Community revitalization authority.

The Community Redevelopment Law authorizes the establishment of redevelopment agencies in communities to address the effects of blight, as defined by means of redevelopment projects financed by the issuance of bonds serviced by tax increment revenues derived from the project area. Existing law dissolved redevelopment agencies and community development agencies, as of February 1, 2012, and provides for the designation of successor agencies to wind down the affairs of the dissolved agencies and to fulfill the enforceable obligations of those agencies. Existing law also provides for various economic development programs that foster community sustainability and community and economic development initiatives throughout the state. This bill would authorize certain local agencies to form a community revitalization authority (authority) within a community revitalization and investment area, as defined, to carry out provisions of the Community Redevelopment Law in that area for purposes related to, among other things, infrastructure, affordable housing, and economic revitalization. The bill would provide for the financing of these activities by, among other things, the issuance of bonds serviced by tax increment revenues, and would require the authority to adopt a community revitalization and investment plan for the community revitalization and investment area that includes elements describing and governing revitalization activities. The bill would also provide for periodic audits by the Controller. The bill would also require the Department of Housing and Community Development, advised by an advisory committee appointed by the Director of Housing and Community Development, to periodically review the calculation of surplus housing under these provisions. The bill would require certain funds allocated to the authority to be deposited into a separate Low and Moderate Income Housing Fund and used by the authority for the purposes of increasing, improving, and preserving the community's supply, as specified. The bill would, if an authority failed to expend or encumber surplus funds in the Low and Moderate Income Housing Fund, require those funds to be disbursed towards housing needs. The bill would require an authority to make relocation provisions for persons displaced by a plan and replace certain dwelling units that are destroyed or removed as part of a plan. The bill would authorize an authority to acquire interests in real property and exercise the power of eminent domain, as specified.