The following summary of 2010 legislation has been released by Peter M. Detweiler, Staff Director for the Senate Local Government Committee.

"With the legislative deadlines for policy committees now behind us, I want you to know about some of the more interesting bills that the Senate Local Government Committee worked on during 2010. The urgency bills took effect on the day they were chaptered; regular bills will take effect on January 1, 2011.

These brief summaries cover a selection of the bills that the Committee has reviewed. If you want to read the Committee’s bill analyses or get a copy of a bill, please go to the Legislature’s official website www.leginfo.ca.gov. You can also use that website to retrieve other bill analyses, official histories, voting records, and any veto messages.

LOCAL FINANCE & INFRASTRUCTURE 

  • SB 85 (Cogdill) modifies the property tax allocation formulas to increase annual allocations to specific counties. Status: Chapter 5, Statues of 2010.
  • SB 1340* (Kehoe) authorizes contractual assessment financing for electric vehicle charging infrastructure. Status: Assembly Appropriations Committee.
  • SCA 18 (Liu) exempts stormwater and urban runoff management fees or charges from voter approval requirements. Status: Senate Floor.
  • AB 44 (Blakeslee) authorizes contractual assessment financing for renewable energy systems installed under electricity purchase agreements. Status: Senate Floor.
  • AB 1755 (Swanson) authorizes contractual assessment financing for seismic strengthening improvements on real property. Status: Senate Floor.
  • AB 2182 (Huffman) authorizes contractual assessment financing for septic and sewer improvements on real property. Status: Senate Floor.
  • AB 2554 (Brownley) authorizes the Los Angeles County Flood Control District to impose property-related fees in unincorporated areas. Status: Senate Floor.

LOCAL POWERS & GOVERNANCE

  • SB 841, SB 842, and SB 843 (Senate Local Government Committee) are the annual Validating Acts. Status: SB 841 was signed, Chapter 16, Statutes of 2010 (urgency); SB 842 and SB 843 are on the Assembly Floor, Inactive File.
  • SB 879 (Cox) revises the procedures for counties’ design-build contracting powers and extends the sunset date until January 1, 2016. Status: Assembly Appropriations Committee.
  • SB 894 (Senate Local Government Committee) is the annual Local Government Omnibus Act, making 24 relatively minor and noncontroversial changes to the state laws affecting local agencies’ powers and duties. Status: Assembly Appropriations Committee.
  • SB 902 (Ashburn) reduces the population threshold for counties that can regulate fire companies from 1 million to 400,000. Status: Governor’s Desk.
  • SB 1005 (Cox) allows the Tahoe Forest Healthcare District and one other healthcare district use design-build contracting procedures. Status: Assembly Appropriations Committee.
  • SB 1042 (Walters) repeals the 1917 law that allows counties to condemn private property for military bases. Status: Governor’s Desk.
  • AB 155 (Mendoza) requires local public entities to get CDIAC’s approval before filing federal bankruptcy petitions. Status: Senate Floor, Inactive File.
  • AB 1451 (Ammiano) authorizes counties to issue local identification cards that meet statutory criteria. Status: Senate Floor, Inactive File.
  • AB 1668 (Knight) extends the time for city councils to fill vacant elective offices from 30 days to 60 days. Status: Governor’s Desk.
  • AB 1671 (Jeffries) allows county supervisors fill a vacant board of supervisors seat if the governor does not appoint a replacement within 90 days. Status: Senate Appropriations Committee.
  • AB 1955 (De La Torre) adds examples to the statutory ban on holding incompatible public offices. Status: Failed in the Senate Local Government Committee.

LAND USE PLANNING & DEVELOPMENT 

  • SB 959 (Ducheny) reestablishes the Office of Planning and Research’s permit assistance duties. Status: Assembly Appropriations Committee.
  • SB 1019 (Correa) extends the sunset date on the procedures for cities and counties to release subdivision performance securities to January 1, 2016. Status: Assembly Floor.
  • SB 1141 (Negrete McLeod) restores the requirement that every county with a public use airport must have an Airport Land Use Commission, with exceptions. Status: Assembly Appropriations Committee.
  • SB 1174 (Wolk) creates the Future Sustainable Communities Pilot Project to pay for general plan updates for disadvantaged communities, using Proposition 84 bond funds. Status: Assembly Appropriations Committee.
  • SB 1207 (Kehoe) expands the fire safety planning requirements in local general plans’ safety elements. Status: Assembly Appropriations Committee.
  • SB 1445 (DeSaulnier) increases the vehicle license fee by $1 to pay for regional planning activities and expands the membership of OPR’s Planning Advisory and Assistance Council. Status: Assembly Appropriations Committee.
  • AB 987 (Ma) expands the maximum area of a transit village development district. Status: Senate Floor.
  • AB 1919 (Davis) requires subdivided lots to pay county survey monument preservation fund fees. Status: Senate Floor.
  • AB 1965 (Yamada) extends the sunset date on the procedures for lot line adjustments on Williamson Act contracted land to January 1, 2013. Status: Governor’s Desk.
  • AB 2530 (Nielsen) lists the topics that counties’ Williamson Act advisory boards may consider. Status: Senate Floor, Inactive File.
  • AB 2650 (Buchanan) prohibits medical marijuana establishments within 600 feet of schools. Status: Senate Appropriations Committee.
  • AB 2754 (John Pérez) grants civil service status to OPR’s clearinghouse and planning staff, and designates OPR as the state’s military liaison. Status: Senate Appropriations Committee.

REDEVELOPMENT 

  • AB 1641 (Hall) clarifies that public housing may be included within redevelopment project areas. Status: Senate Floor.
  • AB 1791 (Monning) allows redevelopment agencies to subsidize commercial development on vacant land at the former Fort Ord. Status: Senate Floor.
  • AB 2531 (Fuentes) allows redevelopment agencies to pay for business development and job programs until January 1, 2018. Status: Senate Appropriations Committee.

LAFCo & BOUNDARY CHANGES

  • SB 1023 (Wiggins) creates expedited procedures to convert Resort Improvement Districts and Municipal Improvement Districts into Community Services Districts. Status: Governor’s Desk.
  • AB 419 (Caballero) meshes the election laws with the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Act. Status: Governor’s Desk.
  • AB 711* (Calderon) appropriates $45,000 as a loan to the East Los Angeles Residents Association to pay for the proposed city incorporation proceedings. Status: Signed; Chapter 25, Statutes of 2010 (urgency).
  • AB 853 (Arambula) expands planning for, and expedites city annexations of, disadvantaged communities. Status: Senate Appropriations Committee.
  • AB 2795 (Assembly Local Government Committee) makes nine changes to the state laws affecting LAFCo. Status: Governor’s Desk.

* This bill did not come to the Senate Local Government Committee.

OVERSIGHT HEARINGS

The Senate Local Government Committee published the results of its three oversight hearings. Each report summarizes what the witnesses told the legislators, along with the findings that the Committee’s staff distilled from the oral and written comments. The publications also reprint the staff’s briefing papers, plus all of the written materials that the legislators received from the speakers and other commentators.

Faster, Cheaper, Better? How Counties Use Design-Build Contracting (January 2010).

http://senweb03.senate.ca.gov/committee/standing/LOCAL_GOV/FasterCheaperBetter1455-S.pdf

The Williamson Act: Past, Present, Future? (March 2010).

http://senweb03.senate.ca.gov/committee/standing/LOCAL_GOV/1460-S_v2.pdf

Prudence and Economy: Rethinking State Limits on County Offices (March 2010).

http://senweb03.senate.ca.gov/committee/standing/LOCAL_GOV/PrudentandEconomy1466-S.pdf

Printed copies of these reports are available for purchase by following these instructions:

http://senweb03.senate.ca.gov/committee/standing/LOCAL_GOV/FasterCheaperBetterflyer1455-S.doc

http://senweb03.senate.ca.gov/committee/standing/LOCAL_GOV/3-3-10Summaryflyer.doc

http://senweb03.senate.ca.gov/committee/standing/LOCAL_GOV/Summaryflyer3-17-10.doc

For copies of the Senate Local Government Committee’s detailed reference materials and other publications — including the citizen’s guides to joint powers agreements, special districts, and LAFCo please go to the Committee’s website: www.sen.ca.gov/locgov

Peter M. Detwiler is the Staff Director for the Senate Local Government Committee at the State Capitol."