Local agency formation commissions: grant program.

The Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government Reorganization Act of 2000 provides the exclusive authority and procedure for the initiation, conduct, and completion of changes of organization and reorganization for special districts, as specified. The act requires a local agency formation commission in each county to encourage the orderly formation and development of local agencies based upon local conditions and circumstances, among other things. Existing law also establishes the Strategic Growth Council in state government and assigns to the council certain duties, including providing, funding, and distributing data and information to local governments and regional agencies that will assist in the development and planning of sustainable communities. This bill would require the Strategic Growth Council, until July 31, 2024, to establish and administer a local agency formation commissions grant program for the payment of costs associated with initiating and completing the dissolution of districts listed as inactive, the payment of costs associated with a study of the services provided within a county by a public agency to a disadvantaged community, as defined, and for other specified purposes, including the initiation of an action, as defined, that is limited to service providers serving a disadvantaged community and is based on determinations found in the study, as approved by the commission. The bill would specify application submission, reimbursement, and reporting requirements for a local agency formation commission to receive grants pursuant to the bill. The bill would require the council, after consulting with the California Association of Local Agency Formation Commissions, to develop and adopt guidelines, timelines, and application and reporting criteria for development and implementation of the program, as specified, and would exempt these guidelines, timelines, and criteria from the rulemaking provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act. The bill would make the grant program subject to an appropriation for the program in the annual Budget Act, and would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2025.