Economic Development

SB 1156 (Steinberg) – Support
Vetoed

SB 1156, by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, would have created a structure for continuing redevelopment-like activities in certain areas, mostly those in areas with ready access to transit services. CSAC supported the bill based on it allowing counties a clear option whether to financially participate in tax increment financing for economic development purposes. We believe an approach that encourages collaboration between counties and cities will best serve Californians, as it would not only allow counties appropriate control over their own general funds, but requires discussions about what kinds of development benefits the community as a whole. CSAC will hold any future efforts to revive tax increment financing to the same standard.

Elections

SB 1272 (Kehoe) – Support
Chapter No. 507, Statutes of 2012

SB 1272, by Senator Christine Kehoe, changes the term of central committee members to four years from two. This change, though minor on its face, is a major benefit to county election offices, for two main reasons.

First, under the new top two primary system, the only partisan races remaining on the ballot are for U.S. President and for central committee members. Therefore, in years of gubernatorial elections, with no presidential contest, central committees would have been the sole partisan contests, requiring major cost increases associated with preparing and printing party-specific ballots.

Second, central committee candidates constitute a disproportionately large percentage of the candidates to whom election officials must provide services, constituting between half and three-fourths of candidates. Many central committee contests do not end up on the ballot because the number of candidates is fewer than the number of available spots. However, the central committees still have the option of forcing the question on the ballot, requiring the space for listing the candidates and a number of write-in spaces. Statewide, only about a quarter of voters vote on central committee contests.

Lastly, counties are required to pay all the costs of central committee elections with county general funds, even though central committees are private entities.

AB 1436 (Feuer) – Watch
Chapter No. 497, Statutes of 2012

AB 1436, by Assembly Member Mike Feuer, allows voters to register in the final two weeks before an election, including on Election Day itself, in an effort to improve voter turnout. Currently, citizens must register at least fifteen days before an election to vote in it. AB 1436 does not become operative until Secretary of State has successfully begun operating a statewide voter registration database.

AB 2080 (Gordon) – Support
Chapter No. 501, Statutes of 2012

AB 2080, by Assembly Member Rich Gordon, lets vote-by-mail voters have another member of their household return their ballot for them if they are unable.

Under current law, a voter must be ill or physically disabled in order to designate someone else to return his or her marked ballot. However, Californians, who are increasingly voting mailed ballots, seem to be unaware of this law and frequently give their ballots to spouses or other family members to return for them. Practically, poll workers have no way to verify the voter’s illness or disability.

SB 1331 (Kehoe) – Support
Chapter No. 508, Statutes of 2012

SB 1331, by Senator Christine Kehoe, creates an independent redistricting commission to draw the supervisorial districts in the County of San Diego.

The citizens of San Diego County and that county’s Board of Supervisors have requested an independent redistricting process for their county. The commission contemplated by SB 1331 would ensure transparency by subjecting the commission to the Brown Act and requiring public hearings throughout the county. It requires the county to provide financial support and would be made up of retired judges.

AB 216 (Swanson) – Support
Chapter No. 495, Statutes of 2012

AB 216, by Assembly Member Sandre Swanson, gives county registrars another option for updating voters’ addresses.

County registrars check voters’ addresses before elections to make sure election mail, including ballots, reaches the right people. Currently, they can do that by sending postcards to all registered voters and requesting a response, or by checking their information against the U.S. Postal Service and sending postcards only to those the USPS says have moved. Unfortunately, many people do not officially tell the USPS when they move, so while the first method is inefficient, the second method is incomplete.

Credit bureaus are very good at keeping up with people, and their contact data is the best around. Under AB 216, county registrars could check their data against the information maintained at these credit bureaus instead of the USPS before sending postcards.

AB 1413 (Fong) – Support
Chapter Number 3, Statutes of 2012

AB 1413, by Assembly Member Paul Fong, fixes several issues related to the statutory implementation of Proposition 14, making future elections less expensive for counties.

SB 6, the bill that implemented the statutory provisions of Proposition 14, went beyond the constitutional requirements by also requiring particular language to be printed on every ballot and next to each candidate’s name. The requirements were wordier than necessary and at times specified extraordinary font sizes. Ballot real estate is valuable, and these provisions would have resulted in significant costs to counties.

AB 1413 shortens the party preference language next to each candidate’s name and removes font size requirements for instructions printed on the ballot, saving money without noticeably affecting a voter’s experience.

Taxes and Finance

SB 1030 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review) – Support
Vetoed

SB 1030, by the Senate Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review, would have removed a paragraph from law that inadvertently reduced property tax allocations for some counties.

Among many other complex issues surrounding the dissolution of redevelopment agencies is the redistribution of property taxes. As successor agencies pay off their obligations, billions of dollars will return to counties, cities, special districts, and of course school districts. No one disputes that these property taxes should be returned exactly as they would have been absent a redevelopment agency’s diversion of the tax increment.

Unfortunately, one provision of the laws passed in redevelopment’s wake inadvertently reduced property tax allocations to local agencies in counties where ERAF payments exceed the amount needed to fulfill school districts’ minimum funding requirements. This situation is known as “excess ERAF,” and when it occurs, the ERAF payments are returned to taxing entities in the proportion they were paid.

Removing this language would have restored property tax allocations to their rightful levels, ensuring fairness and predictability.

AB 1098 (Carter) - Oppose
Vetoed

AB 1098, by Assembly Member Wilmer Amina Carter, would have allocated Vehicle License Fee revenues to cities that either incorporated or annexed inhabited land since August 2005, including those that did so in the future. Currently, the great majority of Vehicle License Fee revenues fund 1991 Realignment and 2011 Realignment, with a small portion paying for DMV and FTB (Franchise Tax Board) administrative costs.

CSAC has committed to working with the four new cities in Riverside County next year to sponsor a bill restoring their funding while also protecting 2011 Realignment.

AB 2618 (Ma) – Support
Chapter No. 756, Statutes of 2012

AB 2618, by Assembly Member Fiona Ma, ensures that purchasers of cars at auction pay the appropriate amount of sales or use tax on those transactions.

Too frequently, unscrupulous Californians avoid paying taxes on cars purchased at auction, especially salvaged auto auctions, by telling the auctioneer that they will be reselling the vehicles later, then never doing so. Many of these vehicles are either never subsequently registered with DMV, or if they are they report a value lower than the actual sale price.

AB 2618 would curb this fraud by requiring those buyers claiming intent to resell to be licensed dealers, dismantlers, repair dealers, or scrap metal processors.

AB 2643 (Ma) – Support
Chapter No. 161, Statutes of 2012

AB 2643, by Assembly Member Fiona Ma, makes a number of clarifications to property tax administration.

Property taxes are already the most efficiently administered of all California taxes, and the clarifications and improvements contained in AB 2643 helps to make it more so. The bill allows treasurer-tax collectors to issue refunds promptly when they are due, and likewise clarifies that taxpayers must pay their taxes when due. It allows overpayments to be charged against underpayments on the same property, and gives county officials a little more time to calculate and report pool rates to the State Controller.

SB 192 (Committee on Governance and Finance) – Support
Chapter No. 265, Statutes of 2012

SB 192, by the Senate Governance and Finance Committee, retroactively cures the minor errors and omissions that public officials make, giving investors confidence in public agencies’ securities and therefore leading to lower interest rates for state and local bonds. It does not correct fraud, corruption, or unconstitutional acts. This sort of “validating act” is traditionally noncontroversial and receives “aye” votes from all legislators, since with its passage everyone wins. Last year the validating acts, including SB 192, got caught up in the uncertainty around redevelopment agency dissolution.

SB 954 (Liu) – Support
Chapter No. 650, Statutes of 2012

SB 954, by Senator Carol Liu, authorizes the State Controller, at the request of a county or city, to offset any payments due to people from the unclaimed property held by the state in order to pay debts those people owe the county or city.

This authority already exists for offsetting tax refunds and lottery winnings. The bill provides an appeal process for people who believe the billing was in error, ensuring the process is fair to all parties. All current protections for those billed are retained from the current process.

AB 1126 (Calderon) – Support
Chapter No. 739, Statutes of 2012

AB 1126, by Assembly Member Charles Calderon, cleans up the codes to ensure that local agencies can utilize their recently granted authority to raise transaction and use tax rates — with voter approval — in increments of one eighth of a cent.

AB 1253 (Davis) – Support
Chapter No. 52, Statues of 2012

AB 1253, by Assembly Member Mike Davis, allows Boards of Supervisors to amend recommended budgets (due by June 30 each year) before adopting a final budget (due by October 2 each year). A revision of the 2009 Budget Act inadvertently deleted the ability to do so.

Telecommunications

SB 379 (Fuller) – Support
Chapter No. 729, Statutes of 2012

SB 379, by Senator Jean Fuller, helps support technology deployment to rural California by modifying the state’s High-Cost Fund- A (CHCF-A) program to comply with federal regulations. 

The FCC will jsoon require that rural telecommunications companies achieve broadband speeds of 4Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps upstream, and higher speeds in future years, as a requirement to receive federal high cost support. To achieve that goal, the CHCF-A governing statutes must be revised to conform to the federal program or California’s efforts to provide basic phone service to residents in hard to reach areas could lose roughly $25 million annually in federal support.