BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 192
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 192 (Governance and Finance Committee)
As Amended August 16, 2012
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :36-0
LOCAL GOVERNMENT 8-1
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Ayes:|Smyth, Alejo, Bradford, | | |
| |Campos, Davis, Gordon, | | |
| |Hueso, Norby | | |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Knight | | |
| | | | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY : Enacts the Validating Act of 2012, which would
validate the organization, boundaries, acts, proceedings, and
bonds of the state government, counties, cities, special
districts, school districts, and other public bodies, excluding
redevelopment agencies.
EXISTING LAW allows local agencies to make changes to the
organization, boundaries, acts, proceedings, and bonds of the
state, cities, counties, special districts, school districts,
redevelopment agencies, and other local agencies.
FISCAL EFFECT : None
COMMENTS : According to the Senate Governance and Finance
Committee, the Legislature has adopted Validating Acts for over
70 years that retroactively fix public officials' inadvertent
procedural errors or omissions. The annual bills have affected
the state government as well as counties, cities, special
districts, school districts, and other agencies.
The Validating Acts are intended to save taxpayers' money. Such
bills allow bond counsel to issue stronger legal opinions on the
health of the local agency, which result in higher credit
ratings. Higher credit ratings result in lower interest rates,
leading to lower borrowing costs for the local agencies
themselves. Lower borrowing costs in turn save money for state
SB 192
Page 2
and local taxpayers. The Validating Acts cannot be used to
forgive fraud, corruption, or unconstitutional actions.
It has been customary practice for members of the former Senate
Local Government Committee to jointly author annual Validating
Acts. Following this established tradition, the Senate
Governance and Finance Committee is authoring this year's
Validating Act.
Support arguments: Supporters argue that the annual Validating
Acts are a cost effective way of correcting inadvertent
procedural errors or omissions of the state and local
governments without having to have thousands of entities go to
the superior court to get their actions validated.
Opposition arguments: None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Hank Dempsey / L. GOV. / (916)
319-3958FN: 0004750