Bill Text: CA SB1140 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Chaptered

California Senate Bill 1140

Bill Title: Enhanced infrastructure financing district.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2024-09-25 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 599, Statutes of 2024. [SB1140 Detail]

Download: California-2023-SB1140-Chaptered.html

Senate Bill No. 1140

CHAPTER 599

An act to amend Sections 53398.50, 53398.52, 53398.61, 53398.64, 53398.66, 53398.68, and 62302 of, and to add Sections 53398.72 and 53398.73 to, the Government Code, relating to local government.

[ Approved by Governor September 25, 2024. Filed with Secretary of State September 25, 2024. ]

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SB 1140, Caballero. Enhanced infrastructure financing district.

Existing law authorizes the legislative body of a city or a county to designate a proposed enhanced infrastructure financing district to finance public capital facilities or other specified projects, with a governing body referred to as the public financing authority, by adopting a resolution of intention to establish the proposed district.

Existing law requires the public financing authority of an enhanced infrastructure financing district to hold a meeting and 3 public hearings on a proposed infrastructure financing plan, as provided. Existing law requires the infrastructure financing plan, among other things, to be sent to each owner of land within the proposed district and to each affected taxing entity. Existing law establishes notice requirements for the meeting and public hearings, including requiring a written notice of each meeting or public hearing to be mailed to each landowner, each resident, and each taxing entity, as specified. Alternative to mailing the documents and notices, existing law authorizes an official designated by the city or county to, instead, comply with alternative notice procedures.

Existing law requires the public financing authority to review the infrastructure financing plan at least annually and make any amendments that are necessary and appropriate. Existing law requires a public financing authority to adopt an annual report, as provided, after holding a public hearing, and complying with certain notice requirements, including that the notice be mailed by first-class mail, but may be addressed to “occupant.”

This bill would revise and recast those provisions by, among other things, requiring the public financing authority to hold a meeting and 2 public hearings, as specified. The bill would remove the requirement that annual report notices be mailed by first-class mail.

This bill would revise and recast the alternative notice procedures by, among other things, authorizing the alternative notice procedures to be used instead of the above-described notice requirements for amendments and annual plans. With respect to the alternative notice procedures, the bill would require the notice to include specified information and would require additional notice procedures, if a public hearing is rescheduled for a later date than provided in the notice, due to unanticipated circumstances.

This bill would require a notice required by these provisions to be provided in English and in all other languages spoken jointly by 20% or more of the population in the jurisdiction of the county of the proposed district that speaks English less than “very well” and jointly speaks a language other than English according to data from the most recent American Community Survey or data from an equally reliable source, except as specified.

Existing law makes findings and declarations related to these provisions.

This bill would make additional findings and declarations that, among other things, public benefits will accrue if local agencies, excluding schools, are provided a means to improve air quality, fund port and harbor infrastructure, fund projects to improve broadband internet access service, and construct facilities for nonprofit community organizations that provide health, youth, homeless, and social services.

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, as described, for the purposes of raising and allocating funding for eligible projects and the operating expenses of eligible projects. Existing law deems each district to be an enhanced infrastructure financing district and requires each district to comply with existing law concerning enhanced infrastructure financing districts, except as specified. Existing law requires a district to finance only specified projects that meet the definition of an eligible project. Existing law defines “eligible project” to include projects that address sea level rise, extreme heat, extreme cold, the risk of wildfire, drought, and the risk of flooding, as specified.

This bill would additionally include a project that intends to improve air quality within the definition of “eligible project.”

This bill would incorporate additional changes to Sections 53398.50 and 53398.52 of the Government Code proposed by AB 1819 to be operative only if this bill and AB 1819 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.

Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: NO Local Program: NO

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a) Among the purposes of this measure is to consolidate and streamline the notice and hearing requirements associated with the formation of enhanced infrastructure finance districts.

(b) The changes made to the formation process and the timing of the effective date of this act, however, shall not be interpreted in a manner to disrupt or delay the formation process for a district that commenced prior to the effective date of this act.

(c) Districts that have initiated the formation process when this act takes effect as evidenced by the adoption of the resolution of intention pursuant to Section 53398.59, may choose to complete the formation process in accordance with the requirements and timelines in effect on the date that the resolution of intention was adopted.

SEC. 2.

Section 53398.50 of the Government Code is amended to read:

53398.50.

The Legislature finds and declares that with the dissolution of redevelopment agencies, public benefits will accrue if local agencies, excluding schools, are provided a means to finance the reuse and revitalization of former military bases, fund the creation of transit priority projects and the implementation of sustainable communities plans, fund projects that enable communities to adapt to the impacts of climate change, including to improve air quality, construct and rehabilitate affordable housing units, fund port and harbor infrastructure, fund projects to improve broadband internet access service, construct facilities for nonprofit community organizations that provide health, youth, homeless, and social services, and construct facilities to house providers of consumer goods and services in the communities served by these efforts.

SEC. 2.5.

Section 53398.50 of the Government Code is amended to read:

53398.50.

The Legislature finds and declares that with the dissolution of redevelopment agencies, public benefits will accrue if local agencies, excluding schools, are provided a means to finance the reuse and revitalization of former military bases, fund the creation of transit priority projects and the implementation of sustainable communities plans, fund projects that enable communities to adapt to the impacts of climate change, including to improve air quality, mitigate wildfires, construct and rehabilitate affordable housing units, fund port and harbor infrastructure, fund projects to improve broadband internet access service, construct facilities for nonprofit community organizations that provide health, youth, homeless, and social services, and construct facilities to house providers of consumer goods and services in the communities served by these efforts.

SEC. 3.

Section 53398.52 of the Government Code is amended to read:

53398.52.

(a) (1) A district may finance any of the following:

(A) The purchase, construction, expansion, improvement, seismic retrofit, or rehabilitation of any real or other tangible property with an estimated useful life of 15 years or longer that satisfies the requirements of subdivision (b).

(B) The planning and design work that is directly related to the purchase, construction, expansion, or rehabilitation of property.

(D) (i) The ongoing or capitalized costs to maintain public capital facilities financed in whole or in part by the district.

(ii) Notwithstanding clause (i), a district shall not use the proceeds of bonds issued pursuant to the authority in Article 4 (commencing with Section 53398.77) to finance maintenance of any kind.

(2) The facilities are not required to be physically located within the boundaries of the district. However, any facilities financed outside of a district shall have a tangible connection to the work of the district, as detailed in the infrastructure financing plan adopted pursuant to Section 53398.69.

(3) A district shall not finance the costs of an ongoing operation or providing services of any kind.

(b) The district shall finance only public capital facilities or other specified projects of communitywide significance that provide significant benefits to the district or the surrounding community, including, but not limited to, all of the following:

(1) Highways, interchanges, ramps and bridges, arterial streets, parking facilities, and transit facilities.

(2) Sewage treatment and water reclamation plants and interceptor pipes.

(3) Facilities for the collection and treatment of water for urban uses.

(4) Flood control levees and dams, retention basins, and drainage channels.

(5) Childcare facilities.

(6) Libraries.

(7) Parks, recreational facilities, and open space.

(8) Facilities for the transfer and disposal of solid waste, including transfer stations and vehicles.

(9) Brownfield restoration and other environmental mitigation.

(10) The development of projects on a former military base, provided that the projects are consistent with the military base authority reuse plan and are approved by the military base reuse authority, if applicable.

(11) The repayment of the transfer of funds to a military base reuse authority pursuant to Section 67851 that occurred on or after the creation of the district.

(12) The acquisition, construction, or rehabilitation of housing for persons of very low, low, and moderate income, as defined in Sections 50105 and 50093 of the Health and Safety Code, for rent or purchase.

(13) Acquisition, construction, or repair of industrial structures for private use.

(14) (A) Acquisition, construction, or repair of commercial structures by the small business occupant of such structures, if such acquisition, construction, or repair is for purposes of fostering economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and of ensuring the long-term economic sustainability of small businesses.

(B) For purposes of this paragraph and subject to subparagraph (C), “small business” means an independently owned and operated business that is not dominant in its field of operation, the principal office of which is located in California, the officers of which are domiciled in California, and which, together with affiliates, has 100 or fewer employees, and average annual gross receipts of fifteen million dollars ($15,000,000) or less over the previous three years, or is a manufacturer, as defined in subdivision (c) of Section 14837, with 100 or fewer employees. An “independently owned and operated business” shall include a formula retail business that is an independently owned franchise.

(C) A district may set a lower threshold for the average annual gross receipts over the previous three years and for the number of employees described in subparagraph (B).

(15) Transit priority projects, as defined in Section 21155 of the Public Resources Code, that are located within a transit priority project area. For purposes of this paragraph, a transit priority project area may include a military base reuse plan that meets the definition of a transit priority project area and it may include a contaminated site within a transit priority project area.

(16) Projects that implement a sustainable communities strategy, when the State Air Resources Board, pursuant to Chapter 2.5 (commencing with Section 65080) of Division 1 of Title 7, has accepted a metropolitan planning organization’s determination that the sustainable communities strategy or the alternative planning strategy would, if implemented, achieve the greenhouse gas emission reduction targets.

(17) Projects that enable communities to adapt to the impacts of climate change, including, but not limited to, higher average temperatures, decreased air and water quality, the spread of infectious and vector-borne diseases, other public health impacts, extreme weather events, sea level rise, flooding, heat waves, wildfires, and drought. This paragraph includes projects intended to improve air quality.

(18) Port or harbor infrastructure, as defined by Section 1698 of the Harbors and Navigation Code.

(19) The acquisition, construction, or improvement of broadband Internet access service. For purposes of this section, “broadband Internet access services” has the same meaning as defined in Section 53167. A district that acquires, constructs, or improves broadband Internet access service may transfer the management and control of those facilities to a local agency that is authorized to provide broadband Internet access service, and that local agency when providing that service shall comply with the requirements of Article 12 (commencing with Section 53167) of Chapter 1 of Part 1 of Division 2 of Title 5.

(20) Facilities in which nonprofit community organizations provide health, youth, homeless, and social services.

(c) The district shall require, by recorded covenants or restrictions, that housing units built pursuant to this section shall remain available at affordable housing costs to, and occupied by, persons and families of very low, low, or moderate income for the longest feasible time, but for not less than 55 years for rental units and 45 years for owner-occupied units.

(d) The district may finance mixed-income housing developments, but may finance only those units in such a development that are restricted to occupancy by persons of very low, low, or moderate incomes as defined in Sections 50105 and 50093 of the Health and Safety Code, and those onsite facilities for childcare, after school care, and social services that are integrally linked to the tenants of the restricted units.

(e) A district may utilize any powers under either the Polanco Redevelopment Act (Article 12.5 (commencing with Section 33459) of Chapter 4 of Part 1 of Division 24 of the Health and Safety Code) or Chapter 6.10 (commencing with Section 25403) of Division 20 of the Health and Safety Code, and finance any action necessary to implement that act.

SEC. 3.5.