Amended in Senate May 1, 2013

Amended in Senate April 8, 2013

Senate Bill No. 536

Introduced by Senator Berryhill

February 22, 2013

An act to add Section 53757 to the Government Code, relating to local government.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 536, as amended, Berryhill. Property-related services.

The California Constitution, with certain exceptions, conditions the imposition or increase of a property-related fee or charge upon less than a majority of owners of subject parcels submitting written protests, and begin insert requires the end insert approval by either a majority vote of the owners of the properties subject to the fee or charge or, under certain conditions, by a 2⁄3 vote of the voters residing in the area affected by the fee or charge.

This bill would begin insert specifically end insert provide that a begin delete district, as defined, end delete begin insert county end insert shall not be obligated to provide subsidies to cure any deficiencies in funding of property-related services provided begin delete in end delete begin insert within end insert the begin delete district’s end delete jurisdiction begin insert of a district, as defined, end insert under any of certain specified circumstances. This bill would provide that this prohibition would not apply if the begin delete district’s end delete begin insert county’s end insert governing board had agreed to subsidize the begin insert district’s end insert services before the completion of a majority protest proceeding or election, as specified.

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 53757 is added to the Government Code,
to read:

53757.  

(a) A begin delete district end delete begin insert county end insert shall not be obligated to provide
subsidies to cure any deficiencies in the funding of property-related
services provided within begin delete the end delete begin insert a end insert district’s jurisdiction, if any of the
following conditions exist:

(1) The district’s governing board proposed to impose, extend,
or increase property-related fees or charges for the services, the
board fully complied with Section 6 of Article XIII D of the
California Constitution, and a majority of parcel owners submitted
a written protest against the proposed imposition, extension, or
increase, pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 6 of Article XIII D
of the California Constitution.

(2) The district’s governing board proposed to impose, extend,
or increase property-related fees or charges for the services, the
board fully complied with Section 6 of Article XIII D of the
California Constitution, and the proposed imposition, extension,
or increase failed to get voter approval pursuant to subdivision (c)
of Section 6 of Article XIII D of the California Constitution.

(3) Property-related fees or charges for the services that begin delete comply end delete
begin insert fully complie end insert begin insert d end insert with Section 6 of XIII D of the California
Constitution were reduced or repealed by the voters by an initiative
pursuant to Section 3 of Article XIII C of the California
Constitution.

(b) Subdivision (a) shall not apply if the begin delete district’s end delete begin insert county’s end insert
governing board had undertaken the obligation to subsidize the
services before the completion of a majority protest proceeding or
election described in paragraph (1), (2), or (3) of subdivision (a).

(c) For purposes of this section, “fully begin delete complies end delete begin insert complied end insert with
Section 6 of Article XIII D of the California Constitution” means
all of the following:

(1) Revenues derived from the proposed fee or charge do not
exceed the funds required to provide the property-related service.

(2) Revenues derived from the fee or charge are not used for
any purpose other than that for which the fee or charge was
imposed.

(3) 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.

(4) 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.

(5) 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.

(6) The district 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.

(7) The district has provided a written notice by mail 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 California Constitution, and provided for all
required hearings.

(d) For purposes of this section, “district” shall mean a local
governmental entity created for the purpose of providing sidewalks,
streets, sewers, water, flood control, drainage systems, or vector
control services within its jurisdiction with a governing board that
has the same members as the board of supervisors for the county
in the overlapping geographical area.