BILL ANALYSIS
SB 136
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Date of Hearing: August 19, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Kevin De Leon, Chair
SB 136 (Huff) - As Amended: June 23, 2009
Policy Committee: Business and
Professions Vote: 11-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill authorizes the Department of General Services (DGS) to
dispose of all or any portion of the following parcels of
state-owned property:
1)Parcel #1-approximately 2.8 acres, known as the Harts Mills
Forest Fire Station (Old), located in Berry Creek (Butte
County).
2)Parcel #2-approximately 47 acres, known as the Mendocino
Ranger Station Excess Land, located in Willits (Mendocino
County).
3)Parcel #3-approximately 85 acres, known as the East Campus of
the Agnews Developmental Center, located in Santa Clara
County. The bill also specifies that resolution or mitigation
of any disputes or claims related to the land lease agreement
and the energy purchase agreement between the state and Agnews
Developmental Center Cogeneration Facility shall be a cost of
the sale of all of this parcel.
FISCAL EFFECT
DGS estimates one-time revenue of about $60 million from
disposition of the three properties, with almost all of this
amount attributed to the Agnew property.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . This is the annual surplus property bill, sponsored
by DGS. State agencies are required to annually review all
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property under their jurisdiction and determine whether any
parcels are surplus to their needs. For any such properties
that cannot be used by another state agency, DGS requires
legislative authorization to dispose of these properties.
Following such authorization, the department may sell, lease,
or exchange each surplus property as it deems in the state's
best interest, however, pursuant to current law, each parcel
is offered first to local governments and then to nonprofit
affordable housing sponsors prior to being made available to
the general public.
Pursuant to the provisions of Proposition 60A, the proceeds of
state surplus property sales are used to pay off the state's
deficit reduction bonds, which were authorized by Proposition
57 in March 2004. Once these bonds are retired, all proceeds
go to the General Fund. These provisions do not apply to
properties purchase with transportation monies or other
special funds.
2)Agnews Developmental Center . In 1876, the state purchased
323.5 acres of farmland from Abraham Agnews, on which Agnews
State Hospital was established in 1885 as a neuropsychiatric
institution for the care and treatment of persons with mental
illnesses. In 1926, the state acquired an additional 424
acres (known as the East Campus), which is located one and
one-half mile from the original Agnews property (West Campus).
Approximately 337 acres of the original East Campus has been
sold or transferred. Most significant, was the sale of
approximately 140 acres to Cisco Systems (Cisco) in the
mid-1990's. Also, in the mid-1990's the West Campus was
closed and declared surplus. This property was sold in
stages and became the corporate headquarters for Sun Micro
Systems, as well as a new mixed-use community known as the
Rivermark Development.
The Agnews Developmental Center currently resides on the
remaining 87 acres. As of April 2009, under a closure plan,
the Department of Developmental Services (DDS) has transferred
all Agnews clients to community-based housing facilities or to
other DDS facilities. There are 51 buildings on the campus,
comprising approximately 700,000 gross square feet of space.
A third party-owned cogeneration plant provides thermal and
electrical energy to Agnews and markets electricity to PG&E.
The cogeneration agreements expire in 2020.
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Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081