BILL ANALYSIS
SB 5
Page 1
(Without Reference to File)
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 5 (Machado)
As Amended September 5, 2007
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :27-9
WATER, PARKS & WILDLIFE 8-5 LOCAL
GOVERNMENT 5-1
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|Ayes:|Wolk, Caballero, Charles |Ayes:|Caballero, De La Torre, |
| |Calderon, Huffman, Lieu, | |Lieber, Saldana, Soto |
| |Mullin, Nava, Salas | | |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Maze, Anderson, |Nays:|Smyth |
| |Berryhill, La Malfa, | | |
| |Parra | | |
| | | | |
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APPROPRIATIONS 12-5
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|Ayes:|Leno, Caballero, Davis, | | |
| |DeSaulnier, Huffman, | | |
| |Karnette, Krekorian, | | |
| |Lieu, Ma, Nava, Solorio, | | |
| |De Leon | | |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Walters, Emmerson, La | | |
| |Malfa, Nakanishi, Sharon | | |
| |Runner | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Requires the Department of Water Resources (DWR) and the
Central Valley Flood Protection Board (Board) to prepare and adopt
a Central Valley Flood Protection Plan (CVFPP) by 2012, and
establishes certain flood protection requirements for certain
local land-use decisions consistent with the CVFPP. Specifically,
this bill :
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1)Defines certain new terms related to flood protection and
floodplain land use:
a) "Adequate progress" means certain actions have been taken
toward providing specified flood protection.
b) "Developed area" has the same meaning as defined in the
federal regulations issued by the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA).
c) "Flood hazard zone" means either a special flood hazard
area or an area with moderate flood hazard, as identified by
FEMA.
d) "Nonurbanized area" means an area with less than 10,000
residents.
e) "Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley" means the area subject to
flooding by the Sacramento or San Joaquin Rivers or their
tributaries, not including the Tulare Lake basin or the Kings
River.
f) "Urban area" means an area with 10,000 or more residents,
as defined in Proposition 1E of 2006.
g) "Urbanizing area" means a developed area that is planned
or anticipated to have 10,000 or more residents within the
next 10 years.
h) "Urban level of flood protection" means the level of
protection necessary to withstand flooding that has a
1-in-200 chance of occurring in any given year.
2)Requires each city and county in the Sacramento-San Joaquin
Valley (Central Valley), upon completion of the CVFPP, to
incorporate the flood plan's data, policies and implementation
measures into its general plans within 24 months.
3)Requires each city and county in the Central Valley to amend its
zoning ordinance consistent with the CVFPP, within 36 months of
the flood plan's adoption and 12 months of its amendment of the
general plan.
4)Prohibits, after the CVFPP takes effect, a city or county in the
Central Valley from entering into a development agreement,
approving any permit, entitlement or subdivision map unless the
city or county finds one of the following, based on substantial
evidence in the record:
a) Flood management facilities provide an urban level of
flood protection to urbanized or urbanizing areas or meets
the FEMA standard for nonurbanized areas.
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b) The development agreement includes conditions that will
provide an urban level of flood protection for urban or
urbanizing areas or meets FEMA standard for nonurbanized
areas.
c) Local flood management agency has made adequate progress
on construction of a flood protection system that will
result, by 2025, in an urban level of flood protection for
urban or urbanizing areas or meets FEMA standard for
nonurbanized areas.
These limitations apply to ministerial permits only to the
extent that such ministerial permits would result in
construction of a new residence in a flood zone. These
limitations also shall not be construed to change or diminish
any existing local ordinance necessary for participation in the
national flood insurance program.
5)Requires DWR to propose updated flood protection requirements
for floodplains with flood depths exceeding three feet in the
California Building Standards Code by 2009, after consultation
with the Board, the State Architect and the State Fire Marshal.
6)Authorizes local agencies to prepare local plans of flood
protection that include a strategy to meet the urban level of
flood protection, an emergency response plan, and a long-term
funding strategy for improvement, maintenance and operation of
flood protection facilities. Requires such local plans to be
consistent with the CVFPP.
7)Defines the "Sacramento-San Joaquin River Flood Management
System" (Flood Management System) to include both the
state-federal flood control project defined in last year's flood
bond as the "State Plan of Flood Control" and other Central
Valley flood management facilities that provide significant
system wide benefits for managing flood risks or protects urban
areas.
8)Requires DWR to prepare, by July 1, 2008, preliminary maps for
100-year and 200-year floodplains protected by project levees,
and provide such maps or notice of availability of other flood
risk information to cities and counties in the Central Valley.
9)Requires DWR to prepare and release, by 2011, a status report on
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its CVFPP progress.
10)Requires DWR and the Board to investigate and evaluate the
feasibility of potential bypasses or floodways in the San
Joaquin River watershed, upstream from the Delta.
11)Allows DWR to implement improvements to the State Plan of Flood
Control for urban areas before completion of the CVFPP if the
DWR Director makes certain findings to show such improvements
will not interfere with the prospective CVFPP.
12)Requires DWR to develop, and the Board to adopt (after certain
public process), by January 1, 2012, a CVFPP for the Flood
Management System, with updates in subsequent years ending in
two and seven. This CVFPP shall be a descriptive document that
includes:
a) description of the Flood Management System, including the
cities and counties included in that system;
b) description of the performance of the Flood Management
System and the challenges to modifying the Flood Management
System to provide appropriate levels of flood protection;
c) description of the facilities included in the State Plan
of Flood Control;
d) description of existing dams, levees and other flood
management facilities that provide significant system wide
benefit for managing Central Valley flood risks or that
protect urban areas protected by state-federal project
levees;
e) description of probable impacts of projected climate
change, land-use patterns and other potential flood
management challenges to the Flood Management System;
f) evaluation of the structural improvements necessary to
restore each of the facilities of the State Plan of Flood
Control to its design standard;
g) a list of the facilities recommended for removal from the
State Plan of Flood Control;
h) description of both structural and nonstructural methods
for providing an urban level of flood protection to currently
urbanized areas in the Central Valley;
i) description of structural and nonstructural methods for
enabling or improving system wide riverine ecosystem
function, including riparian habitat and inundation of
available floodplains.
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13)Limits state liability for developing and adopting a CVFPP
beyond the scope of the existing state-federal flood control
project.
14)Requires DWR, in developing the CVFPP, to collaborate with the
United States (U.S.) Army Corps of Engineers and
owners/operators of flood management facilities. Allows
appointment of advisory committees to assist in the plan's
development.
15)Requires the CVFPP to include a prioritized list, schedule of
implementation, and recommendations of both structural and
nonstructural means for improving performance and eliminating
deficiencies of flood management facilities - including the
State Plan of Flood Control - consistent with specified
objectives for flood protection improvements.
16)Allows DWR to propose that the Board incorporate additional
structural and nonstructural facilities into the State Plan of
Flood Control.
17)Requires DWR/Board to take necessary actions to remove
identified facilities from the State Plan of Flood Control and
prepare a funding plan/schedule for CVFPP implementation.
18)Requires each county in the Cenral Valley to work with cities
to develop an emergency response plan within 24 months of
adoption of the CVFPP.
19)Requires counties, cities, state and local flood agencies to
collaborate to provide relocation assistance or other
cost-effective strategies for reducing flood risk to existing
economically disadvantage communities located in nonurbanized
areas.
20)Requires cities and counties to collaborate to develop funding
mechanisms to finance local flood protection responsibilities by
2010.
21)Applies the bill's provisions, as applicable to cities, to
charter cities as well.
22)Requires DWR to develop a cost-sharing formula for flood bond
funding by 2010.
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23)Requires reimbursement to local agencies if the Commission on
State Mandates determines that the act mandates costs by the
state.
24)Makes this bill contingent on adoption of AB 5 (Wolk) of 2007
and SB 17 (Florez) of 2007.
25)Makes legislative findings regarding flood management.
EXISTING LAW authorizes DWR and the Reclamation Board to oversee
federal-state flood control projects in the Central Valley.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, estimated $1 million in costs for developing the
state's flood plan for the Central Valley. Certain unspecified
costs for local floodplain land-use regulatory changes may be
subject to reimbursement from the state.
COMMENTS : SB 5 has been part of this year's discussion of
comprehensive flood policy legislation for the Central Valley.
Previous versions concentrated on allocating flood protection
responsibilities for state and local agencies. This version,
which is virtually identical to AB 5, addresses two key issues,
CVFPP and floodplain land-use decisions subsequent to the State
adopting the CVFPP in 2012.
System Approach: Historically, state-federal flood projects in
the Central Valley have addressed flood risks for one small area
at a time. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers develops, funds and
constructs flood protection facilities project-by-project. Its
legal authority to do comprehensive, Valley-wide, flood protection
planning is limited. This narrow project focus discourages the
use of multiple, flood protection resources, such as dams,
floodways and levees in a comprehensive way. Most of the Central
Valley flood effort therefore has focused on building levees. In
contrast, this bill and its flood plan link all resources that
affect the state's flood protection efforts, including the water
supply system, floodplain management, and environmental management
throughout the Central Valley that comprise the flood system.
While considering this broader array of flood protection
resources, the plan nevertheless does not impose the
responsibility for flood protection for individual communities
beyond the areas now protected by the state-federal flood project,
called the State Plan of Flood Control (SPFC).
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State Liability: This bill requires the State to develop a flood
plan for the entire Central Valley, which is defined more broadly
than just the area protected by existing State levees. (Its
"Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley" definition is virtually identical
to the State Central Valley Flood Protection Board's existing
jurisdiction for approving flood control plans before development
occurs. See Cal. Water Code Section 8710.) While the system
approach considers a broader area than the SPFC, the bill limits
any potential liability arising out of this broader planning
effort, by specifying that planning for the entire system does not
constitute a state intention or commitment to provide flood
protection to areas beyond the existing SPFC.
Higher Level of Flood Protection: Participation in the national
flood insurance program requires limits on development in areas
with less than 100-year flood protection. FEMA currently is
redrawing its flood maps, which will show many Central Valley
areas lack such protection and need to improve their flood
infrastructure. This bill introduces a higher level of flood
protection for urban areas after 2012, the 200-year standard, or
protection sufficient to withstand a flood with a 1-in-200 chance
of occurring in any given year. As cities and counties start
analyzing how to improve their flood infrastructure, this bill
gives them notice of the requirement to improve flood protection
marginally better than the federal 100-year standard.
Flood Protection and Land-Use Decisions: This bill addresses both
the State's flood plan and local land-use decisions because the
two issues relate to each other, in practice as well as
legislation. The legal changes and limitations on land-use
decisions do not occur until after the State has adopted the new
CVFPP. In effect, the bill links these two types of decisions,
flood protection and floodplain land use, which resolves a
conflict that the Legislature has identified, through
informational hearings, over the last two years since Hurricane
Katrina. First, this bill requires that DWR and the Board to
adopt a flood plan. Second, it requires cities and counties to
make their floodplain land-use plans and zoning consistent with
the state's plan. Third, it bars land-use decisions for flood
hazard zones unless the city or county can show an "urban level of
flood protection" (i.e. sufficient to withstand a flood with a
1-in-200 chance of occurring in any given year) or "adequate
progress" toward such protection.
Staged Implementation: The structure of this bill produces staged
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implementation of added flood protection. First, DWR and the
Board develop the valley-wide flood plan. Then, Central Valley
cities and counties incorporate the state's flood plan into
general plans and zoning ordinances, so that floodplain
development concentrates on the areas with the strongest
protection or a plan for the strongest protection. Cities and
counties therefore can delay changes until they receive sufficient
information as to flood risk from the State.
Expanded Local Government Engagement: This bill also engages
cities and counties in helping protect their citizens from floods.
First, it authorizes local flood protection plans, based on
collaboration between local governments and flood agencies.
Second, the bill requires cities and counties to incorporate the
state flood plan into their general plan and zoning ordinances.
Third, the bill requires local agencies to develop flood emergency
response plans. Combined, these actions will help Central Valley
cities and counties to improve their understanding of the flood
risks that their citizens face and participate in developing and
funding flood protection efforts. Representatives of cities,
counties, flood agencies and local planners have participated in
and, to some extent, have contributed to crafting the bill's
provisions for local government.
Analysis Prepared by : Alf W. Brandt / W., P. & W. / (916)
319-2096
FN: 0003175