Bill to prevent farmland protections from being used to finance development passes Senate

SACRAMENTO -- A bill by Sen. Christopher Cabaldon preventing developers from taking advantage of the state’s special protections for farmland to generate more money for urban improvements passed the state Senate Monday on a bipartisan vote.

SB 5 would prohibit acreage protected by the Williamson Act from being placed in an Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District (EIFD) until it is rezoned to reflect its future use. 

Under the Williamson Act, local governments enter into contracts with landowners to preserve farmland in exchange for lower taxes. More than half of California’s 31.4 million acres of farm and ranch land is preserved under the Williamson Act. 

EIFDs are a form of tax increment financing that takes a portion of the growth in property taxes created by development and uses it to build roads, sewers, parks, and other infrastructure. The lower the property taxes are when the EIFD is formed, the more money a district can raise as those taxes grow. 

Sen. Cabaldon said his motivation for introducing SB 5 was the proposal by a group of billionaires to build a new city of up to 400,000 people on about 17,500 acres of farmland in Solano County. Much of the land slated for the new city is covered by the Williamson Act, and Sen. Cabaldon said he wanted to make sure it was not used to seed an EIFD to finance the massive infrastructure needed for the project.

If that happened, he said, “All of the revenues the government had lost to maintain the value of property so it was not developable, and to protect farmland, would now be captured for private development.” 

The legislation, which now goes to the Assembly, is supported by the American Farmland Trust, the California Farm Bureau, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Greenbelt Alliance, Solano County Orderly Growth Committee; Community Alliance with Family Farmers and the Solano County Democratic Central Committee.

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Senator Christopher Cabaldon represents the 3rd Senate District which includes the cities of Oakley and Brentwood in Contra Costa County; American Canyon, Calistoga, Napa, Yountville, and St. Helena in Napa County; Benicia, Dixon, Fairfield, Rio Vista, Suisun City, Vacaville, and Vallejo, in Solano County; Cotati, Rohnert Park, and Sonoma in Sonoma County; Davis, West Sacramento, Winters, and Woodland in Yolo County; as well as Isleton in Sacramento County.