BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 974| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- CONSENT Bill No: SB 974 Author: Committee on Governance and Finance Amended: 3/29/16 Vote: 21 SENATE GOVERNANCE & FIN. COMMITTEE: 7-0, 4/6/16 AYES: Hertzberg, Nguyen, Beall, Hernandez, Lara, Moorlach, Pavley SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8 SUBJECT: Local government: omnibus SOURCE: Author DIGEST: This bill proposes several non-controversial changes to state laws governing local governments' powers and duties. 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 2015, for example, the local government omnibus bill was SB 184 (Senate Governance & Finance Committee, Chapter 269, Statutes of 2015), which contained noncontroversial statutory changes to 11 areas of local government law, avoiding more than $150,000 in legislative costs. SB 974 Page 2 This bill 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, 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. This bill 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 In the same statute, the bill also replaces outdated references to "he" and "him" with gender-neutral terms.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 this bill.] 2) 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. This bill allows any state, county, or city office that provides veterans' benefit services to request and receive certified copies of military service records. [See SEC. 3 of this bill.] 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. This bill 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 SB 974 Page 3 physical delivery that provides a receipt. [See SEC. 4, SEC. 5, SEC. 7, and SEC. 8 of this bill.] 4) 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. This bill requires a person taking the notary public oath of office before a county clerk to provide an identification document that meets specified statutory requirements. This 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. [See SEC. 6 of this bill.] 5) 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, Chapter 37, Statutes of 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. This bill 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. [See SEC. 9 of this bill.] 6) 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 SB 974 Page 4 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 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. This bill 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). [See SEC. 10 of this bill.] 7) 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) A local agency that is expected to provide water, sewage, streets, roads, schools, or other essential facilities or services to a project. b) 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, Chapter 363, Statutes of 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. This bill changes the cross-reference to refer to SB 974 Page 5 the same section of statute that it referred to before 2006. [See SEC. 11 of this bill.] 8) 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, Chapter 608, Statutes of 2015) which requires cities and counties to review 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. This bill 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. [See SEC. 12 of this bill.] 9) 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) A representative designated by the Member of SB 974 Page 6 Congress from the 17th Congressional District. b) A representative designated by the Senator from the 15th Senate District. c) 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. This bill allows the congressmember, state senator, and state assemblymember whose districts include the majority of Fort Ord to appoint representatives to FORA's board. [See SEC. 13 of this bill.] 10)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, this bill replaces the word "or" with the word "of" so that the statute refers to a "resolution of application." [See SEC. 14 of this bill.] 11)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. This bill amends existing statutes to consistently authorize a local agency to adopt either an ordinance or a resolution. [See SEC. 15, SEC. 16, SEC. 17, and SEC. 18 of this bill.] SB 974 Page 7 12)Best value definition. Last year, the Legislature passed SB 762 (Wolk, Chapter 627, Statutes of 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, Chapter 715, Statutes of 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. This bill restores the changes to the definition of best value that were chaptered out by SB 374. [See SEC. 19 of this bill.] 13)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, this bill corrects cross-references to the definition of a city's "actual population." [See SEC. 20. and SEC. 21 of this bill.] 14)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, Chapter 784, Statutes of 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. SB 974 Page 8 This bill replaces the term "county clerk" with the term "Clerk of the Court" in those two statutes. [See SEC. 22 and SEC. 23 of this bill.] 15)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, this bill adds the omitted cross-references. [See SEC. 24 of this bill.] 16)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 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. This bill deletes the requirement that KCWA must get the board of supervisors' approval before levying taxes, creating benefit zones, or adopting a budget. This bill also deletes a section of law authorizing Kern County employees to perform duties and provide services for the KCWA subject to specified conditions. [See SEC. 25, SEC. 26 and SEC. 27 of this bill.] Comments SB 974 Page 9 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. FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.:YesLocal: Yes SUPPORT: (Verified4/18/16) California State Association of Counties Irvine Ranch Water District Kern County Water Agency OPPOSITION: (Verified4/18/16) None received Prepared by:Brian Weinberger / GOV. & F. / (916) 651-4119 4/20/16 17:08:45 **** END **** SB 974 Page 10