BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �




                     SENATE GOVERNANCE & FINANCE COMMITTEE
                            Senator Lois Wolk, Chair
          

          BILL NO:  AB 737                      HEARING:  6/13/12
          AUTHOR:  Huber                        FISCAL:  Yes
          VERSION:  1/4/12                      TAX LEVY:  No
          CONSULTANT:  Lui                      

                                  MODEL CITIES
          

           Deletes code sections pertaining to Model Cities program. 


                           Background and Existing Law  

          In 1965, prompted by a perception of national widespread 
          urban violence, high poverty rates, and disillusionment 
          with urban renewal programs, President Johnson appointed a 
          "Task Force on Urban Problems" to find solutions to blight 
          and impoverished urban communities.  The task force 
          recommended a five-year pilot program to concentrate and 
          coordinate existing government programs in disadvantaged 
          neighborhoods.  Its findings informed the Demonstration 
          Cities and Metropolitan Development Act of 1966.  The Act 
          asserted federal interest in public project coordination 
          and urban planning by allowing the Secretary of Housing and 
          Urban Development to provide financial and technical 
          assistance for cities to carry out programs to plan, 
          rebuild, and revitalize disadvantaged areas.  

          Authorized by the Comprehensive City Demonstration Programs 
          (42 U.S.C. 3301 et seq.), or the "Model Cities" program, 
          150 U.S. cities participated and received federal grants.  
          The Model Cities program provided flexible block grants to 
          local governments, coordinated government resources on 
          locally defined urban problems, and provided opportunities 
          to integrate services.  In 1971, the Legislature enacted 
          laws to provide for state and local participation in the 
          Model Cities program (AB 3055, Wilson, 1971).

          In 1974, after consolidation with the Department of Housing 
          and Urban Development's Community Development Block Grant 
          Program, the Model Cities program ended.  California's laws 
          relating to the Model Cities program became ineffective 
          when the Model Cities program expired.  The author would 
          like to delete outdated sections of the Health and Safety 




          AB 737 -- 1/4/12 -- Page 2



          Code pertaining to the expired Model Cities program.




                                   Proposed Law  

          Assembly Bill 737 deletes sections of the Health and Safety 
          Code related to the Model Cities Program.  


                               State Revenue Impact
           
          Unknown.


                                     Comments  

           Purpose of the bill  .  The English playwright W. Somerset 
          Maugham believed playwriting's two maxims were to stick to 
          the point, and, whenever you can, cut.  When laws related 
          to obsolete programs stay on the books, confusion may 
          arise.  The Model Cities program no longer exists.  The 
          author would like to clean up related code sections.  
          Removing expired laws from code books creates clarity and 
          efficiency.



                                 Assembly Actions  

          Assembly Local Government: 9-0
          Assembly Appropriations:           17-0
          Assembly Floor:                     75-0


                         Support and Opposition  (6/7/12)

           Support  :  Unknown.

           Opposition  :  Unknown.