BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  AB 1582
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:  May 13, 2009

                       ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT
                             Anna Marie Caballero, Chair
           AB 1582 (Local Government Committee) - As Amended:  May 6, 2009
           
          SUBJECT  :  Local agencies:  spheres of influence.

           SUMMARY  :  Makes several minor, non-controversial changes to the  
          laws affecting local government organization and reorganization.  
           Specifically,  this bill  :  

          1)Allows a Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) to have a  
            one-year window to establish sphere of influence for a new  
            district, beginning January 1, 2010.

          2)Makes technical changes to the requirements that must be  
            contained in a petition for a change of organization or  
            reorganization.

          3)Changes the term "affected local agency" to "subject local  
            agency" to conform to terminology referenced elsewhere in the  
            Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Act (Act).

          4)Specifies that several counties may be involved in  
            reorganization proceedings.

          5)Provides that the value of written protests shall be  
            determined pursuant to other sections in the Act.

          6)Clarifies that members of the city council in future elections  
            can be elected "from district" in addition to the other  
            methods contained in the Act, which conforms to another  
            section regarding elections in the Act.

          7)Renumbers one section in the Act that currently has the same  
            number as another section.

           EXISTING LAW  establishes the procedures for the organization and  
          reorganization of cities, counties, and special districts.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :  None

           COMMENTS  :   









                                                                  AB 1582
                                                                  Page  2

          1)As statutes go into effect, local officials and others often  
            discover problems or inconsistencies in the language of the  
            law and approach the Legislature to correct them.  These minor  
            problems do not warrant separate bills, particularly since,  
            according to the Legislative Analyst, in 2001-02 the average  
            cost to produce a single bill was $17,890.

          2)The Assembly Local Government Committee has found that it is  
            expeditious and relatively inexpensive to respond to multiple  
            minor, non-controversial requests on related issues by  
            combining them into an annual "omnibus bill."  Since AB 720  
            (Local Government 
          Committee), Chapter 388, Statutes of 2001, which was a clean-up  
            bill for AB 2838 (Hertzberg), Chapter 761, Statutes of 2000,  
            the major rewrite of the laws governing local 

          agency organization and reorganization, the Committee has  
            focused its omnibus bill efforts on LAFCO-related issues, most  
            recently with AB 3047 (Local Government Committee), Chapter  
            68, Statutes of 2008.  The Committee has carried on this  
            practice this year by addressing a number of minor, but still  
            necessary, changes in this bill.  The bill reflects the  
            concerns of LAFCOs and others who have brought proposals and  
            issues to the Committee.  All proposals have been thoroughly  
            vetted by a large number of stakeholders.  Any proposal that  
            provokes any controversy or opposition is rejected for  
            inclusion.

           REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  :   

           Support 
           
          CA Association of Local Agency Formation Commissions [SPONSOR]

           Opposition 
           
          None on file
          
          Analysis Prepared by  :    Debbie Michel / L. GOV. / (916)  
          319-3958