BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  SB 1278
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   August 8, 2012

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                     SB 1278 (Wolk) - As Amended:  June 12, 2012 

          Policy Committee:                             Local 
          GovernmentVote:9-0
                       Water, Parks and Wildlife              12-0

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program: 
          No     Reimbursable:              

           SUMMARY  
           
           This bill requires the Department of Water Resources (DWR) to 
          issue flood maps to be used by local governments to update their 
          general plans and determine whether areas have met urban levels 
          of flood protection before they can be developed.  Specifically, 
          this bill:   

          1)Requires DWR to issue maps indicating the areas protected by 
            the State Plan of Flood Control by July 2, 2013, and specifies 
            that within 24 months of this deadline (i.e. July 2, 2015) 
            local governments will need to update their general plans to 
            reflect the Flood Plan.

          2)Offers financial assistance, to the extent funds are 
            available, to assist local governments in updating their 
            general plans to reflect the soon to be released Central 
            Valley Flood Protection Plan (Flood Plan).

          3)Extends existing deadlines for the general plan updates.

          4)Requires a local government to determine, based on substantial 
            evidence, that property in an undetermined risk area has met 
            the urban level of flood protection before it may be 
            developed.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

           1) Costs in the millions of dollars to the Department of Water 
             Resources to develop the detailed maps required in this bill 
             (GF, special fund, bond funds). 








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           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.


           COMMENTS  

           1)Purpose  .  According to the author, cities and counties within 
            the Central Valley currently do not have access to reliable 
            information on flood risks to their communities.  The author 
            argues SB 1278 will help ensure these communities are able to 
            work with the state to develop the flood risk information 
            necessary to make informed and responsible land use decisions.

           2)Support  .  The Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA) 
            writes that this bill provides cities and counties within the 
            Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley with the necessary tools so that 
            they may effectively implement the Central Valley Flood 
            Protection Plan, and will allow for a more comprehensive 
            execution of the plan.

           3)Concerns .  In their joint support if amended letter, the 
            California State Association of Counties (CSAC), Regional 
            Council of Rural Counties (RCRC), League of California Cities 
            (League) and the California Chapter of the American Planning 
            Association (APA) note that significant implementation 
            challenges for cities and counties within the Sacramento-San 
            Joaquin Valley have been identified since the enactment of SB 
            5.  They are concerned that the law could apply to development 
            other than new construction and the requirements for 200-year 
            protection would discourage, if not prohibit, infill 
            development.

           4)Background  .  The State Plan of Flood Control is a document of 
            existing state and federal flood control works, protection 
            systems, lands, programs, plans, conditions, modes of 
            operations, and maintenance of the Sacramento River Flood 
            Control Project, Sacramento River, and San Joaquin River 
            watersheds.

            SB 5 (Machado), Chapter 364, Statutes of 2007, required DWR 
            and the Central Valley Flood Protection Board to prepare and 
            adopt a Central Valley Flood Protection Plan by 2012, and 








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            established certain flood protection requirements for certain 
            local land-use decisions consistent with the Central Valley 
            Protection Plan.  In June, the Central Valley Flood Protection 
            Board adopted the Central Valley Flood Protection Plan, an 
            integrated flood management plan for the Sacramento-San 
            Joaquin River Flood Management System

            Under SB 5, each city and county within the Sacramento-San 
            Joaquin Valley is required to amend its general plan within 
            two years of the Central Valley Flood Protection Board's 
            adopting the Flood Plan.  A city or county within the 
            Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley must amend its zoning ordinance 
            to make it consistent with its general plan within 36 months 
            of the Board's adopting the Flood Plan.  Once a city or county 
            completes the update to its general plan and amendment to the 
            zoning ordinance, it is prohibited from entering into a 
            development agreement for property located within a flood 
            hazard zone, unless a city or county makes specific findings.



           Analysis Prepared by  :    Roger Dunstan / APPR. / (916) 319-2081