BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE
Senator Dave Cox, Chair
BILL NO: SB 1023 HEARING: 5/5/10
AUTHOR: Wiggins FISCAL: No
VERSION: 4/27/10 CONSULTANT: Detwiler
SPECIAL DISTRICT CONVERSIONS
Background and Existing Law
The Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Act creates a local agency
formation commission (LAFCO) in each county to control the
formation, boundaries, and dissolution of cities and most
special districts. These procedures usually require five
steps:
Application to the LAFCO, including environmental
review.
A formal public hearing for the LAFCO's review and
approval.
Another formal hearing to measure public protests.
The possibility of an election, if there was
significant protest.
Ministerial filing of final documents.
A reorganization combines two or more proposed boundary
changes into a single proposal. For example, a
reorganization could simultaneously dissolve an existing
special district and form a new district.
In 2005, the Legislature revised the Community Services
District Law (SB 135, Kehoe, 2005), under which more than
300 community services districts (CSDs) deliver a variety
of public facilities and services.
In 2001, the Legislature rewrote the Recreation and Park
District Law (SB 707, Senate Local Government Committee,
2001). About 100 recreation and park districts operate
under that revised principal act.
In 1961, the Legislature passed the Resort Improvement
District Law (SB 384, Cameron, 1961). In 1965, the
Assembly held hearings into special districts' abuses and
one result was to stop the formation of more resort
improvement districts (RIDs). Nevertheless, seven RIDs
still remain:
Grizzly Lake RID Plumas County
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Lake Berryessa RID Napa County
Napa Berryessa RID Napa County
Resort Improvement District No. 1 Humboldt County
Stony Gorge RID Glenn County
Tahoe Paradise RID El Dorado County
Talmont RID Placer County
In Glenn and Napa counties, the boards of supervisors
govern the RIDs ex officio, but the other four RIDs have
their own elected boards of directors.
From the mid-1950s until 1960, the Legislature created
several special-act special districts called Municipal
Improvement Districts (MIDs) to deliver public services to
particular communities, some of which supported specific
development projects. The practice of creating special
districts for particular developers stopped in 1960. Five
MIDs still exist:
Bethel Island MID Contra Costa County
Embarcadero MID Santa Barbara County
Estero MID Foster City, San Mateo County
Guadalupe Valley MIDBrisbane, San Mateo County
Montalvo MID Ventura County
City councils are the ex officio governing boards of the
two MIDs in San Mateo County, while the other three MIDs
have their own elected boards of directors.
The MIDs' special acts and the statewide RID statute are
outdated, lacking clear links to the Brown Act, Public
Records Act, the Planning and Zoning Law, and Propositions
13, 62, and 218. Outdated laws make it harder for these
districts to deliver public services because they lack
modern legal procedures.
Some local officials want to convert the MIDs and RIDs that
operate under outdated statutes into CSDs that operate
under the revised statute, without affecting their assets,
liabilities, boundaries, services, finances, or other
duties.
Converting RIDs and MIDs into CSDs, however, is complicated
and time consuming. To switch from one principal act to
another requires an applicant to formally apply to the
LAFCO for a reorganization that proposes the dissolution of
the existing RID or MID and the formation of a new CSD.
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The five-step LAFCO procedures take about a year to
complete. Because these reorganizations propose forming
new special districts, they need majority-voter approval.
Local officials want the Legislature to create a simpler
way to convert RIDs and MIDs into CSDs. In addition, the
El Dorado County LAFCO wants a simpler way to convert a RID
into a recreation and park district.
Proposed Law
I. Converting to Community Services Districts . Senate
Bill 1023 creates a new boundary change procedure, called
an "expedited reorganization," and allows local agency
formation commissions (LAFCOs) to convert Resort
Improvement Districts (RIDs) and three specified Municipal
Improvement Districts (MIDs) into community services
districts (CSDs).
An expedited reorganization relies on the existing
procedures for applying to a LAFCO and for the LAFCO's
review and approval. A proposed expedited reorganization
must include at least 12 specified terms and conditions.
If a board of supervisors is a RID's governing body, the
proposed terms and conditions may also call for the
election of the new CSD's initial board of directors. The
LAFCO can change the proposed terms and conditions, but
only after notifying the subject RID or MID. The LAFCO can
approve, conditionally approve, or disapprove an expedited
reorganization, but the LAFCO must disapprove the proposal
if the subject RID or MID objects before the LAFCO acts.
If the LAFCO approves or conditionally approves the
expedited reorganization, there is no protest hearing and
no election.
The expedited reorganization applies to all RIDs and to
three MIDs: Montalvo, Bethel Island, and Embarcadero. The
new law automatically terminates on January 1, 2018.
II. Converting to a Recreation and Park District . For
just the Tahoe Paradise Resort Improvement District, Senate
Bill 1023 creates a new boundary change procedure, called
an "accelerated reorganization," and allows the El Dorado
County Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) to convert
the Tahoe Paradise RID into a recreation and park district.
SB 1023 -- 4/27/10 -- Page 4
The accelerated reorganization relies on the existing
procedures for applying to the El Dorado County LAFCO and
for the LAFCO's review and approval. A proposed
accelerated reorganization must include at least 12
specified terms and conditions. The LAFCO can change the
proposed terms and conditions, but only after notifying the
Tahoe Paradise RID. The LAFCO can approve, conditionally
approve, or disapprove the accelerated reorganization, but
the LAFCO must disapprove the proposal if the Tahoe
Paradise RID objects before the LAFCO acts. If the LAFCO
approves or conditionally approves the expedited
reorganization, there is no protest hearing and no
election.
SB 1023 contains legislative findings to support this
special legislation. The new law automatically terminates
on January 1, 2018.
Comments
1. Community needs, community services . California's
3,400 special districts deliver the public facilities and
services that their communities want, matching community
services to community needs. To help the districts remain
responsive to their residents and property owners, the
Legislature has rewritten a half-dozen of their principal
acts to reflect more recent constitutional and statutory
trends. But the statewide law that applies to the few
remaining resort improvement districts and the municipal
improvement districts' special acts aren't up-to-date.
MIDs and RIDs are so similar in concept to community
services districts that some local officials want to
convert them. SB 1023 allows RIDs and MIDs to convert into
CSDs more quickly, without changing boundaries, altering
duties, raising costs, or eroding anyone's constitutional
rights. If they use these voluntary procedures, district
officials can gain access to modern laws that help them
serve their communities.
2. Just do it ? The Legislature has the constitutional
authority to reorganize local governments --- without the
need for local elections or even against protests. The
Legislature usually delegates these detailed matters to the
58 LAFCOs, which the courts call the state's watchdogs over
local boundary changes. However, legislators can still
SB 1023 -- 4/27/10 -- Page 5
exercise their direct plenary power over local governments.
For example, in 1987, a bill dissolved the Hunter's Point
Reclamation District which had been formed in 1955, but
never operated (SB 615, Kopp, 1987). Two years ago, bills
converted the Hot Spring Valley Irrigation District into
the Hot Spring Valley Water District (SB 1117, Cox, 2008)
and converted the Vandalia Irrigation District into the
Vandalia Water District (SB 1276, Ashburn, 2008). SB 1023
takes the middle path between direct action and full
delegation, allowing the LAFCOs to expedite the conversion
of selected special districts. The Committee may wish to
consider whether the Legislature should act more directly
and simply convert MIDs and RIDs into CSDs by decree.
3. Special situation, special legislation . The California
Constitution prohibits special legislation when a general
law can apply. By authorizing a statewide process for
"expedited reorganizations," SB 1023 creates a general law
that's available to all RIDs and most MIDs. But, at the
request of the El Dorado County LAFCO, the bill also
contains a special provision that applies only to the Tahoe
Paradise RID. That LAFCO doesn't want to convert the
county's only RID into a CSD, preferring to consider
creating a recreation and park district instead. That
portion of SB 1023 is special legislation and contains a
legislative declaration to justify the need for a special
bill.
Support and Opposition (4/29/10)
Support : County of Napa, Ad Hoc NBRID Residents'
Committee, California Association of Local Agency Formation
Commissions, California Special Districts Association, El
Dorado County LAFCO, Lake Berryessa Resort Improvement
District, Montalvo Municipal Improvement District, Napa
Berryessa Resort Improvement District, Napa County LAFCO,
Ventura County LAFCO.
Opposition : Unknown.