The first year of the 2023-2024 Legislative Session has seen the introduction of numerous bills seeking to make consequential changes to the Surplus Land Act (SLA) affecting the ability of special districts to effectively serve their communities.
CSDA has established itself as a recognized leader on Surplus Land Act legislation, stemming from its leadership role in prior legislative efforts to make significant changes to the SLA, including AB 1486 (Ting, 2019), AB 2357 (Ting, 2022), and SB 361 (Umberg, 2022). As a result of CSDA’s advocacy efforts, the significant reforms brought about with AB 1486 were coupled with additional protections and consideration granted to special districts. However, certain provisions of the SLA are the subject of disputed interpretations, leading to inefficiencies.
The SLA sets forth complex and technical procedures local governments must follow to declare land to be surplus and not necessary for agency’s use, and to dispose of that land after engaging in negotiations with affordable housing developers. The SLA also contains procedures for declaring land exempt surplus land, and procedures and requirements for agency’s uses of land.
This year, CSDA has heavily engaged in the most significant legislative efforts to reform the SLA, leading coalitions on bills that are both potentially beneficial and potentially detrimental to special districts, including:
- SB 747 (Caballero) Land use: economic development: surplus land – This bill, which is authored by the Chair of the Senate Governance and Finance Committee, seeks to add efficiency and clarity to the SLA. Economic development matters, which are not a primary concern of special districts, were also an initial focus of the legislation, but have since been amended out of the bill. Important remaining elements include providing a definition for “dispose” under the SLA, following stakeholder input in which CSDA participated, which includes the entry of leases in excess of 15 years, as specified; adding transparency to the Department of Housing and Community Development’s (HCD) SLA implementation; and clarifying that local agencies are not required to dispose of land declared to be surplus land. CSDA is leading a local government coalition with a “support if amended’ position on this bill, and is seeking amendments to increase the lease term to be more akin to a sale and remove a requirement to notify HCD of exempt surplus land disposals. CSDA recently provided lead testimony for the bill in the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee. The bill will next be considered by the Assembly Appropriations Committee, and additional amendments are anticipated.
- AB 480 (Ting) Surplus Land - CSDA is leading a local government coalition with an “oppose unless amended” position on this bill, which initially sought to make several detrimental changes to the SLA that would have increased confusion and inefficiencies, and undermined the “agency’s use” protections applicable to special districts. As a result of CSDA’s advocacy efforts, this bill was recently significantly amended, removing its most concerning elements. CSDA maintains an oppose unless amended position on the bill to address a concerning penalty provision, however, the bill has significantly improved and is no longer a major threat in its current form. CSDA recently provided lead opposition testimony on the bill in the Senate Housing Committee. The bill will next be considered by the Senate Appropriations Committee.
- AB 457 (Patterson, Joe) Surplus Land Act: exempt surplus land: leases - This is a bill focused on the author’s Assembly District seeking an SLA exemption for a specific local need. However, the exempt surplus land category proposed by the bill included a reference to “leases”. Because of the precedent that may be established by assuming certain leases are covered by the SLA and in need of an exemption, CSDA adopted an “oppose unless amended” position, seeking to amend the bill to accomplish its purpose without reference to leases. As a result of CSDA’s advocacy efforts, the concerning language referring to leases was amended out of the bill in the Senate Governance and Finance Committee, allowing CSDA to move its position to “neutral”. The bill is now pending on the Senate Floor.
- SB 34 (Umberg) Surplus land disposal: violations: Orange County - This bill seeks to add required procedures for the county government of Orange County and cities in Orange County to follow when they receive notices of violation from HCD in connection with the proposed sale or lease of surplus land. Due to precedential concerns arising from inclusion of leases within the bill, CSDA is leading a local government coalition with an “oppose unless amended” position, seeking to remove the bill’s reference to leases. CSDA recently provided lead opposition testimony on the bill to the Assembly Local Government Committee (pictured below) and the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee. The bill will next be considered by the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
- SB 229 (Umberg) Surplus land: disposal of property: violations: public meeting - This bill seeks to add required procedures for local agencies, including special districts, to follow when they receive notices of violation from HCD in connection with the proposed sale or lease of a parcel. CSDA is leading a local government coalition with an “oppose unless amended” position, seeking to remove the bill’s reference to leases, make a clarifying change to make clear that the procedures apply to notices of violation received in connection with disposals of surplus land, and to add procedural flexibility. CSDA recently provided lead opposition testimony on the bill to the Assembly Local Government Committee and the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee. The bill will next be considered by the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
- SB 634 (Becker) Low Barrier Navigation Center: opportunity housing: use by right: building standards - This bill would have required special districts and other local agencies to respond to inquiries in connection with potential placement of temporary housing on their properties. CSDA took an “oppose unless amended” position because the bill would have created a significant burden on special districts and was inconsistent with the SLA. The bill was held in the Senate Appropriations Committee and is now a “two-year” bill.
Throughout this process, CSDA has regularly consulted with the CSDA Surplus Land Act Working Group and coalition partners. While much work remains to be done, CSDA’s efforts have had a positive impact on a number of the SLA bills described above, including most importantly, SB 747 and AB 480. Those bills will need to be harmonized in the coming weeks, and additional efforts will be needed on the remainder of the legislation.
CSDA’s advocacy team remains fully engaged and CSDA continues leading coalition efforts on this important issue which impacts local agency operations, long term planning, and revenue generation. Look for future updates in Advocacy News and CSDA eNews.