LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


SB 586, as amended, Yee. State property: sale.
Agricultural districts: Cow Palace: sale.
(1) Existing law provides that the state is divided into
agricultural districts within the boundaries of which district
agricultural associations may be formed. Existing law provides that
District 1a is the County of San Mateo and the City and County of San
Francisco.
This bill would create District 1b, which consists of all of that
real property that is a portion of District 1a that is commonly known
as the Cow Palace, and would prescribe certain matters applicable to
officers of District 1a and District 1b. The bill would, among other
things, (A) authorize the Department of General Services to dispose
of all or any portion of the real property that composes District 1b
pursuant to a public bidding process, as provided, (B) prohibit
District 1b from entering into any contract, lease, or other
agreement affecting the use or operation of that real property for a
period that exceeds 3 months, (C) require those contracts, leases, or
agreements to contain a certain cancellation notice, (D) authorize
the department to be reimbursed for reasonable costs or expenses, (E)
authorize bonds involving District 1b property to be paid from the
proceeds of any disposition of District 1b property, (F) require the
Director of General Services to report specified information to the
chairs of the fiscal committees of the Legislature 30 days prior to
executing a transaction for the disposition of the real property, (G)
require the director to include a reservation to the state of
mineral rights in the disposition of the real property, (H) require
the net disposition proceeds to be deposited into the District 1b
Disposition Fund, which the bill would create in the State Treasury,
and (I) require the department to report annually to the Legislature
on the status of the disposition of the real property.
This bill would require District 1b to be abolished and all funds
in the District 1b Disposition Fund to be transferred to the General
Fund upon sale of all property that composes District 1b.
This bill would also declare the Legislature's findings that the
disposition of this state property does not constitute a sale of
surplus state property, as set forth in specified existing law.

(2) The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a
lead agency to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the
completion of, an environmental impact report on a project that it
proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect
on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds
that the project will not have that effect. CEQA generally requires a
lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a
project that may have a significant effect on the environment if
revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and
there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would
have a significant effect on the environment. CEQA also provides some
exemptions from its requirements for specified projects.
This bill would exempt the disposition of the state real property
or buildings subject to the bill that is made on an "as is" basis
from designated provisions of CEQA. The bill would also exempt from
those provisions of CEQA the execution of the purchase and sale
agreement or the exchange agreement for this property or these
buildings if the disposition is not made on an "as is" basis and the
close of escrow is contingent on a specified requirement and
compliance with CEQA.
(3) This bill would authorize the Director of Finance to provide
a General Fund loan in the amount of $500,000 to a certain item of
the Budget Act, which relates to the Department of General Services,
and to adjust the amounts appropriated in that item that are provided
for the purposes of supporting the management of the state's real
property assets in order to accommodate any increase in workload or
other costs to the Department of General Services to implement this
bill. By authorizing adjustments to certain appropriated amounts in
the Budget Act, the bill would make an appropriation.
Existing law authorizes the Director of General Services to
dispose of state surplus property, subject to specified conditions,
including authorization by the Legislature.
This bill would require the director, prior to January 1, 2012, to
sell, at fair market value, upon those terms and conditions
determined by the director, a specified parcel of state property
located in the County of San Mateo and the City and County of San
Francisco to any interested party.
The bill would provide that the net proceeds of the conveyance
would be paid into the Fair and Exposition Fund, a continuously
appropriated fund, for the benefit of a specified district
agricultural association, as provided, thereby making an
appropriation. The bill would require reimbursement to the Department
of General Services for any cost or expense incurred in the
disposition of the property. This bill would also declare the
Legislature's findings that the sale of this state property does not
constitute a sale of surplus state property, as set forth in
specified existing law.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as
an urgency statute.