BILL ANALYSIS
SB 959
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Date of Hearing: August 4, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
SB 959 (Ducheny) - As Amended: June 22, 2010
Policy Committee: Local
GovernmentVote:9-0
Natural Resources 8-0
Urgency: Yes State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill reestablishes the Office of Permit Assistance (OPA)
under the Governor's Office of Planning and Research (OPR) to
help facilitate state and local review of commercial and
industrial development projects.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)OPR estimates that establishment of the OPA would result in an
annual cost of about $1.5 million (General Fund). The cost
estimate assumes five regional offices and 18 new employees.
Though OPA is authorized to charge a fee to applicants to
cover its costs, OPR believes that, in practice, it would
difficult for the fees to fully offset its costs.
2)Significant costs to permitting agencies, in the range of
several hundreds of thousands of dollars annually (GF and
special funds), to evaluate and respond to consolidated
permitting forms forwarded to them by OPA.
3)Unknown, additional costs for grants to local governments,
depending on future actions of the Legislature.
4)The provision requiring cities and counties with population of
more than 100,000 to establish a single point of contact would
result in significant administrative costs to local agencies,
not state-reimbursable.
SUMMARY (Continued)
SB 959
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1)Requires OPA to develop guidelines providing technical
assistance to local agencies for the establishment and
operation of an expedited development permit process. The
guidelines would include a point of contact for larger cities
for permit applications, a referral process to help guide
applicants through local permit processes, a method for
tracking the progress of development permit applications, and
an expedited appeal process.
2)Provides that, upon appropriation by the Legislature, OPA
shall provide grants and technical assistance to cities and
counties for the establishment of an expedited permit process.
3)Requires OPA to provide information to developers explaining
the permit approval process at the state and local levels, to
assist developers in meeting the requirements of the
California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), and to assist
state and local agencies in streamlining the permit approval
process.
4)Authorizes OPA to charge an applicant for a development
project a fee not to exceed the estimated reasonable cost of
providing the services performed.
5)Requires OPA, in consultation with the Natural Resources
Agency and the California Environmental Protection Agency, to
develop a consolidated project information form to be used by
applicants for development projects. Authorizes an applicant
for a development project to submit a completed consolidated
project information form to OPA for distribution to the state
agencies that have permitting requirements. Requires state
agencies to respond to OPA regarding potential project
permitting requirements within 30 days.
6)Requires, upon the request of an applicant, a city, county, or
city and county with a population of 100,000 or more to
designate an administrative entity to serve as the applicant's
single point of contact with respect to all applications and
permits required by the local agency for the applicant's
commercial or industrial development project.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . The bill is intended to streamline the permitting
process and remove barriers to commercial real estate
SB 959
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development and economic growth in California. According to
the California Realtors Association, the bill would benefit
both businesses and governments by creating a consolidated and
streamlined system by which businesses would seek permits.
2)Background . The Permit Streamlining Act requires each state
agency and local agency to compile lists that specify in
detail the information that will be required from any
applicant for a development project, and requires the lead
agency for a development project to approve or disapprove the
project within applicable periods of time. This Act
previously required the governor to coordinate the state
government's help to applicants. In response to this
requirement OPR set up the OPA in 1977, which the Legislature
later codified 1983. The OPA was moved to State Trade and
Commerce Agency in 1993, and was abolished along with that
agency in 2003. Although the Office of Permit Assistance no
longer exists, the Permit Streamlining Act still requires
agencies to adopt criteria and meet statutory deadlines.
The Office of Planning and Research is the state's
comprehensive planning agency. Located within the Office of
the Governor, OPR coordinates state agencies' planning
activities. OPR is also responsible for helping regional and
local officials with land use planning. The Governor's
Budget for 2010-11 called for OPR's elimination, reassigning
some of its functions to other state agencies.
2)Opposition . The League of California Cities opposes the
provision requiring large cities to designate a single entity
as point of contact, stating that this "one-size fits all"
approach may not be cost-effective for some cities.
3)Related legislation. AB 2754 (J. Perez) creates a Planning
and Clearinghouse Unit within OPR. This unit would be
responsible reviewing state departments' functional plans for
consistency with the statutory state planning priorities, and
develop long-range policies for growth and development every
five years.
Analysis Prepared by : Brad Williams / APPR. / (916) 319-2081