Local reconstruction agencies.

Other existing law, the Disaster Recovery Reconstruction Act of 1986, authorizes each city, county, or other local subdivision, as provided, to prepare, prior to a disaster, plans and ordinances facilitating the expeditious and orderly recovery and reconstruction of the area in case of a disaster. Existing law authorizes the plans and ordinances to include, among other things, a contingency plan of action and organization for short-term and long-term recovery and reconstruction to be instituted after a disaster. Existing law authorizes the plans and ordinances to include the authority and proposed organization for establishment of a local reconstruction authority with powers parallel to those of a community redevelopment agency, except as specified.

This bill would refer to those plans as a disaster recovery plan and would require a city or county that prepares a disaster recovery plan to amend its general plan, if necessary, as provided, to ensure consistency between both plans. The bill would revise the contingency plan of action and organization to include intermediate recovery and reconstruction, in addition to the short-term and long-term recovery and reconstruction, and would specify elements that may be included in the contingency plan of action and organization. The bill would require the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation, on or before January 1, 2029, and in consultation with other specified state and local entities, to assess the recovery and rebuilding needs of jurisdictions across the state and develop model ordinance language, as provided. The bill would also require the Office of Emergency Services, on or before January 1, 2029, and in consultation with the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation, to prepare guidance on disaster recovery plans, as provided.

Existing law authorizes the legislative body of a city or a county to designate a proposed enhanced infrastructure financing district (EIFD) to finance public capital facilities or other specified projects pursuant to specified procedures, including adoption of a resolution of intention to establish the proposed district and adoption of an enhanced infrastructure financing plan, as specified. Existing law authorizes the enhanced infrastructure financing plan to contain a provision for the division of taxes levied upon taxable property within the EIFD and authorizes the public financing authority of the EIFD to issue bonds, as provided. Existing law authorizes a city, county, city and county, or a combination of any of those entities to form a climate resilience district (CRD), as described, for the purposes of raising and allocating funding for eligible projects and the operating expenses of eligible projects. Existing law deems each CRD to be an EIFD and requires each district to comply with existing law concerning EIFDs, except as specified, including requiring a CRD to follow the procedures for the division of taxes and issuance of tax increment bonds applicable to EIFDs. Existing law further authorizes a city or county to adopt a resolution to establish a type of CRD specifically to finance disaster recovery efforts without following specified procedures, if certain conditions are met.

This bill would authorize a city, county, or city and county that takes certain actions pursuant to the bill to adopt an ordinance establishing a local reconstruction agency to coordinate disaster recovery efforts in the areas impacted by a disaster. The bill would require the ordinance to include procedures for determining the boundaries of a local reconstruction area, as defined. The bill would authorize the ordinance to grant the local reconstruction agency specified powers, including, among other powers, to sue and be sued, to make and execute contracts, and to accept financial assistance from any public or private source. The bill would authorize a local reconstruction agency to adopt a resolution providing for the division of taxes and issuance of bonds pursuant to the above-described provisions governing CRDs and disaster recovery CRDs, as specified.

This bill would require the local reconstruction agency to have a board with a membership consisting of members of the legislative bodies of participating affected taxing entities and members of the public, as prescribed. The bill would deem the board a local public agency and make it subject to the Ralph M. Brown Act, the California Public Records Act, and the Political Reform Act of 1974.

This bill would require a city, county, or other local subdivision of the state to ensure that it specifies a date on which the local reconstruction agency will cease to exist, and would prohibit that date from being more than 45 years from the date on which a bond is issued, or the issuance of a loan is approved, as provided.