6620 FISCAL IMPACT ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT
(Revised 2/98)
Article XIII B, Section 6 of the State Constitution, as added by Proposition 4 (The Gann Initiative) in 1979, contains the following requirement:
Section 6. Whenever the Legislature or any state agency (emphasis added) mandates a new program or higher level of service on any local government, the state shall provide a subvention of funds to reimburse such local government for the costs of such program or increased level of service, except that the Legislature may, but need not, provide such subvention of funds for the following mandates:
- Legislative mandates requested by the local agency affected;
- Legislation defining a new crime or changing an existing definition of a crime; or
- Legislative mandates enacted prior to January 1, 1975, or executive orders or regulations initially implementing legislation enacted prior to January 1, 1975.
Government Code Sections 17500 et seq. require the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for any costs that they are required to incur after July 1, 1980, as a result of, among other things, any executive order implementing any statute enacted on or after January 1, 1975, which mandates a new program or higher level of service of an existing program.
Government Code Section 17516 defines “executive order” as:
Any order, plan, requirement, rule or regulation issued by any of the following:
- The Governor.
- Any officer or official serving at the pleasure of the Governor.
- Any agency, department, board, or commission of state government. (Exceptions are provided for certain orders of the Water Resources Control Board.)
It is important to note that only those executive regulations which implement state statutes fall within the purview of the Article XIII B requirements. That is, any costs which local entities incur as the result of a regulation which implements a ballot measure approved by the voters, a court order, or a federal directive would not be reimbursable by the state. However, as described below, the issuing state agency is nevertheless required to include an estimate of these non-reimbursable costs.
