Bill Text: CA AB2385 | 2025-2026 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Local reconstruction agencies.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)
Status: (Engrossed) 2026-07-01 - From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 8. Noes 0.) (June 30). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. [AB2385 Detail]
Download: California-2025-AB2385-Amended.html
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Amended
IN
Senate
June 24, 2026 |
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Amended
IN
Assembly
April 27, 2026 |
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Amended
IN
Assembly
April 14, 2026 |
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Amended
IN
Assembly
April 08, 2026 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION
Assembly Bill
No. 2385
| Introduced by Assembly Member Petrie-Norris |
February 20, 2026 |
An act to amend Sections 8877.4 and 8877.5 of, and to add Sections 8877.7, 8877.8, and 8877.9 to, the Government Code, relating to disaster preparedness.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2385, as amended, Petrie-Norris.
Local reconstruction agencies.
The Community Redevelopment Law established redevelopment agencies in each community and granted specified powers to those redevelopment agencies for the purpose of promoting redevelopment in blighted areas. Existing law dissolved those community redevelopment agencies in 2012.
Other existing law, the Disaster Recovery Reconstruction Act of 1986, authorizes each city, county, or other local subdivision, as provided, to prepare, prior to a disaster, plans and ordinances facilitating the expeditious and orderly recovery and reconstruction of the area in case of a disaster. Existing law authorizes the plans and ordinances to include, among other things, a contingency plan of action and organization for short-term and long-term recovery and reconstruction to be instituted after a disaster. Existing law authorizes the plans and ordinances to
include the authority and proposed organization for establishment of a local reconstruction authority with powers parallel to those of a community redevelopment agency, except as specified.
This bill would refer to those plans as a disaster recovery plan and would require a city or county that prepares a disaster recovery plan to amend its general plan, if necessary, as provided, to ensure consistency between both plans. The bill would revise the contingency plan of action and organization to include intermediate recovery and reconstruction, in addition to the short-term and long-term recovery and reconstruction, and would specify elements that may be included in the contingency plan of action and organization. The bill would require the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation, in consultation with other specified state and local entities, to assess the recovery and rebuilding needs of jurisdictions across the state and develop model ordinance language, as
provided. The bill would also require the Office of Emergency Services, in consultation with the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation, to prepare guidance on disaster recovery plans, as provided.
Existing law authorizes the legislative body of a city or a county to designate a proposed enhanced infrastructure financing district (EIFD) to finance public capital facilities or other specified projects pursuant to specified procedures, including adoption of a resolution of intention to establish the proposed district and an enhanced infrastructure financing plan, as specified. Existing law authorizes the enhanced infrastructure financing plan to contain a provision for the division of taxes levied upon taxable property within the EIFD and authorizes the public financing authority of the EIFD to issue bonds, as provided. Existing law authorizes a city, county, city and county, special
district, or a combination of any of those entities to form a climate resilience district (CRD), as described, for the purposes of raising and allocating funding for eligible projects and the operating expenses of eligible projects. Existing law deems each CRD to be an EIFD and requires each district to comply with existing law concerning EIFDs, except as specified, including requiring a CRD to follow the procedures for the division of taxes and issuance of tax increment bonds applicable to EIFDs. Existing law further authorizes a city or county to adopt a resolution to establish a type of CRD specifically to finance disaster recovery efforts without following specified procedures, if certain conditions are met.
This bill would authorize a city, county, or city and county that takes certain actions pursuant to the bill to adopt an ordinance establishing a local reconstruction agency to coordinate disaster recovery efforts in the areas
impacted by a disaster. The bill would require the ordinance to include procedures for determining the boundaries of a local reconstruction area, as defined. The bill would authorize the ordinance to grant the local reconstruction agency specified powers, including, among other powers, to sue and be sued, to make and execute contracts, to issue or sell bonds, and to accept financial assistance from any public or private source. The bill would also authorize a local reconstruction agency to accept certain tax revenues derived from specified taxes levied upon taxable property within the local reconstruction area each year, to be divided as provided. The bill would require the ordinance to state that incremental property tax revenue from the city or county and all affected taxing entities, as defined, within the local reconstruction area, may be used to finance certain activities of the local reconstruction agency if
approved by a resolution, as specified. The bill would authorize a local reconstruction agency to adopt a resolution providing for the division of taxes and issuance of bonds pursuant to the above-described provisions governing CRDs and disaster recovery CRDs, as specified.
This bill would require the local reconstruction agency to have a board with a membership consisting of members of the legislative bodies of participating affected taxing entities and members of the public, as prescribed. The bill would deem the board a local public agency and make it subject to the Ralph M. Brown Act, the California Public Records Act, and the Political Reform Act of 1974.
This bill would require a city, county, or other local subdivision of the state to ensure that it specifies a date on which the local recovery agency
will cease to exist, and would prohibit that date from being more than 45 years from the date on which a bond is issued, or the issuance of a loan is approved, as provided.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NOBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Section 8877.4 of the Government Code is amended to read:8877.4.
As used in this chapter:(a) “Affected taxing entity” means any city, county, or city and county that adopts a resolution agreeing to participate in a local reconstruction agency created pursuant to Section 8877.7.
(b) “Disaster” means a devastating earthquake or other conditions specified in subdivisions (b) and (c) of Section 8558.
(c) “Local reconstruction area” means an area identified pursuant to the procedures set forth in an ordinance adopted pursuant to Section 8877.7 in which disaster
damage has caused conditions that are so prevalent and so substantial that they have caused a reduction, or a lack, of the normal predisaster usage of the area to an extent that causes a serious physical and economic burden that cannot reasonably be expected to be reversed or alleviated by private enterprise or governmental action, or both, without redevelopment. A local reconstruction area may include noncontiguous areas. Areas adjacent to the areas directly impacted by disaster damage may be included within the boundaries of the local reconstruction area, but those adjacent areas shall be no more than 20 percent of the total local reconstruction area.
(d) “Recovery” means the overall short-term and long-term restoration of social, economic, and institutional activity to levels comparable to those which existed prior to the disaster.
(e) “Reconstruction” means the renovation, replacement, or rebuilding of damaged or destroyed facilities which will enable this recovery to occur.
SEC. 2.
Section 8877.5 of the Government Code is amended to read:8877.5.
(a) Each city, county, or other local subdivision of the state, in conjunction with planning activities authorized under Article 5 (commencing with Section 65300) of Chapter 3 of Division 1 of Title 7 and Article 10 (commencing with Section 8610) of Chapter 7, may prepare, prior to a disaster, a disaster recovery plan and ordinances facilitating the expeditious and orderly recovery and reconstruction of the area under its jurisdiction, should a disaster occur. The plan and ordinances may include any of the following:(1) An evaluation of the vulnerability of specific areas under its jurisdiction to damage from a potential disaster, together with streamlined procedures for the
appropriate modification of existing general plans or zoning ordinances affecting those areas after a disaster.
(2) A contingency plan of action and organization for short-term, intermediate, and long-term recovery and reconstruction to be instituted after a disaster, including, but not limited to, the following:
(A) Operational structure.
(B) Roles and responsibilities for leadership and coordination.
(C) Recovery priorities.
(D) Mitigation strategies.
(E) Identification of programs, resources, and funding mechanisms to be
utilized within each phase of recovery.
(F) Procedures to guide postdisaster decisionmaking and resource allocation.
(G) Strategies to coordinate with departments, agencies, and organizations involved in recovery, including, but not limited to, state and local governmental entities, nonprofit organizations, private sector partners, and programs that provide recovery-related resources.
(3) An ordinance, to be adopted prior to the disaster, which could be invoked as soon as possible after the event and which would provide necessary local authorization for activities designated under paragraphs (1) and (2).
(4) Procedures for integration with state and
federal recovery frameworks.
(b) The plan and ordinances may include the authority and proposed organization for establishment of a local reconstruction
agency, as provided in Section 8877.7.
(c) The plan and organizational arrangements may be made separately or jointly by formal cooperative arrangements with other cities, counties, and local entities, including climate resilience districts and enhanced infrastructure financing districts that operate within a city, county, or other local subdivision of the state.
(d) If, in preparing a disaster recovery plan, a city or county determines that its general plan should be amended to ensure consistency between both plans, the city or county shall amend the general plan within a reasonable time.
(e) To assist local jurisdictions in the preparation of the plan and ordinances authorized pursuant to subdivision (a), the
Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation shall, in consultation with the Office of Emergency Services and, where appropriate, regional councils of governments, assess the recovery and rebuilding needs of jurisdictions across the state and develop model ordinance language to satisfy the authorization in paragraph (3) of subdivision (a). The Office of Emergency Services, in consultation with the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation, shall prepare guidance on disaster recovery plans. The guidance and model ordinance language shall be designed to be adaptable by jurisdictions based on geographic location, governmental structure, capacity, and any other factors the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation or the Office of Emergency Services deems relevant.
SEC. 3.
Section 8877.7 is added to the Government Code, to read:8877.7.
If a city, county, or city and county prepares and adopts a disaster recovery plan pursuant to Section 8877.5, and if the city, county, or city and county includes the authority and proposed organization for establishment of a local reconstruction agency in the disaster recovery plan pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 8877.5, a city, county, or city and county may adopt an ordinance establishing a local reconstruction agency to coordinate disaster recovery efforts in the areas impacted by a disaster. The ordinance shall include procedures for determining the boundaries of a local reconstruction area in which the local reconstruction agency will operate following a disaster. The ordinance may grant the reconstruction agency the power to engage in any of the following activities:(a) Sue and be sued.
(b) Adopt a seal.
(c) Make and execute contracts and other instruments necessary or convenient to the exercise of its powers pursuant to the same requirements that apply to the city, county, or city and county that establishes the local reconstruction agency.
(d) Make, amend, and repeal bylaws and regulations not inconsistent with, and to carry out, its powers and purposes.
(e) (1) Within the local reconstruction area, purchase, lease, obtain option upon, acquire by gift, grant, bequest, devise, eminent domain, or otherwise, any real or personal property, any interest in property, and any improvements on it, including repurchase of developed property previously owned by the reconstruction agency.
(2) Paragraph (1) shall not include the power of eminent domain. A local reconstruction agency may accept a property that a city, county, or city and county has taken by eminent domain.
(f) Dispose of assets, including by sale or lease.
(g) Issue or sell bonds
as described in Article 4 (commencing with Section 53398.77) of Chapter 2.99 of Part 1 of Division 2 of Title 5. Adopt a resolution providing for the division of taxes and issuance of bonds pursuant to Division 6 (commencing with Section 62300) of Title 6, including the expedited process described in Section 62313.
(h) Incur Except for bonds described in subdivision (g), incur and restructure debt pursuant to the same requirements that apply to the city, county, or city and county that establishes the local reconstruction agency.
(i) Accept financial assistance from any public or private source.
(j) Accept any other assistance from the state or federal
government or any public or private source for any project within the local reconstruction area or for the reconstruction agency’s activities, powers, and duties.
(k)(1)State that incremental property tax revenue from the city or county and all affected taxing entities within the local reconstruction area, if approved by resolution as described in Section 53398.68, may be used to finance these activities.
(2)Accept taxes, if any, levied upon taxable property within the local reconstruction area each year by or for the benefit of the State of California, or any affected taxing entity after the effective date of the ordinance adopted pursuant to this section to establish the local reconstruction agency, that shall be divided as described in Section 53398.75.
(l)
(k) Execute trust deeds on properties owned or acquired.
(m)
(l) Prepare or cause to be prepared and carry out plans for the improvement, rehabilitation, recovery, and redevelopment of disaster-impacted areas, which may include the following activities:
(1) Holding hearings and conducting examinations, investigations, and other negotiations.
(2) Consulting with the local planning commission and the project area committee, if applicable, in preparing plans.
(n)
(m) Make loans or provide funds or financial assistance to residents and businesses consistent with its purposes.
(o)
(n) Within the local reconstruction area, for purposes of disaster recovery, provide for the insurance of any operations of the reconstruction agency against risks or hazards.
(p)
(o) Select, appoint, and employ permanent and temporary officers, agents, counsel, and employees as it requires, and determine their qualifications, duties, benefits, and compensation, subject only to the conditions and restrictions imposed by the legislative body on the
expenditure or encumbrance of the budgetary funds appropriated to the reconstruction agency.
(q)
(p) Contract with other governmental entities for the furnishing of any necessary staff services associated with or required by the reconstruction agency that could be performed by the staff of that other governmental entity.
(r)
(q) Obtain, hire, purchase, or rent office space, equipment, supplies, insurance, or services.
(s)
(r) Authorize and pay the travel expenses of reconstruction agency members, officers, agents, counsel, and employees engaging in official business pursuant to the same requirements that apply to the city, county, or city and county that establishes the local reconstruction agency.
(t)
(s) Disseminate information related to disaster recovery.
(u)
(t) Prepare applications for various governmental programs and grants relating to disaster recovery, housing, and community development, and plan and carry out those programs and grants within its authority.
SEC. 4.
Section 8877.8 is added to the Government Code, to read:8877.8.
(a) The local reconstruction agency shall have a board with a membership consisting of one of the following, as appropriate:(1) If an agency has only one participating affected taxing entity, the board’s membership shall include a minimum of three members of the legislative body of the participating affected taxing entity, and a minimum of two members of the public chosen by the legislative body. A minimum of one of the members of the public shall be a resident of or business owner within the local reconstruction area. The legislative body may appoint another one of its members to be an alternate member of the board who may serve and vote in place of a member of
the legislative body who is absent or disqualifies themselves from participating in a meeting of the board. The appointment of the public member shall be subject to the provisions of Sections 54970 and 54972.
(2) If an agency has two or more participating affected taxing entities, the board’s membership shall include a majority of members from the legislative bodies of the participating affected taxing entities, and a minimum of two members of the public chosen by the legislative bodies of the participating entities. A minimum of one of the members of the public shall be a resident of or business owner within the local reconstruction area. A legislative body of a participating affected taxing entity may appoint another one of its members to be an alternate member of the board who may serve and vote in place of a member of the legislative
body who is absent or disqualifies themselves from participating in a meeting of the board. The appointment of the public members shall be subject to the provisions of Sections 54970 and 54972.
(3) If an agency has more than three participating affected taxing entities, the legislative bodies of the participating affected taxing entities may, upon agreement by all participating affected taxing entities, appoint only one member and one alternate member of their respective legislative bodies to the board, and a minimum of two members of the public chosen by the legislative bodies of the participating entities. A minimum of one of the members of the public shall be a resident of or business owner within the local reconstruction area. The appointment of the public members shall be subject to the provisions of Sections 54970 and 54972.
(4) For purposes of this subdivision, “legislative body” may include a directly elected mayor of a charter city who is not a member of the city’s legislative body under the city’s adopted charter.
(b) The legislative body shall ensure the board is established at the same time that it adopts an ordinance pursuant to Section 8877.7.
(c) Members of the board established pursuant to this chapter shall not receive compensation but may receive reimbursement for actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of official duties pursuant to Article 2.3 (commencing with Section 53232) of Chapter 2 of Part 1 of Division 2 of Title 5.
(d) Members of the
board are subject to Article 2.4 (commencing with Section 53234) of Chapter 2 of Part 1 of Division 2 of Title 5.
(e) The board created pursuant to this section shall be a local public agency subject to the Ralph M. Brown Act (Chapter 9 (commencing with Section 54950) of Part 1 of Division 2 of Title
5), the California Public Records Act (Division 10 (commencing with Section 7920.000) of Title 1), and the Political Reform Act of 1974 (Title 9 (commencing with Section 81000)).
(f) Notwithstanding any other law, any member of the legislative body of a participating affected taxing entity who serves as a member of the board pursuant to this section may also serve as a member of the governing body of an agency or entity formed pursuant to an agreement for the joint exercise of power that the participating affected taxing entity has entered into in accordance with the Joint Exercise of Powers Act (Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 6500) of Division 7 of Title 1).
