BILL ANALYSIS
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|Hearing Date:April 23, 2007 |Bill No:SB |
| |765 |
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SENATE COMMITTEE ON BUSINESS, PROFESSIONS AND ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT
Senator Mark Ridley-Thomas, Chair
Bill No: SB 765Author:Ridley-Thomas
As Amended:April 16, 2007 Fiscal: Yes
SUBJECT: Economic Development: California Partnership
for Urban Communities.
SUMMARY: Creates the California Partnership for Urban
Communities in state government, with a specified
membership and specified duties with respect to
coordinating and improving government efforts for at-risk
urban communities, as defined. It would require the
Partnership to contract with nonprofit entities to
administer the program, and to report annually to the
Governor and the Legislature. It would also appropriate
$1,000,000 from the General Fund to the Business,
Transportation and Housing Agency (BT&H) for these
purposes.
Existing law:
1)Provides for numerous programs operated by state agencies
in the areas of housing, health care, crime reduction,
education, job training, and economic development. These
programs are sustained by separate funding streams
designated in many different sections of state statute
and are managed by different cabinet-level agencies.
2)Authorizes two or more public agencies, including any
federal department, state or local agency, to enter into
an agreement for the purpose of exercising any power
common to the contracting parties for specified purposes.
3)Establishes, by Executive Order, the California
Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley to improve the
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economy and well-being of the people of the San Joaquin
Valley. It is comprised of state & local government
officials, as well as members of the private sector, and
is charged with: (a) identifying projects and programs
that will best utilize public dollars and most quickly
improve economic vitality; (b) working with members of
the state's Congressional delegation and federal
officials to gain federal support for projects identified
by the Partnership as critical to the region; (c)
partnering with public and private education institutions
for guidance, advice and conducting research of
particular interest and importance to the Valley; and,
(d) developing a Strategic Action Proposal that provides
recommendations to improve the economic conditions of the
San Joaquin Valley.
4)Provides that the Secretary of the Business,
Transportation and Housing Agency (BT&H) shall, among
other duties, represent the Governor in coordinating the
activities of each department, office, or other unit
within the agency with those of other agencies, federal,
state, or local.
This bill:
1)Makes various legislative findings and declarations
related to California urban communities, their role in
the state's economy and the use of a collaborative
approach to solving urban problems.
2)Defines "at-risk community" as a geographic urban
neighborhood or community of high unemployment and a
majority of residents with an income at or below 80
percent of the low- and moderate-income (LMI) category
used by the Federal Department of Housing and Urban
Development.
3)Defines "designated project area" as an at-risk urban
community chosen by the partnership for coordinated
planning and assistance, that is:
a) located within a Standard Metropolitan Statistical
Area, as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, in
California with a population of more than 500,000;
b) located within a redevelopment project area or
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enterprise zone.
1)Creates the California Partnership for Urban Communities
in state government and states its purpose as
coordinating and improving public-private collaboration
in the areas of health, education, public safety, job
development and training, and housing for at-risk urban
communities.
2)Specifies the state officials, or their designees from
the executive offices of the corresponding agencies, who
will be members of the state committee of the Partnership
to include:
a) The Secretary of Business, Transportation and
Housing.
b) The Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development.
c) The Secretary of California Health and Human
Services.
d) The Superintendent of Public Instruction.
e) The Attorney General.
f) A representative from the California Economic
Strategy Panel.
g) A representative from the California Workforce
Investment Board.
h) A representative from the Employment Training
Panel.
1)Specifies the local government and private and non-profit
organizations to be part of the Partnership for each
designated project area as:
a) Two elected local government members, one chosen by
the city council with jurisdiction over the designated
project area, and one chosen by the county board of
supervisors with jurisdiction over the designated
project area.
b) Four civic leaders or private sector members,
chosen by the city council with jurisdiction over the
designated project area.
c) Three representatives of existing nonprofit
organizations, consortia, civic organizations, or
educational institutions, with established ties to,
and that have a primary organizational focus on
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promoting the economic and social advancement of
at-risk urban neighborhoods.
1)Specifies that all members of the Legislature who
represent the designated project area shall be ex
officio, nonvoting members of the partnership, to the
extent that service with the partnership does not
conflict with their legislative duties.
2)Designates the Secretary of BT&H as chair of the
Partnership.
3)Provides that no member shall receive compensation, but
may be reimbursed for actual and necessary expenses
related to travel by the member for purposes of
partnership activities.
4)Specifies the procedures by which the Partnership would
conduct meetings.
5)Directs the Partnership to designate one at-risk urban
community as a pilot project.
6)Provides for the designation of no more than two local
projects in any given year by the Partnership after
completion of the pilot project.
7)Specifies the duties and responsibilities of the
Partnership to include all of the following:
a) Analyze programs and policies of partnership member
agencies that are related to at-risk urban communities
to determine what changes, modifications, and
innovations should be considered in state programs in
the areas of health, job development and training,
public safety, education, and housing, if any.
b) Direct each state department or agency with
relevant statutory authority or programs to identify
and make available appropriate resources for a
designated project area. These departments and
agencies shall include, but not be limited to, the
Department of Housing and Community Development, the
State Department of Health Care Services, the State
Department of Social Services, the Department of
Community Services and Development, the Employment
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Development Department, the State Department of
Education, the Department of Justice, the California
Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank, and the
Juvenile Justice Division of the Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation.
c) Consider statistical and data analysis, research,
and policy studies related to at-risk urban
communities.
d) Develop, recommend, and implement short-term and
long-term options for promoting sustainable economic
development in the state's at-risk urban communities.
e) Consult and coordinate activities with federal,
state, and local governments, community leaders, state
legislators, the private sector, nonprofit
organizations, and other interested parties to benefit
at-risk urban communities, paying particular attention
to maintaining existing authorities of the state and
local governments, and preserving their existing
working relationships with other agencies,
organizations, or individuals.
f) Coordinate and collaborate on research and
demonstration priorities of partnership member
agencies related to at-risk urban communities.
g) Integrate state and federal initiatives and
programs into the design of sustainable economic
development actions for the state's at-risk urban
communities.
h) Identify projects and programs that will best
utilize public dollars and most quickly improve the
economic vitality of at-risk urban communities,
especially those that leverage federal, state, local,
and private sector resources in a coordinated effort
to address critical needs in these communities.
i) Work with members of the state's elected
congressional representatives and federal officials to
gain federal support for projects identified by the
partnership as critical to the state's at-risk
communities.
j) Partner with the University of California, the
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California State University, the California Community
Colleges, and California's other research and
educational institutions, as well as private
foundations, to provide guidance, advice, and
encouragement in support of studies of particular
interest and importance to the at-risk urban
communities.
1)Provides for the creation of appropriate advisory
committees.
2)Provides for administrative support by the BT&H Agency.
3)Requires the BT&H Agency to create a web page for the
Partnership.
4)Requires the state committee and participating partners
to be guided by the following principles:
a) The strategy shall be comprehensive including
social, physical, and economic development.
b) The planning process shall be participatory,
involving all community residents in development of
economic programs and plans.
c) The strategy shall build the capacity of
underutilized human and institutional resources
including transfer of knowledge and skills.
d) The strategy shall promote ownership by the
community of both the development process and product.
e) The strategy shall promote bridge-building and
interethnic unity so that different ethnic groups and
neighborhoods around common policies and goals can be
brought together.
1)Stipulates that nonprofit entities administering the
program in local project areas must:
a) Have a strategic plan for revitalization of a
specified community;
b) Be able to demonstrate commitments of local
government collaboration with at least two formal
memoranda of understanding with publicly funded
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entities in the areas of education, public safety,
health, housing, employment, and economic development:
and,
c) Have secured private sector and nonprofit
organization funding that is available as a local
match for any state funds that are available for the
project.
1)Requires an annual report to the Governor and the
Legislature.
2)Establishes a sunset date of January 1, 2012.
3)Appropriates one million dollars from the General Fund
for the Partnership.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown. This bill is keyed "fiscal" by
Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose. The Los Angeles Urban League is the sponsor of
this measure and states that the purpose of the bill is
to create collaboration among state agencies, local
governments, community-based organizations and the
private sector, for the purpose of identifying, accessing
and coordinating delivery of public and private resources
to at-risk urban communities within the state's largest
metropolitan areas. This concept of intergovernmental
cooperation has already been established in large rural
regions and would be tested for application to at-risk
urban areas throughout the state in a pilot project.
2.Background. The sponsor notes that historically, the
multiple problems of our state's at-risk urban
communities have created an almost intractable situation.
These communities remain in a distressed state because
problems of poverty and low income, lack of job
opportunities and access to appropriate job training,
high incidences of crime, poor health conditions,
inadequate and substandard housing, high student dropout
rates, and low educational attainment are all
inter-related and combine to undermine the social fabric
and the quality of life of residents.
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Public programs and resources meant to address these
problems tend to be designed and operated in isolation of
each other with distinct and disparate funding streams.
Poor health conditions and substandard housing are known
to be factors in the low educational attainment of
at-risk communities. High crime rates keep property
values suppressed, housing in disrepair, and small
business survival difficult. The assistance provided by
state and local agencies to tackle these problems, if
focused and concentrated in a particular target community
in a coordinated, collaborative effort could be more
successful.
3.Similar Related Legislation.
AB 27 (Parra, 2007), currently before the Assembly
Committee on Jobs, Economic Development and the Economy,
would create the California Partnership for the San
Joaquin Valley, comprised of the heads of specified state
agencies and departments, local government members and
private sector members, subject to specified criteria, to
coordinate and improve existing local, state, and federal
efforts for the valley to increase the living standards
and the overall economic performance of the valley. It
would also require the partnership to request that the
local economic development coordinators from the
specified partnership area serve as an advisory committee
of the partnership and make a specified report to the
partnership. It would also require the partnership to
meet at least quarterly and to facilitate and coordinate
the implementation of a strategic action plan developed
by the partnership, and report annually on its activities
and proposals to the Governor and the Legislature.
AB 232 (Price, 2007), also currently before the Assembly
Committee on Jobs, Economic Development and the Economy,
states the intent of the Legislature to:
(1) increase state assistance to civic and regional leaders in
order to pilot the development of a statewide action plan to
simultaneously revitalize the five low-income neighborhoods of
Los Angeles, Oakland, Sacramento, San Diego, and San
Francisco, through an integrated business investment,
homeownership, and workforce development strategy; (2)
provide incentives to the private sector to invest in the
implementation of a statewide action plan; and, (3) employ
broad-based collaboration focused on the targeted inner city
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neighborhoods and economic regions.
AB 31 (Parra, 2005) was passed by this Committee in 2006, with
substantially the same language as in AB 27 (Parra). The bill
passed out of the Senate Appropriations Committee but was not
presented on the Senate Floor. AB 31 (Parra) was held on the
Senate Floor last year because the author and the Governor
agreed to a strategy that would result in the continuance of
the San Joaquin Valley Partnership by executive order for
another year, or more if necessary to finalize the structure
of the Partnership, at which time Parra's reintroduced
legislation (AB 27) would move forward to place the
Partnership permanently in statute.
4.Arguments in Support. The sponsor notes that government
agencies and programs are operated under
statutorily-defined missions and objectives. The precise
language of the law, created by legislative action at a
specific point in time, often does not provide for
flexibility to adapt to changing conditions in society,
the economy and the environment. Executive branch
administrators and civil servants often do not feel
empowered to cross jurisdictional lines of responsibility
and forge entrepreneurial alliances unless they are
requested or mandated to do so. A statutory
"partnership" can provide a new paradigm for government
cooperation and collaboration with local communities in
need of a holistic approach to solving its problems.
The sponsor believes that, although the state's sincere and
dedicated efforts to help struggling communities have been
effective when viewed from a state perspective, their
collective impact on these communities have not succeeded in
broadly improving conditions. This bill would enable the
state to partner with the organizations like the Los Angeles
Urban League who want to bring the full power of coordinated
state efforts together with their own efforts to build a
strong relationship among charitable nonprofit organizations,
public agencies, community leaders and residents to help
effect change.
SUPPORT AND OPPOSITION:
Support:
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Los Angeles Urban League (Sponsor)
California Community Economic Development Association
(CCEDA)
Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Los Angeles
Toyota Motor Sales, USA
USC Rossier School of Education
Opposition:
None on file as April 16, 2007.
Consultant: Doug Brown