On Wednesday, April 19, CSDA provided lead testimony in the Senate Governance and Finance Committee on Senate Bills 34 and 229 (Umberg). The committee testimony of CSDA’s Senior Legislative Representative, Aaron Avery, may be viewed here – presentation on the bills, including CSDA’s testimony, spans the first 24 minutes of the recording. CSDA is leading a broad local government coalition with an Oppose Unless Amended position on both bills. The coalition’s latest policy committee letters may be viewed here (SB 34) and here (SB 229) respectively.
Both SB 34 and SB 229 will require local agencies to follow specified procedures for addressing notices of violation of the Surplus Land Act (SLA) received from the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD). SB 34 applies only to Orange County and Cities in Orange County, while SB 229 applies to all local agencies subject to the SLA, including special districts. Both bills relate to notices of violation from HCD in connection with planned sales and leases of surplus land by local agencies. CSDA is seeking an amendment to both bills to remove their application to leases because CSDA’s position is that leases are not currently disposals of surplus land subject to the SLA, notwithstanding HCD’s guidelines to the contrary. With respect to SB 229, CSDA is also seeking additional flexibility in the procedures that the bill would require. Both bills were voted out of the Senate Governance and Finance Committee. CSDA will remain engaged.
Other important Surplus Land Act bills on which CSDA has been actively involved this legislative session include:
SB 747 (Caballero) Land use: economic development: surplus land. This bill makes a number of changes to the SLA which are designed to bring efficiency and clarity to the act. The bill would make specified long-term leases subject to the SLA. CSDA has been highly engaged in the development of this bill. CSDA has been leading a special districts coalition, and currently has a Support if Amended position on the April 13, 2023 version of the bill. Significant amendments were recently taken in the Senate Housing Committee, which CSDA will be closely reviewing in the coming days. CSDA’s latest policy committee letter may be viewed here.
SB 634 (Becker) Low Barrier Navigation Center: opportunity housing: use by right: building standards. This bill attempts to streamline options for temporary opportunity housing on land with no demonstrable use withing the next 5 years. CSDA has a position on the bill of Oppose Unless Amended, seeking to remove Section 5 of the bill, which will create procedure by which an opportunity housing promoter may inquire about the suitability of any public land for opportunity housing, and a local agency must respond in specific ways. This section would create an ambiguous, parallel and inconsistent set of requirements vis-à-vis the SLA. CSDA’s latest policy committee letter may be viewed here.
AB 480 (Ting) Surplus land. This bill seeks to make a number of changes to the SLA, including some with implications for agency use land under the SLA. CSDA is leading a special districts coalition with an Oppose Unless Amended position, seeking to address various concerns with the bill. CSDA’s latest policy committee letter may be viewed here.
AB 457 (Patterson, Joe) Surplus Land Act: exempt surplus land: leases. This bill seeks to make changes to the SLA to address an Assembly District-specific issue. CSDA has a Concerns position on the bill because it seeks to exempt certain leased property from the SLA, thereby potentially setting precedent on the lease issue discussed above. CSDA’s latest policy committee letter may be viewed here.
If you have additional questions about these bills, please contact Aaron Avery at aarona@csda.net.
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