Thursday, October 13, 2011

Legislative Update from BOMA California - Another Successful Year for the Industry




BOMA San Francisco Members:

It was another successful year for the commercial real estate industry at the State Capitol in Sacramento thanks to our indefatigable advocates at BOMA California:  Rex Hime and Matthew Hargrove.

Recently, Governor Jerry Brown acted on over 500 bills. He vetoed approximately 14% of the bills on his desk, which is much less than the previous incumbents' veto rate (which was about a quarter), but is just slightly higher than the overall average.

One bill of significance to our industry that was vetoed is SB 469 by Senator Juan Vargas from San Diego. This bill would have used the statewide California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) process to require additional economic impact reports on local governments for certain types of development. The bill was to effect big-box stores, although the measure would have had a very negative impact on all types of development.

Governor Brown stated in his veto message:
While I recognize that the merits of large-scale projects need to be carefully considered plenty of laws are already on the books that enable, and in some cases require, cities and counties to carefully assess whether these projects are in a community's best interest. This bill would add yet another layer of review to an already cumbersome process. 
This was the crux of BOMA California's argument.

Coupled with the defeat of AB 350, bills on Proposition 13/split roll property tax, commercial rent control, defeating a measure to change the 3-day notice law, a bill that would have allowed libel lawsuits during unlawful detainer actions, and helping to negotiate the sales tax collection deal with Amazon, this is ANOTHER huge win for our industry!

For a full reading of the Governors SB 469 message and the text of the press release by CBPA praising the governor on this action click on the link below.  You can read the press release by clicking here.

VETO MESSAGE 

SB 469 (Vargas; D-San Diego) Mandates an Additional Economic Impact Report on Big Box Development

http://gov.ca.gov/docs/SB_469_Veto_Message.pdf

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