AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 4, 2024
california legislature—2023–24 regular session
ASSEMBLY BILL No. 2783
Introduced by Assembly Member Alvarez
February 15, 2024
An act to amend Sections 16, 17, and 18 of, and to add Sections 18.5
18.3, 18.5, and 19.5 to, the San Diego Unified Port District Act (Chapter 67 of the First Extraordinary Session of the Statutes of 1962), relating to the San Diego Unified Port District.
legislative counsel’s digest
AB 2783, as amended, Alvarez. San Diego Unified Port District. (1) The San Die go Unified Port District Act authorizes the establishment of the San Diego Unified Port District for the acquisition, construction, maintenance, operation, development, and regulation of harbor works and improvements for the harbor of San Die go and for the promotion of commerce, navigation, fisheries, and recreation. The act establishes the board of commissioners of the port district and vests it with specified authority and responsibilities regarding the management of the district.
This bill w ould require the board to adopt a code of ethics and to accept and respond to ethics complaints, as specified. The bill would require the board to appoint a board of ethics to pro vide independent ethics advice to the board, as specified. The bill would require the board to submit ethics complaints to the board of ethics, as specified. The bill would r equire the boar d of ethics, upon the conclusion of an investigation into the conduct of a commissioner, to provide all findings from the investigation to the city that appointed the commissioner that was subject to the investigation.
98 This bill would prohibit a commissioner from lobbying, contracting with, or being emplo yed by the board or the district for 2 years after serving as a commissioner. The bill would require the board to publish a report regarding its lobbying activities, as specified. (2) The act requires the City of San Diego to appoint 3 commissioners and other specified cities to appoint one commissioner each to the board of commissioners. The act specifies a commissioner’ s term is for 4 years, as specified.
This bill would limit the commissioners to 3 terms. The bill would authorize a commissioner to continue to serve beyond an expired term for 6 months until a replacement is appointed. The bill would require that one commissioner appointed by the City of San Die go reside in one of 4 specified neighborhoods within that city.
(3) The act requires the board of commissioners to annually elect from its members a chairperson, a vice chairperson, and a secretary .
The act requires the board of commissioners to mak e rules and regulations for its o wn government and procedure. Existing la w, the Ralph M. Brown Act, requires each legislative body of a local agency to provide notice of the time and place for its regular meetings and also requires that all meetings of a legislative body be open and public, and that all persons be permitted to attend unless a closed session is authorized. The California Public Records Act requires state and local agencies to make their records a vailable for public inspection, unless an exemption from disclosure applies. Existing law requires the board of commissioners to comply with those acts, except as specified.
This bill w ould prohibit a commissioner from being elected chairperson or vice chairperson a second time, except as specified. The bill would clarify that the board of commissioners, if it acts to censure or strip a commissioner of their duties based on alle ged unethical or unlawful conduct, to disclose to the public all documents and evidence related to the alleged conduct in accordance with the requirements of the Ralph M. Bro wn Act and the California Public Records Act. The bill w ould require the board, before acting to censure or strip a commissioner of their duties, to provide 72 hours’ notice of the proposed action to censure or strip a commissioner of their duties to the city council and mayor of the city that appointed the commissioner. (4) The act prohibits a commissioner from recei ving a salary from the district and requires a commissioner to be reimbursed for necessary traveling and other expenses incurred while engaged in the performance of the commissioner’s duties.
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This bill would authorize a commissioner appointed or reappointed on or after January 1, 2025, to recei ve per diem compensation, as specified. The bill w ould prohibit a commissioner appointed or reappointed on or after January 1, 2025, from recei ving a v ehicle allowance.
(5) The act requires the board to draft a master plan for harbor and port improvement and for the use of all the tidelands and submer ged lands under the district’s jurisdiction.
This bill would require the board, in implementing the master plan, to include funding for cooperati ve infrastructure and capital projects that directly address maritime industrial impacts by the port in cities that host maritime terminals, as specified. In addition to that funding, this bill w ould require the board to dedicate 1% of the port’ s nontax revenue, as specified, for those cooperati ve infrastructure and capital projects. The bill would also require the board to dedicate 1% of the port district’s eligible rental income, as specified, to converting industrial properties in disadvantaged communities, as defined, within the district to open space.
By requiring the board to provide this funding, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the San Diego Unified Port District.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimb urse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state.
Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: yes.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
line 1 SECTION 1. Section 16 of the San Diego Unified Port District line 2 Act (Chapter 67 of the Statutes of 1962, First Extraordinary line 3 Session), is amended to read:
line 4 Sec. 16. (a) The district shall be go verned by a board of line 5 commissioners who shall be known as “port commissioners.” Each line 6 city council, respecti vely, of the cities that are included in the 98 AB 2783 — 3 —
line 1 district pursuant to this act shall appoint the commissioner or line 2 commissioners to which it is entitled, pursuant to this section, to line 3 represent that particular city on the board. The commissioners shall line 4 be residents of the respecti ve cities they represent at the time of line 5 their appointments, and during the term of their office. All of the line 6 powers and duties conferred on the district shall be e xercised line 7 through the board of commissioners.
line 8 (b) The City of Chula Vista, the City of Coronado, the City of line 9 Imperial Beach, and the City of National City shall each appoint line 10 one commissioner.
line 11 (c) The City of San Die go shall appoint three commissioners. line 12 At the time of appointment and during the term of office, each line 13 commissioner shall be a resident of the City of San Diego. At least line 14 one commissioner shall reside in one of the City of San Die go line 15 neighborhoods of Barrio Log an, Log an Heights, Shellto wn, line 16 Sherman Heights, or Southcrest.
line 17 SEC. 2. Section 1 of Chapter 171 of the Statutes of 1982 is line 18 amended to read:
line 19 SECTION 1. Section 17 of the San Diego Unified Port District line 20 Act (Chapter 67 of the Statutes of 1962, First Extraordinary line 21 Session), is amended to read:
line 22 Sec. 17. (a) The term of each commissioner shall be for four line 23 years, except as pro vided in this section. A commissioner shall line 24 serve no more than three terms. A commissioner may continue to line 25 serve be yond an e xpired term for up to six months until a line 26 replacement has been appointed.
line 27 (b) Any v acancy shall be filled by appointment by the city line 28 council of the city from which the v acancy has occurred. Any line 29 appointment to fill a vacancy during the term of a commissioner line 30 shall be for the unexpired term. Each commissioner, before entering line 31 upon the duties of the office, shall take and subscribe the oath as line 32 provided in Section 1360 of the Government Code, and a certificate line 33 of the same shall be filed with the city clerk of the city from which line 34 the commissioner shall have been appointed, and a copy of which line 35 shall be filed with the district. A commissioner may be remo ved line 36 from the board by a majority vote of the city council that appointed line 37 the commissioner.
line 38 (c) A commissioner shall not lobby , contract with, or be line 39 employed by the board or the district for tw o years after serving line 40 as a commissioner.
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line 1 SEC. 3. Section 1 of Chapter 480 of the Statutes of 1996 is line 2 amended to read:
line 3 SECTION 1. Section 18 of the San Diego Unified Port District line 4 Act (Chapter 67 of the Statutes of 1962, First Extraordinary line 5 Session), as amended by Section 1 of Chapter 673 of the Statutes line 6 of 1963, is amended to read:
line 7 Sec. 18. (a) Immediately after their appointment, the line 8 commissioners shall enter upon the performance of their duties. line 9 The board shall annually elect one of its members as chairperson line 10 and another as vice chairperson, and shall also elect annually a line 11 secretary, who may or may not be a member of the board. A line 12 commissioner who has served as chairperson shall not be elected line 13 chairperson for a second time unless all the commissioners ha ve line 14 already served as the chairperson. A commissioner who has served line 15 as vice chairperson shall not be elected vice chairperson for a line 16 second time unless all the commissioners ha ve already served as line 17 the vice chairperson. A majority shall constitute a quorum for the line 18 transaction of business. The board shall make rules and regulations line 19 for its o wn go vernment and procedure, shall hold at least one line 20 regular meeting each month, and may hold an y special meetings line 21 it deems necessary.
line 22 (b) If the board acts to censure or strip a commissioner of their line 23 duties based on alle ged unethical or unla wful conduct, then the line 24 board shall disclose to the public all documents and e vidence line 25 related to the alleged conduct in accordance with the requirements line 26 of the Ralph M. Brown Act (Chapter 9 (commencing with Section line 27 54950) of Part 1 of Division 2 of Title 5 of the Government Code) line 28 and the California Public Records Act (Division 10 (commencing line 29 with Section 7920.000) of Title 1 of the Government Code). line 30 (c) Before the board acts to censure or strip a commissioner of line 31 their duties, the board shall provide at least 72 hours’ notice of the line 32 proposed action to censure or strip a commissioner of their duties line 33 to the city council and the mayor of the city that appointed the line 34 commissioner.
line 35 (d) (1) The commissioners shall be officers of the district and line 36 shall recei ve no salaries b ut shall be reimb ursed for necessary line 37 traveling and other e xpenses incurred while eng aged in the line 38 performance of their duties.
line 39 (2) A commissioner appointed or reappointed on or after January line 40 1, 2025, may receive per diem compensation. The rate of per diem 98 AB 2783 — 5 —
line 1 compensation shall not exceed the rate provided to a Member of line 2 the Legislature. A commissioner shall not receive more than 205 line 3 days of per diem compensation in a calendar year. line 4 (3) A commissioner appointed or reappointed on or after January line 5 1, 2025, shall not receive a vehicle allowance.
line 6 SEC. 2. Section 17 of the San Diego Unified Port District Act line 7 (Chapter 67 of the Statutes of 1962, First Extraordinary Session), line 8 as amended by Section 1 of Chapter 171 of the Statutes of 1982, line 9 is amended to read:
line 10 Sec. 17. (a) The term of each commissioner shall be for four line 11 years, except as pro vided in this section. A commissioner shall line 12 serve no more than three terms. A commissioner may continue to line 13 serve be yond an e xpired term for up to six months until a line 14 replacement has been appointed.
line 15 Any
line 16 (b) Any v acancy shall be filled by appointment by the city line 17 council of the city from which the v acancy has occurred. Any line 18 appointment to fill a vacancy during the term of a commissioner line 19 shall be for the unexpired term. Each commissioner, before entering line 20 upon the duties of his the office, shall take and subscribe the oath line 21 as provided in Section 1360 of the Government Code of the State line 22 of California, Code, and a certificate of the same shall be filed line 23 with the city clerk of the city from which the commissioner shall line 24 have been appointed, and a copy of which shall be filed with the line 25 district. A commissioner may be remo ved from the board by a line 26 majority v ote of the city council which that appointed the line 27 commissioner.
line 28 (c) A commissioner shall not lobby , contr act with, or be line 29 employed by the board or the district for two year s after serving line 30 as a commissioner.
line 31 SEC. 3. Section 18 of the San Diego Unified Port District Act line 32 (Chapter 67 of the Statutes of 1962, First Extraordinary Session), line 33 as amended by Section 1 of Chapter 480 of the Statutes of 1996, line 34 is amended to read:
line 35 Sec. 18. (a) Immediately after their appointment, the line 36 commissioners shall enter upon the performance of their duties. line 37 The board shall annually elect one of its members as chairperson line 38 and another as vice chairperson, and shall also elect annually a line 39 secretary, who may or may not be a member of the board. A line 40 commissioner who has served as chairperson shall not be elected 98 — 6 — AB 2783
line 1 chairperson for a second time unless all the commissioner s have line 2 already served as the chairperson. A commissioner who has served line 3 as vice c hairperson shall not be elected vice c hairperson for a line 4 second time unless all the commissioners have already served as line 5 the vice chairperson. A majority shall constitute a quorum for the line 6 transaction of business. The board shall make rules and regulations line 7 for its o wn go vernment and procedure, shall hold at least one line 8 regular meeting each month, and may hold an y special meetings line 9 it deems necessary.
line 10 (b) If the board acts to censure or strip a commissioner of their line 11 duties based on alle ged unethical or unlawful conduct, then the line 12 board shall disclose to the public all documents and e vidence line 13 related to the alleged conduct in accordance with the requirements line 14 of the Ralph M. Brown Act (Chapter 9 (commencing with Section line 15 54950) of Part 1 of Division 2 of Title 5 of the Government Code) line 16 and the California Public Records Act (Division 10 (commencing line 17 with Section 7920.000) of Title 1 of the Government Code). line 18 (c) Before the board acts to censure or strip a commissioner of line 19 their duties, the boar d shall provide at least 72 hour s’ notice of line 20 the proposed action to censur e or strip a commissioner of their line 21 duties to the city council and the mayor of the city that appointed line 22 the commissioner.
line 23 The
line 24 (d) (1) The commissioners shall be officers of the district and line 25 shall recei ve no salaries b ut shall be reimb ursed for necessary line 26 traveling and other e xpenses incurred while eng aged in the line 27 performance of their duties.
line 28 (2) A commissioner appointed or r eappointed on or after line 29 January 1, 2025, may receive per diem compensation. The rate of line 30 per diem compensation shall not e xceed the r ate provided to a line 31 Member of the Legislature. A commissioner shall not receive more line 32 than 205 days of per diem compensation in a calendar year. line 33 (3) A commissioner appointed or r eappointed on or after line 34 January 1, 2025, shall not receive a vehicle allowance. line 35 SEC. 4. Section 18.3 is added to the San Diego Unified Port line 36 District Act (Chapter 67 of the Statutes of 1962, F irst line 37 Extraordinary Session), to read:
line 38 Sec. 18.3. (a) The board shall publish a report that contains line 39 both the following:
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line 1 (1) The name of eac h lobbyist employed or contr acted by the line 2 district.
line 3 (2) The amounts the district paid to each lobbyist. line 4 (b) The board shall update the r eport required by subdivision line 5 (a) every 90 days and shall make the report available to the public line 6 by posting it on the district’s internet website. line 7 (c) For purposes of this section, “lobbyist” has the same line 8 meaning as provided in Section 82039 of the Government Code. line 9 SEC. 4.
line 10 SEC. 5. Section 18.5 is added to the San Diego Unified Port line 11 District Act (Chapter 67 of the Statutes of 1962, First Extraordinary line 12 Session), to read:
line 13 SEC. 18.5.
line 14 Sec. 18.5. (a) The board shall adopt a code of ethics. line 15 (b) The board shall accept and respond to ethics complaints. line 16 (c) (1) The board shall establish a board of ethics, which shall line 17 provide independent ethics advice to the board. line 18 (2) The board of ethics shall consist of three members. The line 19 board shall appoint the members of the board of ethics during a line 20 properly noticed public meeting. The board shall not appoint a line 21 commissioner or a district employee to the board of ethics. line 22 (3) The members of the board of ethics shall ha ve di verse line 23 perspectives and areas of e xpertise, have experience appropriate line 24 for the review of ethical matters, and be of good general reputation line 25 and character.
line 26 (4) The board of ethics shall meet at least once per year for an line 27 organizational meeting. It shall then meet as needed to address line 28 advisory questions pertaining to the application of the board’s code line 29 of ethics and to address an ethics complaint submitted to the board. line 30 (d) (1) The board shall submit an ethics complaint to the board line 31 of ethics during an open meeting. The board may submit any other line 32 ethical matter to the board of ethics. The board and the board of line 33 ethics shall treat a matter submitted to the board of ethics as line 34 confidential until the board responds pursuant to paragraph (3). line 35 (2) The board of ethics shall pro vide advice on an ethics line 36 complaint to the board during a closed meeting. line 37 (3) The board shall respond to an ethics complaint in a public line 38 meeting after receiving advice from the board of ethics. The board line 39 shall make public the advice provided to the board within 24 hours 98 — 8 — AB 2783
line 1 of the conclusion of the public meeting during which it responds line 2 to the ethics complaint.
line 3 (4) Upon the conclusion of an investigation into the conduct of line 4 a commissioner, the board of ethics shall provide all findings from line 5 the investigation to the city that appointed the commissioner that line 6 was subject to the investigation.
line 7 (4)
line 8 (5) The board shall comply with the requirements of paragraphs line 9 (2) and (3) to the e xtent permissible under the Ralph M. Bro wn line 10 Act (Chapter 9 (commencing with Section 54950) of P art 1 of line 11 Division 2 of Title 5 of the Government Code) and the California line 12 Public Records Act (Di vision 10 (commencing with Section line 13 7920.000) of Title 1 of the Government Code).
line 14 SEC. 5.
line 15 SEC. 6. Section 19.5 is added to the San Diego Unified Port line 16 District Act (Chapter 67 of the Statutes of 1962), to read:
line 17 Sec. 19.5. (a) In order to protect and enhance the economic line 18 benefits of import and e xport activities for the San Die go region line 19 and the state, it is necessary to provide incentives to communities line 20 that experience the adverse environmental, economic, quality of line 21 life, and other impacts that result from hosting a w orking line 22 waterfront, such as a decrease in recreational opportunities, the line 23 loss of municipal revenue opportunities, increased noise and traffic, line 24 and negative effects on air quality. These impacts are also described line 25 generally as “maritime industrial impacts.”
line 26 (b) In implementing the master plan adopted pursuant to Section line 27 19, the board shall include funding for cooperative infrastructure line 28 and capital projects on and of f tidelands and submer ged lands, line 29 consistent with the public trust doctrine, that directly address line 30 maritime industrial impacts by the port in cities that host maritime line 31 terminals.
line 32 (c) Cities that demonstrate all of the following shall be eligible line 33 to receive maritime industrial impacts funding from the board for line 34 cooperative infrastructure and capital projects:
line 35 (1) Host at least one maritime terminal.
line 36 (2) Have census tracts near maritime terminals that exceed state line 37 standards for average annual particulate matter exposure and have line 38 been designated as en vironmental justice communities, as line 39 determined by the San Diego County Air Pollution Control District. 98 AB 2783 — 9 —
line 1 (3) Have census tracts near maritime terminals that are less than line 2 or equal to 80 percent of regional median income. line 3 (4) Have a planning area near the maritime terminal, with line 4 residential zones that have restricted public access to the tidelands line 5 and submerged lands and waterfront that are within close proximity line 6 to the planning area.
line 7 (d) The board shall create the “Community Impact Fund” and line 8 deposit 1 percent of all nontax port district gross revenue into that line 9 fund. In addition to the funding required in subdi vision (b), the line 10 board shall use the mone ys in the fund to pay for projects that line 11 address maritime industrial impacts that are proposed by eligible line 12 cities.
line 13 (e) The State Lands Commission shall be the final arbiter of line 14 any disputes with re gard to eligibility and appro val of projects, line 15 consistent with the commission’ s authority over projects on and line 16 off tidelands and submer ged lands, as set forth in Section 30.5. line 17 The commission shall, to the e xtent feasible, rely on both of the line 18 following:
line 19 (1) Existing local, state, and federal agency studies. line 20 (2) Port studies conducted on port impacts.
line 21 (f) (1) The board shall create the “Future Public Access Fund” line 22 and deposit 1 percent of eligible rents into that fund. The board line 23 shall use the moneys in the fund to convert industrial property in line 24 disadvantaged communities within the district to open space, line 25 including, but not limited to, parks, plazas, and promenades. line 26 (2) For purposes of this subdivision, the following terms have line 27 the following meanings:
line 28 (A) “Disadvantaged community” means a community identified line 29 by the California En vironmental Protection Agency pursuant to line 30 Section 39711 of the Health and Safety Code.
line 31 (B) “Eligible rents” means payments to the port district for the line 32 lease of real property located in the district and not located in a line 33 disadvantaged community.
line 34 SEC. 6.
line 35 SEC. 7. The Legislature finds and declares that a special statute line 36 is necessary and that a general statute cannot be made applicable line 37 within the meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California line 38 Constitution because of the unique geography and circumstances line 39 relative to the development of harbor and port facilities within the line 40 San Diego Unified Port District.
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line 1 SEC. 7.
line 2 SEC. 8. If the Commission on State Mandates determines that line 3 this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimb ursement to line 4 local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made line 5 pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division line 6 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
O
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