BILL NUMBER: AB 2351 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 9, 2012
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Gordon
FEBRUARY 24, 2012
An act to amend Section 65563 51283
of the Government Code, relating to local planning.
government.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2351, as amended, Gordon. Local planning: open-space
plan. Williamson Act: cancellation: fees.
The Williamson Act authorizes a landowner to petition the board or
council of a city or county to cancel a contract entered into under
the act, and requires the landowner to pay a cancellation fee, as
specified. A board or council is authorized to grant tentative
approval of the cancellation after the county assessor of the county
in which the land is located has determined the current fair market
value of the land as though it were free of the contractual
restriction, and the board or council calculates the cancellation
fee. Existing law sets the cancellation fee at 12.5% of the
cancellation value of the property.
This bill would require a landowner that has petitioned the board
or council of a city or county to cancel a contract to pay ____% of
the total cancellation fee within 30 days of the board's or council's
decision to grant tentative approval of the cancellation.
(1) The Planning and Zoning Law requires every city and county to
prepare, adopt, and submit to the Secretary of the Natural Resources
Agency, on or before December 31, 1973, a local open-space plan for
the comprehensive and long-range preservation and conservation of
open-space land within its jurisdiction.
This bill would delete the December 31, 1973, date from the
above-specified provisions, thereby imposing a state-mandated local
program.
(2) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse
local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes no .
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 51283 of the
Government Code is amended to read:
51283. (a) Prior to Before any
action by the board or council giving tentative approval to the
cancellation of any contract, the county assessor of the county in
which the land is located shall determine the current fair market
value of the land as though it were free of the contractual
restriction. The assessor shall certify to the board or council the
cancellation valuation of the land for the purpose of determining the
cancellation fee. At the same time, the assessor shall send a notice
to the landowner and the Department of Conservation indicating the
current fair market value of the land as though it were free of the
contractual restriction and advise the parties, that upon their
request, the assessor shall provide all information relevant to the
valuation, excluding third-party information. If any information is
confidential or otherwise protected from release, the department and
the landowner shall hold it as confidential and return or destroy any
protected information upon termination of all actions relating to
valuation or cancellation of the contract on the property. The notice
shall also advise the landowner and the department of the
opportunity to request formal review from the assessor.
(b) Prior to (1)
Before giving tentative approval to the cancellation of any
contract, the board or council shall determine and certify to the
county auditor the amount of the cancellation fee that the landowner
shall pay the county treasurer upon cancellation. That fee shall be
an amount equal to 121/2 percent of the cancellation valuation of the
property.
(2) The landowner shall pay ____percent of the total cancellation
fee calculated pursuant to paragraph (1) within 30 days of the board'
s or council's decision to grant tentative approval of the
cancellation of the contract.
(c) If it finds that it is in the public interest to do so, the
board or council may waive any payment or any portion of a payment by
the landowner, or may extend the time for making the payment or a
portion of the payment contingent upon the future use made of the
land and its economic return to the landowner for a period of time
not to exceed the unexpired period of the contract, had it not been
canceled, if all of the following occur:
(1) The cancellation is caused by an involuntary transfer or
change in the use which may be made of the land and the land is not
immediately suitable, nor will be immediately used, for a purpose
which produces a greater economic return to the owner.
(2) The board or council has determined that it is in the best
interests of the program to conserve agricultural land use that the
payment be either deferred or is not required.
(3) The waiver or extension of time is approved by the Secretary
of the Natural Resources Agency. The secretary shall
approve a waiver or extension of time if the secretary finds that the
granting of the waiver or extension of time by the board or council
is consistent with the policies of this chapter and that the board or
council complied with this article. In evaluating a request for a
waiver or extension of time, the secretary shall review the findings
of the board or council, the evidence in the record of the board or
council, and any other evidence the secretary may receive concerning
the cancellation, waiver, or extension of time.
(d) The first two million five hundred thirty-six thousand dollars
($2,536,000) of revenue paid to the Controller pursuant to
subdivision (e) in the 2004-05 fiscal year, and any other amount as
approved in the final Budget Act for each fiscal year thereafter,
shall be deposited in the Soil Conservation Fund, which is continued
in existence. The money in the fund is available, when appropriated
by the Legislature, for the support of all of the following:
(1) The cost of the farmlands mapping and monitoring program of
the Department of Conservation pursuant to Section 65570.
(2) The soil conservation program identified in Section 614 of the
Public Resources Code.
(3) Program support costs of this chapter as administered by the
Department of Conservation.
(4) Program support costs incurred by the Department of
Conservation in administering the open-space subvention program
(Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 16140) of Part 1 of Division 4 of
Title 2).
(5) The costs to the Department of Conservation for administering
Section 51250.
(e) When cancellation fees required by this section are collected,
they shall be transmitted by the county treasurer to the Controller
and deposited in the General Fund, except as provided in subdivision
(d) of this section and subdivision (b) of Section 51203. The funds
collected by the county treasurer with respect to each cancellation
of a contract shall be transmitted to the Controller within 30 days
of the execution of a certificate of cancellation of contract by the
board or council, as specified in subdivision (b) of Section 51283.4.
(f) It is the intent of the Legislature that fees paid to cancel a
contract do not constitute taxes but are payments that, when made,
provide a private benefit that tends to increase the value of the
property.
SECTION 1. Section 65563 of the Government Code
is amended to read:
65563. Every city and county shall prepare, adopt, and submit to
the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency a local open-space plan
for the comprehensive and long-range preservation and conservation
of open-space land within its jurisdiction.
SEC. 2. No reimbursement is required by this
act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution because a local agency or school district has the
authority to levy service charges, fees, or assessments sufficient to
pay for the program or level of service mandated by this act, within
the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code.