Housing, Land Use and Transportation 03/15/2013
Housing
AB 1229 (Atkins) – Request for Comment
As Introduced on February 22, 2013
AB 1229, by Assembly Member Toni Atkins, would authorize the
legislative body of any city or county to adopt ordinances to
establish, as a condition of development, inclusionary housing
requirements. This bill is in response to the holding in
Palmer/Sixth Street Properties, L.P. v. City of Los Angeles
(2009) 175 Cal.App.4th 1396.
CSAC is requesting counties review this measure and provide
feedback as soon as is practical.
SB 391 (DeSaulnier) – Request for Comment
As Introduced on February 20, 2013
SB 391, by Senator Mark DeSaulnier, would enact the California
Homes and Jobs Act of 2013. The bill would impose a fee, except
in certain specific instances, of $75 to be paid at the time of
the recording of every real estate instrument, paper, or notice
required or permitted by law to be recorded. The measure would
require that revenues from this fee be sent quarterly to the
Department of Housing and Community Development for deposit in
the newly created California Homes and Jobs Trust Fund. The bill
would provide that moneys in the fund may be expended for
supporting affordable housing, administering housing programs,
and the cost of periodic audits. Finally, the measure would
impose certain auditing and reporting requirements.
CSAC is requesting counties review this measure and provide
feedback as soon as is practical.
Land Use
SB 33 (Wolk) – Support
As Amended on March 6, 2012
SB 33, by Senator Lois Wolk, would amend state law governing
Infrastructure Financing Districts (IFDs) to provide an improved
mechanism to deliver much-needed infrastructure projects and
create jobs in California. SB 33 would, among other things,
eliminate the two-thirds vote requirement to establish an IFD,
remove the two-thirds vote requirement to issue IFD-associated
bonds, extend the life of IFDs from thirty to forty years, expand
the eligible projects to include transit priority projects
consistent with a Sustainable Communities Strategy, and would
allow IFDs to locate in former redevelopment areas.
IFDs allow the reallocation of existing tax revenues to improve a
designated area and specifically allows local governments to use
their property tax increment to pay for public works projects.
Current law, which requires a two-thirds voter approval to create
an IFD, unnecessarily discourages local governments from using
this creative option to fund much needed infrastructure projects.
SB 33 still requires approval of every affected taxing
jurisdiction including the City Council or Board of Supervisors
to approve a plan for the IFD thus making it a public process
that allows for community input into the program.
Given the fact that there has been a significant underinvestment
in transportation infrastructure across the state over the past
few decades and that the major sources of transportation funding
are no longer sufficient to maintain our current system, let
alone modernize it, SB 33 offers an much-needed solution to allow
local governments more flexibility to make transportation
investments in their communities.
SB 33 was passed out of the Senate Governance and Finance
Committee on March 13 by a vote of 4-1. The measure now awaits a
hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Transportation
AB 1002 (Bloom) – Request for Comment
As Amended on March 12, 2013
AB 1002, by Assembly Member Richard Bloom, would impose a tax of
$6 at the time of vehicle registration or renewal. The funds
would be deposited into the Sustainable Communities Strategy
Subaccount of the Motor Vehicle Account for appropriation by the
Legislature.
Fifty-percent of the funds would be appropriated to cities and
counties on a per capita basis for planning and the
implementation of projects consistent with the purposes of SB
375, including, but not limited to, bicycle and pedestrian
infrastructure projects to improve transit access or as part of
complete streets and road and highway maintenance that also
facilitates transit and bicycle use. Forty-percent would be
appropriated to transportation commissions and transit operators
to support transit operations and maintain and expand reduced
fare programs. Ten-percent of the funds would be appropriated to
Metropolitan Planning Organizations and Regional Transportation
Agencies for competitive grants for implementation of Sustainable
Communities Strategies, including, but not limited to, grants to
cities and counties on a per capita basis for planning and
implementation of SB 375, for implementation of livable
communities and transit-oriented development and urban infill
projects, and bicycle or pedestrian projects consistent with an
approved sustainable communities plan.
CSAC is requesting counties review this measure and provide
feedback as soon as is practical.
Native American Issues
SB 406 (Evans) – Request for Comment
As Introduced on February 20, 2013
SB 406, by Senator Noreen Evans, would exempt Indian tribal
judgments from the Uniform Foreign-Country Money Judgments
Recognition Act and would instead enact the Tribal Court Civil
Judgment Act in its place. The new act would provide for the
enforceability of tribal court judgments in California, but it
would expand the range of judgments that may be enforced to
include all civil tribal judgments, except as specified. The act
would prescribe the procedure for applying for recognition and
entry of a judgment based on a tribal court judgment, the
procedure and grounds for objecting to the entry of judgment, and
the bases upon which the court may refuse to enter the judgment
or grant a stay of enforcement. The bill would further require
the Judicial Council to prescribe a form for the notice of filing
the application for recognition of the tribal court judgment.
CSAC is requesting counties review this measure and provide
feedback as soon as is practical.