Contributed by Jason A. Gonsalves of Joe A. Gonsalves & Son
The Legislature adjourned the 2013 legislative session on September 12th and Governor Brown had until October 13th to take action on the hundreds of bills sent to him. After working through a severe case of mogigraphia, Governor Brown took action on 896 bills and vetoed 98 of them. With 11 years at the helm as California’s Governor, Jerry Brown 2.0 has signed 13,299 bills during his tenure with a possible 5 legislative sessions to go.
As we look ahead to the 2104 legislative session, the most pressing issue facing local governments is economic development or as we call it: “life after redevelopment.” While the Legislature continues to develop alternatives, such as Infrastructure Financing Districts (IFD’s) the Governor has expressed an unwillingness to consider post-redevelopment legislation saying he wants the RDA dissolution process to continue.
The unfortunate reality is the dissolution process has virtually eliminated economic development in California and while some bureaucrats may be eager to count the antiquated AB8 return of property tax increment to undeserving taxing entities California’s economy continues to rely upon a temporary tax increase that coincidentally expires in 2018 the likely end of Governor Brown’s 2nd, or should we say 4th, term.
2014 is an election year and we hope the Governor and the Legislature will cease the opportunity to right the redevelopment wrong.