BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                       



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                                 THIRD READING


          Bill No:  AB 1721
          Author:   Assembly Committee on Jobs, Economic Development,  
          and the
                    Economy
          Amended:  7/18/07 in Assembly
          Vote:     21

           
           SENATE BUSINESS, PROF. & ECON. DEVELOP. COMM.  : 7-0, 7/2/07
          AYES:  Ridley-Thomas, Aanestad, Calderon, Corbett, Denham,  
            Florez, Simitian
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Harman, Yee

           SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE  :  Senate Rule 28.8 

           ASSEMBLY FLOOR  :  72-0, 5/10/07 - See last page for vote


           SUBJECT  :    Economic development

           SOURCE  :     California Association of Local Economic  
          Development


           DIGEST  :    This bill authorizes the Secretary of Business,  
          Transportation and Housing to administer the federal  
          Economic Adjustment Assistance Grant subject to specified  
          criteria.  The secretary would be authorized to sign and  
          contract administration of the grant to a joint powers  
          agency.  In addition, the bill defines the terms "economic  
          development," "economic development corporation," and  
          "regional economic development organization," and make  
          related findings and declarations.
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           ANALYSIS  :    

          Existing law:

          1.Provides for the Trade, Technology and Commerce Agency  
            (TTCA) to adopt state matching grant criteria for the  
            California Technology Reinvestment Project (TRP)  
            proposals.  

          2.Defines terms such as "economic development lenders,"  
            "economic development facilities" and "economic  
            development plan," but provides no specific definition of  
            "economic development."

          3.Creates the Economic Development Adjustment Assistance  
            (EDAA) program, funded by the federal government, to  
            administer and distribute federal funds for the grant  
            program. 

          This bill: 

          1.Deletes an obsolete section of the Government Code  
            related to the TRP. 

          2.Makes findings and declarations regarding the state's  
            economic development organizations and corporations and  
            how they are linked with the state's economic development  
            activities.

          3.Defines several key terms used in statute pertaining to  
            economic development, including "Local Economic  
            Development Corporation," "Regional Economic Development  
            Organization,"  Regional Economic Development  
            Corporation," "Economic Development," and "Local Economic  
            Development."

          4.Establishes the Business, Transportation and Housing  
            Agency as the primary state agency responsible for  
            facilitating economic development in the state, and  
            direct the agency to work with federal, state, local, and  
            international public and private entities in meeting this  
            responsibility. 








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          5.Creates the California Economic Development Fund for the  
            purpose of receiving federal, state, local, and private  
            economic development funds and receiving repayment of  
            loans or grant proceeds and interest on those loans and  
            grants.

          6.Specifies that upon appropriation, moneys in the fund may  
            be expended by the Secretary to provide matching funds  
            for loans and grants to public agencies, nonprofit  
            organizations, and private entities, and for other  
            economic development purposes, consistent with the  
            purposes for which the moneys were received.

          7.Authorizes the Secretary of Business, Transportation, and  
            Housing Agency to administer the federal EDAA grant  
            program and to assign and contract administration to a  
            joint powers agency.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :    Appropriation:  No   Fiscal Com.:  Yes    
          Local:  No

           SUPPORT  :   (Verified  7/17/07)

          California Association of Local Economic Development  
          (source) 
          California Community Economic Development Association
          CHARO Community Development Corporation
          City of Ceres
          City of Eureka
          City of San Mateo
          City of Santa Rosa
          City of Selma
          City of Taft 
          City of Vista
          Claggett Wolfe Associates
          Economic Development Corporation
          Tulare County Economic Development Corporation


          ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT  :    The California Association of  
          Local Economic Development states that the federal Economic  
          Development Administration awarded a grant to California to  
          assist business expansion in economically distressed areas  
          of the State.  However, with the elimination of the TTCA,  







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          the EDAA program is not being actively managed and that  
          loan repayments are not being utilized for the purpose they  
          were originally intended.  They indicate that this bill is  
          needed to remove an obsolete reference in the Government  
          Code, define and or redefine economic development terms  
          consistently, and to reactivate an existing grant program.


           ASSEMBLY FLOOR  :  72-0, 5/10/07
          AYES:  Adams, Aghazarian, Arambula, Bass, Beall, Benoit,  
            Berg, Berryhill, Blakeslee, Brownley, Caballero, Charles  
            Calderon, Carter, Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De  
            Leon, DeSaulnier, DeVore, Duvall, Emmerson, Eng, Evans,  
            Feuer, Fuller, Gaines, Galgiani, Garcia, Hancock,  
            Hayashi, Hernandez, Horton, Houston, Huff, Huffman,  
            Jeffries, Jones, Karnette, Keene, Krekorian, La Malfa,  
            Laird, Leno, Levine, Lieber, Ma, Maze, Mendoza, Mullin,  
            Nakanishi, Nava, Niello, Parra, Plescia, Portantino,  
            Price, Richardson, Salas, Saldana, Silva, Smyth, Solorio,  
            Spitzer, Strickland, Swanson, Torrico, Tran, Villines,  
            Walters, Wolk, Nunez
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Anderson, Dymally, Garrick, Lieu, Sharon  
            Runner, Ruskin, Soto, Vacancy


          JJA:nl  7/18/07   Senate Floor Analyses 

                         SUPPORT/OPPOSITION:  SEE ABOVE

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