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9A Page 6 S8 1206 (KEHOE) PASSED BY SENATE LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMIITEE A measure that would significantly limit local flexibility under the California Redevelopment Law passed of Senate Local Government Committee on March 1 with a 5-0 vote. Three members of the committee (Sens. Tom Torlakson -0, Antioch, Dave Cox - R, Fair Oaks and Dick Ackerman - R, Irvine) voted for the bill with the understanding that issues and concerns raised in the hearing would be addressed and the committee would revisit the bill. The bill is authored by Sen. Christine Kehoe (D- San Diego), who also chairs the Senate Local Government Committee. The League and the California Redevelopment Association (RDA) are both opposing the bill, as are the California Con- tract Cities Association and several individual cities. The comrnittee vote came after a lengthy discussion of the bill, during which the League, the City of Oakland, RDA and others presented testi- mony about the harmful effects the bill would have on cities' ability to eradicate blight, clean-up envi- ronmentally polluted properties, build affordable housing, and create jobs and economic opportunity. Although there are concerns with other aspects of the bill, much of the opposition testimony fo- cused on the "metrics" approach to defining ~blight" in Sections 2 and 13 of the bill. Redevelopment agencies must make a finding of blight before an area can be declared a redevelopment area. SB 1206 would change that process, by impos- ing numerical standards to define factors used in a finding of blight (e.g. economic factors such as ~depreciated or stagnant property values" and ~abnormally high business vacancies," as well as quality of life factors such as ~residential over- crowding" and "high crime rate"). Support for the measure came from tax groups, the urban counties caucus and the Attorney General's office. The Califomia State Association of Counties (CSAC) does not yet have a position on the bill, testified in support of the concept of reform. The Western Center on Law and Poverty, an affordable housing advocacy group, also supported the concept of tightening the definition of blight. Committee member Torlakson asked many key questions and pointed out a number of flaws with the "metrics" tests and other provisions of the measure. The bill passed after Sen. Kehoe expressed her willingness to work with all con- cerned parties, and committed to bring the bill back to the committee. Background. SB 1206 is one of numerous bills recently introduced in the wake of the Su- preme Court's decision in Kelo v. City of New London, which upheld the use of eminent domain in cases involving economic development projects. Recent legislative interim hearings on the effects of the case, have helped to verify that the Kelo decision did not change California law, which was already more restrictive than Connecticut's. But, despite the lack of clear evidence of a significant impact of Ke/o in Califor- nia, the hearings also resulted in additional legislative focus on the practices and activities of redevelopment agencies. This has provided the opponents of redevelopment an opportunity to advocate for limits to redevelopment law - even when the proposed reforms have little to do with eminent domain. What's Next? The League urges city offI- cials to carefully review this measure and assess its impacts on their cities' ability to addressed blighted conditions and build affordable housing, and to contact their legislators on this bill. The measure will be heard next in the Senate Judi- ciary Committee, chaired by Sen. Joe Dunn (D - Santa Ana) - who is, along with Sen. Machado 0 - Linden, a co-author of the measure. Our Mission Restore and protect local control for cities through education and advocacy to enhance the quality of life for all Californians. PAGE 6 . PRIORITY FOCUS March 3, 2006 . Issue fI:9 Visit the League's OffIcial Website-www.caclties.org