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Senate committee advances bill to prevent tax-increment capture from Williamson Act parcels
Summary
Committee advanced SB 5 as amended after supporters said the bill would stop enhanced infrastructure financing districts from using artificially depressed Williamson Act assessed values to generate tax increment for development. The bill passed the committee vote and will go to the Senate floor.
Senators advanced SB 5 after the author and environmental advocates warned that tax‑increment financing could capture the benefits of a public subsidy to agricultural land under the Williamson Act.
The bill's sponsor said SB 5 would allow local infrastructure financing or tax‑increment districts to be used on former Williamson Act parcels only if the baseline for calculating tax increment is the assessor’s market valuation after rezoning, not the reduced assessment the county granted under a Williamson Act contract. “It isn’t appropriate for the private developer…to capture the value of what the public has done,” the sponsor said during the hearing.
Supporters, including Jordan Grimes, state and regional resilience manager for Greenbelt Alliance, told the committee the change would protect conserved farmland and ensure infrastructure financing supports infill and transit‑connected communities. Grimes said the measure “aligns public financing tools with sustainable, climate‑smart growth policies, not sprawl.”
Silvio Ferrari of the California Building Industry Association said his group was concerned and hoped to work with the author as the bill moved forward.
Committee members questioned whether the bill would unduly restrict local governments’ financing tools. One lawmaker said the committee should avoid unduly intruding on local control; another said the bill only targets an unfair subsidy that would otherwise make Williamson Act parcels unusually attractive to speculators.
A motion to pass SB 5 as amended to the Senate floor was approved in committee. The transcript records a committee vote summarized as 4 yes, 1 no; the roll call in the hearing transcript lists several aye votes and a recorded “no” by Searto. The committee left the measure on call after the vote.
The author and witnesses said the bill is intended to preserve the Williamson Act’s conservation purpose while allowing conversion to other uses in the future if done transparently and priced on market value.
SB 5 will go next to the Senate floor with committee amendments in place.
