Bill Text: CA SCR163 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Local agency formation commissions.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-07-03 - July 3 hearing: Reconsideration granted. [SCR163 Detail]
Download: California-2023-SCR163-Amended.html
|
Amended
IN
Senate
June 26, 2024 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION
Senate Concurrent Resolution
No. 163
| Introduced by Senators Cortese and Hurtado (Coauthor: Senator Dodd) |
June 19, 2024 |
Relative to local agency formation commissions.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SCR 163, as amended, Cortese.
Local agency formation commissions.
This measure would reaffirm the sole authority of local agency formation commissions for the initiation, conduct, and completion of changes of organization and reorganization organization, reorganizations, and extraterritorial services for cities and districts.
Digest Key
Fiscal Committee: NOBill Text
WHEREAS, It is the policy of the state to encourage orderly growth and development, which are essential to the social, fiscal, and economic well-being of the state; and
WHEREAS, The Legislature recognizes that the logical formation and determination of local agency boundaries is an important factor in promoting orderly development and in balancing that development with sometimes competing state interests of discouraging urban sprawl, preserving open-space and prime agricultural lands, and efficiently extending government services; and
WHEREAS, This policy should be effected by the logical formation and modification of the boundaries of local agencies, with a preference granted to accommodating additional growth within, or through the expansion of, the boundaries of those local agencies, which can best accommodate and provide necessary governmental services and housing for persons and families of all incomes in the most efficient manner feasible; and
WHEREAS, The Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government Reorganization Act of 2000 provides each local agency formation commission (LAFCO) with the sole and exclusive authority and procedure for the initiation, conduct, and completion of changes of organization and reorganization organization, reorganizations, and extraterritorial services for cities and districts; and
WHEREAS, Each county in the state has a LAFCO established locally, LAFCO, which includes membership is composed of elected city and county members and members, at least one public member;
member, and, in 32 counties, special district members; and
WHEREAS, The LAFCO develops and determines the sphere of influence of each city and each special district within the county and enacts policies designed to promote the logical and orderly development of areas within that sphere; and
WHEREAS, The 50-billion-dollar a year agricultural industry is crucial to the economic well-being of the state, and LAFCOs are called upon to protect that industry by assuring the stability of fire protection districts, water districts, and public trusts; and
WHEREAS, The LAFCO is responsible for the formation of county service areas, which enable essential services, including water and sanitation, to be provided in a given area; and
WHEREAS, The original LAFCO legislation was passed in 1963, 1963 and updated in 1985 and 2000, and charged LAFCOs with preserving that industry; 2000; and
WHEREAS, The Legislature has continually reaffirmed LAFCOs’ authority to encourage orderly growth and the preservation of prime farmland and open space; and
WHEREAS, LAFCOs have independently and successfully enforced orderly growth for over one-half century; and
WHEREAS, The Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government Reorganization Act of 2000 clearly endows LAFCOs with authority over districts exercising “latent” powers concerning new or different functions; and
WHEREAS, Corporate interests bypassing the normal planning process by quietly purchasing tens of thousands of acres of farmland with the intent of creating an urban area is contrary to this precedent; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly thereof concurring, That the Legislature reaffirms the sole authority of LAFCOs for the initiation, conduct, and completion of changes of organization and reorganization organization, reorganizations, and extraterritorial services for cities and districts; and be it further
Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.
