BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2446|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2446
Author: Waldron (R)
Amended: 5/28/14 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE NATURAL RESOURCES AND WATER COMMITTEE : 9-0, 6/24/14
AYES: Pavley, Cannella, Evans, Fuller, Hueso, Jackson, Lara,
Monning, Wolk
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 76-0, 5/15/14 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Standby charges: San Luis Rey Municipal Water
District
SOURCE : San Luis Rey Municipal Water District
DIGEST : This bill removes the sunset clause on the San Luis
Rey Municipal Water District's (District) ability to impose a
standby fee of up to $30 per acre, thereby making that provision
permanent.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1.Authorizes, under the Municipal Water District Act, a
municipal water district, by ordinance, to establish a water
standby assessment or availability charge in the District or
in any improvement district each fiscal year, to which water
is made available by the District, whether the water is
CONTINUED
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actually used or not. The standby assessment or availability
charge is limited to $10 per acre per year for each acre of
land on which the charge is levied or $10 per year for a
parcel less than one acre.
2.Authorizes, until January 1, 2015, the specific agencies to
impose, in any improvement district situated within the
District, a standby fee of up to $30 per acre per year for
land on which the charge is levied or $30 per year for a
parcel less than one acre. The proceeds from any standby
assessment or availability charge in excess of $10 per acre
per year or $10 per year for a parcel less than one acre shall
only be used for the purposes of the improvement district.
This bill removes the sunset clause on the District's ability to
impose a standby fee of up to $30 per acre, thereby making that
provision permanent.
Background
The District covers approximately five square miles in the
unincorporated north San Diego County area and has an elected
five-member Board of Directors. According to the San Diego Local
Agency Formation Commission's 2013 Special Districts' Directory,
"The District was formed in 1958 to assist property owners who
benefit from the water resources of the San Luis Rey River and
the Pala and Bonsall Drainage Basins. The District funds legal
activities to protect water and water storage rights of district
landowners. The District is not authorized to provide potable
or untreated water service. The District has neither
water-related infrastructure nor access to local or imported
water resources. Landowners in the District rely on private
wells. The area is developed primarily with agricultural uses
and the only source of water for agricultural or domestic use is
the San Luis Rey River and the groundwater basins, which the
River supplies. The District levied a property tax rate before
the tax limitations of Proposition 13 were imposed; however, the
increment of property tax revenue is insufficient to fund the
District's services and the District Board has imposed a water
availability charge to generate revenue."
In 1989, the Legislature passed and the Governor signed SB 1157
(Bergeson, Chapter 662). That bill authorized the District to
levy an annual standby assessment or availability charge within
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3
any improvement district thereof not to exceed $30 per acre or
parcel less than an acre, but the proceeds from any such charge
in excess of $10 is required to be used only for the purposes of
the improvement district. That provision would sunset January
1, 2000.
The sunset has been extended twice: Once, in 1999 by SB 807
(Committee on Agriculture and Water Resources, Chapter 779),
which extended the sunset to January 1, 2005; and again in 2004
by AB 2733 (Strickland, Chapter 535), which extended the sunset
to January 1, 2015.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local:
No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/25/14)
San Luis Rey Municipal Water District (source)
California Special Districts Association
Farm Bureau San Diego
Pala Band of Mission Indians
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the San Luis Rey Municipal
Water District, "we are sponsoring this special legislation that
seeks to continue what Water Code Sec. 71631.7 currently
provides and has provided to us for many years. The amendment
of removing a sunset provision was done at the suggestion of
folks on the Assembly side, and makes sense because we have had
this statute for so long and, as pointed out by a consultant on
the Assembly side, the other water entities in this series of
statutes (Water Code Sec. 71631) do not have sunset provisions
in their special statutes.
"This legislation is critical to our fiscal stability, and it
has the wide support of our landowners, including the Pala Band
of Mission Indians, as well as other groups such as the Farm
Bureau and California Special Districts Association."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 76-0, 5/15/14
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Bigelow, Bloom,
Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian
Calderon, Campos, Chau, Ch�vez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley,
Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier,
Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gorell,
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4
Gray, Grove, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hern�ndez, Holden,
Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal,
Maienschein, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian,
Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, V. Manuel P�rez,
Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas,
Skinner, Stone, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski,
Wilk, Williams, Yamada, Atkins
NO VOTE RECORDED: Donnelly, Mansoor, John A. P�rez, Vacancy
RM:e 6/26/14 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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