Brownfield Cleanup Funding Program: brownfields remediation: financing.

(1) Existing law authorizes the Department of Toxic Substances Control to undertake or oversee response or corrective actions under the hazardous waste control laws or the Carpenter-Presley-Tanner Hazardous Substance Account Act in response to a release or threatened release of a hazardous substance or a hazardous waste. Existing law authorizes the legislative body of a city or a county to propose the establishment of an enhanced infrastructure financing district, in accordance with specified procedures, to finance public capital facilities or other specified projects of communitywide significance, including, but not limited to, the acquisition, construction, or rehabilitation of housing for persons of low and moderate income for rent or purchase. This bill would establish the Brownfield Cleanup Funding Program, to be administered by the department. The bill would authorize the city council of a city, or the board of supervisors of a city and county, to participate in the program by enacting an ordinance establishing a brownfield cleanup district, as provided. The bill would require that the city council or board of supervisors serve as the governing board of the district and, in that capacity, prepare and adopt a brownfield cleanup financing plan. The bill would authorize a district to designate program areas. The bill would authorize the district to provide program funding for brownfield cleanup projects, as defined, within those program areas that meet specified requirements. The bill would authorize the brownfield cleanup financing plan to include a provision for the division of taxes with respect to those properties selected for participation. The bill would require the department to establish a formula to determine a maximum amount of program funding and a maximum term for the division of taxes, based on the characteristics of a project. The bill would authorize a brownfield cleanup district to enter into a contract with the department that includes specified provisions, including a provision requiring the district to remit the entirety of the amount allocated to it by a division of taxes to the department and a provision requiring that the department transfer that amount to the custody of the Treasurer for deposit in the Brownfield Cleanup Trust Fund (trust fund) , which this bill would create and continuously appropriate to the department. By providing for the deposit of moneys into a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation. The bill would require the department to issue revenue bonds, in accordance with specified procedures, secured by moneys in the trust fund and allocate the proceeds of those bonds to districts with which it has a contract in proportion to the amount remitted by each district. The bill would specify that moneys in the trust fund are nonstate moneys and are instead the property of, and held in trust on behalf of, the districts that contract with the department under these provisions. The bill would require that a district use the proceeds of revenue bonds allocated to it pursuant to these provisions for those purposes to provide program funding to participating brownfield cleanup projects. The bill would make various conforming changes to other laws relating to state moneys and the division of taxes by local agencies. By adding to the duties of county auditors with respect to the allocation of property tax revenues, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law defines "public works" as, among other things, construction, alteration, demolition, installation, or repair work done under contract and paid for, in whole or in part, out of public funds. Existing law further requires that, except as specified, not less than the general prevailing rate of per diem wages be paid to workers employed on public works and imposes misdemeanor penalties for a willful violation of specified public works requirement. This bill would require that a brownfield cleanup project funded pursuant to the program constitutes a public work for which prevailing wages are required to be paid. Because a willful violation of these requirements would result in the imposition of misdemeanor penalties, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for specified reasons.