BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 618
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 618 (Wolk)
As Amended September 2, 2011
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE : 39-0
LOCAL GOVERNMENT 9-0 AGRICULTURE 9-0
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Ayes:|Smyth, Skinner, Bradford, |Ayes:|Galgiani, Valadao, Bill |
| |Campos, Davis, Gordon, | |Berryhill, Hill, Ma, |
| |Hueso, Knight, Norby | |Mendoza, Olsen, Perea, |
| | | |Yamada |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
APPROPRIATIONS 17-0
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Ayes:|Fuentes, Harkey, | | |
| |Blumenfield, Bradford, | | |
| |Charles Calderon, Campos, | | |
| |Davis, Donnelly, Gatto, | | |
| |Hall, Hill, Lara, | | |
| |Mitchell, Nielsen, Norby, | | |
| |Solorio, Wagner | | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: This bill allows a city or county and a landowner to
rescind a Williamson Act (Act) contract on agricultural lands
(Ag land) of limited agriculture or wildlife habitat value and
enter into a solar-use easement that restricts the use of land
to photovoltaic (PV) solar facilities. This bill exempts PV
solar energy systems (PV systems) from the California
Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) when placed on specific lands,
including some classes of unproductive Ag land. Specifically
this bill :
1)Expands the California Department of Fish and Game's (DFG)
authorization to grant permits to take Fully Protected Species
(FPS) if those species are covered and conserved in a Natural
Communities Conservation Plan (NCCP).
2)Defines solar-use easement as any rights or interests acquired
by a city or county in perpetuity or a term of years that
restricts the use of land to a solar facility, with the
SB 618
Page 2
purpose to provide for the collection and distribution of
solar energy for electricity generation, as specified.
3)Defines land eligible for a solar-use easement under the Act,
as meeting the following criteria:
a) The land meets either of the following:
i) Land consisting predominately of soil with
significantly reduced agriculture productivity for
agriculture activities, as specified; and,
ii) Land that has severely adverse soil conditions that
are detrimental to agricultural activities and
production, as specified.
b) Requires the parcel to not be located on prime farmland,
unique farmland, or land of statewide importance as
determined by the Farmland Mapping and Monitoring Program
of the California Natural Resources Agency (NRA), unless
the California Department of Conservation (DOC) determines
that the parcel is eligible for a PV easement based on
circumstances that cause limited agricultural use for the
parcel. Requires lands designated as important farmland
not to be reclassified due to irrigation status.
4)Requires the landowners requesting a PV easement to provide
DOC with the following information, if applicable:
a) A written explanation why the land, even under best
management practices, is agriculturally unproductive;
b) A recent soil test showing characteristics that make the
land agriculturally unproductive;
c) An analysis showing water availability on the land;
d) An analysis of water quality on the land; and,
e) Crop and yield information for the past six years.
5)Requires the landowner to provide to DOC a proposed management
plan for the life of the PV easement describing soil
management, minimizing impact on adjacent agriculture
operations, and plans to restore the land to its previous
SB 618
Page 3
condition when the easement ends. Requires the landowner,
when a local government approves a solar easement, to
implement the management plan if the land is deemed eligible
by DOC, as specified.
6)Allows DOC to establish a fee, to be paid by the landowner, to
recover the estimated cost incurred by DOC in the consultation
a solar easement.
7)Requires a solar-use easement to be officially recorded with
the county assessor.
8)Authorizes any county or city to enter into an agreement with
a landowner to hold marginally productive or physically
impaired land in a solar-use easement for a term of 20 years,
unless the landowner request a shorter term, that may not be
less than 10 years.
9)Requires the landowner to pay an Act cancellation fee equal to
6.25% of the fair market valuation of the land when placing
Act land into a solar-use easement, unless the land is
designated as a Farmland Security Zone (FSZ). FSZ land must
pay a cancellation fee of 12.5%.
10)Authorizes DOC to adopt regulations regarding the
implementation of the provisions of this measure.
11)Exempts PV system from the California Environmental Quality
Act (CEQA) on the following lands:
a) Abandoned surface mines, as specified;
b) Land with active, idle, abandoned or closed oil wells;
c) Solid waste landfills that have been closed, as
specified;
d) National Priorities List sites (Superfund sites) and
sites that were remediated and removed from the Superfund
sites list, or sites where corrective action has been
ordered, is underway or is complete;
e) Hazards substance release site where remediation or
corrective action has occurred;
SB 618
Page 4
f) Right of way owned by the California Department of
Transportation, as specified;
g) Land designated a hazardous air space in an airport land
use zone;
h) Industrial zoned land that has been mechanically
disturbed at least five years prior to the PV system
project application, as specified; and,
i) Agricultural land as determined by DOC, as specified.
12)Defines a PV system to include all parts and materials that
enable the generation and use of solar electricity; any
monitoring, control, safety, conversion and emergency
responder equipment, equipment to connect to electrical
services, and equipment to connect to the electric grid.
13)Requires reclamation, closure, remediation, or corrective
action required in previous permits, mitigation plans, or as a
condition of a previous project approval related to this
project site, to be carried out and determined to be complete
by the responsible agency prior to implementation of a PV
system project approval.
14)Requires the proposed PV system project land to be determined
by a qualified biologist to have no significant habitat value
as detailed in a complete biological resource survey
consistence with survey protocols recommended by DFG. The
CEQA exemption would not apply if the project would otherwise
require one of the following:
a) A new individual federal permit under the Federal Clean
Water Act or a new individual water discard permit under
the porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act;
b) A new individual take permit for species under the
federal or California Endangered Species Act; or,
c) A streambed alteration permit.
15)Allows DOC, in consultation with the California Department of
Food and Agriculture, to determine if agricultural land is
suitable for a CEQA exemption for a PV system project, if it
meets the requirements detailed in section 3 through 6 above.
SB 618
Page 5
16)Allows the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency to
further refine and limit the categories of lands allowed a
CEQA exemption for PV system projects.
17)Requires PV system project to be on 320 acres or less.
Prohibits successive applications for proposed PV systems on
adjacent parcels subject to common ownership and control.
18)States that landowners are not exempt from obligation imposed
by other laws.
19)Repeals the CEQA exemptions for PV systems on January 1,
2018.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires lead agencies with the principal responsibility for
carrying out or approving a proposed project to prepare a
negative declaration, mitigated negative declaration, or
environmental impact report (EIR) for this action, unless the
project is exempt from CEQA.
2)Creates the Act, also known as the California Land
Conservation Act of 1965, which authorizes cities and counties
to enter into Ag land preservation contracts with landowners
who agree to restrict the use of their land for a minimum of
10 years in exchange for lower-assessed valuations for
property tax purposes. Allows for cancellation of an Act
contract at the request of the landowner. Cancellation
immediately ends the contract and allows the landowner to use
the property for another specified use. When a cancellation
is approved, the landowner must pay a cancellation fee equal
to 12.5% of the property's nonrestricted value. The revenues
go to the state General Fund.
3)Allows DFG to issue permits allowing for the taking of any
covered species whose conservation and management is provided
for in a NCCP approved by DFG.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : The Act conserves agricultural and open space land by
allowing private property owners to sign voluntary contracts
SB 618
Page 6
with counties and cities, restricting their land to
agricultural, open space, and compatible uses. In return,
county assessors must lower the assessed value of the contracted
lands to reflect their use as agricultural or open space instead
of the market value. Making sure that private property owners
use their Act land appropriately is essential to maintaining the
statute's constitutional integrity. Approximately 16.6 million
acres are under Act contracts.
CEQA provides a process for evaluating the environmental effects
of projects undertaken or approved by public agencies. Projects
not exempt from CEQA undergo an initial study to determine
whether the project may have a significant effect on the
environment. Depending on if the initial study shows that there
would or would not be a significant effect on the environment,
the lead agency must prepare an EIR or a negative declaration.
A lead agency must base its determination of significant effects
on substantial evidence.
According to the author, as the state strives to meet its new,
ambitious, 33% Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS), counties and
landowners are left struggling to balance the competing needs of
large-scale solar PV development and protecting critical habitat
and farmland. The state has invested for decades in protecting
important farmland through subvention payments under the Act.
Now those lands are being targeted for development. Meanwhile,
there are millions of acres of degraded and economically
unproductive lands that are better suited for PV energy
production and have fewer environmental impacts.
The author states this bill establishes clear policy directions
to bring projects proposed for degraded lands on line faster and
cheaper. These policies will lead to greater job creation, help
the state reach its RPS goals, and ensure that California
continues to feed the nation by protected our most valuable
agricultural lands. This bill accomplishes this goal by allowing
landowners to rescind an Act contract by placing the land into a
new solar-use easement and a limited and precisely written
exemption for appropriately sited PV system projects from CEQA.
Recent amendments to this bill define Ag lands that would be
suitable for a solar use easement. The land needs to limited
values for agricultural production and not be prime farmland,
unique farmland or farmland that is of statewide importance
(important farmland). DOC may determine that some important
SB 618
Page 7
farmland is eligible for a solar-use easement if it can be shown
that the land has limited use for agricultural activities.
According to the author, this gives landowners a clear path to
terminate their contracts, while ensuring the state retains an
interest in the lands taxpayers have invested in for decades
through subvention payments.
Recent amendments to this bill define new CEQA exemptions for PV
system projects. The exemptions apply to lands that are
degraded and economically unproductive, such as clean-up
superfund sites, land near airports and specified Ag land. Ag
land eligible for this exemption have the same limitation as
land open to solar use easement, with the added restriction that
the Ag land has limited habitat value. The exemptions only
apply for PV system projects on a maximum of 320 acres. The
author states that this policy will encourage solar companies to
seek out more degraded lands to locate PV system projects.
According to the author, this is another tool that allows PV
system projects to opt to be part of NCCP. The author states
that the expanded DFG authorization to grant permits to take
FPS, if those species are covered and conserved in a NCCP, finds
the elusive middle ground between important land use protections
and unreasonable bureaucratic impediments in existing programs.
The expansion of authorization to take FPS is not limited to PV
system projects.
Analysis Prepared by : Victor Francovich / AGRI. / (916)
319-2084
FN: 0002679