BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1965
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Date of Hearing: August 31, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Cameron Smyth, Chair
AB 1965 (Pan) - As Amended: August 29, 2012
SUBJECT : Land use.
SUMMARY : Revises provisions contained in SB 1278 (Wolk),
related to planning and zoning for flood protection in the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley.
The Senate amendments chapter out specified provisions of SB
1278 (Wolk), thereby making the following changes to that bill:
1)Delete language specifying that an urban level of flood
protection only applies to a "leveed riverine system."
2)Delete provisions stating that the review and approval of
floodplain maps by the Department of Water Resources (DWR)
shall be exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act
(CEQA) and the California Endangered Species Act (CESA).
3)Declare that the provisions of this bill shall become
operative only if Senate Bill 1278 is enacted and takes effect
on or before January 1, 2013, and this bill is enacted after
SB 1278.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill allowed a designee to
attend meetings of the California State University Board of
Trustees and act on behalf of an ex officio board member.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee's analysis of SB 1278 (Wolk), the following costs are
associated with SB 1278:
1)Costs in the millions of dollars to the DWR to develop the
detailed maps required in this bill (GF, special fund, bond
funds).
2)Unknown cost pressures, likely in the millions of dollars,
beginning in 2013-14 through 2015-16, for financial assistance
to cities and counties to update their General Plans pursuant
to the Central Valley Flood Protection Plan.
AB 1965
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COMMENTS :
1)SB 1278 (Wolk, 2012) passed the Legislature and was sent to
Governor Brown for his signature on August 23, 2012. SB 1278
requires DWR to issue flood maps and local governments to
update their general plans to determine whether areas have met
urban levels of flood protection before they can be developed.
2)DWR recently requested (after SB 1278 was sent to the
Governor) that the author make several changes to SB 1278.
Rather than pull SB 1278 back from the Governor's desk for
purposes of further amendment, the author opted instead to
find an unrelated vehicle to
amend DWR's requested changes into, and to make the clean-up
bill effective after SB 1278,
should the Governor sign that bill. The net effect is that the
changes in AB 1965 would layer on top of SB 1278, thereby
resolving DWR's concerns.
3)This bill contains two sections that were also included in SB
1278. The first section contains a definition of "urban level
of flood protection" that deletes several words, thereby
deleting language from SB 1278 that specifies that an urban
level of flood protection only applies to a leveed riverine
system. The second section of overlap between the two bills
deletes provisions stating that the review and approval of
floodplain maps by DWR shall be exempt from CEQA and CESA.
4)Support arguments: This bill contains technical clean-up at
the request of DWR in order to delete certain provisions out
of SB 1278 (Wolk) that were problematic for DWR. Without
these changes, SB 1278 awaits an uncertain future on the
Governor's desk.
Opposition arguments: Rather than gut-and-amend a bill to
include DWR's requested deletions, the more prudent route may
be to pull back SB 1278 for further amendment. Alternatively,
the Legislature may wish to consider whether a letter to the
journal by the author of SB 1278 committing to clean-up
legislation next year to address DWR's concerns may have
sufficed, instead of sending two separate bills to the
Governor.
AB 1965
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5)The Assembly-approved provisions of this bill were deleted in
the Senate.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
None on file
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Debbie Michel / L. GOV. / (916)
319-3958