NAIOP San Francisco bay area Chapter
Legislative Update
Legislative Action Committee: Working for You
The process for an initiative on split roll property tax in California was initiated with the submission of a request for title and summary of the "Protect Homeowners and Close Corporate Loopholes Act." Please know, this is just the first step of the initiative process and it still has a way to go before it goes before voters, but we thought you needed to be aware that proponents are actively pushing the idea.
Here is a summary of the key provisions:
At this point we do not know specifically who has submitted the initiative, but know that the law firm used is associated with one of the largest public employee unions in the state.
Reporters are already "tweeting" about this including John Myers from Capitol Public Radio who remarked, "Initiative filed 2 nix Prop 13 protection 4 biz prop taxes. Doubles residential prop tax break".
Our coalition will prepare a more in depth analysis and provide some immediate reaction to the media shortly.
Commercial Real Estate Leaders:
Good news...After 3 years of regulatory fighting and 2 years of litigation, Sacramento Superior Court Judge Lloyd G. Connelly has invalidated the Numeric Effluent Limits (NELs) contained in the Construction General Permit for storm water runoff issued by the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB).
The SWRCB picked a 500 NTU NEL for turbidity (sediment runoff) and 6-9 pH units as the NEL for pH. The SWRCB claimed that they were relying on 3 different studies to support the NELs chosen. The Court, however, characterized the studies as limited or inconclusive and concluded that the NELs lacked substantial evidentiary support. Judge Connelly acknowledged that data could have been developed to support some NEL if the SWRCB had followed the request of CBIA made during the administrative process to use Numeric Action Levels (NALs). Unfortunately, the SWRCB refused.
The Court found that the NELs were subject only to balancing factors under federal law not state law and that the SWRCB is required to comply with the cost-benefit factors set forth in the federal Clean Water Act in establishing NELs. The Court concluded that the NELs are invalid and unenforceable unless and until the SWRCB can produce the data that demonstrates that available technologies will actually achieve the NELs.
This is a very significant victory for the building industry, as well as all of us in the fight.
