Section 1710 Of Chapter 3. Seaport Infrastructure Financing Districts From California Harbors And Navigation Code >> Division 6. >> Part 1. >> Chapter 3.
1710
. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) In addition to the findings and declarations in Section
53398.50 of the Government Code, the ability to capture property tax
increment revenues to finance needed seaport and harbor
infrastructure projects will provide direct benefits to the state.
When harbor agencies are better funded to further the objectives of
the state, its seaports and harbors, and the public trust and
enjoyment of those trust lands by the people of the state, local
economies and the local environment will also be improved.
(b) A seaport or harbor or its operation frequently generates
large local tax benefits directly as a result of the possessory
interest taxes paid on the value of leased port and harbor real
property.
(c) The tax increment increases in possessory interest taxes that
will result from the improvement of seaport and harbor infrastructure
should be captured, whenever possible, and reinvested to support the
state's significant interest in the successful operation of its
seaports and harbors.
(d) The unique nature of the state's public seaports and harbors,
including the nature of the statewide interest in their operations,
requires special rules if these ports and harbors are to be allowed
to participate in a seaport infrastructure financing district.
(e) The seaport infrastructure financing district is specifically
developed to include publicly owned property, to improve that public
property, and to achieve the public goals of improving the state's
waterborne commerce, enhancing economic prosperity, and financing the
costs of environmental mitigation and improvement.
(f) This chapter is intended to maintain and enforce the state's
retained rights, statewide interests, obligations and sovereign
duties in its seaports, harbors, and tidelands, including protecting
these same assets from local control or excise, while simultaneously
creating an opportunity for public financing authorities to
participate in facilitating investment in the state's public seaport
infrastructure and finance projects that will have the anticipated
effect of not only providing statewide benefits, but also local
benefits such as boosting local employment, local secondary economic
development, local environmental improvement, and increased local tax
revenues.