BILL NUMBER: AB 2194 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 18, 2014
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Mullin
FEBRUARY 20, 2014
An act to amend Section 53313 Sections
53313 and 53313.5 of the Government Code, relating to local
government.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2194, as amended, Mullin. Mello-Roos Community Facilities Act
of 1982 1982: storm water .
The Mello-Roos Community Facilities Act of 1982 authorizes a
community facilities district to finance various services, including,
but not limited to, flood and storm protection services, as
specified.
This bill would additionally authorize the financing of storm
water management.
The act also authorizes a community facilities district to finance
the purchase, construction, expansion, improvement, or
rehabilitation of certain facilities, including, among others,
undergrounding of water transmission and distribution facilities.
This bill would authorize a community facilities district to
finance the acquisition, improvement, rehabilitation, or maintenance
of any publicly owned real or other tangible property for local
agencies' compliance with storm water management permits.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 53313 of the Government Code is amended to
read:
53313. A community facilities district may be established under
this chapter to finance any one or more of the following types of
services within an area:
(a) Police protection services, including, but not limited to,
criminal justice services. However, criminal justice services shall
be limited to providing services for jails, detention facilities, and
juvenile halls.
(b) Fire protection and suppression services, and ambulance and
paramedic services.
(c) Recreation program services, library services, maintenance
services for elementary and secondary schoolsites and structures, and
the operation and maintenance of museums and cultural facilities. A
special tax may be levied for any of the services specified in this
subdivision only upon approval of the registered voters as specified
in subdivision (b) of Section 53326. An election to enact a special
tax for recreation program services, library services, and the
operation and maintenance of museums and cultural facilities may be
conducted pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 53326.
(d) Maintenance and lighting of parks, parkways, streets, roads,
and open space.
(e) Flood, storm protection services, and storm water management,
including, but not limited to, local agencies '
compliance with state and federal storm water permit requirements,
the operation and maintenance of storm drainage systems, plowing and
removal of snow, and sandstorm protection systems.
(f) Services with respect to removal or remedial action for the
cleanup of any hazardous substance released or threatened to be
released into the environment. As used in this subdivision, the terms
"remedial action" and "removal" shall have the meanings set forth in
Sections 25322 and 25323, respectively, of the Health and Safety
Code, and the term "hazardous substance" shall have the meaning set
forth in Section 25281 of the Health and Safety Code. Community
facilities districts shall provide the State Department of Health
Care Services and local health and building departments with
notification of any cleanup activity pursuant to this subdivision at
least 30 days prior to commencement of the activity.
(g) Maintenance and operation of any real property or other
tangible property with an estimated useful life of five or more years
that is owned by the local agency or by another local agency
pursuant to an agreement entered into under Section 53316.2.
A community facilities district tax approved by vote of the
landowners of the district may only finance the services authorized
in this section to the extent that they are in addition to those
provided in the territory of the district before the district was
created. The additional services shall not supplant services already
available within that territory when the district was created.
Bonds shall not be issued pursuant to this chapter to fund any of
the services specified in this section, although bonds may be issued
to fund capital facilities to be used in providing these services.
SEC. 2. Section 53313.5 of the
Government Code is amended to read:
53313.5. A community facilities district may also finance the
purchase, construction, expansion, improvement, or rehabilitation of
any real or other tangible property with an estimated useful life of
five years or longer or may finance planning and design work that is
directly related to the purchase, construction, expansion, or
rehabilitation of any real or tangible property. The facilities need
not be physically located within the district. A district may not
lease out facilities that it has financed except pursuant to a lease
agreement or annexation agreement entered into prior to January 1,
1988. A district may only finance the purchase of facilities whose
construction has been completed, as determined by the legislative
body, before the resolution of formation to establish the district is
adopted pursuant to Section 53325.1, except that a district may
finance the purchase of facilities completed after the adoption of
the resolution of formation if the facility was constructed as if it
had been constructed under the direction and supervision, or under
the authority of, the local agency that will own or operate the
facility. For example, a community facilities district may finance
facilities, including, but not limited to, the following:
(a) Local park, recreation, parkway, and open-space facilities.
(b) Elementary and secondary schoolsites and structures provided
that the facilities meet the building area and cost standards
established by the State Allocation Board.
(c) Libraries.
(d) Child care facilities, including costs of insuring the
facilities against loss, liability insurance in connection with the
operation of the facility, and other insurance costs relating to the
operation of the facilities, but excluding all other operational
costs. However, the proceeds of bonds issued pursuant to this chapter
shall not be used to pay these insurance costs.
(e) The district may also finance the construction or
undergrounding of water transmission and distribution facilities,
natural gas pipeline facilities, telephone lines, facilities for the
transmission or distribution of electrical energy, and cable
television lines to provide access to those services to customers who
do not have access to those services or to mitigate existing visual
blight. The district may enter into an agreement with a public
utility to utilize those facilities to provide a particular service
and for the conveyance of those facilities to the public utility.
"Public utility" shall include all utilities, whether public and
regulated by the Public Utilities Commission, or municipal. If the
facilities are conveyed to the public utility, the agreement shall
provide that the cost or a portion of the cost of the facilities that
are the responsibility of the utility shall be refunded by the
public utility to the district or improvement area thereof, to the
extent that refunds are applicable pursuant to (1) the Public
Utilities Code or rules of the Public Utilities Commission, as to
utilities regulated by the commission, or (2) other laws regulating
public utilities. Any reimbursement made to the district shall be
utilized to reduce or minimize the special tax levied within the
district or improvement area, or to construct or acquire additional
facilities within the district or improvement area, as specified in
the resolution of formation.
(f) (1) The district may also finance the
acquisition, improvement, rehabilitation, or maintenance of any real
or other tangible property, whether privately or publicly owned, for
flood and storm protection services, including, but not limited to,
storm drainage and treatment systems and sandstorm protection
systems.
(2) The district may also finance the acquisition, improvement,
rehabilitation, or maintenance of any publicly owned real or other
tangible property for local agencies' compliance with storm water
management permits.
(g) The district may also pay in full all amounts necessary to
eliminate any fixed special assessment liens or to pay, repay, or
defease any obligation to pay or any indebtedness secured by any tax,
fee, charge, or assessment levied within the area of a community
facilities district or may pay debt service on that indebtedness.
When the amount financed by the district is to pay a tax, fee,
charge, or assessment imposed by a public agency other than the one
conducting the proceedings, and if the amount provided to the other
public agency will not be entirely used to pay off or prepay an
assessment lien or special tax obligation pursuant to the property
owner's legal right to do so, the written consent of the other public
agency is required. In addition, tax revenues of a district may be
used to make lease or debt service payments on any lease,
lease-purchase contract, or certificate of participation used to
finance facilities authorized to be financed by the district.
(h) Any other governmental facilities that the legislative body
creating the community facilities district is authorized by law to
contribute revenue to, or construct, own, or operate. However, the
district shall not operate or maintain or, except as otherwise
provided in subdivisions (e) and (k), have any ownership interest in
any facilities for the transmission or distribution of natural gas,
telephone service, or electrical energy.
(i) (1) A district may also pay for the following:
(A) Work deemed necessary to bring buildings or real property,
including privately owned buildings or real property, into compliance
with seismic safety standards or regulations. Only work certified as
necessary to comply with seismic safety standards or regulations by
local building officials may be financed. No project involving the
dismantling of an existing building and its replacement by a new
building, nor the construction of a new or substantially new building
may be financed pursuant to this subparagraph. Work on qualified
historical buildings or structures shall be done in accordance with
the State Historical Building Code (Part 2.7 (commencing with Section
18950) of Division 13 of the Health and Safety Code).
(B) In addition, within any county or area designated by the
President of the United States or by the Governor as a disaster area
or for which the Governor has proclaimed the existence of a state of
emergency because of earthquake damage, a district may also pay for
any work deemed necessary to repair any damage to real property
directly or indirectly caused by the occurrence of an earthquake
cited in the President's or the Governor's designation or
proclamation, or by aftershocks associated with that earthquake,
including work to reconstruct, repair, shore up, or replace any
building damaged or destroyed by the earthquake, and specifically
including, but not limited to, work on any building damaged or
destroyed in the Loma Prieta earthquake that occurred on October 17,
1989, or by its aftershocks. Work may be financed pursuant to this
subparagraph only on property or buildings identified in a resolution
of intention to establish a community facilities district adopted
within seven years of the date on which the county or area is
designated as a disaster area by the President or by the Governor or
on which the Governor proclaims for the area the existence of a state
of emergency.
(2) Work on privately owned property, including reconstruction or
replacement of privately owned buildings pursuant to subparagraph (B)
of paragraph (1), may only be financed by a tax levy if all of the
votes cast on the question of levying the tax, vote in favor of
levying the tax, or with the prior written consent to the tax of the
owners of all property that may be subject to the tax, in that case
the prior written consent shall be deemed to constitute a vote in
favor of the tax and any associated bond issue. Any district created
to finance seismic safety work on privately owned buildings,
including repair, reconstruction, or replacement of privately owned
buildings pursuant to this subdivision, shall consist only of lots or
parcels that the legislative body finds have buildings that were
damaged or destroyed by the earthquake cited pursuant to subparagraph
(B) of paragraph (1) or by the aftershocks of that earthquake.
(j) A district may also pay for the following:
(1) Work deemed necessary to repair and abate damage caused to
privately owned buildings and structures by soil deterioration. "Soil
deterioration" means a chemical reaction by soils that causes
structural damage or defects in construction materials including
concrete, steel, and ductile or cast iron. Only work certified as
necessary by local building officials may be financed. No project
involving the dismantling of an existing building or structure and
its replacement by a new building or structure, nor the construction
of a new or substantially new building or structure may be financed
pursuant to this paragraph.
(2) Work on privately owned buildings and structures pursuant to
this subdivision, including reconstruction, repair, and abatement of
damage caused by soil deterioration, may only be financed by a tax
levy if all of the votes cast on the question of levying the tax vote
in favor of levying the tax. Any district created to finance the
work on privately owned buildings or structures, including
reconstruction, repair, and abatement of damage caused by soil
deterioration, shall consist only of lots or parcels on which the
legislative body finds that the buildings or structures to be worked
on pursuant to this subdivision suffer from soil deterioration.
(k) A district may also finance the acquisition, improvement,
rehabilitation, or maintenance of any real or other tangible
property, whether privately or publicly owned, for the purposes of
removal or remedial action for the cleanup of any hazardous substance
released or threatened to be released into the environment. As used
in this subdivision, "remedial action" and "removal" shall have the
meaning set forth in Sections 25322 and 25323, respectively, of the
Health and Safety Code, and "hazardous substance" shall have the
meaning set forth in Section 25281 of the Health and Safety Code.
(l) A district may also finance and refinance the acquisition,
installation, and improvement of energy efficiency, water
conservation, and renewable energy improvements that are affixed, as
specified in Section 660 of the Civil Code, to or on real property
and in buildings, whether the real property or buildings are
privately or publicly owned. Energy efficiency, water conservation,
and renewable energy improvements financed by a district may only be
installed on a privately owned building and on privately owned real
property with the prior written consent of the owner or owners of the
building or real property. This chapter shall not be used to finance
installation of energy efficiency, water conservation, and renewable
energy improvements on a privately owned building or on privately
owned real property in connection with the initial construction of a
residential building unless the initial construction is undertaken by
the intended owner or occupant.
(m) Any improvement on private property authorized to be financed
by this section shall constitute a "public facility" for purposes of
this chapter and a "public improvement" for purposes of Part 1
(commencing with Section 3100) and Part 2 (commencing with Section
3110) of Division 4.5 of the Streets and Highways Code, whether the
improvement is owned by a private entity, if the legislative body has
determined that the improvement provides a public benefit, or the
improvement is owned by a public agency.