Eminent Domain Report

In the wake of the Governor’s proposal to abolish all redevelopment agencies, State Controller John Chiang announced that his auditors would be reviewing 18 redevelopment agencies.  As he stated in his press release,

The heated debate over whether the RDAs are the engines of local economic job growth or are simply scams providing windfalls to political cronies at the expense of public services has largely been based on antidotal evidence.

These reviews, designed to assist lawmakers in their budge debates will therefore focus on how the targeted RDAs define a blighted area, whether they are appropriately paying for low-and moderate-income housing and how much RDA officials and employees are being compensated for their services. 

At the other end of the spectrum, supporters of redevelopment are gearing up for the initial legislative hearings. We can expect a vocal presence by local officials and stakeholder at the first hearings in the Senate and Assembly Budget subcommittees on February 3rd and 7th respectively. 

Meanwhile, the Legislative Analyst’s Office has identified a number of unresolved legal, financial and policy issues implicated by the Governor’s proposal:

• Does the state have the authority to immediately dissolve all redevelopment agencies?
• What entities will serve as the successor agencies? 
• What happens to redevelopment agencies’ physical assets? 
• Will there be an ongoing funding source for low-and moderate-income housing?

We will be following these issues as they unfold over the course of the next several weeks and will post regular updates here.