BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 136|
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 136
Author: Huff (R), et al
Amended: 6/23/09
Vote: 21
SENATE GOVERNMENTAL ORG. COMMITTEE : 10-0, 4/28/09
AYES: Wright, Harman, Benoit, Calderon, Denham, Florez,
Oropeza, Wiggins, Wyland, Yee
NO VOTE RECORDED: Negrete McLeod, Padilla, Vacancy
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
SENATE FLOOR : 36-0, 5/18/09
AYES: Aanestad, Alquist, Ashburn, Benoit, Calderon,
Cogdill, Corbett, Correa, Cox, Denham, DeSaulnier,
Ducheny, Dutton, Hancock, Harman, Hollingsworth, Huff,
Kehoe, Leno, Liu, Lowenthal, Maldonado, Negrete McLeod,
Oropeza, Padilla, Pavley, Runner, Simitian, Steinberg,
Strickland, Walters, Wiggins, Wolk, Wright, Wyland, Yee
NO VOTE RECORDED: Cedillo, Florez, Romero, Vacancy
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 77-0, 9/1/09 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : State real property
SOURCE : Department of General Services
DIGEST : This bill is the annual surplus property bill
that authorizes the Department of General Services to
dispose of all or any portion of three parcels of real
CONTINUED
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property pursuant to existing provisions of the government
Code pertaining to surplus state property.
Assembly Amendments deleted the South Carlsbad State Beach
property and added the East Campus of the Agnews
Development Center in Santa Clara and provisions related to
that property.
ANALYSIS : Existing law generally requires the Department
of General Services (DGS) to perform various functions with
respect to state property and provides for the sale, lease,
or transfer of surplus state property.
Existing law requires the Director of DGS to request
authorization by the Legislature prior to the disposition
by sale or otherwise of state land reported to it by a
state agency as being in excess of its foreseeable needs.
Each state agency is required to annually review
proprietary state lands under its jurisdiction to determine
what lands are in excess of the agency's foreseeable needs
and to report to DGS.
This annual review of proprietary state lands does not
apply to tax-deeded land, land held for highway purposes,
lands under the jurisdiction of the State Lands Commission,
land that has escheated to the state or that has been
distributed to the state by a court decree in estates of
deceased persons, and lands under the jurisdiction of the
State Coastal Conservancy. Jurisdiction of all land
reported as excess is transferred to DGS, when requested by
the Director of DGS, for sale or disposition or as may
otherwise be authorized by law.
Existing law provides criteria for state agencies to use in
determining and reporting to DGS lands in excess of the
agency's foreseeable needs. A state agency is to include
land not currently being utilized, or currently being
underutilized, for any existing or ongoing program; land
for which the agency has not identified any specific
utilization relative to future needs; and land not
identified by the agency within its master plan for
facility development.
Where applicable within its jurisdiction, DGS is
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responsible for determining if surplus land is needed by
any other state agency. Existing law (Government Code
Section 11011.1) requires the state to first offer surplus
state real property to local agencies, and next, to offer
the property to nonprofit affordable housing sponsors, as
defined, prior to offering the property to private
entities. Existing law also prescribes the procedure for
local agencies and nonprofit affordable housing sponsors to
use to obtain the surplus state real property.
Existing law specifies that the Legislature may authorize a
particular surplus property be sold at less than fair
market value and provides that 30 days prior to executing
such a transaction, DGS must report to the chairs of the
fiscal committees of the Legislature the following
information: (a) the financial terms of the transaction;
(b) a comparison of fair market value for the property and
financial terms; (c) the basis for agreeing to terms and
conditions other than fair market value.
Existing law [Government Code 11011 (k) (1) and (2)]
contains provisions exempting the sale of surplus property
from designated provisions of the California Environmental
Quality Act (CEQA). Specifically, the law provides that
any disposition of a parcel of surplus property made on an
"as-is" basis shall be exempt from statutory requirements
of CEQA; however, the law makes it explicit that the buyer
or transferee of a parcel shall be subject to any local
governmental entitlement or land use approval requirements
and CEQA.
Furthermore, existing law provides that if any transaction
is not on an "as-is" basis sale and close of escrow is
contingent on satisfying any local governmental approvals
for entitlement or land use requirements, including
compliance by the local government with CEQA, then the
execution of the purchase and sale agreement or exchange
agreement is exempt from CEQA.
Proposition 60A of November 2004 (SCA 18, [Johnson],
Resolution Chapter 103/04) which was adopted by the
electorate (73 percent margin) requires, among other
things, that the proceeds from the sale of surplus state
property, with specified exceptions, be used to pay the
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principal and interest on the Economic Recovery Bond Act of
2004.
This bill authorizes DGS to dispose of the following state
property:
1. Parcel #1, consisting of approximately 2.76 acres, known
as the Harts Mills Forest Fire Station (Old), located at
9476 Oro-Quincy Highway, in Berry Creek, Butte County.
2. Parcel #2, consisting of approximately 47 acres, known
as the Mendocino Ranger Station Excess Land, located at
17501 North Highway 101, in Willits, Mendocino County.
3. Parcel #3, consisting of an approximately 85 acres,
known as the East Campus of the Agnews Developmental
Center in Santa Clara County, and specifies the
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, dated
December 31, 190, shall be a cost of sale of all of the
property authorized to be disposed of at the East
Campus.
Background
Agnews Developmental Center: In 1876, the state purchased
323.5 acres of farmland from Abraham Agnews. Agnews State
Hospital was established in 1885 as a neuropsychiatric
institution for the care and treatment of persons with
mental illnesses. This facility became known as the West
Campus.
In 1926, the State acquired an additional 424 acres (known
as the East Campus), which was located one and one-half
mile from the main facility (which became the 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
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Rivermark Development.
The Agnews East currently resides on the remaining 87 acres
on the north edge of the City of San Jose, in the heart of
Silicon Valley. As of April 2009, under the closure plan,
the Department of Developmental Services (DDS) has
transferred all the clients to community based housing
facilities or to other DDS facilities. There are 51
buildings on the campus, comprising approximately 692,800
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 the year 2020. DGS is
the lead agency in facilitating the future use of the real
estate, existing leases, structures and infrastructure of
the campus, including disposition of the cogeneration
plant. DDS has responsibility for maintaining the property
until DGS transfers or otherwise disposes of the asset.
California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Exemption: The
ability to get excess properties declared surplus by the
Legislature has been impeded these past few years by a
disagreement between the Legislature and the Administration
regarding the removal of a statutory exemption for the
State's surplus properties from the requirements of CEQA.
This disagreement has at least for now been resolved with
enactment of AB 8XX (Nestande), Chapter 6, Statute of 2009,
that places within Section 11011 of the Government Code an
ongoing CEQA exemption for all properties declared surplus
by the Legislature.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, DGS
estimates one-time revenue of about $60 million from
disposition of the three properties, with almost this
entire amount attributed to the Agnew property.
SUPPORT : (Verified 9/2/09)
Department of General Services (source)
Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
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ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : Writing in support of this bill,
the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association indicates the State
should do everything possible to sell this property for a
fair price. The Association believes "this simple step
will reduce government and ensure that California has
enough revenue to meet truly pressing needs during this
recession."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Beall, Bill
Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield,
Brownley, Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter, Chesbro,
Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon, DeVore,
Duvall, Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong,
Fuentes, Fuller, Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick,
Gilmore, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill,
Huber, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Krekorian, Lieu,
Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Miller, Monning,
Nestande, Niello, Nielsen, John A. Perez, V. Manuel
Perez, Portantino, Ruskin, Salas, Saldana, Silva,
Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Audra Strickland, Swanson,
Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Tran, Villines, Yamada, Bass
NO VOTE RECORDED: Buchanan, Nava, Vacancy
TSM:do 9/2/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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