BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 244|
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 244
Author: Wolk (D), et al
Amended: 8/30/11
Vote: 21
SENATE GOVERNANCE & FINANCE COMMITTEE : 6-3, 4/27/11
AYES: Wolk, DeSaulnier, Hancock, Hernandez, Kehoe, Liu
NOES: Huff, Fuller, La Malfa
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 6-3, 5/16/11
AYES: Kehoe, Alquist, Lieu, Pavley, Price, Steinberg
NOES: Walters, Emmerson, Runner
SENATE FLOOR : 25-14, 5/31/11
AYES: Alquist, Calderon, Corbett, Correa, De Le�n,
DeSaulnier, Evans, Hancock, Hernandez, Kehoe, Leno, Lieu,
Liu, Lowenthal, Negrete McLeod, Padilla, Pavley, Price,
Rubio, Simitian, Steinberg, Vargas, Wolk, Wright, Yee
NOES: Anderson, Blakeslee, Cannella, Dutton, Emmerson,
Fuller, Gaines, Harman, Huff, La Malfa, Runner,
Strickland, Walters, Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Berryhill
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : Not available
SUBJECT : Local Summit: general plan: disadvantaged
unincorporated
communities
SOURCE : California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation
Policy Link
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DIGEST : This bill requires local agencies to plan for
specified disadvantaged communities through the Local
Agency Formation Commission planning process and general
plan updates.
Assembly Amendments (1) allow, subject to all applicable
constitutional restrictions, a county, a city, or a special
district that provides, or intends to provide, wastewater
treatment facilities or services, to borrow money and incur
indebtedness pursuant to provisions in the Water Code
related to the State Water Pollution Control Revolving
Fund; (2) make clarifying and technical changes to the
Senate version; and (3) is double-jointed with AB 54
(Solorio).
ANALYSIS : The Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Act creates a Local
Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) in each county to
control the boundaries of cities and most special
districts. To plan for the future boundaries and service
areas of the cities and special districts, the LAFCO
prepares a municipal service reviews for each entity and
use the information to adopt a sphere of influence for each
city and special district every five years. Boundary
decisions by the LAFCOs must be consistent with the spheres
of influence of the affected cities or districts. Many
disadvantaged unincorporated communities, such as county
islands, fringe communities, and isolated inhabited
communities, lack many basic public services, such as
domestic water, sanitary sewers, paved streets, storm
drains, and street lights.
This bill:
1. Defines, for purposes of LAFCO law, the term
"disadvantaged unincorporated community" to mean
inhabited territory with 12 or more registered voters,
or as determined by LAFCO policy, that constitutes all
or a portion of a "disadvantaged community," which is
defined in the Water Code to be "a community with an
annual median household income that is less than 80
percent of the statewide annual median household
income."
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2. Prohibits, in specified circumstances, a LAFCO from
approving an annexation to a city of any territory
greater than 10 acres, or as determined by LAFCO policy,
where there exists a disadvantaged unincorporated
community that is contiguous to the area of proposed
annexation, unless an application to annex the
disadvantaged unincorporated community to the subject
city has been filed with the executive officer.
3. Specifies that an application to annex a contiguous
disadvantaged community is not required if either of the
following apply:
A. A prior application for annexation of the same
disadvantaged community has been made in the
preceding five years.
B. The LAFCO finds, based upon written evidence, that
a majority of the residents within the affected
territory are opposed to annexation.
4. Requires the LAFCO, in determining the sphere of
influence of each local agency, to additionally
consider, for a city or special district that provides
public facilities or services related to sewers,
municipal and industrial water, or structural fire
protection, the present and probable need for those
public facilities and services of any disadvantaged
unincorporated communities within the existing sphere of
influence, beginning with the next sphere of influence
update on or after July 1, 2012.
5. Allows the LAFCO, in determining a sphere of influence,
to assess the feasibility of governmental reorganization
of particular agencies and recommend reorganization of
those agencies when reorganization is found to be
feasible and if reorganization will further the goals of
orderly development and efficient and affordable service
delivery.
6. Requires the LAFCO, in the written statement of its
determinations for a municipal service review to
additionally consider the following:
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A. The location and characteristics of any
disadvantaged unincorporated communities within or
contiguous to the sphere of influence; and,
B. Present and planned capacity of public facilities
and adequacy of public services, and deficiencies
including needs or deficiencies related to sewers,
municipal and industrial water, and structural fire
protection in any disadvantaged, unincorporated
communities within or contiguous to the agency's
proposed sphere of influence.
7. Allows the LAFCO, in conducting a municipal service
review, to assess various alternatives for improving
efficiency and affordability of infrastructure and
service delivery within and contiguous to the sphere of
influence, including, but not limited to, the
consolidation of governmental agencies.
8. Requires, on or before the due date for the next
adoption of its housing element, each city or county to
review and update the land use element of its general
plan to include all of the following:
A. In the case of a city, an identification of each
unincorporated island or fringe community, within the
city's sphere of influence.
B. In the case of a county, an identification of each
legacy community within the boundaries of the county,
but not including any area within the sphere of
influence of any city.
C. Requires that the identification include a
description of the community and a map designating
its location.
D. For each identified community, an analysis of
water, wastewater, stormwater drainage, and
structural fire protection needs or deficiencies.
E. An analysis, based on then existing available
data, of benefit assessment districts or other
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financing alternatives that could make the extension
of services to identified communities financially
feasible.
9. Requires, on or before the due date for each subsequent
revision of its housing element, each city or county to
review, and if necessary amend, its general plan to
update the analysis, as specified.
10.Defines, for purposes of general plan law, the following
terms:
A. "Community" to mean an inhabited area within a
city or county that is comprised of no less than 10
dwellings adjacent or in close proximity to one
another.
B. "Disadvantaged unincorporated community" to mean a
fringe, island, or legacy community in which the
median household income is 80 percent or less than
the statewide median household income;
C. "Unincorporated fringe community" to mean any
inhabited and unincorporated territory that is within
a city's sphere of influence; and,
D. "Unincorporated island community" to mean any
inhabited and unincorporated territory that is
surrounded or substantially surrounded by one or more
cities or by one or more cities and a county boundary
of the Pacific Ocean.
11.Allows, subject to all applicable constitutional
restrictions, a county, a city, or a special district
that provides, or intends to provide, wastewater
treatment facilities or services, to borrow money and
incur indebtedness pursuant to provisions in the Water
Code related to the State Water Pollution Control
Revolving Fund.
12.Makes legislative findings and declarations.
13.Contains chaptering out provisions in order to avoid
conflicts with AB 54 (Solorio).
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The most recent amendments to the bill add in provisions
that provide explicit statutory authority for cities,
counties, and special districts to borrow money and incur
indebtedness pursuant to statutes in the Water Code
relating to the Clean Water State Revolving Fund Loan
Program, for wastewater treatment facilities or services.
This enabled disadvantaged communities, like those in the
bill, to gain financial assistance for planning costs. The
author's office notes that often these are the same
communities that are unable to obtain funding necessary to
conduct planning for wastewater infrastructure projects.
Comments
The U.S. Census Bureau identifies a "census designated
place" (CDP) as the statistical counterpart of a city in
that it is a named place with a concentration of residents,
housing, and commercial activity, but located in a county's
unincorporated territory. The 2000 Census identified 583
census designated places in California. The Department of
Finance says that 159 of those CDPs had 2005-09 household
median incomes that were less than 80 percent of the
statewide household median income. The 2010 Census
identified 1,043 CDPs in California and when fresh income
data become available in late 2011, many of them will be
considered disadvantaged.
Some of these disadvantaged unincorporated communities are
county islands (mostly surrounded by cities), some are
fringe communities (at or near the edge of cities), and
others are legacy communities (geographically isolated).
Proposition 84 (2006) authorized $5.4 billion in state
bonds and specifically set aside $90 million for "planning
grants and planning incentives." The Strategic Growth
Council manages these programs (SB 732 �Steinberg], Chapter
729, Statutes of 2008). The Council has awarded $26
million in planning grants. Concerned about the inequities
faced by disadvantaged communities, the Council will
prioritize 20 percent of each year's planning grants for
work that benefits economically disadvantaged communities.
Many disadvantaged unincorporated communities lack public
services and even public facilities like domestic water,
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sanitary sewers, paved streets, storm drains, and street
lights. Some cities and special districts are reluctant to
annex these areas. Advocates want legislators to require
local officials to include disadvantaged communities in
their long-range planning for land use and public
facilities.
Prior Legislation
SB 1174 (Wolk), of 2010, concentrated on local general
plans; the bill died on the Assembly Appropriations
Committee's suspense file.
AB 853 (Arambula), of 2010, focused on the LAFCOs'
municipal service reviews, spheres of influence, and city
annexation procedures; Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed the
bill as "unnecessary."
SB 194 (Florez), of 2010, looked at disadvantaged
communities' needs for public works funding; Governor
Schwarzenegger vetoed the bill as "unnecessary."
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2011-12 2012-13
2013-14 Fund
Local planning mandate
significant local costs, not reimbursable
Local
SUPPORT : (Verified 9/8/11)
California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation (co-source)
Policy Link (co-source)
California Coalition for Rural Housing
California Pan-Ethnic Health Network
Catholic Charities Diocese of Stockton
Clean Water Action California
Committee for a Better Seville
Community Water Center
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Environmental Justice Coalition for Water
Food and Water Watch
Green California
Having Our Say
Natural Resources Defense Council
Planning and Conservation League
Sierra Club
Southern California Watershed Alliance
Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry California
United for Change in Tooleville
Urban Habitat
Urban Semillas
Winnemem Winti Tribe - Middle River People
OPPOSITION : (Verified 9/8/11)
City of Fresno, Gilroy, Merced, Sacramento, Santa Rosa,
Vacaville, Visalia, Vista, Wasco, Waterford, West Covina,
Whittier
County of Los Angeles
Cucamonga Valley Water District
League of CA Cities
Orange County Local Agency Formation Commission
Riverside Local Agency Formation Commission
San Bernardino County Local Agency Formation Commission
San Diego Local Agency Formation Commission
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
many disadvantaged unincorporated communities lack public
services and even public facilities like domestic water,
sanitary sewers, paved streets, storm drains, and street
lights. Some cities and special districts are reluctant to
annex these areas. The intent of this bill is to require
local officials to include disadvantaged communities in
their long-range planning for land use and public
facilities.
Additionally, this bill provides authority for local
governments to access the Clean Water State Revolving Fund
(CWSRF) Loan Program for planning costs to implement
infrastructure projects. This would give disadvantaged
communities with limited access to capital markets the
ability to undertake planning for capital wastewater
projects and level the playing field for various classes of
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local government.
The sponsor of the bill, the California Rural Legal
Assistance Foundation, argues that "these communities are
systematically underserved in the overall allocation of
public resources and are frequently left out of local
planning processes?this neglect and deprivation prevents
these neighborhoods from realizing their potential as
livable and economically viable communities."
Supporters argue that few local government land use plans
focus on the existence of disadvantaged unincorporated
communities, much less how to solve their many challenges.
This bill will result in greater awareness of these
communities and their needs in local government planning
documents.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : The League of California Cities
(League), in opposition, believes that local agencies do
not have the legal authority to impose fees to recover the
costs of the new duties mandated in the bill. The bill's
provisions right now include a fee disclaimer that says
that "no reimbursement is required by this act?.because a
local agency has the authority to levy service charges,
fees or assessments sufficient to pay for the program or
level of service mandated by this act." The League is
concerned that cities, under the new rules dictated by
Proposition 26, cannot charge current residents of the city
for the costs associated with the considerable analysis
required by the bill's provisions since the residents of
the city are not being provided a service.
The County of Los Angeles opposes this bill because the
County believes it to be both costly and burdensome. They
argue they already have a long term plan for all
unincorporated areas and that the bill does not adequately
address the fiscal strains the bill would place on already
distressed counties, cities, communities and taxpayers.
AGB:DLW:do 9/8/11 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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