BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1530
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Date of Hearing: May 16, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 1530 (Huffman) - As Amended: May 2, 2012
Policy Committee: Revenue and
Taxation Vote: 7-1
JEDE 4-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill establishes the Clean Manufacturing and Job Creation
Incentive Act of 2012. Specifically, this bill:
1)Authorizes any city, county, or city and county to establish a
clean manufacturing zone within its boundaries by ordinance or
resolution for the purpose of providing incentives to
manufacturing businesses to locate within the jurisdiction.
2)Specifies an extensive list of potential local incentives,
ranging from the suspension of locally originated or modified
zoning laws and rent controls, to the elimination or reduction
of the local government's share of business property taxes,
construction taxes or business license taxes.
3)Requires a copy of the resolution or ordinance to be
transmitted to the Governor's Office of Business and Economic
Development (GO-Biz) within 60 days of approval.
4)Requires GO-Biz, within 30 days of receiving an ordinance, to
carry out specified activities, including designating a
liaison for permit assistance.
5)Requires state agencies, based on their existing resources and
authorities, to prioritize permit and license applications
submitted by a manufacturer or a local government.
6)Sunsets the Government Code (GC) provisions of this bill
January 1, 2020.
AB 1530
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FISCAL EFFECT
The cost to the state is dependent on the number of local
governments that choose to participate in the program. Assuming
5-10 of California's over 500 cities and counties opt in, GO-Biz
would have to hire staff, with costs of approximately $150,000.
There would be additional cost pressure on state agencies that
are required to assign a higher priority to permit and license
applications for facilities within the designated zones. The
cost pressure results because the affected state agencies are
involved in other permitting and licensing activities, much of
which is in response to statutory deadlines, so the work cannot
be easily deferred.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . According to the author, AB 1530 creates incentives
for new manufacturing businesses to locate in California and
for existing businesses to remain here and expand. The author
notes the bill is not limited to specific types of
manufacturing, and does not circumvent or shortcut the
permitting and review process, but it does allow local
jurisdictions to designate an appropriate space as a Clean
Manufacturing Zone, and provide incentives and assistance.
The author argues AB 1530 will stimulate growth in the
manufacturing industry, without compromising California's high
environmental, public health, and safety standards.
2)The state's prior tax rebate program . In 1993, cities,
counties, redevelopment agencies and special districts were
authorized to rebate some or all of their property tax
revenues to the owners of economic revitalization
manufacturing property. A property tax rebate required a
majority vote of the local agency's governing board. To
qualify for the local tax rebate, the economic revitalization
manufacturing property had to meet specified criteria.
When the Legislature extended the program's sunset date to
January 1, 2003, it required the Legislative Analyst to report
on the program. In 2002, the Legislative Analyst noted that
no local governments had reported giving property tax rebates
and, the program was allowed to sunset.
AB 1530
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3)Related legislation.
a) AB 1789 (Corbett) of 2004 authorized a county to exempt
from property taxation the qualified personal property of a
qualified life science entity during its startup period.
AB 1789 was held on the Assembly Revenue and Taxation
Committee's Suspense File.
b) SB 1767 (Ducheny), of 2004 authorized specified local
agencies to provide an economic development incentive to
private manufacturing entities. SB 1767 died in the Senate
Committee on Local Government.
4)There is no registered opposition to this bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Roger Dunstan / APPR. / (916) 319-2081