HomeMy WebLinkAboutAGENDA REPORT 1994 0803 CC REG ITEM 08JITE Ni - •
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ACTION:
AGENDA REPORT r
CITY OF MOORPARK BY
TO: Honorable City Council
FROM: Mary R. Lindley, Assistant to the City Manage
DATE:
July 26, 1994 (CC Meeting of August 3)
SUBJECT: Consider Opposition to Assembly Bill 51, Housing
Element, and Senate Bill 91, California Public
Records Act
Background
City Council is being asked to oppose both AB 51 (Costa), Housing
Element, and SB 91 (Kopp), California Public Records Act.
AB 51 - Housing Element
According to the League of California Cities, AB 51 is the
Realtor /Builder version of housing element reform. The bill is
being sponsored by both the realtor and building industries. If
approved, AB 51 would significantly impact local control over
residential planning. The key areas of concern are:
• The bill dramatically expands automatic approval provisions
regardless of zoning or general plan consistency and takes
away local control over other aspects of zoning, density, and
other market rate housing projects without making specific
findings.
• The bill deletes the availability of
local governments which cannot eet tn
heassigned b"jfair sharer
numbers.
• The bill creates conflicting performance standards for self -
certification. Each agency must both issue building permits
at least equal to the regional percentage and either meet 75
percent of its lower income fair share need or require at
least 10 percent of each approved project to be affordable to
very low income households.
• The bill expands HCD's review role where performance standards
are not met.
• The bill creates a number of new litigation hurdles for local
agencies.
SB 95 - California Public Records Act
The California Newspaper Publishers Association is sponsoring
amendments to SB 95 that, if approved, would have major
implications for local government including substanti4l costs for
the bill's implementation. Under existing law, the California
Public Records Act provides that the public records of any state or
local agency are open to inspection during office hours. There are
a couple of exceptions in cases where the public interest would be
better served by not making the record public.
If SB 95 is approved with the amendments, it would impact cities in
the following way:
• Expand the definition of "Public Records" to include computer -
held information.
• Require public records be open to public inspection and
copying in all forms of compilation used by the respective
agency, and copies of computerized data must be made available
in any form of information - storage media used by the agency.
• Directs public agencies to ensure that systems used to collect
and hold public records shall be designed to ensure ease of
public access to public records.
One of the League's main objections to the bill's proposed
amendments is that they were introduced too late in the session,
and because of the magnitude of the amendments, there is not enough
time to thoroughly debate them. In addition, the bill raises
serious liability questions for public agencies relating to the
disclosure of private information.
Recommendation
Staff recommends that the City Council oppose AB 51, Housing
Element, and SB 91, California Public Records Act, and directs the
Mayor to communicate the Council's position to the appropriate
legislators and legislative committees.
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