Amended in Senate June 18, 2014

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 2194

Introduced by Assembly Member Mullin

February 20, 2014

An act to amend begin delete Section 53313 end delete begin insert Sections 53313 and 53313.5 end insert of the Government Code, relating to local government.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 2194, as amended, Mullin. Mello-Roos Community Facilities Act of begin delete 1982 end delete begin insert 1982: storm water end insert .

The Mello-Roos Community Facilities Act of 1982 authorizes a community facilities district to finance various services, including, but not limited to, flood and storm protection services, as specified.

This bill would additionally authorize the financing of storm water management.

begin insert

The act also authorizes a community facilities district to finance the purchase, construction, expansion, improvement, or rehabilitation of certain facilities, including, among others, undergrounding of water transmission and distribution facilities.

end insert begin insert

This bill would authorize a community facilities district to finance the acquisition, improvement, rehabilitation, or maintenance of any publicly owned real or other tangible property for local agencies’ compliance with storm water management permits.

end insert

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

Section 53313 of the Government Code is
amended to read:

53313.  

A community facilities district may be established under
this chapter to finance any one or more of the following types of
services within an area:

(a) Police protection services, including, but not limited to,
criminal justice services. However, criminal justice services shall
be limited to providing services for jails, detention facilities, and
juvenile halls.

(b) Fire protection and suppression services, and ambulance
and paramedic services.

(c) Recreation program services, library services, maintenance
services for elementary and secondary schoolsites and structures,
and the operation and maintenance of museums and cultural
facilities. A special tax may be levied for any of the services
specified in this subdivision only upon approval of the registered
voters as specified in subdivision (b) of Section 53326. An election
to enact a special tax for recreation program services, library
services, and the operation and maintenance of museums and
cultural facilities may be conducted pursuant to subdivision (c) of
Section 53326.

(d) Maintenance and lighting of parks, parkways, streets, roads,
and open space.

(e) Flood, storm protection services, and storm water
management, including, but not limited to, begin insert local agencies end insert begin insert ’ end insert
compliance with state and federal storm water permit requirements,
the operation and maintenance of storm drainage systems, plowing
and removal of snow, and sandstorm protection systems.

(f) Services with respect to removal or remedial action for the
cleanup of any hazardous substance released or threatened to be
released into the environment. As used in this subdivision, the
terms “remedial action” and “removal” shall have the meanings
set forth in Sections 25322 and 25323, respectively, of the Health
and Safety Code, and the term “hazardous substance” shall have
the meaning set forth in Section 25281 of the Health and Safety
Code. Community facilities districts shall provide the State
Department of Health Care Services and local health and building
departments with notification of any cleanup activity pursuant to
this subdivision at least 30 days prior to commencement of the
activity.

(g) Maintenance and operation of any real property or other
tangible property with an estimated useful life of five or more
years that is owned by the local agency or by another local agency
pursuant to an agreement entered into under Section 53316.2.

A community facilities district tax approved by vote of the
landowners of the district may only finance the services authorized
in this section to the extent that they are in addition to those
provided in the territory of the district before the district was
created. The additional services shall not supplant services already
available within that territory when the district was created.

Bonds shall not be issued pursuant to this chapter to fund any
of the services specified in this section, although bonds may be
issued to fund capital facilities to be used in providing these
services.

begin insert

begin insert SEC. 2. end insert   

end insert

begin insert Section 53313.5 of the end insert begin insert Government Code end insert begin insert is amended
to read: end insert

53313.5.  

A community facilities district may also finance the
purchase, construction, expansion, improvement, or rehabilitation
of any real or other tangible property with an estimated useful life
of five years or longer or may finance planning and design work
that is directly related to the purchase, construction, expansion, or
rehabilitation of any real or tangible property. The facilities need
not be physically located within the district. A district may not
lease out facilities that it has financed except pursuant to a lease
agreement or annexation agreement entered into prior to January
1, 1988. A district may only finance the purchase of facilities
whose construction has been completed, as determined by the
legislative body, before the resolution of formation to establish
the district is adopted pursuant to Section 53325.1, except that a
district may finance the purchase of facilities completed after the
adoption of the resolution of formation if the facility was
constructed as if it had been constructed under the direction and
supervision, or under the authority of, the local agency that will
own or operate the facility. For example, a community facilities
district may finance facilities, including, but not limited to, the
following:

(a) Local park, recreation, parkway, and open-space facilities.

(b) Elementary and secondary schoolsites and structures
provided that the facilities meet the building area and cost standards
established by the State Allocation Board.

(c) Libraries.

(d) Child care facilities, including costs of insuring the facilities
against loss, liability insurance in connection with the operation
of the facility, and other insurance costs relating to the operation
of the facilities, but excluding all other operational costs. However,
the proceeds of bonds issued pursuant to this chapter shall not be
used to pay these insurance costs.

(e) The district may also finance the construction or
undergrounding of water transmission and distribution facilities,
natural gas pipeline facilities, telephone lines, facilities for the
transmission or distribution of electrical energy, and cable
television lines to provide access to those services to customers
who do not have access to those services or to mitigate existing
visual blight. The district may enter into an agreement with a public
utility to utilize those facilities to provide a particular service and
for the conveyance of those facilities to the public utility. “Public
utility” shall include all utilities, whether public and regulated by
the Public Utilities Commission, or municipal. If the facilities are
conveyed to the public utility, the agreement shall provide that the
cost or a portion of the cost of the facilities that are the
responsibility of the utility shall be refunded by the public utility
to the district or improvement area thereof, to the extent that
refunds are applicable pursuant to (1) the Public Utilities Code or
rules of the Public Utilities Commission, as to utilities regulated
by the commission, or (2) other laws regulating public utilities.
Any reimbursement made to the district shall be utilized to reduce
or minimize the special tax levied within the district or
improvement area, or to construct or acquire additional facilities
within the district or improvement area, as specified in the
resolution of formation.

(f)  begin insert (1) end insert begin insert   end insert The district may also finance the acquisition,
improvement, rehabilitation, or maintenance of any real or other
tangible property, whether privately or publicly owned, for flood
and storm protection services, including, but not limited to, storm
drainage and treatment systems and sandstorm protection systems.

begin insert

(2) The district may also finance the acquisition, improvement,
rehabilitation, or maintenance of any publicly owned real or other
tangible property for local agencies’ compliance with storm water
management permits.

end insert

(g) The district may also pay in full all amounts necessary to
eliminate any fixed special assessment liens or to pay, repay, or
defease any obligation to pay or any indebtedness secured by any
tax, fee, charge, or assessment levied within the area of a
community facilities district or may pay debt service on that
indebtedness. When the amount financed by the district is to pay
a tax, fee, charge, or assessment imposed by a public agency other
than the one conducting the proceedings, and if the amount
provided to the other public agency will not be entirely used to
pay off or prepay an assessment lien or special tax obligation
pursuant to the property owner’s legal right to do so, the written
consent of the other public agency is required. In addition, tax
revenues of a district may be used to make lease or debt service
payments on any lease, lease-purchase contract, or certificate of
participation used to finance facilities authorized to be financed
by the district.

(h) Any other governmental facilities that the legislative body
creating the community facilities district is authorized by law to
contribute revenue to, or construct, own, or operate. However, the
district shall not operate or maintain or, except as otherwise
provided in subdivisions (e) and (k), have any ownership interest
in any facilities for the transmission or distribution of natural gas,
telephone service, or electrical energy.

(i) (1) A district may also pay for the following:

(A) Work deemed necessary to bring buildings or real property,
including privately owned buildings or real property, into
compliance with seismic safety standards or regulations. Only
work certified as necessary to comply with seismic safety standards
or regulations by local building officials may be financed. No
project involving the dismantling of an existing building and its
replacement by a new building, nor the construction of a new or
substantially new building may be financed pursuant to this
subparagraph. Work on qualified historical buildings or structures
shall be done in accordance with the State Historical Building
Code (Part 2.7 (commencing with Section 18950) of Division 13
of the Health and Safety Code).

(B) In addition, within any county or area designated by the
President of the United States or by the Governor as a disaster area
or for which the Governor has proclaimed the existence of a state
of emergency because of earthquake damage, a district may also
pay for any work deemed necessary to repair any damage to real
property directly or indirectly caused by the occurrence of an
earthquake cited in the President’s or the Governor’s designation
or proclamation, or by aftershocks associated with that earthquake,
including work to reconstruct, repair, shore up, or replace any
building damaged or destroyed by the earthquake, and specifically
including, but not limited to, work on any building damaged or
destroyed in the Loma Prieta earthquake that occurred on October
17, 1989, or by its aftershocks. Work may be financed pursuant
to this subparagraph only on property or buildings identified in a
resolution of intention to establish a community facilities district
adopted within seven years of the date on which the county or area
is designated as a disaster area by the President or by the Governor
or on which the Governor proclaims for the area the existence of
a state of emergency.

(2) Work on privately owned property, including reconstruction
or replacement of privately owned buildings pursuant to
subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1), may only be financed by a tax
levy if all of the votes cast on the question of levying the tax, vote
in favor of levying the tax, or with the prior written consent to the
tax of the owners of all property that may be subject to the tax, in
that case the prior written consent shall be deemed to constitute a
vote in favor of the tax and any associated bond issue. Any district
created to finance seismic safety work on privately owned
buildings, including repair, reconstruction, or replacement of
privately owned buildings pursuant to this subdivision, shall consist
only of lots or parcels that the legislative body finds have buildings
that were damaged or destroyed by the earthquake cited pursuant
to subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1) or by the aftershocks of that
earthquake.

(j) A district may also pay for the following:

(1) Work deemed necessary to repair and abate damage caused
to privately owned buildings and structures by soil deterioration.
“Soil deterioration” means a chemical reaction by soils that causes
structural damage or defects in construction materials including
concrete, steel, and ductile or cast iron. Only work certified as
necessary by local building officials may be financed. No project
involving the dismantling of an existing building or structure and
its replacement by a new building or structure, nor the construction
of a new or substantially new building or structure may be financed
pursuant to this paragraph.

(2) Work on privately owned buildings and structures pursuant
to this subdivision, including reconstruction, repair, and abatement
of damage caused by soil deterioration, may only be financed by
a tax levy if all of the votes cast on the question of levying the tax
vote in favor of levying the tax. Any district created to finance the
work on privately owned buildings or structures, including
reconstruction, repair, and abatement of damage caused by soil
deterioration, shall consist only of lots or parcels on which the
legislative body finds that the buildings or structures to be worked
on pursuant to this subdivision suffer from soil deterioration.

(k) A district may also finance the acquisition, improvement,
rehabilitation, or maintenance of any real or other tangible property,
whether privately or publicly owned, for the purposes of removal
or remedial action for the cleanup of any hazardous substance
released or threatened to be released into the environment. As used
in this subdivision, “remedial action” and “removal” shall have
the meaning set forth in Sections 25322 and 25323, respectively,
of the Health and Safety Code, and “hazardous substance” shall
have the meaning set forth in Section 25281 of the Health and
Safety Code.

(l) A district may also finance and refinance the acquisition,
installation, and improvement of energy efficiency, water
conservation, and renewable energy improvements that are affixed,
as specified in Section 660 of the Civil Code, to or on real property
and in buildings, whether the real property or buildings are
privately or publicly owned. Energy efficiency, water conservation,
and renewable energy improvements financed by a district may
only be installed on a privately owned building and on privately
owned real property with the prior written consent of the owner
or owners of the building or real property. This chapter shall not
be used to finance installation of energy efficiency, water
conservation, and renewable energy improvements on a privately
owned building or on privately owned real property in connection
with the initial construction of a residential building unless the
initial construction is undertaken by the intended owner or
occupant.

(m) Any improvement on private property authorized to be
financed by this section shall constitute a “public facility” for
purposes of this chapter and a “public improvement” for purposes
of Part 1 (commencing with Section 3100) and Part 2 (commencing
with Section 3110) of Division 4.5 of the Streets and Highways
Code, whether the improvement is owned by a private entity, if
the legislative body has determined that the improvement provides
a public benefit, or the improvement is owned by a public agency.