BILL NUMBER: AB 2698 CHAPTERED BILL TEXT CHAPTER 1045 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 30, 2000 APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 30, 2000 PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 25, 2000 PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 24, 2000 AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 21, 2000 AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 10, 2000 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 8, 2000 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Florez (Principal coauthor: Senator Costa) (Coauthors: Assembly Members Ashburn, Cardoza, Dickerson, Ducheny, Granlund, Lempert, Leonard, Maddox, Mazzoni, Pescetti, Reyes, Torlakson, Wright, and Zettel) (Coauthor: Senator Morrow) FEBRUARY 25, 2000 An act to amend Section 51286 of the Government Code, relating to agricultural land, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 2698, Florez. Williamson Act: Kern County. Existing law, the Williamson Act, authorizes a county or city, upon petition by a landowner, to cancel any contract if a city or county makes specified findings and the landowner pays a cancellation fee. The act also requires an action or proceeding which, on the grounds of alleged noncompliance with the requirements of the act, seeks to attack, review, set aside, void, or annul a decision of a county board of supervisors or a city council to cancel a contract to be commenced within 180 days from the date of the board or council order on a petition for cancellation. This bill would require this action or proceeding to commence within 30 days from the date that the Energy Resources and Conservation Development Commission issues its determination on an electric generation project if the cancellation relates to proposed electric generation projects that are located in the southern half of Kern County with a specified capacity, and for which applications were accepted as data adequate by the Energy Resources and Conservation Development Commission during the month of January 2000. This requirement would become inoperative on December 31, 2001. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency measure. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 51286 of the Government Code is amended to read: 51286. (a) Any action or proceeding which, on the grounds of alleged noncompliance with the requirements of this chapter, seeks to attack, review, set aside, void, or annul a decision of a board of supervisors or a city council to cancel a contract shall be brought pursuant to Section 1094.5 of the Code of Civil Procedure. (b) The action or proceeding shall be commenced within 180 days from the date of the council or board order acting on a petition for cancellation filed under this chapter. (c) Notwithstanding subdivision (b), if the cancellation relates to proposed electric generation projects that are located in the southern half of Kern County with a capacity of not less than 701 megawatts, but not greater than 800 megawatts, and for which applications were accepted as data adequate by the Energy Resources and Conservation Development Commission during the month of January 2000, the action or proceeding shall be commenced within 30 days from the date that the Energy Resources and Conservation Development Commission issues its determination on an electric generation project described in this subdivision. This subdivision shall become inoperative on December 31, 2001. SEC. 2. Due to the unique facts and circumstances relative to power generation projects in Kern County, the Legislature finds and declares that a general statute cannot be made applicable within the meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California Constitution. Therefore, special legislation contained in Section 1 of this act is necessarily applicable only to Kern County. SEC. 3. This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are: (a) There is a projected shortage of electrical power to meet projected demands, resulting in a need to build more electrical power generating facilities. (b) The subject property's soil quality is relatively poor for agricultural purposes, supporting only limited grazing activities and not highly productive grazing, field crops, row crops, orchards, or vineyards. (c) The subject property is affected by a gravel quarry on an adjacent property that is not subject to a Williamson Act contract. Therefore, it is necessary that this act take effect immediately.