[Editor’s Note: Mr. Rice is a lobbyist in Sacramento for City Hall.]
Deadline Week — Friday is the House of Origin deadline that all bills must pass if they want to still be considered active for the remainder of 2011.
All Assembly bills have to pass the Assembly and all Senate bills have to pass the Senate. About 600 bills need to be acted on this week between the Senate and the Assembly. In a week shortened by the holiday, there are late nights the next few days as legislators work to pass all the bills they would like.
One bill we have been monitoring closely, SB 469 (Vargas) which would add hurdles to local governments seeking to approve a Walmart, passed the state Senate yesterday afternoon.
We will report on other bills of significance as they occur. House of Origin deadline week is always very telling regarding legislation in that the bills that make it to other House for consideration should truly be considered items of significance if you have concerns (either positive or negative) towards the legislation. If we want to engage a bill for action, the next few months is the best time to achieve a desired outcome.
Budget — The Legislature has actually been working very methodically, both in public venues as well as behind closed doors, in trying to achieve a consensus on a budget sooner than later. The last couple of weeks, the various budget subcommittees met to close out the issues, where possible, on the items under their respective jurisdictions. Behind closed doors, both the Senate and the Assembly Democrats met nearly daily to decide, as a caucus, how they wanted to respond to issues collectively. Literally, each day there was a different major policy discussion and votes were taken on how the caucus would stand on any type of issue. This is the first time in our nearly two decades working in Sacramento that we can recollect this type of consensus trying to be achieved prior to actual votes being taken.
The schedule over the next two weeks is the Legislature will deal with the House of Origin deadline all this week. They are hoping to have votes on a budget package within the next two weeks….perhaps as early as over the weekend of June 11, as the Legislature is very serious about at least trying to meet the Constitutional deadline of passing a balanced budget to the governor by June 15.
Redevelopment — As promised during the League of California Cities’ Legislative Action Days, Assembly member Alejo has amended his AB 1250 to closely mirror the language and intent of Sen. Rod Wright's SB 286, the bill co-sponsored by the League and the California Redevelopment Assn., to preserve redevelopment.
There are some technical differences between the two bills as CRA and League attorneys believe that a couple of the provisions in SB 286 may be unconstitutional. For all intents though, the thrust of the bill remains the same.
Our friends at the League put out the following announcement on the bill:
A comprehensive redevelopment reform bill, AB 1250 by Assembly Member Luis Alejo (D-Salinas) and 14 co-authors, was introduced today in the Assembly.
This measure is patterned after reforms introduced previously in SB 286 (Wright), and Sen. Roderick Wright (D-Los Angeles) is a principal co-author. The bill is also joint-authored by Assembly Members Ricardo Lara (D-South Gate), Henry T. Perea (D-Fresno) and V. Manuel Peréz (D-Cathedral City). Other co-authors include Assembly Members Michael Allen (D-Santa Rosa), Nora Campos (D-San Jose), Wilmer Amina Carter (D-Rialto), Mike Davis (D-Los Angeles), Cathleen Galgiani (D-Tracy), Isadore Hall (D-Los Angeles), Bonnie Lowenthal (D-Long Beach), Tony Mendoza (D-Artesia), Jose Solorio (D-Santa Ana) and Sen. Kevin De León (D-Los Angeles).
AB 1250:
• Tightens the definition of blight;
• Prohibits agencies from collecting the school share of local property tax or tax increment in new project areas starting in 2013;
• Limits the percentage of total land area of a jurisdiction which may be included in redevelopment project areas;
• Prohibits use of tax increment for specific purposes such as golf courses and race tracks;
• Strengthens agency reporting and accountability requirements; and
• Focuses redevelopment activities on priorities such as job creation, cleaning up contaminated property basic infrastructure needs, and affordable housing.
You may review the bill language.
Mr. Rice may be contacted at tony@riceenglander.com
