BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 974|
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 974
Author: Committee on Governance and Finance
Amended: 8/4/16
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
SENATE FLOOR: 39-0, 4/21/16 (Consent)
AYES: Allen, Anderson, Bates, Beall, Berryhill, Block,
Cannella, De León, Fuller, Gaines, Galgiani, Glazer, Hall,
Hancock, Hernandez, Hertzberg, Hill, Hueso, Huff, Jackson,
Lara, Leno, Leyva, Liu, McGuire, Mendoza, Mitchell, Monning,
Moorlach, Morrell, Nguyen, Nielsen, Pan, Pavley, Roth, Stone,
Vidak, Wieckowski, Wolk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Runner
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 78-1, 8/18/16 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: Local government: omnibus
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill, the Local Government Omnibus Act of 2016,
proposes a number of relatively minor, noncontroversial changes
to state laws governing local governments' powers and duties.
Assembly Amendments add three additional sets of changes to
statutes governing local governments and made several technical
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and clarifying changes to the bill's language.
ANALYSIS:
Each year, local officials discover problems with the state
statutes that affect counties, cities, and special districts.
These minor problems do not warrant separate (and expensive)
bills. Legislators respond by combining several of these minor
topics into an annual "omnibus bill." 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 2016, 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. County recorders note 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.
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. County recorders note that this
requirement prohibits county recorders from providing
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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.
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
physical delivery that provides a receipt.
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.
5) Floating Homes. State law defines a "floating home" as a
floating structure that: is designed and built to be used, or
is modified to be used, as a stationary waterborne
residential dwelling; has no mode of power of its own; is
dependent for utilities upon a continuous utility linkage to
a source originating on shore; and has a permanent continuous
hookup to a shore side sewage system. A floating home is not
categorized as a vessel, but is assessed for property tax
purposes in the same manner as real property (AB 1506,
Filante, Chapter 44, Statutes of 1982). State law prescribes
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the powers and duties of the State Board of Equalization
(BOE), including the adoption of rules, regulations, and
instructions relating to mobile homes which are subject to
property taxation. The California Assessor's Association
notes that the statutes prescribing the BOE's powers and
duties lack any explicit reference to floating homes. This
bill allows the BOE to exercise powers relating to rules,
regulations, and instructions for floating homes that are the
same as the powers that state law allows the BOE to exercise
for mobile homes.
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 staff
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.
7) Local artificial turf regulations. State law prohibits
local governments from adopting ordinances or regulations
that prohibit the installation of drought tolerant
landscaping, synthetic grass, or artificial turf on
residential property (AB 1164, Gatto, Chapter 671, Statutes
of 2015). However, local governments may impose reasonable
restrictions on the type of drought tolerant landscaping,
synthetic grass, or artificial turf that may be installed on
residential property provided that those restrictions meet
specified requirements. Some City of Sacramento officials
are concerned that, in at least some situations, requirements
specified in state law may not allow local governments to
impose restrictions on the installation of synthetic grass or
artificial turf to prevent damage to trees that are protected
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by local ordinances. This bill would allow a city, including
a charter city, county, or city and county, to impose
reasonable restrictions on the installation of synthetic
grass or artificial turf within the dripline of a tree
protected by local ordinance.
8) 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 staff 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).
9) 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:
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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
the same section of statute that it referred to before 2006.
10)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
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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.
11)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, Chapter 64, Statutes
of 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. 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.
12)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."
13)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
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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.
14)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.
15)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."
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16)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.
This bill replaces the term "county clerk" with the term
"Clerk of the Court" in those two statutes.
17)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.
18)Property and Business Improvement District Law of 1994.
Practitioners who work with property and business improvement
districts (PBIDs) have identified errors and ambiguities in
statutes governing PBIDs. They want the Legislature to make
the following corrections and clarifications:
a) Specific benefit. Pursuant to the California
Constitution, PBIDs' assessments on businesses must be
imposed for the purpose of conferring a specific benefit
on the businesses that are assessed (Article XIIIC,
Section (1)(e)). To conform the 1994 Act's language to
this Constitutional requirement, this bill adds language
to two statutes (Streets and Highways Code §36601 and
§36606) to specify that PBIDs' assessments must be used to
confer a specific benefit or benefits on assessed
businesses.
b) Consistent terminology. In general, the 1994 Act uses
the term "district" to describe the territory within a
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PBID's boundaries. However, two statutes (Streets &
Highways Code §36610 and §36670) use the term "area" to
describe territory within a PBID's boundaries. To make
the Act's language more consistent, this bill replaces the
term "area" with the term "district" in those two
statutes.
c) Funding for extraterritorial improvements and
activities. The 1994 Act prohibits a PBID from using
assessment revenues to provide improvements, maintenance,
and activities outside the district. However, marketing
and promotional activities are among the services that a
PBID can fund. Some practitioners argue that it is
ineffective to limit those activities only to the area
within the boundaries of the PBID itself. This bill
allows a PBID to provide improvements and activities which
must be provided outside the district boundaries to create
a special or specific benefit to assessed parcels or
businesses and specifies that the allowable activities are
limited to marketing or signage pointing to the district.
19)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.
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Comment
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
SUPPORT: (Verified8/15/16)
Association of California Water Agencies
California Association of Clerks and Elections Officials
California State Association of Counties
California State Controller Betty Yee
County Recorders Association of California
Irvine Ranch Water District
Kern County Water Agency
League of California Cities
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/15/16)
None received
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 78-1, 8/18/16
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Arambula, Atkins, Baker,
Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke,
Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley,
SB 974
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Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth
Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto,
Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper,
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, Santiago,
Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber,
Wilk, Williams, Wood, Rendon
NOES: Salas
NO VOTE RECORDED: Roger Hernández
Prepared by:Brian Weinberger / GOV. & F. / (916) 651-4119
8/19/16 19:21:43
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