City Council announces support for upcoming state legislation

Santa Clarita City Hall, as pictured on February, 26, 2020, is located on the 23900 block of Valencia Blvd. Dan Watson/The Signal
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The Santa Clarita City Council announced its support, or opposition, to five different pieces of Sacramento legislation on Tuesday, ranging from bills on criminal justice, to local control to film tax credits.  

The council announced its opposition to Assembly Bill 2097, Senate Bill 897 and Senate Bill 1067, all of which have to deal with local land use authority. The council members said they would support Senate Bill 485, dealing with an extension of the California Film and Television Tax Credit Program, and Senate Bill 1108, which reinstates prosecutorial authority to charge someone with a felony and imprisonment of up to three years. 

AB 2097 changes existing law to limit “a public agency from imposing a minimum automobile parking requirement, or enforcing a minimum automobile parking requirement” for residential and commercial spaces within a one-half mile walking distance of public transit, according to the bill’s text.  

“By changing the duties of local planning officials, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program,” the bill reads.  

The council announced opposition to SB 1067, which would also limit the city’s ability to control parking requirements within a one-half mile of public transport or on development that is for low-income households.  

The final bill the council opposed was SB 897, which would impact local agencies’ land use control by preventing, for example, City Hall from creating its own limits on attached or detached residential units, prescribing minimum or maximum unit size/height requirements and setback requirements.   

Senate Bill 485 would extend by five years the California Film and Television Tax Credit program, which was implemented in 2009 and is set to sunset on July 1, 2025.   

“At the local level, the city of Santa Clarita has approved 191 tax-credit-approved featured films and television shows since the implementation of the tax credit program,” read the City Council agenda, adding that 22 different tax credit film projects are currently housed at sound stages in Santa Clarita. “To date, on-location filming from tax-credit-approved projects that have filmed in the city has resulted in an estimated $81,600,000 in economic benefit to the community.” 

Lastly, the council supported Senate Bill 1108, which, if passed, would result in prosecutorial authority being reinstated for a minimum of three years for those who have been previously convicted of theft, burglary, robbery, etc., three or more times.  

“Specifically, repeat offenders were over a third of all arrests made by the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station in 2021,” the agenda reads. “To provide greater detail on the severity of repeat offenders, two individuals have been arrested more than 20 times and over 35 individuals have been arrested 10 or more times since March 2020 by Santa Clarita Valley sheriff deputies.” 

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