Office of Planning and Research: grant program: annexation of unincorporated areas.

Existing law establishes, within the Governor's office, the Office of Planning and Research to constitute the comprehensive state planning agency, under the control of the Director of State Planning and Research. Existing law requires the office to, among other things, accept and allocate or expend grants and gifts from any source, public or private, for the purpose of state planning and undertake other planning and coordinating activities, as specified, and encourage the formation and proper functioning of, and provide planning assistance to, city, county, district, and regional planning agencies. The Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government Reorganization Act of 2000 provides the authority and procedure for the initiation, conduct, and completion of changes of organization, reorganization, and sphere of influence changes for cities and districts, as specified. Existing law requires that an applicant seeking a change of organization or reorganization submit a plan for providing services within the affected territory that includes, among other requirements, an enumeration and description of the services to be extended to the affected territory and an indication of when those services can feasibly be extended. This bill would require the office to, upon appropriation by the Legislature, establish the Unincorporated Area Annexation Incentive Program, authorizing the office to issue a grant to a city for the purpose of funding infrastructure projects related to the proposed or completed annexation of a substantially surrounded unincorporated area, as defined, subject to approval by the director after the city submits an application containing specified information. The bill would require the office to match, on a dollar-for-dollar basis, any dollar contribution a city makes toward a project funded by the program, subject to a maximum funding threshold as determined by the director. The bill would, by September 1, 2023, require the office to develop guidelines, and consult with various local representatives to prepare those guidelines, for purposes of implementing the program, and would provide that the guidelines are not subject to the rulemaking requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act.