BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE GOVERNANCE & FINANCE COMMITTEE
Senator Lois Wolk, Chair
BILL NO: AB 2698 HEARING: 6/13/12
AUTHOR: Committee on Local GovernmentFISCAL: No
VERSION: 6/6/12 TAX LEVY: No
CONSULTANT: Lui
LOCAL AGENCY FORMATION COMMISSIONS
Proposes several changes to laws affecting local government
organization and reorganization.
Background
The Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government Reorganization
Act delegates the Legislature's power to control the
boundaries of cities and special districts to local agency
formation commissions (LAFCOs). The courts call LAFCOs the
Legislature's watchdog over local boundary changes.
As practitioners find problems with the
Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Act, they ask for statutory
improvements. These minor problems do not warrant separate
(and expensive) bills. According to the Legislative
Analyst, in 2001-02 the cost of producing a bill was
$17,890.
Legislators respond by combining several of these minor
topics into an annual "omnibus bill." Although this
practice may violate a strict interpretation of the
single-subject and germaneness rules as presented in
Californians for an Open Primary v. McPherson (2006), it is
an expeditious and relatively inexpensive way to respond to
multiple requests. Last year's LAFCO clean-up bill was AB
2795 (Assembly Local Government Committee, 2010).
Proposed Law
Assembly Bill 2698 makes changes to state laws affecting
local agency formation commissions (LAFCOs) and local
governments' boundaries.
I. Protest provisions. AB 2698 reorganizes protest
AB 2698 -- 6/6/12 -- Page 2
provisions of the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government
Reorganization Act of 2000.
II. Goleta West Sanitary District. The Act requires a
LAFCO to order the consolidation of districts, dissolution,
merger, or a reorganization that includes any of these
changes, without an election, pursuant to state law. The
Act exempts the Goleta Sanitary District or the Goleta West
Sanitary District from these provisions. AB 2698 repeals
this exemption, which expired January 1, 2003.
III. Spheres of influence. The Act requires a LAFCO to
determine the sphere of influence (SOI) of each local
governmental agency and to enact policies that promote
local and orderly development of areas within SOIs. AB
2698 requires a LAFCO to develop and determine the SOI of
each city and each special district that is subject to the
LAFCO's jurisdiction.
IV. Revise and recast. If a LAFCO has initiated a change
of organization or reorganization that affects more than
one special district, the commission may utilize, and is
encouraged to utilize, a reorganization committee to review
the proposal. AB 2698 moves this provision from the
statute dealing with district consolidations that are
initiated by special districts' governing boards to the
statute pertaining to the formation of reorganization
committees. The bill also revises and recasts several
provisions related to the initiative of a change of
organization or reorganization that affects more than one
special district.
V. Waiver of protest proceedings. The Act authorizes a
LAFCO to approve changes in organization or reorganization
proposals, if proposals are consistent with a LAFCO's
adopted written policies, procedures, and guidelines. A
LAFCO must require voter-approval of a change in
organization or reorganization that includes an
incorporation or disincorporation.
AB 2698 provides that voter approval is required for a
change of organization or reorganization that consists of
an incorporation or disincorporation. The bill provides
specific protest standards for district dissolution,
consolidation of two or more districts, certain
reorganizations, and the merger or establishment of a
subsidiary district. The bill also authorizes the waiver
AB 2698 -- 6/6/12 -- Page 3
of protest proceedings under specified circumstances and
sets forth procedures that apply to those waivers,
including specified notice mailings. The bill exempts from
voter approval a change of organization that includes a
dissolution, except if the proposal meets certain
requirements subject to protest procedures.
VI. Technical amendments. AB 2698 makes other technical
and conforming changes.
State Revenue Impact
No estimate.
Comments
Purpose of the bill . Even the best written statutes
contain minor flaws. When statutory problems appear in the
state law affecting LAFCOs, the Assembly Local Government
Committee avoids legislative costs by combining several
changes to the state laws into a single, consensus bill.
By carefully reviewing each item with the affected parties,
the Committee also avoids controversy. The changes made by
AB 2698 don't raise statewide policy questions. AB 2698
makes a complex statute easier for property owners,
residents, and local officials to use.
Assembly Actions
Assembly Local Government Committee: 9-0
Assembly Floor: 77-0
Support and Opposition (6/7/12)
Support : California Association of Local Agency Formation
Commissions; Coalition of California LAFCOs; El Dorado
Local Agency Formation Commission; Riverside Local Agency
Formation Commission; San Diego Local Agency Formation
Commission.
Opposition : Unknown.
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