Bill Text: CA AB1950 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: City of Los Angeles: former Chavez Ravine property: eminent domain: compensation.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-04-25 - From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 8. Noes 0.) (April 24). [AB1950 Detail]
Download: California-2023-AB1950-Amended.html
|
Amended
IN
Assembly
April 10, 2024 |
|
Amended
IN
Assembly
March 21, 2024 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION
Assembly Bill
No. 1950
| Introduced by Assembly Member Wendy Carrillo |
January 29, 2024 |
An act to add Chapter 16.5 (commencing with Section 7278) to Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government Code, relating to local government.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1950, as amended, Wendy Carrillo.
City of Los Angeles: former Chavez Ravine property: eminent domain: compensation.
The California Constitution authorizes private property to be taken or damaged for public use only if just compensation is paid. Existing law, the Eminent Domain Law, prescribes how that constitutionally authorized power may be exercised for an eminent domain proceeding commenced on or after January 1, 1976, as specified. Under the Eminent Domain Law, an owner of property acquired by eminent domain is entitled to compensation, as provided.
Existing law provides that, whenever a program or project to be undertaken by a public entity will result in the displacement of a person, the displaced person, as defined, is entitled to payment for actual moving and related expenses as the public entity determines to be reasonable and necessary.
This bill would require the
City of Los Angeles to create a task force for the purpose of providing compensation to former residents and landowners displaced from the Chavez Ravine area of Los Angeles, as defined, between 1950 to 1961, inclusive, and their lineal descendants. The bill would set forth the composition of the task force, consisting of 9 members, as specified. Among other duties, the task force would be required to oversee the city’s administration process pursuant to these provisions and to create specified reports addressing various matters related to compensation for former residents and landowners of Chavez Ravine and their descendants.
This bill would require the City of Los Angeles to decide on one of several forms of compensation, including conveying city-owned real property for housing, use, and enjoyment equal to the square footage area of land acquired by the city from the property owners or monetary compensation for the taking of the former landowners’ private property
equal to the fair market value at the time of sale or taking, adjusted for inflation. The bill would provide that the compensation would be exempt from taxation and the real property tax.
This bill would additionally require the city to construct a permanent memorial in recognition of the displaced residents and landowners of the Chavez Ravine community. The bill would also require the city to create and administer a searchable database to access information related to Chavez Ravine, and would require that all sensitive personal information be redacted from the database, as specified.
By imposing new duties on the city and city officials, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The bill would authorize a person to bring a private right of action against the city to enforce the above-described provisions in accordance with certain requirements and timeframes. The bill would specify available remedies, which would include injunctive relief, attorney’s fees, and punitive and compensatory damages. The bill would provide that the city would not have governmental immunity with respect to a cause of action brought under these provisions.
require the task force, on or before January 1, 2027, in consultation with the city attorney of the City of Los Angeles, to develop an appeal process for former residents or descendants of Chavez Ravine to appeal to the city a denial of compensation. The bill would authorize a former resident or descendant of Chavez Ravine, after the task force develops that appeal process or beginning January 1, 2027, whichever occurs first, to appeal to the city a denial of compensation in accordance with that appeal process. The bill would also authorize a former resident or descendant of Chavez Ravine, if the city denies an appeal and the former resident or descendant believes that the city improperly denied compensation, to petition a court for a writ of mandate pursuant to specified provisions to compel the city to provide compensation.
This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special
statute for the City of Los Angeles.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse 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.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: YESBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(a) The United States of America has not fully addressed governmental involvement in redlining, racial covenants, housing segregation, and other discriminatory housing practices experienced by Native, Latinx, Black, Asian, and Pacific Islander communities.
(b) Federal, state, and local governments have deliberately structured the availability of opportunities, implemented policies and practices, and assigned value based on race, physical characteristics, and national origin, which has and continues to perpetuate unjust disadvantages for Native, Latinx, Black, Asian, and Pacific Islander communities.
(c) Systemic discrimination based on race and ethnicity continues to hinder entire communities from realizing their full potential, as evidenced by segregation, Jim Crow laws, and the Undesirable Aliens Act of 1929. Historical practices include state-sanctioned housing discrimination through redlining, and the enforcement of racially restrictive covenants. Additionally, there has been inequitable access to opportunities for social mobility and wealth creation due to poor access to care, health resources, and education for underrepresented communities of color.
(d) These historic inequities have resulted in the deprivation of marginalized communities from access to land and retention of their property rights, economic opportunities, and generational wealth.
(e) Against this backdrop of racially motivated policies, the
injustices in the City of Los Angeles (city) communities of La Loma, Bishop, and Palo Verde stand as a stark example, where residents were unjustly removed without proper compensation, epitomizing the ongoing struggle for equity and justice in housing and land rights.
(f) References to Chavez Ravine shall be made throughout this act, yet it is important to clarify that there was no singular “Chavez Ravine” neighborhood. Instead, there were three distinct neighborhoods—La Loma, Bishop, and Palo Verde—that have, over time, been collectively referred to in public discourse and historiography as Chavez Ravine. This act uses the term “Chavez Ravine” as a shorthand to represent the collective experience of all three neighborhoods, acknowledging the historical conflation of their identities.
(g) The Chavez Ravine neighborhood is approximately 315 acres and is in northeast Los Angeles.
Chavez Ravine housed more than 1,800 families and is an example of how racial discrimination against people of color reached crisis proportions and resulted in the forced displacement of estimated 3,800 individuals. The displacement of these residents has caused large, long-lasting disparities in housing, family stability, health, mental wellness, education, employment, economic development, public safety, and justice.
(h) Despite the perspectives of outsiders and City of Los Angeles officials, who often labeled the community as a “vacant shantytown,” “The Poor Man’s Shangri-La,” and an “eyesore,” these neighborhoods were, in fact, vibrant and cohesive communities, serving as a hub for homeownership and economic development and growth for people of color.
(i) In 1950, Chavez Ravine’s 315 acres were earmarked by the city as a prime location for redevelopment. The city condemned the
community land through the power of eminent domain for the purpose of constructing public housing. That same year, Chavez Ravine residents and property owners received letters from the city demanding the sale of their homes to make the land available for the proposed “Elysian Park project.” The city promised displaced families that they would have the opportunity to return to new homes in the newly redeveloped housing project.
(j) As a result of these intentional acts consistent with a racially motivated history of redlining and property seizure, by 1952, the community was a ghost town, and in the following years, the land would be sold below the market value or auctioned off against the will of the landowners. Churches, schools, and cemeteries were bulldozed and buried. The promises of new permanent housing would be abandoned, and land titles would never be returned to the original owners. By 1958, the Elysian Park Heights housing project had
unraveled, and the city conveyed the Chavez Ravine land to a private entity for an insignificant amount considering the land’s value. The private entity built a sports stadium and parking lot on the site.
(k) Chavez Ravine was wrongfully condemned land, and its residents were displaced and unjustly deprived of their constitutional right to own property. The fraudulent appropriation of land from private individuals on the basis of race, ethnicity, or national origin is against the public interest and denies individuals and communities the right to enjoyment, ownership, and inheritance of land, as well as the inalienable right to control one’s property.
(l) The government has a responsibility to prohibit and eliminate racial and ethnic discrimination in all forms and to ensure that all persons are entitled to security against forced removal from housing, harassment, and intimidation
by any entities that deprive individuals of their rights to self-determination and dignity on the basis of race.
(m) As set forth in precedential landmark legislation, Senate Bill 796 (Chapter 435 of the Statutes of 2021): “Government must act in the public’s interest to ensure that communities can fairly access justice and an effective remedy, including, when appropriate, the potential return, restitution, resettlement, rehabilitation, or compensation, for unlawful and race-based displacements.”
(n) Actions taken by the city disenfranchised more than 1,800 Angelino families, and approximately 3,800 individuals in the Chavez Ravine area. It is in the interest of the public, the State of California, the County of Los Angeles, and the city to create a task force to oversee and report on the investigation and assessed value of the lost housing and land, the compensation requirements
for displaced residents and landowners of Chavez Ravine, potential compensation for their descendants, the construction of a memorial to be erected on the Chavez Ravine site, and a private cause of action enforced for any parties not otherwise compensated through the administrative process.
SEC. 2.
Chapter 16.5 (commencing with Section 7278) is added to Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government Code, to read:CHAPTER 16.5. Chavez Ravine Community
7278.
(a) (1) The following provisions set forth in this chapter apply to all 315 acres of land in the Chavez Ravine community acquired by the City of Los Angeles, including the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles’ acquisition through eminent domain, coercive means, and land conveyed to private entities to construct a sports stadium.(2) The purpose of this chapter is to provide compensation to residents and landowners displaced from the Chavez Ravine area between 1950 to 1961, inclusive.
(b) For purposes of this chapter, the following definitions apply:
(1) “City” means the City of Los
Angeles.
(2) “County” means the County of Los Angeles.
(3) (A) “Descendant” means a lineal descendant born in a direct biological line from a displaced decedent of the Chavez Ravine property. Descendants may include, but are not limited to, a person’s children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
(B) Any compensation awarded pursuant to this chapter to a descendant shall be divided into as many equal shares as there are surviving descendants in the generation nearest to the designated ancestor. Any compensation transferred to the decedent’s descendants shall follow the same rules of inheritance as those applied in cases of intestacy.
(c) (1) The city shall create a task force, in accordance with the
requirements set forth in subdivision (h). Upon the city’s review of the task force reports and compensation recommendations as outlined in subdivision (j), the city shall decide on one of the following forms of compensation for former landowners or their descendants:
(A) Convey city-owned real property for housing, use, and enjoyment equal to the square footage area of land acquired by the city from the property owners unjustly displaced between 1950 and 1961, inclusive. Notwithstanding any other law, no legislative or administrative approvals by the city council or other city departments shall be necessary for the implementation of this section, and the property shall be exempt from the Surplus Land Act and other public transfer restrictions only for the purpose of this chapter.
(B) Compensation for the taking of former landowners’ private property through monetary compensation,
equal to the fair market value at the time of sale or taking, adjusted for inflation. The monetary compensation shall be exempt from taxation and the real property transfer tax only for purposes of this chapter.
(2) Upon the review of the task force reports and compensation recommendations, as described in subdivision (j), the city shall provide compensation to former residents or descendants of residents who were not landowners in the form of relocation benefits, health care benefits, employment-oriented services, educational scholarships, or other forms of compensation deemed fair and equitable by the task force in accordance with this section.
(3) The city also shall review the task force recommendations and the other reports pursuant to this section, and determine other additional compensation for former residents, only if deemed to serve the best interests of the city and the
public. Review shall occur no later than June 1, 2028. A one-time six-month extension, until December 2028, may be granted by the task force upon written request.
(4) The city shall submit a report to the task force and the public no later than January 1, 2029, detailing the methods and timeline for compensating residents and former landowners of Chavez Ravine. A one-time six-month extension, until June 1, 2029, may be granted by the task force upon written request.
(d) On or before January 1, 2027, the city shall create an official and complete historical accounting of the property owners and residents who were evicted or displaced, their descendants, and land acquired through eminent domain or other coercive tactics. Further, the historical accounting report shall also include a review and report about the appropriation of land from private persons from 1950 to 1961, inclusive.
A one-time six-month extension, until June 1, 2027, may be granted by the task force upon written request.
(e) The city shall create and administer a public access searchable database including all the
available city and county information related to Chavez Ravine. This database shall include, but not be limited to, all of the following:
(1) The names and addresses in the Chavez Ravine area of former residents and landowners evicted or displaced.
(2) All notices to residents and landowners from the local, state, and federal government.
(3) Payment receipts by public and private agencies for purchase of property located in the Chavez Ravine community.
(4) Land acquisition methods used by all public agencies to acquire the Chavez Ravine property.
(5) Arrest records related to removal of residents and landowners.
(6) Names and Identification of all divisions of government involved in the displacement of Chavez Ravine residents.
(7) Correspondence between the city and the county and private entities, public government agencies, residents, and landowners of Chavez Ravine.
(f) The searchable database shall be made available to the public and task force no later than January 1, 2027. A one-time six-month extension, until June 1, 2027, may be granted by the task force upon written request.
(g) The city shall redact all sensitive personal information, including, but not limited to, social security numbers, driver’s license numbers, and birth dates, from the information contained in the database created pursuant to (e).
(g)
(h) The city shall construct a permanent memorial, to be erected no later than December 31, 2028, in recognition of the displaced residents and landowners of the Chavez Ravine community. The memorial shall include interpretive and informational signs and structures, as well as areas to accommodate public gathering and contemplation, and
include educating future generations regarding the impact of this displacement and historical discriminatory policies in the city. A one-time six-month extension, until May 31, 2029, may be granted by the task force upon written request.
(h)
(i) The task force shall oversee and report
on the matters set forth in subdivisions (c), (d), (f), and (g).
(g), and (h). The task force shall consist of the following nine members:
(1) An elected official of the city or county or an elected official designee thereof who shall service as the chair of the task force.
(2) One individual appointed by the President pro Tempore of the Senate and one individual appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly, who shall both service as the covice chairpersons of the task force.
(3) Two descendants of displaced Chavez Ravine landowners or residents, appointed by the Mayor of the City of Los Angeles.
(4) The President of the United Farm Workers (UFW), or the president’s designee.
(5) The President of Public Counsel, or
the president’s designee.
(6) The Chairperson of Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), or the chairperson’s designee.
(7) One member of the local, Gabrielino-Tongva Nation appointed by the council member representing the Chavez Ravine area.
(i)
(j) Members of the task force shall not be entitled to receive per diem, or any form of similar compensation, for their participation in the task force.
(j)
(k) The task force shall oversee and create a report addressing all of the following items:
(1) Progress on the city’s construction of the permanent memorial, as described in subdivision (g).
(2) Recommendations on appropriate ways to educate the California public of the city and county’s findings pursuant to subdivisions (d), (e) and (f), no later than January 1, 2028.
(3) Recommendations to the city regarding compensation for former residents and landowners of Chavez Ravine or their descendants based on the information established in subdivisions (c), (d), (e) and (f).
(4) Recommendations on any additional appropriate compensation, in consideration of the task force’s findings regarding former residents on the matters described in paragraph (3) of subdivision (c).
(5) Identification of all the divisions of government that were involved and responsible for the displacements in Chavez Ravine.
(k)
(l) (1) The task force shall also submit to the Legislature a comprehensive report detailing its recommended remedies for compensation to former Chavez Ravine residents. This report shall also include strategies for
educating the public about the history and impact of the Chavez Ravine displacements. Those recommendations and educational initiatives shall be submitted for legislative review and action on or before January 1, 2028. A one-time six-month extension, until June 1, 2028, may be granted by the task force upon written request.
(2) The report submitted pursuant to this subdivision shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795.
(l)
(m) The task force shall oversee the city’s administration process of compensation to former Chavez Ravine residents, landowners, or their
descendants.
(a)A person may bring a private right of action against the city in a court of competent jurisdiction to enforce this chapter in accordance with the requirements of this section. A private right of action may be brought only on behalf of former residents or descendants of Chavez Ravine who were not compensated pursuant to the process established in subdivision (a) of Section 7278.
(b)A private right of action may be brought only on or after January 1, 2031, or at the end of the extension periods granted to the city and task force pursuant to Section 7278, whichever occurs later. However, an action shall not be brought after January 1, 2035, unless an extension is granted by the court. To qualify for an extension,
the person bringing the action shall meet all of the following criteria:
(1)Not have received compensation pursuant to the process established in subdivision (c) of Section 7278.
(2)Have resided at or owned property located within the 315 acres of land comprising the former Chavez Ravine community at the time the city acquired the property.
(3)Have had their property acquired by the city or its agents through eminent domain, through a sale to the city, or another conveyance by the city to private entities between 1950 and 1961, inclusive.
(c)The available remedies for a private right of action include, but are not limited to, injunctive relief, court costs and fees, and attorney’s fees and costs. Punitive and compensatory damages may also be awarded
by a court without the need for the aggrieved party to demonstrate negligence, recklessness, or intentional harm.
(d)Notice to the city shall not be required before the filing of a cause of action pursuant to this section.
(e)Notwithstanding any other provision, the city shall not have governmental immunity with respect to a cause of action brought pursuant this section.
7278.1.
(a) On or before January 1, 2027, the task force, in consultation with the city attorney of the City of Los Angeles, shall develop an appeal process for former residents or descendants of Chavez Ravine to appeal to the city a denial of compensation described in Section 7278.(b) After the task force develops the appeal process described in subdivision (a), or beginning January 1, 2027, whichever occurs first, a former resident or descendant of Chavez Ravine may appeal to the city a denial of compensation described in Section 7278 in accordance with that
appeal process.(c) If the city denies an appeal brought pursuant to subdivision (b) and the former resident or descendant of Chavez Ravine believes that the city improperly denied compensation as described in Section 7278, the former resident or descendant may petition a court for a writ of mandate pursuant to Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 1084) of Title 1 of Part 3 of the Code of Civil Procedure to compel the city to provide compensation in accordance with Section 7287.
