TO: Persons Interested in Local Government, Housing, and Land Use Issues 
FROM: Senator William A. Craven
DATE: September 4, 1998
SUBJECT: Important Bills During 1998

Because the 1997-98 legislative session ended earlier this week, I thought that you would be interested in knowing about some of the important bills that affect local government, housing, and land use issues. Page 6 explains how you can retrieve our analyses on these bills. Governor Wilson has until September 30 to sign or veto bills that the Legislature placed on his desk.

SB 147 (Kopp) limits joint powers agencies' use of Marks-Roos Act bonds. Status: Signed; Chapter 35, Statutes of 1998.

SB 1678 (Haynes) changes the maintenance-of-effort requirements for the use of Proposition 172 sales tax revenues by cities and counties. Status: Failed in the Assembly Local Government Committee.

AB 66 (Baca) reallocates the sales tax revenues from the sale of jet fuel. Status: Governor's Desk.

AB 511(Migden) returns revenue from the state's tax on banks and financial corporations to cities and counties. Status: Died in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

AB 1614 (Lempert) prohibits local officials from levying bit taxes, bandwidth taxes, and taxes on Internet access and online computer services until 2001. Status: Signed; Chapter 351, Statutes of 1998.

AB 1835 (Torlakson) prohibits cities and counties from offering relocation subsidies to "big box retailers" and car dealerships. Status: Failed in the Senate Local Government Committee.

ACA 10 (Runner) makes it easier for cities and counties to share local sales tax revenues. Status: Proposition 11 on the November 3, 1998 ballot.

SB 880 (Craven) expresses legislative intent to limit the property tax shifts to ERAF to their 1996-97 level and reduce the shift by 10% a year. Status: Died on the Assembly Floor.

AB 95 (Sweeney) expresses legislative intent to limit property tax shifts to ERAF to their 1996-97 levels and reduce the shifts by 10% a year. Status: Died in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

ACA 4 (Aguiar) limits property tax shifts to ERAF to their 1998-99 levels and reduces the shift by 10% a year. Status: Died in the Senate Rules Committee.

SB 14 (Polanco) prohibits local officials from banning leaf blowers. Status: Died in the Senate Environmental Quality Committee.

SB 1649 is the Senate Local Government Committee's annual "omnibus bill" that makes 23 noncontroversial changes to the laws affecting cities, counties, and special districts. Status: Governor's Desk.

SB 1651 (Polanco) prohibits local officials from banning leaf blowers. Status: Died in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

SB 1676 (Kopp) allows county sealers to test parking meters and then remove defective meters from service. Status: Governor's Desk.

SB 1748 (Kopp) bans local agencies from paying dues to organizations that contribute to political campaigns. Status: Failed in the Senate Local Government Committee.

SB 2022 (Knight) first proposed the creation of a new "High Desert County," then expanded the geographic scope of the Los Angeles County Division Commission, and finally requires the Little Hoover Commission to study the capability and efficiency of county services. Status: Died in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

AB 392 (Cedillo) prohibits local officials from banning leaf blowers. Status: Died in the Senate Environmental Quality Committee.

AB 1774 (Ackerman) revises the limits on severance pay that cities, counties, special districts, and school districts can pay. Status: Failed on the Senate Floor.

AB 2065 (Cardenas) bans city business taxes and regulations on home-based writers, musicians, directors, or other creative artists. Status: Died in the Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee.

AB 2543 (Torlakson) creates the procedures for reapportioning special districts after a federal decennial census. Status: Governor's Desk.

SB 1875 (Hayden) bans MWD from funding personal investigations, creates an Office of Ethics, and declares water conservation a higher priority. Status: Governor's Desk.

SB 1885 (Ayala) reduces the size of MWD's board of directors from 51 to 38 members. Status: Governor's Desk.

AB 270 (Torlakson) requires cities and special districts to help pay for LAFCOs' budgets in larger counties. Status: Died on the Senate Floor.

AB 1476 (Sweeney) requires LAFCOs to consider long-term water supplies when acting on spheres of influence and boundary changes that affect larger development projects. Status: Died in the Senate Local Government Committee.

AB 2147 (Thompson) revises the "revenue neutrality" calculation when LAFCOs approve city incorporations, and shifts State General Fund money to new cities. Status: Held in the Senate Local Government Committee for interim study; hearing likely in October 1998.

SB 50 (Greene) allows school developer fees to rise under three conditions, suspends Mira decision, appropriates $160 to subsidize school developer fees for affordable housing, authorizes $9.2 billion in school bonds. Status: Signed; Chapter 407, Statutes of 1998. Proposition 1A on the November 3, 1998 ballot.

SB 1362 is the Senate Housing and Land Use Committee's annual "omnibus bill" that makes 19 noncontroversial changes to the laws on housing, land use, and redevelopment. Status: Governor's Desk.

SB 2005 (Kopp) reverses the Bickel decision by prohibiting the waiver of time limits in the Permit Streamlining Act. Status: Signed; Chapter 283, Statutes of 1998.

SB 2033 (Costa) prohibits local officials from disapproving a "drive-thru facility." Status: Failed in the Senate Housing and Land Use Committee.

AB 941 (Miller) changes the Natural Hazard Disclosure Statement that sellers must give to prospective buyers. Status: Failed in the Senate Local Government Committee.

AB 1195 (Torlakson) requires sellers to give prospective buyers a Natural Hazard Disclosure Statement. Status: Signed; Chapter 65, Statutes of 1998, effective June 9, 1998.

AB 2621 (Cardoza) requires new findings before public officials impose conditions on land use permits, reverses the Arnel, Associated Home Builders, Ayres, Hart, and Mira decisions. Status: Died in the Senate Local Government Committee; revived and used for another, unrelated purpose.

SB 258 (Kopp) increases redevelopment agencies' annual reporting requirements. Status: Signed; Chapter 39, Statutes of 1998.

SB 488 (Kopp) increases redevelopment agencies' annual auditing requirements. Status: Signed; Chapter 40, Statutes of 1998.

AB 639 (Alby) allows Solano County officials to create a joint powers agency to spend $2 million in Low and Moderate Income Housing Funds on affordable housing in Fairfield. Status: Governor's Desk.

AB 1342 (Napolitano) allows local officials to extend redevelopment projects' deadlines for receiving property tax increment funds. Status: Governor's Desk.

SB 256 (Costa) extends the deadlines for cities and counties to revise their housing elements; originally proposed a $200 million Homeless and Housing Bond Act. Status: Governor's Desk.

SB 487 (Solis) renames the Family Housing Demonstration Program to the Families Moving to Work Program, and changes the program to benefit lower income families leaving welfare. Status: Died on the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

SB 1950 (Sher) appropriates $5 million from the State General Fund for homeless shelters. Status: Governor's Desk.

AB 1265 (Torlakson) extends the state low-income housing tax credit program and permanently increases the annual tax credit limit to $50 million. Status: Died in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

AB 1697 (Torlakson) transfers Budget funds to the California Affordable Housing Fund for the Self-Help Housing Program, directs the Legislative Analyst to report on permanent funding sources. Status: Governor's Desk.

AB 2421 (Honda) exempts nonprofit housing developers from determining the citizenship status of applicants for state or local benefits. Status: Governor's Desk.

AB 2780 (Gallegos) creates but does not fund the California Statewide Supportive Housing Initiative Act, combining housing with social services for homeless people. Status: Signed; Chapter 310, Statutes of 1998.

AB 1268 (Granlund) bans homeowners associations from prohibiting motorcycles. Status: Held by the Senate Local Government Committee for interim study; no hearing planned.

AB 2020 (Thomson) bans homeowners associations from prohibiting pets for seniors and disabled people. Status: Vetoed.

SB 485 (Craven) extends the state Department of Housing and Community Development's Mobilehome Park Inspection Program until 2000. Status: Governor's Desk.

SB 1988 (Craven) postpones the requirement for the new transfer disclosure statement tailored to mobilehomes until 2000. Status: Governor's Desk.

AB 1227 (Granlund) makes mobilehome park management responsible for tree and driveway maintenance within mobilehome parks. Status: Died in the Senate Local Government Committee.

AB 1984 (Miller) repeals the authority of the Department of Housing and Community Development to inspect recreational vehicles and park trailers sold in California. Status: Signed; Chapter 293, Statutes of 1998.

SB 1405 (Polanco) creates a public education program on the dangers of unopenable burglar bars and bans unopenable burglar bars from public housing. Status: Governor's Desk.

AB 1951 (Baca) allows the use of CVPC pipe in residential construction under strict conditions. Status: Died in the Senate Local Government Committee; revived and used for another, unrelated purpose.

AB 1987 (Aroner) bans unopenable burglar bars in residential care facilities. Status: Signed; Chapter 343, Statutes of 1998.

Earlier this year, the Senate Local Government Committee absorbed the jurisdiction of the former Senate Committee on Housing and Land Use. This memo reflects our Committee's expanded duties. You can find more information about the Committee, including a list of our publications, by visiting our Web site.

The fastest way to get copies of these bills, the Committee's bill analyses, voting records, and veto messages is from the Senate's Web site. You can still order the printed copies of these bills by writing directly to the Bill Room, State Capitol (Room B-32), Sacramento CA 95814-4906. Single copies are free.

The Legislature's "interim recess" began September 1. The Senate and Assembly policy committees use the this time to hold "interim hearings" to study policy issues in more depth. Based on these hearings, legislators can then draft bills for introduction when the 1999-2000 session begins in early December.

The Committee plans on holding two interim hearing in Sacramento this fall:

LAFCO Governance and Revenue Neutrality Issues, including the issues raised by AB 270 (Torlakson) and AB 2147 (Thompson), in early October.

Land Use Decisions & Standards, including the issues raised by AB 2621 (Cardoza).

The Committee's staff also expects to work on identifying sources of capital for developing affordable housing, state laws regulating local public works contracts, and redevelopment agencies' reports and audits. For more information about these projects and the Committee's interim hearings, you can call the Committee's staff office at 916/445-9748.