Politics & Government

Veto Puts Elimination of Redevelopment Agencies on Hold

The rejected budget state lawmakers passed Wednesday included a separate bill to require redevelopment agencies to give money back to the state or cease operating.

Redevelopment agencies won’t be eliminated or forced to help California refill its coffers for now.

However, the future of the agencies, which leverage tax increment money from local property taxes collected to finance road, parks and other construction projects, is still in question.  Brown has said in the past that he wants to eliminate them completely. 

The governor vetoed the Legislator's budget plan Thursday.  During a press conference that followed, the governor declined to say whether he would veto separate bills related to the budget, including one proposal that calls for redevelopment agencies to pay money to the state to continue operating.

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Brown’s veto comes a day after state lawmakers passed a budget with a party-line vote. That budget plan closed the $9.6 billion gap with cuts to higher education and courts, in addition to the plan to pull money from redevelopment agencies.

Since Brown first proposed to eliminate redevelopment agencies in January, Glendora city officials have been vocal in their opposition,as an effort to keep them from the state.

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“We strongly believe redevelopment agencies are the economic engine that are creating jobs and economic growth, especially in a time when you have a 12.5 percent unemployment rate in California,” said City Manager Chris Jeffers. “To stifle that effort is counterintuitive.”

Glendora Mayor Doug Tessitor has also .

The bill also called on Republicans to provide a two-thirds majority vote for a quarter-cent increase to the sales tax and a $12 increase to the vehicle tax, per vehicle.

"I did so because it doesn't meet the needs of this state,'' Brown said
at a downtown Los Angeles news conference. ``It has legally questionable maneuvers. It adds to our wall of debt with the attempted sale of (state) buildings.

"We're going to get something better. You can be sure of that,'' Brown added.

Sen. Bob Huff (R-Diamond Bar) said after the Legislature’s vote that the budget was crafted without Republican input.  Huff, whose district includes Glendora, leads budget negotiations for Senate Republicans.

Huff spoke against the Legislature’s budget bill, adding that it should have included job creation, pension reform, a cap in state spending, and reform of "California's burdensome regulatory climate."

The Legislature was under pressure to pass a balanced budget by June 15 or the members wouldn’t get paid due to an amendment to the state constitution that voters approved in November.

State Controller John Chiang said he would review the Democrat’s rejected budget plan and if expenditures exceeded the state’s projected revenues, legislators would not get paid.

"I remain resolute in my commitment to enforcing the public's will to permanently withhold legislative pay for every day a balanced budget is not passed after yesterday's deadline,'' Chiang said, adding that he would move quickly to complete his analysis of the budget proposal. State legislators are expected to receive their  next paycheck June 30.

Correction: an earlier version of this story stated redevelopment agencies were spared by the veto. Separate bills passed by the Legislature that have not been acted upon by Gov. Brown are still waiting for a response. 

--City News Service contributed to this report.


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