill 974 requires a person taking the notary
public oath of office before a county clerk to provide an
identification document that meets specified statutory
requirements. The bill also allows the oath of office to be
filed with the county clerk by any means of physical delivery
that provides a receipt, in addition to certified mail. [SEC.
6.]
Cities' financial transaction reports . State law requires
cities to furnish the State Controller with annual reports of
their financial transactions and requires city clerks to either
publish or publicly post the contents of the annual reports that
cities submit to the Controller. Last year, the Legislature
extended, until seven months after the end of a local agency's
fiscal year, the deadline for submitting an annual financial
transactions report to the Controller (AB 341, Achadjian, 2015).
The League of California Cities notes that the statutory
deadline by which city clerks must publish or post the annual
reports was not extended and now falls well before the deadline
for submitting the reports to the Controller. Senate Bill 974
conforms the deadline before which city clerks must publish or
post annual financial transactions reports to the timelines
established by last year's Achadjian bill. [SEC. 9.]
Local agency investment requirements . Since 1913, state law has
authorized local officials to invest a portion of their
temporarily idle funds in a variety of financial instruments.
State law allows local officials to invest in some financial
instruments only if the instrument receives a specified rating
from a nationally recognized statistical rating organization
(NRSRO), like Fitch, Moody's, or Standard & Poor's. NRSROs
assign specific investment vehicles into ratings categories
(usually designated with a letter-grade, like "A" or "B") and
further differentiate investment vehicles' relative standing
within those general ratings categories by attaching various
modifiers (like "A+", "A-") that indicate whether a particular
investment vehicle falls within the high, middle, or low range
of a ratings category. The State Treasurer's Office notes that
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some public officials and investment industry professionals
disagree about how to interpret some state laws that require an
investment vehicle to have a specified rating. For example, it
is ambiguous whether a statute that requires an investment
instrument to have an "A" rating or higher allows investments in
any instrument within the "A" category or allows investments
only in instruments within the middle or upper range of the "A"
category. Senate Bill 974 clarifies some statutory ratings
requirements by specifying that some ratings requirements refer
to a ratings category and specifying that the rating specified
in statute also applies to "equivalent" ratings (i.e. a
requirement that an investment instrument must have an "A1"
rating also allows for investment in an instrument with a "AAA"
rating). [SEC. 10.]
Hearing notice cross-reference . State law specifies the manner
in which local governments must provide notice of public
hearings relating to planning and land use. One statute
requires that notice of a hearing must be mailed or delivered
to:
A local agency that is expected to provide water,
sewage, streets, roads, schools, or other essential
facilities or services to a project.
All owners of real property located within 300 feet of
real property that is the subject of a hearing.
A senior deputy in the Monterey County Counsel's office notes
that amendments made by AB 2867 (Torrico, 2006) renumbered the
statute's provisions but failed to change a cross-reference. As
a result, some notice requirements that used to be related to
the mailing or delivery of notice to property owners now appear
to be related to the mailing or delivery of notice to public
agencies. Senate Bill 974 changes the cross-reference to refer
to the same section of statute that it referred to before 2006.
[SEC. 11.]
General plan safety element updates . Current law requires
counties and cities, upon each revision of their general plans'
housing elements, to review and, if necessary, revise their
general plans' safety elements to identify new flood and fire
hazard information that wasn't available at the time the safety
element was previously revised to address flood and fire hazards
(Government Code §65302). Last year, the Legislature passed SB
379 (Jackson, 2015) which requires cities and counties to review
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and update their general plans' safety elements to address
climate adaptation and resiliency. SB 379 added a
cross-reference to existing law to require that a general plan's
safety element must be reviewed and updated to add new
information about risks posed by climate change upon each
revision of the general plan's housing element, as is already
required for flood and fire risks. Senator Jackson's staff
notes that, unlike earlier bills requiring safety plan updates
for flood and fire risks, SB 379 requires the safety element to
be updated to address climate change risks upon the next update
of a local hazard mitigation plan, and not the housing element.
The League of California Cities wants to further clarify that a
housing element update does not trigger a requirement to update
the safety element with climate change and resiliency
information. Senate Bill 974 deletes the erroneous
cross-reference enacted by last year's SB 379 and clarifies that
additional information relating only to flood and fire hazards
must be identified in a revised general plan safety element
after each revision of a general plan housing element. [SEC.
12.]
Fort Ord Reuse Authority's board . After federal officials
closed the Fort Ord military base in Monterey County, the
Legislature passed the Fort Ord Reuse Authority Act, which
created the Fort Ord Reuse Authority (FORA) to coordinate the
former base's transition (SB 899, Mello, 1994). State law
allows FORA's board to include, as ex officio nonvoting members:
A representative designated by the Member of Congress
from the 17th Congressional District.
A representative designated by the Senator from the 15th
Senate District.
A representative designated by the Assembly Member from
the 27th Assembly District.
Senator Monning's staff notes that redistricting has changed the
numbers that are assigned to congressional, state senate, and
state assembly districts, so that the district numbers
identified in statute no longer correspond to districts
representing the Fort Ord area. Senate Bill 974 allows the
congressmember, state senator, and state assemblymember whose
districts include the majority of Fort Ord to appoint
representatives to FORA's board. [SEC. 13.]
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Fire protection district resolution of application . Current law
allows a city council or county board of supervisors to propose
forming a new fire protection district by adopting a "resolution
of application" that meets specified requirements (Health and
Safety Code §13821). A related statute requiring a local agency
formation commission to act on proposals to form new fire
protection districts erroneously refers to a "resolution or
application" (Health and Safety Code §13822). To clarify that
statute's meaning, Senate Bill 974 replaces the word "or" with
the word "of" so that the statute refers to a "resolution of
application." [SEC. 14.]
Sewer agency ordinances and resolutions . Many state laws
provide that local agencies may take specified actions only by
adopting an ordinance, only by adopting a resolution, or by
either adopting an ordinance or a resolution. Irvine Ranch
Water District staff notes that several statutes governing local
governments that operate sanitary sewers and sewerage systems
contain inconsistent language specifying whether an agency must
adopt an ordinance, a resolution, or either one to fix and
collect fees or charges and take other actions related to its
operation of a sanitary sewer or sewerage system. Senate Bill
974 amendments amend existing statutes to consistently authorize
a local agency to adopt either an ordinance or a resolution. [In
the amendments' text, see proposed SEC. 15, SEC. 16, SEC. 17,
and SEC. 18.]
Best value definition . Last year, the Legislature passed SB 762
(Wolk, 2015), which allows seven specified counties to award
construction contracts through a "best value" procurement
process and modifies the definitions of "best value" in statutes
allowing the state and local government officials to use the
design-build contracting method for some public works. The
Legislature also passed SB 374 (Hueso, 2015), which authorized
the San Diego Association of Government to use design-build for
transit capital projects and development projects adjacent or
related to transit facilities. Both SB 762 and SB 374 made
different amendments to Public Contract Code §22161. Senator
Wolk's staff notes that because SB 374 was signed into law after
SB 762, its language erased - or "chaptered out" - the changes
that SB 762 made to the definition of "best value" in Public
Contract Code §22161. Senate Bill 974 restores the changes to
the definition of best value that were chaptered out by SB 374.
[SEC. 19.]
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Vehicle license fee calculation . In lieu of a property tax on
motor vehicles, the state collects an annual Vehicle License Fee
(VLF) and allocates the revenues, minus administrative costs, to
cities and counties. As a part of the complex statutory
requirements for allocating VLF revenues, state law requires the
State Controller to use a specified formula to determine the
population of certain recently incorporated cities (Revenue and
Taxation Code §11005.3). The State Controller's staff notes
that statutes requiring this calculation contain erroneous
cross-references to the definition of a city's "actual
population." To clarify this law's meaning, Senate Bill 974
corrects cross-references to the definition of a city's "actual
population." [SEC. 20. and SEC. 21.]
County clerk references . In 2002, state law was amended to
shift the responsibility for entering some superior court
judgements from county clerks to the Clerk of the Court (SB
1316, Senate Committee on Judiciary, 2002). The California
Association of Clerks and Elections Officials notes that two
statutes relating to superior court judgements contain outdated
references to a county clerk. Senate Bill 974 replace the term
"county clerk" with the term "Clerk of the Court" in those two
statutes. [SEC. 22 and SEC. 23.]
Highway user tax account allocations . The State allocates funds
from the Highway Users Tax Account (HUTA), to cities and
counties for local street and road maintenance. The
apportionment amount for revenues from the Use Fuel Tax Law is
calculated and distributed based on specific formulas and rates
established in Revenue & Taxation Code § 8651, §8651.5, and
§8651.6. The State Controller's staff notes that Streets and
Highways Code 2105 only references Revenue and Taxation Code
§8651 for the calculation, omitting references to §8651.5 and
§8651.6. To ensure that the apportionments to cities and
counties required by Streets & Highways Code §2105 are
calculated properly, Senate Bill 974 adds the omitted
cross-references. [SEC. 24.]
Kern County Water Agency . The Kern County Water Agency (KCWA)
is governed by a seven member elected board of directors and is
responsible for delivering water from the state water project to
local water agencies with which it contracts. State law
requires KCWA, in addition to all other requirements in state
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law, to additionally obtain the Kern County Board of
Supervisor's approval before it can levy a tax, create a benefit
zone, or adopt a budget. KCWA officials note that in light of
the many voter-approval and public hearing requirements in state
law that apply to local agencies' taxes and budgets, the
requirement for KCWA to seek the board of supervisors' approval
is duplicative and unnecessary. State law does not require most
other special districts to obtain a board of supervisors'
approval before levying taxes or adopting a budget. Senate Bill
974 deletes the requirement that KCWA must get the board of
supervisors' approval before levying taxes, creating benefit
zones, or adopting a budget. The bill also deletes a section of
law authorizing Kern County employees to perform duties and
provide services for the KCWA subject to specified conditions.
[SEC. 25, SEC. 26 and SEC. 27.]
State Revenue Impact
No estimate.
Comments
Purpose of the bill . SB 974 compiles, into a single bill,
noncontroversial statutory changes to 16 parts of state laws
that affect local agencies and land use. Moving a bill through
the legislative process costs around $18,000. By avoiding 15
other bills, the Committee's measure avoids more than $250,000
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. 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 in SB 974 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.
Support and
Opposition (3/31/16)
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Support : Irvine Ranch Water District.
Opposition : Unknown.
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