BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair
AB 495 (Campos) - Community Investment
Amended: June 30, 2014 Policy Vote: BP&ED 7-1
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: August 4, 2014
Consultant: Robert Ingenito
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: AB 495 would create the California Community
Investment Program within the Governor's Office of Business and
Economic Development (GO-Biz).
Fiscal Impact: GO-Biz indicates that it would incur annual costs
of $750,000 (General Fund) and would require five additional
positions for program administration and information technology
projects resulting from the bill's database requirement.
Background: In February 2010, the Little Hoover Commission
reviewed the State's economic and workforce development
programs. Specifically, it analyzed the effectiveness of all
current programs since the elimination of the California
Technology, Trade and Commerce Agency (TTCA) in 2003, and
recommended the creation of a new governmental entity to replace
TTCA, to promote greater economic development, foster job
creation, serve as a policy advisor and deliver specific
services (e.g. permitting, regulatory and other information)
directly to the State's business community. In 2012, the
Legislature created GO-Biz for these purposes.
Under current law, GO-Biz is authorized to promote statewide
economic objectives. It provides a single point of contact for
economic development, business assistance, and job creation
efforts, and works with companies nationwide to market the
advantages of locating in California, retain businesses, and
support private sector job growth.
The phrase "the triple bottom line" (TBL) was coined in the
1990s by John Elkington, the founder of a British consulting
firm. His argument was that companies should be preparing three
different (and quite separate) bottom lines. One is the
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traditional measure of corporate profit-the "bottom line" of the
profit and loss account. The second is the bottom line of a
company's "people account"-a measure in some shape or form of
how socially responsible an organization has been throughout its
operations. The third is the bottom line of the company's
"planet" account-a measure of how environmentally responsible it
has been. The triple bottom line (TBL) therefore comprises three
Ps: profit, people and planet. It aims to measure the financial,
social and environmental performance of the corporation over a
period of time. Only a company that produces a TBL is taking
account of the full cost involved in doing business.
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Proposed Law: The bill would require GO-Biz to do the following:
1. Establish and implement a process for establishing public
education programs and providing technical assistance to
private sector investors.
2. Develop and annually update a database of low-income
neighborhoods in California by county and city with
relevant information about each neighborhood, including
socioeconomic demographic data, descriptions of pertinent
characteristics to inform private sector investments, such
as local land use plans and zoning or other development
designations, and commitments from local governments to
support private sector investments.
3. Compile and maintain a current inventory of California
public sector funding resources and financing mechanisms
that may be allocated to or utilized in low-income
neighborhoods.
4. Develop and adopt criteria for identifying eligible triple
bottom-line investments funds that will serve as partners
and invest in enterprises and employers that generate
permanent jobs, including investments to assist in
starting-up, locating, and expanding employers in
low-income neighborhoods.
5. Develop and adopt criteria for eligible triple bottom-line
investment funds that invest in real estate developments to
assist in constructing, expanding, renovating, and
rehabilitating buildings in low-income neighborhoods that
accommodate all allowed land use approved and permitted by
the local government land use regulations.
6. Establish overall TBL goals and standardized metrics for
economic, social, and environmental outcomes that shall be
accepted by all eligible investment funds.
7. Gather evidence and conduct public forums to identify a
broad array of incentives that will encourage triple
bottom-line fund investments in low-income neighborhoods.
8. Establish and convene regular meetings with organizations
and institutions with expertise and resources to advise the
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California Community Investment Council and eligible
investment fund managers.
9. Report biannually to the Legislature and the Governor on
the status and progress of the program.
Related Legislation: SB 431 (Price) of 2013 would have
established the California Socioeconomic Development Pods
Program within the GO-Biz to encourage the use of social
innovative financing, as defined, within blighted areas in the
state and would have also created the Pod Accelerator Fund, a
continuously appropriated fund, within the State Treasury, to
receive moneys collected and received by GO-Biz for the Program
from gifts, bequests, or donations. The bill was held in the
Senate Committee on Appropriations.)