EZ Policy Blog

I have been trying to figure out the technical ramifications of creating a new zone in Sacramento which includes the Northern Sacramento Zone designated in 2006 and which does not increase the total number of zones beyond 42. I think there are three possibilities:

1. The new 2009 Sacramento zone is really an expansion of the Northern Sacramento Zone. The difficulty with this is that the new geography would be limited to 15% of the territory of the 2006 zone.

2. The new area could be deemed a “boundary modification” of the 2006 zone. While some other zones have had boundary modifications, they have been done while the zone was still in its conditional phase. This would result in the new 2009 area becoming retroactively effective back to 2006 – very confusing.

3. The Northern Sacramento Zone could opt to give up its 2006 designation in favor of receiving a new, larger designation. Of the three, this is the most likely, but still presents potential for serious confusion, especially when it comes to apportionment.

I think, however, that I have come up with a new solution which would keep the total number of zones at 42, would allow Sacramento to operate two distinct zones (one with a 2006 designation and one with a 2009 designation), would eliminate confusion, and which is backed up by precedent. If anyone at HCD is interested in hearing the idea, give me a call.

From the Hesperia Star:

Doing business in Hesperia just became a lot cheaper.

On Wednesday, August 19, the California Department of Housing and Community Development announced that Hesperia was one of five new enterprise zones, along with Pittsburg, Sacramento, Taft and Tulare. Businesses can generate millions of dollars of tax credits for operating in the enterprise zones.

The five cities have been only conditionally designated at the moment, according to Steve Lantsberger, Hesperia’s head of economic development, but it’s essentially just a matter of some signing agreements between HCD and the city before it’s official.

“We spent a lot of time going through all of the requirements so that, if we were successful, there’d be very few things we’d have to do if we were conditionally designated,” he said Thursday. His office began working on the application 18 months ago, and the city will be an enterprise zone until 2024.

The enterprise zone covers most of the city, outside of residential areas. Businesses already operating in the zone as of August 19 are eligible, as are new businesses.

“The majority of the zone is the [commercial and industrial] developable property in the city,” said Lantsberger. “You’ve got I Avenue, Bear Valley, the industrial area, the freeway corridor, Main Street. … I’d say 95 percent of the businesses in the city are in the zone.”

From the North County Times:

Escondido will not receive a special state designation that could have lured high-tech and science firms to the city with tax incentives, city officials said Thursday.

The city was vying with more than two dozen other cities in California for four available slots in the state’s Enterprise Zone program, which was created by the state Legislature in 1984 to help struggling communities attract businesses.

This spring was the first time Escondido had ever applied for the designation, which could have yielded up to $37,700 in tax credits for businesses hiring workers who were economically disadvantaged, laid off or military veterans. The program also includes tax credits for equipment purchases and a streamlined permitting process.

Escondido’s proposed zone would have spanned much of the city, reaching County Club Drive to the west, El Norte Parkway to the north, and Midway Drive to the east. On the south, the zone would be bordered by Oak Hill Drive, Juniper Street, Centre City Parkway and Ninth Avenue.

A representative from HCD explained that, “We awarded five Enterprise Zones, instead of four, because the City of Sacramento has a current conditionally designated EZ that will be combined into their successful new application.”

The problem with this explanation, is that on January 6, 2009 HCD awarded final designation to the new Northern Sacramento zone, as you can see in this letter. So, we are still in search of a more technical explanation of how this worked.  In any case, at least we know that the Sacramento application became the”fifth” zone.

I’m still trying to work out why we are getting 5 new zones instead of 4.

Here is the press release from HCD:

California Department of Housing and Community Development Announces Five New Enterprise Zones to Boost California’s Economy

Sacramento – Helping to grow jobs and improve California’s business climate, the California Department of Housing and Community Development today announced the conditional designation for five Enterprise Zones statewide. The zones are Hesperia, Tulare, Pittsburg, Sacramento and Taft.

“California Enterprise Zones give communities a chance to develop their economic potential, improve their quality of life and contribute to the state’s economy. Enterprise Zones are part of the Administration’s ongoing efforts to increase the number of jobs through state and local incentives,” said HCD Director Lynn L. Jacobs.

The California Enterprise Zone Program targets economically distressed areas using special state and local incentives to promote business investment and job creation. By encouraging entrepreneurship and employer growth, the program strives to create and sustain economic expansion in California communities.

The new designations will take the place of the zones set out in statute which expired or will expire in 2009. Each zone designation is in effect for 15 years.

Update - Breaking news from The Taft Independent:

he California Department of Housing and Community Development Announced Today that the City of Taft has won designation as an Enterprise Zone.
The Enterprise Zone designation is intended to create jobs and improve the state’s business climate.

Taft is one of five California cities that won the designation by the state Department of Housing and Community Development. The other cities are Tulare, Hesperia, Pittsburg and Sacramento.

“California Enterprise Zones give communities a chance to develop their economic potential, improve their quality of life and contribute to the state’s economy. Enterprise Zones are part of the Administration’s ongoing efforts to increase the number of jobs through state and local incentives,” said HCD Director Lynn L. Jacobs.

“This is the single most important building block for Taft’s economic growth that the city has had in many, many years,” said Lucille Holt, Taft City Grants Administrator. “Its good news because it is not just for new businesses, but for existing Taft businesses as well”

Holt said that the program is designed to get people back to work by providing businesses with tax credits.

The California Enterprise Zone Program targets economically distressed areas using special state and local incentives to promote business investment and job creation. By encouraging entrepreneurship and employer growth, the program strives to create and sustain economic expansion in California communities.

The new designations will take the place of the zones set out in statute which expired or will expire in 2009. Taft’s Enterprise Zone designation is in effect for 15 years.

Update 2: From the Sacramento Bee:

Sacramento was among five California communities receiving conditional designation Wednesday as an “enterprise zone,” under a state program designed to spur economic development.

The California Enterprise Zone Program targets economically distressed areas, using special state and local incentives to promote business investment and job creation.

Besides Sacramento, the communities of Hesperia, Tulare, Pittsburg and Taft were listed. Each zone designation is in effect for 15 years.

State officials said the new designations take the place of zones that had expired or are scheduled to expire this year.

HCD has ranked all 15 applications for the new Enterprise Zones and the results have been with the Governor’s office since sometime last month.  Presumably, they are waiting for the right moment to announce the four new zones.

One of those applicants was the City of Oxnard in Ventura County. Bruce Stenslie, president and CEO of the Economic Development Collaborative of Ventura County and Steve Kinney, president of the Economic Development Corporation of Oxnard have published an Op-Ed in the Ventura County Star directly responding to Dan Walters’ recent editorial on the PPIC report.

Walters questioned the value and effectiveness of California’s economic-development policies. He took particular aim at California’s enterprise zones, which are intended to encourage employment and economic growth. Given our economic crisis, and the tough challenges in Sacramento and locally to identify investment strategies that will aid our recovery, it is critical we consider every option and strategy. We welcome Walters’ thoughts on the state’s economy, but think his recent comments lead us in the wrong direction.

We would like to join the debate about what investments make most sense for California and its local economies. We believe that if we educate The Star’s readers about how enterprise zones work, and who benefits, there would be widespread support.

Further, we think Walters has it wrong when he characterizes California as being burdened by ineffective economic-development programs, stacking up “in ever-growing layers.” In fact, the evidence suggests the opposite is true, that California’s recovery is harmed by its lack of economic-development investment, not by some imagined growth of programs to help business.

For fair disclosure, we are advocates for securing a new enterprise-zone designation for Oxnard. This is an uphill battle, as to establish a new enterprise zone, an existing zone must be dropped from the state’s program.

To understand why cities seek an enterprise-zone designation, and to evaluate its merits, it’s important to understand how it works. Enterprise zones are tied to areas that suffer higher-than-average unemployment and poverty. Businesses within an enterprise zone may receive tax credits for hiring new workers, but only for workers who reside within the enterprise zone or who face serious barriers to employment. The benefits for Oxnard are unique. We have high levels of joblessness in neighborhoods near the city’s industrial and commercial districts, but a disconnect between employers and residents. An enterprise-zone designation will place a premium on the skills developed by workers in the city, by rewarding business with a tax incentive for training and hiring local workers.

Stories that are critical of enterprise zones conveniently leave out or downplay this point about worker opportunity. The goal of an enterprise zone is not just to increase the bottom line of business, rather it is to incentivize opportunity for local workers, creating pathways for workers to benefit from business growth.

Those gains for workers decrease tax outlays for public supports. The single most serious impact of this recession is increasing unemployment. More than ever, we should be looking for ways to promote jobs, particularly for those hardest hit by the recession, and that’s exactly what enterprise zones do.

On the subject of whether California is doing enough to promote economic development, we draw readers’ attention to another study. June 23, the Milken Institute in Santa Monica published a report that documents how California is losing high-paying manufacturing jobs to other states, precisely owing to our lack of any proactive agenda to retain them. Our problem is not layers of programs for business, it’s that Sacramento has forgotten that workers don’t have a chance to win if business doesn’t have a chance to compete.

California’s economic future rests on our ability to retain business and promote entrepreneurship. When we become truly dedicated to and effective at that, we’ll create jobs and opportunity for California’s workers.

I don’t recall ever seeing the Enterprise Zone used as a political tool in this way before:

Plans to reopen a long-closed liquor store in Gardena were greeted with hostility this week by city officials concerned about an oversaturation of alcohol retailers in town.

Though no vote was taken because Mayor Paul Tanaka was absent, the message was clear to the store’s new owner: Go somewhere else.

The store, in a retail strip on the city’s western edge at 15524 Crenshaw Blvd., still displays the signs of its former owner — Boulevard Liquor & Keg — which closed two years ago. The potential new owner, King’s Market, is leasing the property but will not buy it without a liquor license.

Though the new business would perk up the empty, blighted property that sits between a restaurant and a martial arts studio, the council said there are already 12 liquor stores within one mile of it.

“You have a college across the street. You have two churches there. I just don’t see the need,” Councilman Steve Bradford said. “You can buy liquor on any corner in this city or in any other city so — another liquor store? A convenience store, yes, maybe.”

With Tanaka away, the council decided to wait until the April 14 meeting to vote on the application for a conditional-

use permit for the business.

Like Bradford, Councilwoman Rachel Johnson said a liquor store would not be a positive addition to the neighborhood.

“It’s not that we’re not business-friendly,” Johnson said. “We want what’s best for the residents who surround this business.”
But a representative of the applicants said the city should have told them up front — before they spent about $60,000 in rent, city fees and improvement to the property — that the council would not approve any business that planned to sell liquor.

“If the answer is `no’ from the beginning, we should’ve known that five months ago,” said Robert Fedor, a land use consultant representing the owners. “What we’re looking for is to be treated fairly. If a gun store wants to open up in that location, that’s OK, right? If the answer is just not-in-my-backyard, that’s, I think, illegal.

“Why, in this economy, would you want to keep a shuttered storefront? I’m not thrilled about bringing more alcohol to the world but, right now (businesses) have to sell beer or wine to keep their doors open.”

Cities have wide latitude in approving or denying conditional-use permits.

“Councils have great discretion in whether or not to grant a conditional-use permit,” Redondo Beach City Attorney Mike Webb said. “The standard on review would be whether or not they abused their discretion.”

Gardena’s Municipal Code allows the council to issue or deny permits for many reasons, including proximity to homes, schools, churches and parks, and compatibility with nearby businesses.

The state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control said the area is not oversaturated with liquor stores according to its criteria, but it will not grant a liquor license unless the city approves a conditional-use permit.

Fedor said he feels the owners of King’s Market were treated so unfairly that he will send a letter to the state Department of Housing and Community Development, recommending that it not approve Gardena’s application for state tax credits through the enterprise-zone program.

The council on Tuesday approved the city’s enterprise-zone application, which seeks financial help to revitalize the city’s economically depressed areas.

“You can’t just say, `No because we don’t want it,”‘ Fedor said. “This (liquor store) has been there forever. We’re asking for a year probation — that’s pretty humble and honest. I had the rug pulled out from under my feet.”

Here is another entry into the increasingly competitive 2009 Enterprise Zone application round.  From the San Diego Union-Tribune:

Escondido will compete with a record number of cities for four open spots in a state “enterprise zone” program in an attempt to jump-start its ailing economy and make the city less dependent on sales taxes.

City officials and council members have been trying to diversify the city’s economy, which relies heavily on auto and retail sales. Mayor Lori Holt Pfeiler has said repeatedly that as Internet shopping replaces retail sales, the city’s revenue will decline.

Enterprise zones offer tax benefits and other incentives for businesses located in them. An enterprise zone could help attract coveted biotech and high-tech businesses to Escondido’s mostly vacant business park when the economy recovers.

“This is a big story for Escondido,” Pfeiler said. “We are investing in the future of Escondido.”

The City Council made the decision to pursue a designation at its meeting Wednesday.

“Escondido has a good shot at it. If we can get it, it will be that much more powerful an incentive,” Councilman Dick Daniels said. “These are times when businesses are not thinking about relocating, but we want to be in position when they do. We have great potential for a business park.”

The proposed zone would cover a jagged area that covers nearly the entire city. It is roughly bounded by Country Club Drive to the west, state Route 78 and El Norte Parkway to the north and Midway Drive to the east. The southern boundary jogs along Oak Hill Drive, Juniper Street, Centre City Parkway and Ninth Avenue.

California allows for 42 enterprise zones statewide under current legislation. One is the San Diego Regional Enterprise Zone, which encompasses part of San Diego, National City and Chula Vista.

An enterprise zone lasts 15 years, and cities that wish to keep that status must reapply on expiration.

This year, four vacancies have opened and are attracting unprecedented interest because of the recession, said Frank Luera, chief of enterprise and economic development at the state Department of Housing and Community Development. The department decides which applicants get the designation.

So far, 11 communities – none from San Diego County except for Escondido – have expressed an interest, with more expected to file applications, Luera said. In good economic times, the agency would receive six to eight inquiries for four vacancies, he said.

Luera cautioned that cities that become enterprise zones should not expect miracles. Studies have shown that while some zones have reduced unemployment, others have not.

Enterprise zones are not easy to maintain, either, Luera said. Escondido would need to offer incentives, such as reduced permit costs, a streamlined permitting process or financial assistance for facade renovations, Luera said.

Cities that administer enterprise zones also are required to market the zones and provide job training, Luera said.

Escondido officials are trying to find ways to deal with a widening budget gap caused by a sharp decline in sales tax revenue, which is projected to reach a five-year low in the coming fiscal year.

The city already has made extensive cuts in services and employee salaries and benefits to close the gap, but still has a $3.2 million deficit this fiscal year.

Next fiscal year, the city faces an even bigger deficit, projected at $5.4 million.

As a result, the city’s general-fund budget is expected to shrink from $82 million this fiscal year to a projected $72.9 million next fiscal year.

According to the Ventura County Star the City of Oxnard has entered the competition for one of four available Enterprise Zone slots open in 2009:

In Oxnard, the City Council has applied to become one of the state’s 42 enterprise zones. If its application is approved, any business located in the zone — which would cover downtown, south Oxnard and the industrial corridor along Rose and Rice avenues — would be eligible for a raft of local and state incentives.

At the state level, businesses would get a tax credit worth as much as $37,000 over five years for hiring certain workers, including people who are out of work and people who live in high-poverty areas. There would also be tax credits on purchases of up to $20 million in new equipment.

The city of Oxnard would waive some of its permit fees for businesses in the enterprise zone and allow developers to defer other fees until their projects are finished.

Those incentives would cost the city about $100,000 a year and should more than pay for themselves by encouraging economic activity, said Steve Kinney, the president of the Economic Development Corp. in Oxnard and the point man for the city’s application.

The effectiveness of state enterprise zones is up for debate. A recent study by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that they didn’t result in more jobs, but a study in 2007 by USC Professor Charles Swenson found a significant benefit in both jobs and wages.

Irwin Grossman, the owner of Grossman Imaging Center, said he’d welcome the incentives. One of his medical company’s three offices is in the proposed enterprise zone, off of Rice Avenue.

“Every single building on my block has a ‘for lease’ sign on it, but we’re going counter to the trend,” Grossman said. “We’ve been doing very well.”

Grossman Imaging employs 47 people, and Grossman said he’d consider expanding, but the poor economy and uncertainty about the future of healthcare regulation has made him cautious.

An enterprise zone designation would be “a major, major help,” he said, especially with its incentives for purchasing equipment. Medical imaging devices can cost millions of dollars to buy and thousands more to install, Grossman said.

The deadline for applications is this Friday, March 27. According to page 43 of HCD’s Application Guidebook, the announcement of the new conditional designations will be announced on May 18, 2009.

Check the “2009 4 New Enterprise Zones” category for all of the updates on this topic.

Wow, I got so busy that I missed the expiration of two Enterprise Zones.  On March 3 both the Los Angeles Harbor EZ and the Madera EZ expired.  Coming up on April 4 the Sacramento Florin Perkins EZ will also expire.All three of these jurisdictions are in the process of applying for new zone designations.  The deadline for submitting applications is March 27 and the competition promises to be stiff. 

According to the Valley Voice:

Tulare County and its cities are applying to the California Department of Housing & Community Development to be designated as an Enterprise Zone.

An Enterprise Zone is a 15-year partnership between local governments, agencies and private companies to generate new private-sector investment and growth by providing state tax credits and other local incentives to businesses.

The Tulare County Economic Development Corporation (TCEDC) is coordinating the effort, which would replace the county’s current Business Incentive Zone (BIZ) designation.

It’s too bad that they are unnecessarily limiting their chances, though:

“Our current designation doesn’t expire until 2012,” Saldana said, but only two Enterprise Zones will be selected then. Four enterprise zones are currently being selected. “There are only 36 enterprise zones that are permitted under state law,” Saldana said.

“If we are not successful this round, we can modify whatever we need to and resubmit it in the next round,” he added.

New on the HCD website: 2008/2009 Application Guidebook Revisions.

As I speculated earlier, the City of Gardena is planning on applying for one of the four open Enterprise Zone slots this year:

The Gardena City Council has decided to spend $42,000 on an application seeking designation of the city as a state Enterprise Zone, which will allow officials to offer business tax incentives.

The city applied for the designation last year but it was not approved. This year, city officials said they will have a better chance because of an improved application.

The city does not have a Redevelopment Agency, so city officials believe the Enterprise Zone designation would help attract desired businesses.

To qualify as an Enterprise Zone, an area must meet certain economic and distressed criteria.

Check the “2009 4 New Enterprise Zones” category for all of the updates on this topic.

As I wrote earlier, Monrovia is aggressively seeking one of the four available Enterprise Zone designations in 2009. Here is a detailed account of their activity so far from the San Gabriel Valley Tribune:

MONROVIA – Worried about a possible exodus of businesses from the economically distressed southern section of the city, officials have begun the lengthy application process for a state Enterprise Zone designation for the area.

Monrovia City Council members took the first step recently by awarding a $103,000 contract to Shaw & Associates LLC, a consulting firm that has been “very successful in obtaining enterprise zones for other cities,” City Manager Scott Ochoa said. The consulting group recently helped secure an EZ designation in Santa Clarita, he added.

While Monrovia’s redevelopment efforts have largely been successful in Old Town Monrovia, “we haven’t focused that much on that south Myrtle anchor until now,” Ochoa said.

Pursuing its own Enterprise Zone (EZ) designation could prevent other cities with the zones from luring companies away, said Lauren Vasquez, a redevelopment specialist with the Monrovia Redevelopment Agency.

“This designation can really help Monrovia compete with other cities that have zones because other such cities are able to entice businesses out of Monrovia,” she said.

A few mid-size businesses already have left Monrovia to relocate in cities with EZ designations, according to Ochoa.

Enterprise Zones are administered by the state Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD). The zones offer local and state incentives to promote economic revitalization and job growth.

“They are to help communities that typically have fallen on bad times,” said Chris Westlake, deputy director of the division of financial assistance for the HCD. “It’s used to entice businesses to a community or to a state. Also it helps attract expansion of existing businesses.”

The HCD uses economic and socioeconomic census data to determine if an area qualifies for an EZ designation. If it does, the benefits offered are many.

Businesses can earn more than $37,000 in state tax credits for every employee hired. Firms in EZs also can earn sales tax credits on purchases of machinery, and they can gain preference points in state contracts, among other advantages.

But competition among cities vying for the designation is tough. The state allows for 42 EZ zones – and just four zones are available for the current application period that ends in late March. Westlake anticipates the HCD will receive between 10 and 12 applications.

Pasadena has had an EZ designation since 1992. The zone covers the northwest part of the city, as well as the Walnut Avenue corridor. “It definitely has been a boost,” said city spokeswoman Ann Erdman. “It’s really helped us to bring in businesses to Pasadena and retain businesses here.”

Gourmet Fresh Pasta on North Fair Oaks is one of about 250 businesses in Pasadena that utilize the EZ designation. Company President Michael Yagjian said the designation was a factor in his decision to open a business there in 1996.

His manufacturing plant needed to be retrofitted, and the EZ designation helped him secure the permits.

“The fact that we were in an Enterprise Zone really smoothed out that whole process,” Yagjian said.

A decision by HCD on Monrovia’s EZ application will probably take about three months, following the March application deadline. If Monrovia is awarded the designation, the zone could take effect in the fall.

A November 5, 2008 City of Palm Springs City Council Staff Report states:

Staff recommends the City Council approve participation in a multi-jurisdiction application to the State’s Department of Housing and Community Development for an Enterprise Zone designation for an area that would include all or part of Desert Hot Springs, a portion of Cathedral City, a portion of the northern tier of Palm Springs, and unincorporated land adjacent to the aforementioned areas.

This collection of jurisdictions would comprise a Western Coachella Valley Enterprise Zone.

The 11/19/08 Agenda for the Los Angeles City Council meeting has a motion to appropriate funds to hire a consultant to prepare an application for a new Los Angeles Harbor Area zone.

In June 2008 the Sacramento City Council passed a resolution to expand the Army Depot zone, but I have not seen a resolution to apply for a new zone yet.

Email me if you have a tip.

Along with Needles, Cathedral City, Colusa County, and Calaveras County, we can now add the City of Monrovia to the list of jurisdictions expressing an interest in becoming an Enterprise Zone next year.  According to the November 18 Monrovia City Council Minutes, the City has entered into an agreement with a consultant to prepare an EZ application.

The four zones expiring in 2009, Los Angeles Harbor, Madera, Sacramento-Florin Perkins and Sacramento-Army Depot, should also be expected to submit new applications.

In addition, there were five jurisdictions that applied in the 2008 designation round who were not selected: Pittsburg, Gardena, El Monte, Carson, and West Coachella Valley.  Theoretically, they have the advantage of having already prepared applications and having them scored by HCD.

It could be a very crowded field.

From the Mohave Daily News:

NEEDLES – The Needles Economic Development Committee, meeting on Nov. 21, has begun the task of completing an enterprise zone designation application to be submitted to the state of California. Boundaries for the zone must be submitted by Dec. 1. The completed application deadline is March 27, 2009.

The city of Needles is hoping to be awarded one of the state’s few enterprise zone designations available at this time. Zone designation is for a period of 15 years.

The purpose of the program is to stimulate business investment in distressed areas and provide job opportunities for targeted individuals.

As boundaries are being finalized, the paperwork has been started on a lengthy and involved application process.

HCD has posted the final Application Guidebook for the 2008-2009 zone designation round:

The 2008/2009 Designation Round. The Department announces the release of the Designation Application Guidebook for 2008/2009. For this designation round, the Department will award up to four enterprise zones. To obtain more information on the application process, plan to attend the workshops to be offered in Sacramento (November 14, 2009) and in Los Angeles (November 18, 2009). Contact Lesley James at (916) 322-1112 or LJames @hcd.ca.gov for more information on the workshops or for a hard copy of the guidebook. The deadline for designation applications is March 27, 2009.

I am sure we will hear more from HCD later this week at the CAEZ Conference about when they intend to start the application process for the four zones set to expire next year (their website still states that they expect the application to be released Sept. 30).

In the mean time, sometimes there are clues about new areas that might get in on the competition. In an article in the Colusa County Sun-Herald about local elections, “Colusa candidates jostle for votes,” is the following nugget:

Speaking not necessarily to a voting audience, but as an encouragement for people to get out and vote, Williams city councilman Don Baker, up for reelection, put his best foot forward, as did Princeton school board candidate Jesus Campos.

Baker took office four years ago, and helped to develop a workable three-year budget, funding a swimming pool upgrade, new police K-9 unit, a new police station and street repairs.

Barker said he is also working with other local agencies to get an Enterprise Zone approved and complete specific plans for downtown and commercial development.

Previous clues:

“Big Zone”
“Needles, NV?”
“Cathedral City EZ in 2009”
“Kern Update”
“Calaveras County EZ in 2009?“

HCD has posted an update to their website announcing the impending launch of the next round of Enterprise Zone expirations and applications:

Update on the 2008/2009 Designation Round — The Department is currently drafting the Application Guidebook for the next designation round. For this round, there will be four slots available. At this time, the Department expects to release the guidebook by September 30 with a due date of late January or early February. If you need more information on a release date, please call Lesley James at (916) 322-1112.