BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1505|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1505
Author: Ducheny (D), et al
Amended: 9/3/99 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE : 6-1, 8/18/99
AYES: Baca, Johannessen, Monteith, Perata, Polanco, Rainey
NOES: Johnston
SENATE HOUSING & COMM. DEV. COMMITTEE : 6-0, 8/23/99
AYES: Alarcon, Bowen, Costa, Johannessen, Monteith,
Vasconcellos
NOT VOTING: Escutia
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 13-0, 9/1/99
AYES: Johnston, Alpert, Bowen, Burton, Escutia, Johnson,
Karnette, Kelley, Leslie, McPherson, Mountjoy, Perata,
Vasconcellos
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 79-0, 6/1/99 (Passed on Consent) - See
last page for vote
SUBJECT : Farmworker housing and local land use
regulation
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill requires local general plans' housing
elements to identify adequate sites with public services
and facilities for housing for agricultural employees to
meet the city or county's regional share of farmworker
CONTINUED
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housing. (See Analysis for specifics).
ANALYSIS : Despite the mechanization of California's
agribusiness industry, there is still a demand for farm
labor. Changing crop patterns shifted the demand for
farmworkers and also changed the need for employee housing.
As growers change the location of market crops, grape and
fruit orchards, coastal strawberries, and nurseries, they
attract farmworkers to new areas. In 1995, the Senate
Housing and Land Use Committee held an interim hearing on
farmworker housing. The Committee found that, Local
community opposition to new farmworker housing can stop
projects favored by growers, farmworkers, and local
officials. Housing sponsors want to make it easier to
build farmworker housing.
The Williamson Act authorizes any city or county to enter
into a contract with the owner of agricultural land for the
purpose of preserving that land in accordance with the
conditions established by the act and that contract. The
act authorizes the landowner to petition the governing body
of the relevant city or county for cancellation of a
contract or portion thereof for agricultural laborer
housing that is determined not to be a compatible use of
the contracted lands. Prior to any tentative approval of
the cancellation, the governing body of the relevant city
or county is required to certify to the county auditor the
amount of a cancellation fee that the contracting landowner
will pay s deferred taxes upon cancellation of the
contract, as specified.
This bill states that a landowner may subdivide land that
is currently designated as an agricultural preserve if all
of the following applies:
1.The parcel to be sold or leased is no more than five
acres
2.The parcel to be sold or leased to a nonprofit
organization, a city, a county, a housing authority, or a
state agency. A lessee that is a nonprofit organization
must not sublease that parcel without the written consent
of the landowner.
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3.The parcel must be subject to a deed restriction that
limits the use of the parcel to agricultural labor
housing facilities for not less than 30 years. That deed
restriction must also require that parcel to be merged
with the parcel from which it was subdivided when the
parcel ceases to be used for agricultural laborer
housing.
4.There is a written agreement between the parties to the
sale or lease and their successors to operate the parcel
under joint management of the parties, subject to terms
and conditions and for the duration of the contract.
5.The parcel is (a) within a city, or (b) in an
unincorporated territory or sphere of influence that is
contiguous to one or more parcels that are already zoned
residential, commercial, or industrial and developed with
existing residential, commercial, or industrial uses.
6.The agricultural labor housing project must be designed
to abate, to the extent practicable, impacts on adjacent
landowners' agricultural husbandry practices. The final
plan for the housing must include an addendum that
explains what features will be included to meet this
goal. This bill states that notwithstanding any
determination of compatible uses by the county or city,
unless the board or council after notice and hearing
makes a finding to the contrary, the erection,
construction, alteration, or maintenance of gas,
electric, water, communication, or agricultural laborer
housing facilities are determined to be compatible uses
with any agricultural preserve.
Further, this bill:
1.States that if the landowner permits the use of his or
her land for free public recreation, the board or council
may agree to indemnify the owner against all claims
arising form that public use. The owner's agreement that
the land be used for free, public recreation will not be
construed as an implied dedication to that use.
2.States that if the landowner permits the use of his or
her land for agricultural laborer housing facilities, the
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city, county, housing authority, state agency, or
nonprofit organization may indemnify the landowner
against all claims arising from that use.
3.State's local and state government's have a
responsibility to use powers vested in them to facilitate
the improvement and development of housing to make
adequate provision for housing needs of all economic
segments of the community, and that the Legislature
recognizes that in carrying out this responsibility, each
local government also has the responsibility to consider
economic, environmental, and fiscal factors and community
goals set forth in the general plan and to cooperate with
other local governments and the state in addressing
regional housing needs.
4.Requires the housing element must consist of an
identification and analysis of existing and projected
housing needs and a statement of goals, policies,
quantified objectives, financial resources, and scheduled
programs for the preservation, improvement, and
development of housing. It must identify adequate sites
for housing, including rental housing, factory-built
housing, and mobilehomes, and must make adequate
provision for the existing and projected needs of all
economic segments of the community. The housing element
must contain all of the following: An assessment of
housing needs and an inventory of resources and
constraints relevant to the meeting of these needs. The
assessment and inventory must include the following:
(a)An analysis of population and employment trends and
documentation of projections and a quantification of
the locality's existing and projected housing needs
for all income levels.
(b)An analysis and documentation of household
characteristics, including level of payment compared
to ability to pay, housing characteristics, including
overcrowding and housing stock condition.
(c)An inventory of land suitable for residential
development, including vacant sites and sites having
potential for redevelopment and an analysis of the
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relationship of zoning and public facilities and
services to these sites.
(d)An analysis of potential and actual governmental
constraints upon the maintenance, improvement, or
development of housing for all income levels,
including land use controls, building codes and their
enforcement, site improvements, fees and other
exactions required of developers and local processing
and permit procedures.
(e)An analysis of potential and actual nongovernmental
constraints upon the maintenance improvement, or
development of housing for all income levels,
including availability of financing, the price of
and, and the cost of construction.
(f)An analysis of any special housing needs, such as
those of the handicapped, elderly, large families,
farmworkers, families with female heads of
households, and families and persons in need of
emergency shelter.
(g)An analysis of opportunities for energy conservation
with respect to residential development.
(h)An analysis of existing assisted housing developments
that are eligible to change from low-income housing
uses during the next 10 years due to termination due
to subsidy contracts, mortgage prepayment, or
expiration of restrictions on use. This analysis
must contain, among other things, a listing of
development by project name and address; the type of
governmental assistance received; earliest possible
date of change from low-income use; total number of
elderly and nonelderly units that could be lost from
the locality's low-income housing stock in each year
during the 10-year period; estimate of the total cost
of producing new rental housing that is comparable in
size and rent levels, to replace the units that could
change from low-income use; identification of public
and private nonprofit corporations known to the local
government which have legal and managerial capacity
to acquire and manage these housing developments; and
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identification and consideration of the use of all
federal, state and local financing and subsidy
programs which can be used to preserve, for lower
income households, the assisted housing developments,
including, but not limited to, federal Community
Development Block Grant Program funds; tax increment
funds received by a redevelopment agency; and
administrative fees received by a housing authority
operating within the community.
This bill states that it is the intent of the Legislature
that when reviewing a jurisdiction's housing element for
substantial compliance with state law, the Department of
Housing and Community Development must (a). consider
whether the sites identified for farmworker housing
facilitate the improvement and development of housing for
farmworkers while minimizing the development of prime
agricultural land to urban uses; and (b) recognize and
support efforts by cities and counties in agricultural
areas to work together cooperatively to identify their
respective share of the sites needed for farmworker housing
and to locate those sites, to the extent feasible, within
or adjacent to existing urbanized areas.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
According to Senate Appropriations Committee analysis:
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 19999-2000
2000-01 2001-02 Fund
State-mandated Unknown costs, potentially
significantGeneral
local program
SUPPORT : (Verified 9/3/99)
Agricultural Council of California
Bank of America
California Building Industry Association
California Catholic Conference
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California Coalition for Rural Housing
California Manufactured Housing Institute
California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation
Jericho
California Lieutenant Governor
Western Center on Law and Poverty
Western Growers Association
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to Senate Local
Government Committee analysis, farmworkers, especially
migrants, must endure some of California's worst housing
conditions. Legislative hearings documented the need for
safe, decent, and affordable housing, as well as the lack
of adequate private and public funding. As the state
government and local officials begin to increase the amount
of capital available for building and rehabilitating
farmworker housing, there is still a need to find
acceptable locations for these projects. This bill
responds to these problems by making it easier to develop
farmworker housing on Williamson Act land, planning for
more sites, and speeding up development decisions.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Aanestad, Ackerman, Alquist, Aroner, Ashburn,
Baldwin, Bates, Battin, Baugh, Bock, Briggs, Calderon,
Campbell, Cardenas, Cardoza, Cedillo, Corbett, Correa,
Cox, Cunneen, Davis, Dickerson, Ducheny, Dutra,
Firebaugh, Florez, Floyd, Frusetta, Gallegos, Granlund,
Havice, Hertzberg, Honda, House, Jackson, Kaloogian,
Keeley, Knox, Kuehl, Leach, Lempert, Leonard, Longville,
Lowenthal, Machado, Maddox, Maldonado, Margett, Mazzoni,
McClintock, Migden, Nakano, Olberg, Oller, Robert
Pacheco, Rod Pacheco, Papan, Pescetti, Reyes, Romero,
Runner, Scott, Shelley, Soto, Steinberg, Strickland,
Strom-Martin, Thompson, Thomson, Torlakson, Vincent,
Washington, Wayne, Wesson, Wiggins, Wildman, Wright,
Zettel, Villaraigosa
NOT VOTING: Brewer
LB:sl 9/4/99 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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