BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1120|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 1120
Author: Berryhill (R)
Amended: 7/3/12
Vote: 27 - Urgency
SENATE GOVERNANCE & FINANCE COMMITTEE : 9-0, 6/28/12
AYES: Wolk, Dutton, DeSaulnier, Fuller, Hernandez, Kehoe,
La Malfa, Liu, Yee
SUBJECT : Property-related services
SOURCE : Madera County Board of Supervisors
DIGEST : This bill states that a city or county does not
need to provide subsidies to cure any deficiencies in
funding of property related services if the district's
voters reject or reduce a property-related fee.
ANALYSIS : The California Constitution (Cal. Const.)
defines a property-related fee or charge as any levy other
than an ad valorem tax, a special tax, or an assessment,
imposed by an agency upon a parcel or upon a person as an
incident of property ownership, including a user fee or
charge for a property-related service (Proposition 218,
1996).
Before a local government can charge a new property-related
fee, or increase an existing one, Proposition 218 requires
local officials to:
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Identify the parcels to be charged,
Calculate the fee for each parcel,
Notify the parcels' owners in writing about the fees
and the hearing,
Hold a public hearing to consider and count protests,
and
Abandon the fees if a majority of the parcels' owners
protest.
Further, new or increased property-related fees require:
A majority-vote of the affected property owners, or
2/3 registered voter approval, or
Weighted ballot approval by the affected property
owners.
However, this election requirement does not apply to
property-related fees for sewer, water, or refuse
collection services.
This bill states any angecy that acts as a maintenance
district's board of directors is not obligated to provide
subsidies to the district to cure any deficiencies in
funding for services provided in the district, including
water, sewer, and refuse collection, if any of the
following apply:
The agency's governing board proposes to impose,
extend, or increase property related fees or charges for
the services, the board fully complies with Section 6 of
Article XIII D of the Cal. Const., and a majority of
parcel owners submit a written protest against the
proposed imposition, extension, or increase, pursuant to
subdivision (a) of Section 6 of Article XIII D of the
Cal. Const.
The agency's governing board proposes to impose,
extend, or increase property related fees or charges for
the services, the board fully complies with Section 6 of
Article XIII D of the Cal. Const., and the proposed
imposition, extension, or increase fails to get voter
approval pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 6 of
Article XIII D of the Cal. Const.
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Property related fees or charges for the services that
comply with Section 6 of Article XIII D of the Cal.
Const. are reduced or repealed by the voters via an
initiative pursuant to Section 3 of Article XIII C of
the Cal. Const.
This bill's provisions do not apply if the agency's
governing board undertook the obligation to subsidize the
district at the time of the initial creation of the
district, as provided for in specified statutes.
This bill states that "full compliance with Section 6 of
Article XIII D of the California Constitution" means all of
the following:
Revenues derived from the proposed fee or charge do not
exceed the funds required to provide the
property-related service.
Revenues derived from the fee or charge are not used
for any purpose other than that for which the fee or
charge was imposed.
The amount of the fee or charge imposed on any parcel
or person as an incident of property ownership does not
exceed the proportional cost of the service attributable
to the parcel or person.
The fee or charge is not imposed for a service unless
and until that service is actually used by, or
immediately available to, the property owner in
question.
The fee or charge is not imposed for general government
services if the service is available to the public at
large in substantially the same manner it is to property
owners.
The public entity has identified all parcels upon which
the fee or charge is proposed and calculated the amount
of the fee or charge to be imposed upon each identified
parcel.
The public entity has provided a written notice by mail
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of the proposed fee or charge to the record owner of
each identified parcel, in conformance with subdivision
(c) of Section 6 of Article XIII D of the Cal. Const.,
and provided for all required hearings.
Comments
When property owners or voters reject or reduce
property-related fees, local agencies are left without any
good options for continuing the projects or services funded
by those fees, including water, sewer, and refuse
collection services. If property-related fee revenues are
insufficient to cover a local agency's maintenance and
operations costs for providing a service, it may have to
reduce the level of service provided. If reduced service
levels would pose a risk to public health or safety, the
agency may be forced to use general tax revenues to pay for
the operations and maintenance costs of those services.
Many local governments' general fund revenues are already
stretched too thin to provide core services that benefit
all local taxpayers. Property owners should not expect
local governments to use scarce general tax revenues to
subsidize the costs of projects or services that benefit
only specific properties. This bill clarifies that local
governments are not obligated to provide subsidies.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 7/6/12)
Madera County Board of Supervisors (source)
California State Association of Counties
Regional Council of Rural Counties
San Benito County Board of Supervisors
AGB:k 8/1/12 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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