BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1232
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CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 1232 (Huffman)
As Amended June 24, 2009
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |48-27|(May 21, 2009) |SENATE: |22-16|(August 27, |
| | | | | |2009) |
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Original Committee Reference: L. GOV.
SUMMARY : Allows the Marin County Local Agency Formation
Commission (Commission) to initiate and approve, after notice
and hearing, a reorganization or consolidation of the Sewerage
Agency of Southern Marin (SASM) and its member districts,
without protest hearings.
The Senate amendments :
1)Narrow the scope of the bill to focus specifically on the
reorganization or consolidation of SASM and its member
districts.
2)Allow the Commission, if it initiates and approves the
reorganization or consolidation, to impose terms and
conditions on the reorganization or consolidation that would
require SASM and its member agencies to be responsible for
payment of the Commission's costs incurred in association with
the reorganization or consolidation.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes the procedures for the organization and
reorganization of cities, counties, and special districts
under the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Reorganization Act of
2000 (Act).
2)Allows a local area formation commission (LAFCO) to initiate
proposals for changes or organization, including
consolidation.
3)Defines "change of organization" in the Act to include
consolidation of cities or special districts.
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4)Defines "proceedings" to mean proceedings taken by the LAFCO
for a proposed change of organization or reorganization.
5)Provides for noticing requirements for a protest hearing, and
specifies that during the hearing the LAFCO shall hear and
receive any oral or written protests, objections, or evidence
that is made, presented or filed.
6)Provides that a proposal for change of organization must be
abandoned if a majority protest is deemed to exist.
7)Requires a LAFCO to revisit its municipal service reviews and
adopted spheres of influence every five years.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill:
1)Provided the Commission, after notice and hearing, with the
power to initiate and approve a reorganization or
consolidation of small wastewater agencies, without protest
hearings, if all of the following conditions exist:
a) The Commission, in its municipal services review (MSR)
of the wastewater agencies, completed within the last 10
years, makes findings or determinations related to
reorganization or consolidation, that if implemented, would
improve the financial and service level benefits, improve
government accountability, improve operational
efficiencies, and provide cost savings for the ratepayers;
b) The wastewater agencies have not implemented the
Commission's findings or determinations as provided in the
MSR; and,
c) The wastewater agencies affected have had three or more
illegal discharges in the last five years, based on
violations identified by the San Francisco Bay Regional
Water Quality Control Board (SFBRWQCB) that exceed 5,000
gallons of untreated or partially treated wastewater to
waters of the state.
2)Defined "small wastewater agencies" to mean sanitation
districts and local governments that provide sewer and
wastewater collection or treatment services to 10,000 service
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connections or less.
3)Stated that the provisions of this measure will become
effective on January 1, 2011.
4)Made findings and declarations about the impact of illegal
sewage spills.
5)Declared that this bill is a special statute because of the
unique circumstances applicable to the County of Marin.
FISCAL EFFECT : None
COMMENTS : Current law specifies various ways that special
districts and other agencies can be reorganized and modified,
including consolidation, dissolution, including dissolution with
annexation, a merger, or establishment of a subsidiary district.
This bill focuses on consolidation - the formal restructuring
transactions that would combine two or more agencies into a
single organization and would require a formal LAFCO review and
approval process - as the means to modify special districts. A
consolidation can be initiated by a petition of registered
voters or landowners, by a resolution of the governing body of
an affected local agency, or by LAFCO itself.
This bill originates from problems in eleven sewer services
agencies located in southern Marin County, including six
sanitary districts, three cities, one community services
district and one joint powers agency. Three of the agencies
operate wastewater treatment plants - Sanitary District No. 5
(Tiburon), SASM, and the Sausalito-Marin City Sanitary District.
Ten of the eleven agencies operate sewerage collection systems
and pumping stations. All of the special districts providing
sanitary sewer services are governed by independent boards,
except for SASM, whose members are appointed by each of its six
member agencies.
The author notes that "the frequency and size of illegal sewage
spills of raw or partially treated sewage are increasing often
because of the improper sewer system maintenance. By providing
limited new authority to a LAFCO, this bill would increase the
cost effectiveness and efficiency of small wastewater agencies
and reduce the impacts on water quality due to illegal sewage
spills. The San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control
Board reports that over 2,000 separate illegal sewage spills
occurred in the bay and coastline between 2004 and 2007. Over
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500 of the spills exceeded 1,000 gallons. One of the largest
spills was 2.5 million gallons in Marin County which illegally
discharged both untreated and partially treated sewage into the
San Francisco Bay."
To reduce water quality problems and to increase system
efficiencies, in 2005 the Marin County LAFCO conducted an MSR
and recommended a consolidation plan for the eleven small
wastewater agencies in southern Marin County. The report
concluded that the operation of numerous separate agencies with
duplicated staff, and over 40 elected officials, is not a cost
effective way to manage the single purpose service of wastewater
collection and treatment. The MSR identified significant cost
savings for the ratepayers that would occur if agency functions
were consolidated.
This bill would allow the Marin County LAFCO to force the
consolidation or reorganization of SASM and its member
districts, without protest hearings. Protest proceedings are
established in existing law to allow registered voters and
landowners to give oral or written protests against a change of
organization. This bill removes the ability of the Marin LAFCO
to hold protest hearings for public input and for an affected
district to speak and deliberate in a public forum on the issue
of forced consolidation and whether it is the best option for
the community. Protest proceedings are removed from the bill
because, according to the author, "there has been strong local
agency resistance to consolidation. That resistance has made it
impossible under existing laws to implement the LAFCO
consolidation recommendation because existing law requires a
majority of voters in the affected districts to approve the
consolidation."
While consolidation of SASM and its member districts may
increase administrative effectiveness and provide for better
management of those agencies, there are no guarantees that
consolidation is the answer to the question of how to prevent
illegal sewage discharges. There may be other avenues to pursue
that would help sanitary districts update their aging
infrastructure including federal and state grants or funding, or
heavier enforcement if negligence is found on the part of the
sanitary districts. The Legislature may wish to consider
whether the approach in the bill is the correct approach to
address illegal sewage discharges.
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This bill, if signed into law, will take effect on January 1,
2011. The assumption for SASM and its member districts is that
they have a few years before the bill's effective date to figure
out a plan to consolidate on their own terms, and then can
initiate consolidation before the bill takes effect.
Analysis Prepared by : Debbie Michel / L. GOV. / (916)
319-3958
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