BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2501
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Date of Hearing: April 24, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON BUSINESS, PROFESSIONS AND CONSUMER
PROTECTION
Mary Hayashi, Chair
AB 2501 (Garrick) - As Amended: March 29, 2012
SUBJECT : State government.
SUMMARY : Requires every state agency to locate its primary
administrative office, and all Supreme Court cases to be heard,
within Sacramento, on or before January 1, 2025. Specifically,
this bill :
1)Requires every state agency to locate its primary
administrative office within the Sacramento metropolitan area
by January 1, 2025. Authorizes a state agency that requires
direct public interaction to facilitate its function to
maintain local and regional offices for that purpose.
2)Requires the Supreme Court, on or before January 1, 2025, to
hear cases in Sacramento.
3)Requires the Department of General Services (DGS) to
coordinate with the heads of every state agency to establish a
plan to relocate facilities to Sacramento.
4)Creates the following definitions:
a) "Sacramento metropolitan area" to mean the greater
metropolitan Sacramento area, including the City of
Sacramento, the County of Sacramento, and the eastern part
of Yolo County; and,
b) "State agency" to mean every state agency, department,
office, division, bureau, board, commission, or state
entity under the direction of a constitutional officer.
5)Makes findings and declarations related to the relocation of
state administrative and executive facilities to Sacramento to
achieve cost savings.
EXISTING LAW
1)Authorizes DGS to plan, acquire, construct, and maintain state
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buildings and property, and subject to legislative approval,
to sell, lease, exchange, or transfer various specified
properties for current market value, or upon terms and
conditions as DGS determines are in the state's best
interests.
2)Requires the headquarters (HQ) of the California Coastal
Commission (Coastal Commission) to be located in a coastal
county, but authorizes the Coastal Commission to meet and
exercise any or all of its powers in any part of the state.
Authorizes the Coastal Commission to maintain regional
offices, if it finds that accessibility to, and participation
by, the public will be better served, or implementation of
duties will be more efficient. �Public Resources Code (PRC)
Section 30317]
3)Requires specified conservancies to maintain their HQ in
specified locations. (PRC Sections 32340 and 33327)
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
Purpose of this bill . According to the author's office, "The
purpose of this bill is to decrease the cost for the government
to do business in the State of California by implementing a
'lean production' practice. Certain agencies and departments
currently have multiple locations for their administrative
offices. By limiting administrative offices to one, and moving
them to the more central cost effective location of Sacramento,
we can reduce excessive, unnecessary costs to the taxpayers.
"This bill is necessary because our state is experiencing an
ongoing fiscal crisis and we need to begin looking internally at
ways to curb the superfluous spending by bureaucracies instead
of cutting essential programs that serve the most vulnerable
populations."
Background . This bill requires every state agency to locate its
primary administrative office within the Sacramento metropolitan
area by January 1, 2025. According to DGS, the majority of
state agency HQ are already located in Sacramento and would
apply the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) and the Coastal
Commission. This bill may also apply to conservancies,
agricultural districts, and small agencies that are not
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expressly listed in this bill.
Existing law allows state agencies who wish to relocate their
offices to work with DGS to do so. Neither PUC nor the Coastal
Commission has requested to relocate their primary
administrative offices. The author's office contends that "By
limiting administrative offices to one, and moving them to the
more central cost-effective location of Sacramento, we can
reduce excessive, unnecessary costs to the taxpayer." However,
the language in this bill does not require state agencies to
consolidate their administrative functions to one office and it
is unclear whether there would be any cost savings resulting
from relocation - affected state agencies would have to pay for
relocation costs and replacing staff lost to attrition.
Existing law requires that the HQ of the Coastal Commission and
specified conservancies be located in specified regions, and
appears to conflict with this bill's requirement that they be
located in Sacramento. PRC Section 30317 requires that the
Coastal Commission's HQ be located in a coastal county; the
Coastal Commission is currently located in San Francisco. The
nature of the Coastal Commission's work - coastal plan use
planning, permitting and enforcement, requires regular site
visits and ongoing work with coastal local governments and
special districts. The Coastal Commission works closely with
local coastal governments, applicants, property owners, and the
public in a location that is accessible to its constituents.
Locating the Coastal Commission HQ in Sacramento would
necessitate longer, more costly travel, cause permitting delays,
and divert staff time.
This bill, as written, would require Supreme Court cases to be
heard in Sacramento, until January 1, 2025.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
None on file.
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Joanna Gin / B.,P. & C.P. / (916)
AB 2501
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319-3301