On the morning of June 15, 2022, Assembly Bill 2357 (Ting) was scheduled to be heard by the Senate Committee on Governance and Finance. The bill was pulled from its hearing and according to the author’s staff, the bill will not be moving forward this year. CSDA, working with a coalition of partner associations, was opposed to the bill unless it was amended. A copy of CSDA’s coalition letter can be viewed here.
AB 2357 would have added provisions to the already established guidelines provided by AB 1486 (Ting, 2019) and the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD). Specifically, AB 2357 would have authorized local agencies to administratively declare specific types of "exempt surplus land" with 30 days’ public notice and required local agencies to notify HCD 30 days prior to disposing of exempt surplus land. In addition, AB 2357 would have amended the penalty provisions associated with violations of disposed surplus land, making local agencies liable for a penalty that is a specified percentage of an independently appraised fair market value of the surplus land being disposed of.
Another bill related to the Surplus Land Act (SLA), SB 361 (Umberg), was taken up that same day in the Assembly Committee on Local Government. SB 361 deletes the penalty provisions of the Surplus Land Act and prohibits local agencies from proceeding with disposal of property if HCD issues a notice of violation. SB 361 was voted out of the Assembly Committee on Local Government by a vote of 7 ayes – 1 no. That bill is now headed to the Assembly Committee on Housing and Community Development.
CSDA’s legislative team will continue to monitor this subject matter and keep you apprised.
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