SB 170 Dies in Committee - Florez Will Try Different Version

As I expected, SB 170, which was intended to put tribal governments at the same level as a city or county government which would have allowed them to cancel Williamson Contracts without waiting the 10 year period, died in the State Senate a couple days ago.

After what was reported as “heated discussion” by the Santa Ynez Valley Journal, the California State Senate’s Local Government Committee agreed with the opponents of the bill.

Sen. Dean Florez, D-Central Valley who introduced the bill, which is sponsored by the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, said afterwards that he will be back with a different version of the bill.

My guess is that the new version will be something resembling what was stated in section 5 of the original bills Senate committee analysis:

5. Variation on a theme ? If legislators want to make it easier for county supervisors to cancel Williamson Act contracts and expand Indian reservations to accommodate tribal cultural centers, infrastructure, and housing, they might consider an approach that blends SB 170 with the current law on contract rescissions and the Sherwood Valley Rancheria's experience. The Committee may wish to consider an amendment that applies the bill's statutory rebuttable presumption to the rescission of a Williamson Act contract on land owned by a tribal government on the condition that the tribe imposes a covenant on the former contracted land, restricting its use to the stated alternative purpose (e.g., cultural centers, infrastructure, housing). As a contract rescission, the tribal government would put an agricultural conservation easement on other, non-contracted land of equal or greater value.

Here’s the skinny on the “Sherwood Valley Rancheria experience” The Sherwood Valley Rancheria, after successfully going through the process of having the federal government place land into trust for them for the purpose of building low income houses for tribal members, appealed to the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors to cancel the Williamson Contract that was attached to the land. The county found that the building of low income houses on the land out-weighed the original agricultural use and agreed to cancel the contract. The tribe then signed a land use agreement with the County, voluntarily agreeing to comply with the terms of the former Williamson Act contract on the parts of the land where houses would not be built.

A group called Friends of East Willits Valley who were opposed to this cancellation and wanted the land to remain open space for agriculture filed suit challenging the County’s adoption of a negative declaration under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and cancellation of the Williamson Act contract.

The First District Court of Appeals decided in favor the tribe and the county. The court declared that the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors made the statutorily required findings and approved the cancellation of the Williamson Act contract.

The decision also found that the contract was not void automatically on the ground that the land at issue had been placed into a trust by the United States Government.

So, something to that effect, where tribes must sign legal agreements with affected counties to restrict land usage when seeking to immediately cancel Williamson Contract may be more appealing to the committee members… but something tells me that even that may not be enough.

Florez did not give a date for when he would be back with a new version of his bill.