AB 851

Bill Subjects

Abstract

(1) Existing law specifies a procedure for the legislative body of a city, county, or district to propose to the voters an ordinance or resolution to adopt a special tax pursuant to constitutional requirements. Existing law authorizes a local agency which is conducting proceedings for the incorporation of a city, formation of a district, change of organization, a reorganization, a change of organization of a city, or a municipal reorganization to propose the adoption of a special tax on behalf of the affected city or district in accordance with this procedure. This bill would additionally authorize a local agency conducting proceedings for the disincorporation of a city to propose the adoption of a special tax on behalf of an affected city in accordance with the above-described procedure. (2) Existing law, the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government Reorganization Act of 2000, provides the authority and procedures for the initiation, conduct, and completion of changes of organization and reorganization of cities and districts. The act requires a local agency or school district that initiates proceedings for a change of local government organization or reorganization, by submitting a resolution of application to a local agency formation commission, to also submit a plan for providing services within the affected territory, as specified. This bill would, in the case of a disincorporation or reorganization that includes a disincorporation, require the plan for services to include specific provisions, including, among others, an enumeration and description of the services currently provided by the city proposed for disincorporation. (3) The act requires a petitioner or legislative body desiring to initiate proceedings to submit an application to the executive officer of the local agency formation commission, and requires the local agency formation commission, with regard to an application that includes an incorporation, to immediately notify all affected local agencies and any applicable state agency, as specified. This bill would extend that requirement to an application that includes a disincorporation. (4) Existing law prohibits the commission from approving or conditionally approving a proposal for an incorporation unless the commission finds, among other things, that the proposal is consistent with the intent of the act, the incorporation is consistent with the spheres of influence of affected local agencies, and the proposed city is expected to receive revenues sufficient to provide public services and facilities and a reasonable reserve during the 3 fiscal years following incorporation. This bill would additionally prohibit the commission from approving or conditionally approving a proposal that includes a disincorporation unless the commission finds, among other things, that the disincorporation is consistent with the intent of the act, the disincorporation will address necessary changes to spheres of influence of affected agencies, and the service responsibilities of the city proposed for disincorporation have been assigned, as specified. (5) Existing law requires the executive officer of the commission to prepare a comprehensive fiscal analysis for any proposal that includes an incorporation, as specified. This bill would additionally require the executive officer to prepare a comprehensive fiscal analysis for any proposal that includes a disincorporation, as specified. (6) Existing law requires the commission to determine the amount of property tax revenue to be exchanged by the affected local agency for a proposal that includes the incorporation of a city, and sets forth the procedures to be followed in making that determination. This bill would additionally require the commission to determine the amount of property tax revenue to be exchanged by the affected city and any successor or affected local agency for a proposal that includes a disincorporation of a city, and would set forth the procedures to be followed in making that determination. The bill would additionally require the commission to determine, where the proposal includes the disincorporation of a city with the assignment of property tax revenues to a successor, the increase of the appropriations limit for a successor, if the successor is an existing entity, or the appropriations limit for a new special district, as specified. The bill would state the intent of the Legislature that a proposal that includes a disincorporation of a city result in a determination that the debt or contractual obligations and responsibilities of the city being disincorporated be the responsibility of the same territory for repayment. The bill would require the city being disincorporated to provide a written statement prior to issuance of a certificate for filing for a proposal that includes a disincorporation that includes specified information relating to its debts and contractual obligations. (7) Existing law authorizes the commission, in approving a disincorporation of a city, the dissolution of a district, or the reorganization or consolidation of agencies that result in the dissolution of one or more districts or disincorporation of one or more cities, to make the approval conditional upon the agency being dissolved not approving any increase in compensation or benefits for specified officers of the agency, or appropriating, encumbering, expending, or otherwise obligating any revenue of the agency beyond that provided in the current budget at the time the dissolution is approved by the commission, unless it first finds that an emergency exists. This bill would modify this provision to authorize the commission to make the approval conditional upon prohibiting the district that is being dissolved or the city that is being disincorporated from approving any increase in compensation or benefits for specified officers of the agency, or appropriating, encumbering, expending, or otherwise obligating any revenue of the agency beyond that provided in the current budget at the time the dissolution is approved by the commission, unless it first finds that an emergency exists. The act also authorizes the commission to require a single question appearing on the ballot upon issues of annexation and reorganization in any election at which the questions of annexation and district reorganization or incorporation and district reorganization are to be considered at the same time. This bill would additionally apply these provisions to a disincorporation and district reorganization. (8) Existing law provides that an organization or reorganization may provide for, or be made subject to, specified terms and conditions, including the levying of assessments, including certain fees, or the approval by the voters of general or special taxes. Under existing law, these terms and conditions may not directly regulate land use, property development, or subdivision requirements, and the imposition of such a fee as a condition of the issuance of a building permit does not constitute a direct regulation of land use, property development, or subdivision requirements. This bill would expand the scope of terms and conditions that may be provided for or required as a condition of an organization or reorganization to include the levying of fees generally. The bill would also make technical, nonsubstantive changes to this provision. (9) Existing law requires every public officer of a city being disincorporated, prior to the effective date of the disincorporation, to turn the public property in his or her possession over to the board of supervisors. This bill would instead require all public property of the city being disincorporated, in the control or possession of any public officer or employee of the city, to be transferred to the possession and control of the successor or successors designated by the commission. (10) The act requires the commission, after ascertaining that the disincorporation has carried, to determine and certify in a written statement to the board of supervisors the indebtedness of the city, the amount of money in its treasury, and the amount of any tax levy or other obligation due the city that is unpaid or has not been collected. This bill would repeal this provision. (11) Existing law requires the board of supervisors to make specified determinations if the commission does not provide the board with a statement of those determinations. This bill would repeal this provision. (12) Existing law requires the tax collector to collect any tax that has been levied by a disincorporated city that remains uncollected when due and pay it into the county treasury. This bill would provide that the tax collected and paid into the county treasury is on behalf of the designated successor or county to wind up affairs of the disincorporated city. (13) Existing law requires the board of supervisors of a county to cause taxes to be levied and collected from within the territory formerly included within a disincorporated city, if there is not sufficient money in the treasury of a disincorporated city to the credit of the special fund to pay any city indebtedness as it becomes due. Existing law provides that any taxes levied pursuant to this provision are to be assessed, levied, and collected in the same manner and at the same time as other county taxes, and are additional taxes upon the property included within the territory of the disincorporated city. This bill would repeal these provisions. (14) Existing law requires the board of supervisors to levy a special tax upon all property within the disincorporated city if the revenues from specified public utilities are not sufficient for the administration, conduct, or improvement of the public utility. This bill would repeal this provision. (15) Existing law requires the board of supervisors to annually, at the time other county taxes are levied and collected, to levy and collect a special tax on the remainder of the territory of a disincorporated city sufficient to pay the balance of the debt, and pay that sum to the city treasurer. Existing law requires the city treasurer to pay the bonded indebtedness as it becomes due with the proceeds of those taxes. This bill would repeal these provisions. (16) Existing law provides that on and after the effective date of a disincorporation, the territory of the disincorporated city, all inhabitants within the territory, and all persons formerly entitled to vote by reason of residing within the territory cease to be subject to the jurisdiction of the disincorporated city and have none of the rights or duties of inhabitants or voters of a city. This bill would additionally provide that as of the effective date of a disincorporation, the general plan of the disincorporated city that was in effect immediately prior to the effective date of the disincorporation constitutes the community plan of the county for the territory of the disincorporated city, the zoning ordinances of the disincorporated city that were in effect immediately prior to the effective date of the disincorporation constitute the zoning ordinances of the county for that territory, and any conditional use permit or legal nonconforming use that was in place immediately prior to the effective date of the disincorporation remains in force pursuant to the community plan and zoning ordinances. The bill would provide that any use of land that was authorized under the general plan and zoning ordinances immediately prior to the effective date of the disincorporation continues to be authorized for as long a period as may be required by the California Constitution or the United States Constitution. (17) Existing law requires a county auditor to adjust the allocation of property tax revenues for local agencies whose service area or service responsibility may be altered by specified jurisdictional changes. Existing law establishes procedures for determining the exchange of property tax revenues between a city and a county in the case of a jurisdictional change that consists of a city's qualified annexation of unincorporated territory, defined to mean an annexation of unincorporated territory for which an application or resolution was filed on or after January 1, 1998, and on or before January 1, 2015. This bill would include a city disincorporation and dissolved district in those jurisdictional changes. The bill would also expand the above-described definition of a qualified annexation of unincorporated territory to include an annexation for which an application or resolution was filed on or before January 1, 2021. By increasing the duties of the county auditor, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (18) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions.