BILL NUMBER: AB 139 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JANUARY 4, 2010
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 7, 2009
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Brownley
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Blumenfield and Portantino)
(Coauthor: Senator Pavley)
JANUARY 20, 2009
An act to amend Sections 2 and 16 of the Los Angeles
County Flood Control Act (Chapter 755 of the Statutes of 1915),
relating to the Los Angeles County Flood Control District.
An act to amend Section 25081 of the Government Code, relating
to local government.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 139, as amended, Brownley. Los Angeles County Flood
Control District: fees. Local government: county
boards: regular meetings.
Existing law requires the board of supervisors of a county to hold
regular meetings of the board at the county seat.
This bill would authorize counties of the first class to hold one
or more regular meetings of the board at a location within the county
designated by the board.
(1) Existing law, the Los Angeles County Flood Control Act,
establishes the Los Angeles County Flood Control District and
authorizes the district to control and conserve the flood, storm, and
other wastewater of the district. The act declares the district to
be a body corporate and politic, and to have various powers,
including the power to cause taxes to be levied and collected for the
purpose of paying any obligation of the district.
This bill would authorize the district to impose a fee in
compliance with Article XIII D of the California Constitution, to pay
the costs and expenses of carrying out projects and providing
services to improve water quality and reduce stormwater and urban
runoff in the district. The bill would require that any fee imposed
be levied and collected, together with taxes for county purposes, and
the revenues paid into the county treasury to the credit of the
district. The bill would require the district to allocate the funds
generated by the imposition of the fee in a specified manner solely
for authorized purposes and in compliance with a specified
constitutional provision.
(2) The act authorizes the board of the district, subject to
certain limitations, to do all acts or things necessary or useful for
the promotion of the work or the control of the flood and
stormwaters of the district, to conserve those waters for beneficial
and useful purposes, and to protect from damage from storm or
floodwaters, the harbors, waterways, public highways, and property of
the district. One limitation upon the authority of the board of the
district is that it is not authorized to raise money for the district
by any method or system other than by issuing bonds, or the levying
of a tax upon the assessed value of all the real property of the
district, except from the sale and lease of its property.
This bill would instead provide that the board of the district is
not authorized to raise money for the district by any method or
system other than by issuing bonds, or the levying of a tax, or the
imposition of a fee in compliance with Article XIII D of the
California Constitution.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 25081 of the
Government Code is amended to read:
25081. (a) By ordinance the board shall
provide for the holding of regular meetings of the board at the
county seat.
(b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), and any other provision of
law, in counties of the first class, the board may provide by
ordinance for the holding of one or more regular meetings of the
board at a location within the county designated by the board.
SECTION 1. (a) The Legislature finds and
declares all of the following:
(1) The Los Angeles County Flood Control Act presently permits the
Los Angeles County Flood Control District (district) to levy taxes
to pay for the obligations of the district, but it does not authorize
the district to impose fees to carry out the purposes of the act. By
enacting this act, the district will be able to collect a
property-related fee that is based on the cost of improvements and
services provided by the district, Los Angeles County, or cities
within the boundaries of the district to each parcel within the
district.
(2) The requirements of the total maximum daily load (TMDL)
program under the federal Clean Water Act necessitate the fee
authority granted by this act to the district, subject to voter
approval as required by Article XIII D of the California
Constitution. Further, this act will facilitate a comprehensive fee
proposal under development by the district in collaboration and
partnership with the cities within the boundaries of the district to
improve water quality and reduce stormwater and urban runoff
pollution. This act will allow the district to adopt a fee to fund
the implementation of regional water quality improvements and
services and provide a return of fee revenues to cities and
unincorporated areas within Los Angeles County for developing,
implementing, and maintaining local projects and programs to improve
water quality, and reduce stormwater and urban runoff pollution. The
proposal would provide that fee revenues will benefit the watershed
area in which they are collected.
(3) Because Los Angeles County includes six major watersheds,
significant amounts of coastline and multiple lakes and rivers, and
because Los Angeles County and the 85 cities within the boundaries of
the district are subject to numerous TMDL requirements, a regional
effort that is coordinated with and supportive of individual cities'
water quality improvement efforts is clearly warranted.
(b) By enacting this statute, it is the intent of the Legislature
that the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors direct the
appropriate county staff, in consultation with the affected cities
within the boundaries of the district, to develop criteria for the
use of funds generated by any fee imposed by the district, as
authorized by this act, for the purpose of improving water quality
and reducing stormwater and urban runoff pollution. Those criteria
should reflect the following principles:
(1) Stormwater quality solutions funded by the proceeds of this
fee should be science-based and take into consideration the
requirements of the federal Clean Water Act and include adequate
operation and maintenance expenditures. As part of the fee proposal
under development by the district, regional projects and programs
would be watershed-based and would give consideration to proven,
successful best management practices and to tools and methodologies
approved by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
(2) The most effective water cleanup and protection strategies
involve partnerships with many stakeholders where cities and
unincorporated communities within Los Angeles County, nongovernmental
organizations, environmental groups, water resources agencies, and
other interested parties work together to develop cost-effective
solutions that will leverage funds raised through this proposed fee
with available state and federal matching funds.
(3) Stormwater is not just a contamination problem--it is a
potential resource. In an arid region that frequently faces serious
drought and related water supply issues, more can be done with
stormwater than moving it quickly to the ocean. For example, by
capturing stormwater and allowing soils and plants to naturally
filter and cleanse it, the stormwater can be used for irrigation, or
it can be allowed to percolate into the ground to increase the supply
of available drinking water.
(4) Water quality improvement projects should be designed to
provide multiple benefits and incorporate green solutions. Wherever
appropriate, projects should be designed to provide multiple
benefits, such as increasing water supply, replenishing groundwater,
providing flood protection, protecting open space and natural areas,
and restoring and creating wetlands and riparian habitats. Projects
should also, where appropriate, incorporate natural filtration and
cleansing of water, environmentally friendly infrastructure, improved
permeability of surfaces, and other green solutions.
(5) Any fee imposed pursuant to this act and approved by the
voters should reflect the differences between residential,
commercial, industrial, and other land uses of parcels, parcel size,
and proportionate stormwater runoff. To the extent possible, the fee
should be set at levels that do not preclude cities from seeking
voter approval for their own fees.
(6) An oversight committee comprised of representatives from
cities and unincorporated areas within Los Angeles County and
interested parties should be formed to provide technical and
programmatic review of the regional program.
(7) The district should consult and collaborate with watershed and
subwatershed committees comprised of representatives from cities and
unincorporated areas within Los Angeles County and other interested
parties to seek input on proposed regional projects.
SEC. 2. Section 2 of the Los Angeles County
Flood Control Act (Chapter 755 of the Statutes of 1915), as amended
by Chapter 1276 of the Statutes of 1975, is amended to read:
Sec.2. The objects and purposes of this act are to provide for
the control and conservation of the floodwater, stormwater, and other
wastewater of the district, and to conserve such waters for
beneficial and useful purposes by spreading, storing, retaining or
causing to percolate into the soil within the district, or to save or
conserve in any manner, all or any of such waters, and to protect
from damage from that floodwater or stormwater, the harbors,
waterways, public highways and property in the district.
The Los Angeles County Flood Control District is hereby declared
to be a body corporate and politic, and has all the following powers:
1. To have perpetual succession.
2. To sue and be sued in the name of the district in all actions
and proceedings in all courts and tribunals of competent
jurisdiction.
3. To adopt a seal and alter it at pleasure.
4. To take by grant, purchase, gift, devise or lease, hold, use,
enjoy, and to lease or dispose of real or personal property of every
kind within or without the district necessary to the full exercise of
its power.
5. To acquire or contract to acquire lands, rights-of-way,
easements, privileges and property of every kind, and construct,
maintain and operate any and all works or improvements within or
without the district necessary or proper to carry out any of the
objects or purposes of this act, and to complete, extend, add to,
repair or otherwise improve any works or improvements acquired by it
as herein authorized. Construction or improvement of existing
facilities may involve landscaping and other aesthetic treatment in
order that the facility will be compatible with existing or planned
development in the area of improvement.
6. To exercise the right of eminent domain, either within or
without the district, to take any property necessary to carry out any
of the objects or purposes of this act.
7. To incur indebtedness, and to issue bonds in the manner herein
provided.
7a. To borrow money from the United States of America, any agency
or department thereof, or from any nonprofit corporation, organized
under the laws of this state, to which the Reconstruction Finance
Corporation, a corporation organized and existing under and by virtue
of an act of Congress, entitled "Reconstruction Finance Corporation
Act," or other agency, or department, of the United States
government, has authorized, or shall hereafter authorize, a loan to
enable such nonprofit corporation to lend money to the Los Angeles
County Flood Control District, for any flood control work authorized
under this act, and to repay the same, in annual installments, over a
period of not to exceed twenty (20) years, with interest at a rate
not to exceed four and one-fourth per centum (41/4%) per annum,
payable semiannually, and, without the necessity of an election when
authorized by resolution of the board of supervisors, as evidences of
such indebtedness, the district is hereby authorized to execute and
deliver a note, or a series of notes, or bonds, or other evidences of
indebtedness, signed by the chairman of the board of supervisors of
the district, which notes, bonds, or other evidences of indebtedness,
shall be negotiable instruments if so declared in the resolution of
the board of supervisors providing for their issuance, and notes,
bonds, or other evidences of indebtedness, may have interest coupons
attached to evidence interest payments, signed by the facsimile
signature of the chairperson of the board. All applications for such
loans shall specify the particular flood control work or projects for
which the funds will be expended, and when received, the money shall
be deposited in a special fund, and shall be expended for those
purposes only which are described and referred to in the
applications. If a surplus remains after the completion of the work,
such surplus shall be applied to the payment of the note, notes,
bonds, or other evidences of indebtedness, executed as aforesaid, for
the loan including interest coupons. The board of supervisors shall
annually, levy a tax upon the taxable real property of the district,
clearly sufficient to pay the interest and installments of principal,
as the same shall become due and payable, under any loan made
pursuant to the authority of this section, and to create and maintain
a reserve fund to assure the prompt payment thereof, as may be
provided by resolution of the board of supervisors; provided,
however, that the amount of taxes levied in any year, pursuant to the
provisions of this subsection, shall, pro tanto, reduce the
authority of the board of supervisors, during any such year, to levy
taxes under Section 14 of this act, but this proviso shall not be a
limitation upon the power and duty to levy and collect taxes under
this subsection. Notwithstanding any other provisions of law,
interest earned on funds representing the proceeds of bonds of the
district shall be deposited and retained in the reserve fund of the
district to meet the principal and interest falling due on such
bonds.
Notwithstanding anything in this subsection to the contrary, the
total amount the district may borrow under the authority of any or
all of the provisions of this subsection is limited to and shall not
exceed in the aggregate the sum of four million five hundred thousand
dollars ($4,500,000).
7b. The power granted in the next preceding subsection is hereby
extended to authorize the issuance and sale of bonds or other
evidences of indebtedness of the district to the County of Los
Angeles and the purchase thereof by the county in accordance with "An
act authorizing the investment and reinvestment and disposition of
any surplus moneys in the treasury of any county, city and county,
incorporated city or town or municipal utility district or flood
control district," approved April 23, 1913, as amended; all subject
to the provisions and limitations of the next preceding subsection
relative to the disposition and use of funds, interest rate, period
of repayment, tax rate and mode of issuance. The total amount of
bonds or other evidence of indebtedness, in the aggregate, which the
district may issue and sell under the authority of subsection 7a and
of this subsection is limited to and shall not exceed four million
five hundred thousand dollars ($4,500,000).
8. To cause taxes to be levied and collected for the purpose of
paying any obligation of the district in the manner provided in this
act.
9. To make contracts, and to employ for temporary services only,
expert appraisers, consultants and technical advisers, and to do all
acts necessary for the full exercise of all powers vested in the
district, or any of the officers thereof, by this act.
10. To grant or otherwise convey to counties, cities and counties,
cities or towns easements for street and highway purposes, over,
along, upon, in, through, across or under any real property owned by
the Los Angeles County Flood Control District.
11. To remove, carry away and dispose of any rubbish, trash,
debris or other inconvenient matter that may be dislodged,
transported, conveyed or carried by means of, through, in, or along
the works and structures operated or maintained hereunder and
deposited upon the property of the district or elsewhere.
12. To pay premiums on bonds of contractors required under any
contract if the amount payable to the contractor exceeds five million
dollars ($5,000,000); provided, that the specifications in such
cases shall specifically so provide and state that the bidder shall
not include in his or her bids the cost of furnishing the required
bonds.
13. To lease, sell or dispose of any property (or any interest
therein) whenever in the judgment of the board of supervisors the
property, or any interest therein or part thereof, is no longer
required for the purposes of the district, or may be leased for any
purpose without interfering with the use of the same for the purposes
of the district, and to pay any compensation received therefor into
the general fund of the district and use the same for the purposes of
this act; provided, however, that nothing herein shall authorize the
board of supervisors or other governing body of the district or any
officer thereof to sell, lease or otherwise dispose of any water,
water right, reservoir space or storage capacity or any interest or
space therein except to public agencies for recreational purposes
when such use is not inconsistent with the use thereof by the
district for flood control and water conservation purposes; or except
as provided by Section 17 of this act; provided, however, that the
district may grant and convey to the United States of America, or to
any federal agency authorized to accept and pay for such land or
interests in land, all lands and interests in land, now owned or
hereafter acquired, lying within any channel, dam or reservoir site,
improved or constructed, in whole or in part, with federal funds,
upon payment to the district of sums equivalent to actual
expenditures made by it in acquiring the lands and interests in land
so conveyed and deemed reasonable by the Secretary of War and the
Chief of Engineers.
14. To provide, by agreement with other public agencies or private
persons or entities or otherwise, for the recreational use of the
lands, facilities, and works of the district which shall not
interfere, or be inconsistent, with the primary use and purpose of
such lands, facilities, and works by such district.
15. In addition to its other powers, the district shall have the
power to preserve, enhance, and add recreational features to its
properties and upon a finding by the board of supervisors that the
acquisition is necessary for such purposes, to acquire, preserve,
enhance, and add recreational features to lands or interests in lands
contiguous to its properties, for the protection, preservation, and
use of the scenic beauty and natural environment for such properties
or such lands and to collect admission or use fees for such
recreational features where deemed appropriate.
16. To impose a fee, in compliance with the applicable provisions
of Article XIII D of the California Constitution, to pay the costs
and expenses of carrying out projects and providing services to
improve water quality and reduce stormwater and urban runoff
pollution in the district. Any fee that is imposed pursuant to this
paragraph shall be levied and collected together with, and not
separately from, taxes for county purposes, and the revenues derived
from the fees shall be paid into the county treasury to the credit of
the district, and the board of supervisors shall expend these funds
to pay for costs and expenses in accordance with this paragraph.
Sixty-five percent of the revenues derived from any fee imposed
pursuant to this paragraph shall be allocated to the district for
administrative expenses and to carry out projects and provide
services for the purposes set forth in this paragraph. The remaining
35 percent of the revenues shall be allocated to cities within the
boundaries of the district, for expenditure within their respective
jurisdictions, and to Los Angeles County, for expenditure within its
unincorporated territory, in the same proportion as the amount of
fees collected within each jurisdiction, to be expended by those
cities and Los Angeles County, respectively, exclusively to carry out
projects and provide services in accordance with this paragraph and
Article XIII D of the California Constitution.
Each entity expending any funds derived from the imposition of the
fee authorized by this paragraph shall ensure that the expenditure
is exclusively for authorized purposes in accordance with this
paragraph and Article XIII D of the California Constitution.
The district, the cities within the boundaries of the district,
and Los Angeles County may enter into agreements with each other or
with federal, state, and regional agencies to carry out this
paragraph.
The district by or through its board of supervisors, or other
board or officers at any time succeeding to the duties or functions
of its board of supervisors, is hereby authorized and empowered to
warrant and defend the title to all land and interests therein so
conveyed to the United States of America or to any such agency and
their respective assigns; to covenant and agree to indemnify and keep
indemnified and to hold and save harmless and exonerated the United
States of America or any such agency, to which such lands or any
interest therein are so conveyed by the district, from and against
all demands, claims, liabilities, liens, actions, suits, charges,
costs, loss, damages, expenses and attorneys' fees of whatsoever kind
or nature, resulting from, arising out of or occasioned by any
defect or defects whatsoever in the title to any such land or
interest in land so conveyed by the district; to reimburse and save
harmless and exonerated the United States of America or any such
agency for any and all amounts, paid, and expenses incurred, in the
compromise or settlement of any demands, claims, liabilities, liens,
actions, suits, charges, costs, loss, damages, expenses and attorneys'
fees of whatsoever kind or nature, resulting from, arising out of or
occasioned by any claim to or defect or defects whatsoever in the
title to any such land or interests in land so conveyed by the
district; to pay all just compensation, costs and expenses, which may
be incurred in any condemnation proceeding deemed necessary by the
United States of America or such agency, in order to perfect title to
any such land or interests in land, including without limitation all
attorneys' fees, court costs and fees, costs of abstracts and other
evidences of title, and all other costs, expenses or damages incurred
or suffered by the United States of America or such agency; and
consent is hereby given to the bringing of suit or other legal
proceedings against the district by the United States of America or
such agency, as the case may be, in the proper district court of the
United States, upon any cause of action arising out of any
conveyance, contract or covenant made or entered into by the district
pursuant to the authority granted in this act, or to enforce any
claims, damages, loss or expenses arising out of or resulting from
any defect whatsoever in the title to such land or any interest
therein or any claims of others in or to such land or interest
therein.
SEC. 3. Section 16 of the Los Angeles County
Flood Control Act (Chapter 755 of the Statutes of 1915), as amended
by Chapter 1276 of the Statutes of 1975, is amended to read:
Sec. 16. The board of supervisors of the district shall have power
to make and enforce all needful rules and regulations for the
administration and government of the district, and to perform all
other acts necessary or proper to accomplish the purposes of this
act.
The board of supervisors shall have power to do all work and to
construct and acquire all improvements necessary or useful for
carrying out any of the purposes of this act; and the board of
supervisors shall have power to acquire either within or without the
boundaries of the district, by purchase, donation or by other lawful
means in the name of the district, from private persons,
corporations, reclamation districts, swampland districts, levee
districts, protection districts, drainage districts, irrigation
districts, or other public corporations or agencies or districts, all
lands, rights-of-way, easements, property or materials necessary or
useful for carrying out any of the purposes of this act; to make
contracts to indemnify or compensate any owner of land or other
property for any injury or damage necessarily caused by the exercise
of the powers conferred by this act, or arising out of the use,
taking or damage of any property, rights-of-way or easements, for any
of such purposes; to compensate any reclamation district, protection
district, drainage district, irrigation district or other district,
public corporation or agency or district, for any right-of-way,
easement or property taken over or acquired by the Los Angeles County
Flood Control District as a part of its work of flood control or
conservation or protection provided for in this act, and any such
reclamation district, protection district, drainage district,
irrigation district or other district or public corporation or agency
is hereby given power and authority to distribute such compensation
in any manner that may be now or hereafter allowed by law; to
maintain actions to restrain the doing of any act or thing that may
be injurious to carrying out any of the purposes of this act by the
district, or that may interfere with the successful execution of said
work, or for damages for injury thereto; to do any and all things
necessary or incident to the powers hereby granted, or to carry out
any of the objects and purposes of this act; to require, by
appropriate legal proceedings, the owner or owners of any bridge,
trestle, wire line, viaduct, embankment or other structure which
shall be intersected, traversed or crossed by any channel,
ditch, bed of any stream,
waterway, conduit or canal, so to construct or alter the same as to
offer a minimum of obstruction to the free flow of water through or
along any such channel, ditch, bed of any stream, waterway, conduit
or canal, and whenever necessary in the case of existing works or
structures, to require the removal or alteration thereof for such
purpose; provided, however, that nothing in this act contained shall
be deemed to authorize the district in exercising any of its powers
to take, damage or destroy any property or to require the removal,
relocation, alteration or destruction of any bridge, railroad, wire
line, pipeline, facility or other structure unless just compensation
therefor be first made, in the manner and to the extent required by
the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of
California.
The board of supervisors of the district is hereby vested with
full power to do all other acts or things necessary or useful for the
promotion of the work of the control of the floodwater and
stormwater of the district, and to conserve such waters for
beneficial and useful purposes, and to protect from damage from that
stormwater or floodwater the harbors, waterways, public highways and
property in the district; provided, however, that nothing in this act
contained shall be deemed to authorize the district, or any person
or persons, to divert the waters of any river, creek, stream,
irrigation system, canal or ditch, from its channel, to the detriment
of any person or persons having any interest in such river, creek,
stream, irrigation system, canal or ditch, or the waters thereof or
therein, unless previous compensation be first ascertained and paid
therefor, under the laws of this state authorizing the taking of
private property for public uses; and provided further, that nothing
in this act contained shall be construed as in any way affecting the
plenary power of any incorporated city, city and county, or town, or
municipal or county water district, to provide for a water supply of
such public corporation, or as affecting the absolute control of any
properties of such public corporations necessary for such water
supply, and nothing herein contained shall be construed as vesting
any power of control over such properties in the Los Angeles County
Flood Control District, or in any officer thereof, or in any person
referred to in this act; and provided further, that nothing in this
act contained shall be deemed to authorize the board of supervisors
to raise money for the district by any method or system other than
that by the issuing of bonds, or the levying of a tax, or the
imposition of a fee in compliance with Article XIII D of the
California Constitution, in the manner in this act provided, except
from the sale and lease of its property as herein provided.