California Eminent Domain Report

The last two weeks following the California Supreme Court's decision eliminating redevelopment have been nothing short of a whirlwind.  Stories are flying all over the place on the decision's implications, whether redevelopment may be revived, or whether there may just be some small tinkering with AB1X 26.  While the updates seem to be changing by the hour, here's what we know as of today:

• Senator Alex Padilla (D-LA) has introduced a bill to delay the dissolution of the redevelopment agencies until April 15, 2012.  It's unclear if this is a delay tactic to give RDAs a chance to come up with an alternative solution to California's budget problem, or if it is just to do some clean-up work on the dissolution bill.  But it appears this proposal is not being met with much support, as law makers are concerned it would mean local schools would miss out on a portion of the redirected property taxes.
• In an effort to save afforable housing, Senate Leader Darrell Steinberg has introduced Senate Bill 654, which would allow dollars already earmarked for low and moderate income housing, perhaps as much as $2 billion, to remain in place.  This bill seems to be getting more legislative support, but who knows whether Governor Brown will use his veto power.
• Many of us thought that sponsoring cities and counties across the State would simply assume the role of "successor agency" for the dissolved RDAs.  This may not, in fact, be the case.  The City of Los Angeles has already voted to not assume the sucessor role of the LA CRA, finding it would cost $109 million to take on the agency's responsibilities and 192 employees.

We'll be watching as more stories continue to unfold.  In the meantime, many agencies across the State are starting to comply with the RDA shutdown.  It will be interesting to see whether a consensus can be reached on a post-redevelopment proposal, or whether the discussion of keeping RDAs alive will start to dwindle.