Amended in Senate August 12, 2013

Amended in Senate July 1, 2013

Amended in Assembly April 22, 2013

Amended in Assembly March 11, 2013

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 691

Introduced by Assembly Member Muratsuchi

February 21, 2013

An act to add Section 6311.5 to the Public Resources Code, relating to state lands.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 691, as amended, Muratsuchi. State lands: granted trust lands: sea level rise.

Existing law vests with the State Lands Commission control over specified state lands, including tidelands and submerged lands. Existing law grants to various local entities the right, title, and interest of the state in and to certain tidelands and submerged lands in trust generally for purposes of commerce, navigation, and fisheries, and for other public trust purposes.

This bill would provide that addressing the impacts begin delete from end delete begin insert of end insert sea level rise for all of its legislatively granted public trust lands shall be among the management priorities of a local trustee, as defined. The bill would require a local trustee whose gross public trust revenues average over $250,000 annually between January 1, 2009, and January 1, 2014, to prepare and submit to the commission, no later than July 1, 2019, except as provided, an assessment of how it proposes to address sea level rise. The bill would permit, but not require, a local trustee whose gross public trust revenues are $250,000 or less to prepare and submit to the commission an assessment. The bill would require a local trustee to consider and use relevant information from specified reports on sea level rise in preparing the assessment and would permit a trustee that has already completed an assessment on the impacts of sea level rise to submit that assessment to the commission. The bill would require that the commission make those assessments available to the public on its Internet Web site, and send electronic copies to certain other public entities.

By adding to the duties of local agencies that are local trustees of granted public trust lands, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: yes.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:

(a) Upon admission to the United begin delete States, end delete begin insert States in 1850, end insert and as
incident of its sovereignty, the State of California received title to
the tidelands, submerged lands, and beds of navigable waterways
within its borders to be held subject to the begin insert common law end insert public trust
doctrine for statewide public purposes, including commerce,
navigation, fisheries, preservation of lands in their natural state,
open space, wildlife habitat, water-oriented recreation, and other
recognized public trust uses.

(b) The state has made grants of public trust lands to over 80
local public entities, each of which manages the state’s public trust
lands as trustee pursuant to the common law public trust doctrine,
statutory grants, the California Constitution, and other laws
governing the trust and the trustee’s fiduciary responsibilities.

(c) A local trustee of granted public trust lands is charged with
managing the state’s granted public trust lands on behalf of the
state for the benefit of all the people of California.

(d) As part of its fiduciary duty, a local trustee of granted public
trust lands is required to take reasonable steps under the
circumstances to take and keep control of and preserve the trust
property.

(e) The effects of climate change and sea level rise will have
enormous implications for the state’s economic and social future,
and have the potential to have a wide range of impacts to critical
infrastructure, such as schools, roads, hospitals, emergency
facilities, wastewater treatment plants, airports, ports, and energy
facilities.

(f) Coastal counties in California are home to approximately
32,000,000 people.

(g) The coastal economy contributes more than $50 billion
annually to the State of California.

(h) Port activities in California generate an estimated $7 billion
in state and local tax revenues annually and employ more than
500,000 people in California. Nationwide more than two million
jobs are connected to California ports.

(i) In 2007, more than 40 percent of the total containerized cargo
entering the United States arrived at California ports, and almost
30 percent of the nation’s exports left from California ports.

(j) In 2002, cargo operations shut down at west coast ports for
10 days, and the estimated loss to the national economy was $1
billion per day.

(k) Research funded by the state has shown that a 55-inch sea
level rise, with a 100-year storm event along the California coast,
places approximately 480,000 people (based on the population in
2009) and nearly $100 billion of property at risk.

(l) Coastal habitats, including wetlands and beaches, provide
important ecological, recreational, and scenic functions and values,
which are threatened by sea level rise, unless actions are taken to
effectively manage these habitats and adjacent lands.

(m) Many state entities, such as the Governor’s Office of
Planning and Research, the Strategic Growth Council, the Ocean
Protection Council, the San Francisco Bay Conservation and
Development Commission, the California Coastal Commission,
and the State Lands Commission have supported efforts to develop
tools and to increase accessibility to existing state data, and to
provide additional data and tools to help local, regional, and state
agencies make informed decisions about sea level rise.

(n) The use of revenues received from trust lands and trust assets
by a local trustee of granted public trust lands is limited by the
statutory grant, the begin insert common law end insert public trust doctrine, and other
laws governing the trust. An evaluation of the impacts of sea level
rise on granted public trust lands is directly related to the operation
and management of these resources managed on behalf of the state
by local trustees and is, therefore, a purpose consistent with the
public trust for commerce, navigation, and fisheries, and the
applicable statutory grants.

(o) Because a local trustee of granted public trust lands holds
and manages its public trust property, including the lands and
revenue derived from that property, as a state asset for the benefit
of the people of California and cannot use the trust corpus for
general municipal purposes or other purposes not consistent with
the begin insert common law end insert public trust doctrine and its statutory grant, and
because the State Lands Commission is provided with a mechanism
in this act to exempt a local trustee that does not have sufficient
state funds, either through the trust or other existing funding
mechanisms, to pay for the cost of assessing the impacts of sea
level rise, Section 6311.5 of the Public Resources Code, as added
by this act, will not impose costs on local governments.

SEC. 2.  

Section 6311.5 is added to the Public Resources Code,
to read:

6311.5.  

(a) For the purposes of this section, the following
terms shall have the following meanings:

(1) “Local trustee” means a local trustee of granted public trust
lands that is a county, city, or district, including water, sanitary,
regional park, port, or harbor district, or any other local political
or corporate subdivision that has been granted public trust lands
through a legislative grant.

(2) “Gross public trust revenues” means those gross revenues
that are subject to subdivision (c) of Section 6306.

(b) Addressing the impacts begin delete from end delete begin insert of end insert sea level rise for all of its
legislatively granted public trust lands pursuant to this section shall
be among the management priorities of a local trustee. The
geographic scope of a local trustee’s assessment of the impacts
from sea level rise is not required to go beyond the boundaries of
the local trustee’s granted public trust lands.

(c) A local trustee, whose gross public trust revenues average
over two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000) annually
between January 1, 2009, and January 1, 2014, shall prepare and
submit to the commission, no later than July 1, 2019, an assessment
of how the local trustee proposes to address sea level rise. A local
trustee whose gross public trust revenues are two hundred fifty
thousand dollars ($250,000) or less may, but is not required to,
prepare and submit to the commission an assessment.

(d) For the purposes of subdivision (c), a local trustee shall
consider and use relevant information from the 2009 California
Climate Adaptation Strategy prepared by the Natural Resources
Agency, the Report on Sea Level Rise Preparedness prepared by
the State Lands Commission, the Sea-Level Rise for the Coasts of
California, Oregon, and Washington: Past, Present, and Future, a
report prepared by the National Academy of Sciences, the
Resolution of the California Ocean Protection Council on
Sea-Level Rise, the State of California Sea-Level Rise begin delete Interim end delete
Guidance Document, and any subsequent updates to those reports
that become available six months prior to the date the begin delete assessment
is required to be submitted to the commission. end delete begin insert local trustee submits
the assessment to the commission. end insert A local trustee’s assessment
prepared pursuant to subdivision (c) shall include all of the
following:

(1) An assessment of the impact of begin delete a range of end delete sea level rise on
granted public trust lands, as described in the Resolution of the
California Ocean Protection Council on Sea-level Rise and the
latest version of the State of California Sea-Level Rise begin delete Interim end delete
Guidance Document.

(2) Maps showing the areas that may be affected by sea level
rise in the years 2030, 2050, and 2100. These maps shall include
the potential impacts of 100-year storm events. A local trustee may
rely on appropriate maps generated by other entities.

(3) An estimate of the financial cost of the impact of sea level
rise on granted public trust lands. The estimate shall consider, but
is not limited to, the potential cost of repair of damage to and the
value of lost use of improvements and land, and the anticipated
cost to prevent or mitigate potential damage.

(4) A description of how the local trustee proposes to protect
and preserve natural and manmade resources and facilities located,
or proposed to be located, on trust lands and operated in connection
with the use of the trust lands. begin insert The description shall include, but
is not limited to, how wetlands restoration and habitat preservation
would mitigate impacts of sea level rise. end insert

(e) In addressing the impacts begin delete from end delete begin insert of end insert sea level rise, a local
trustee shall collaborate with its lessees, appropriate local, state,
and federal agencies, and other users of the granted public trust
lands.

(f) (1) A local trustee that prepares an assessment pursuant to
subdivision (c) shall submit a copy to the commission in hard copy
and electronic form. The commission shall make the assessment
available to the public on its Internet Web site and, for
informational purposes, shall send an electronic copy to each
member of the Climate Action Team, the climate change program
manager in the office of the Secretary for Environmental
Protection, and the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research.

(2) For purposes of compliance with this subdivision, if a trustee
has already completed an assessment of the impacts of sea level
rise that meets the criteria of this section, the trustee may submit
that assessment to the commission.

(g) The commission shall exempt a local trustee of granted
public trust lands from this section if the commission finds either
of the following:

(1) The local trustee’s public trust lands are not subject to sea
level rise by 2100, based upon the highest projections in the most
recent version of the State of California Sea-Level Rise Guidance
Document.

(2) The cost to provide an assessment of how the local trustee
proposes to address the impacts of sea level rise substantially
outweighs the benefit the action would have in preventing the
potential economic and environmental harms associated with sea
level rise on the local trustee’s granted public trust lands. In making
this determination, the economic benefits of all ecological services
provided by the existing natural resources in the local trustee’s
granted public trust lands shall be considered.

(h) The commission shall exempt a local trustee from this section
if the revenues derived from its granted public trust lands and
assets subject to subdivision (c) of Section 6306 or funding made
available to it from other discretionary sources is not sufficient to
pay for the cost of assessing the impacts of sea level rise on granted
public trust land and providing this information to the commission.

(i) The commission shall consider a local trustee’s request for
an exemption pursuant to subdivision (g) or (h) at a properly
noticed commission meeting if the request is made before
November 1, 2018.

(j) Other than submission of the assessment required by
subdivision (c), this section does not require a local trustee to
implement any specific actions to address sea level rise pursuant
to this section.

(k) Nothing in this section shall be construed to conflict with
any federal regulations governing sea level rise.

SEC. 3.  

No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
the costs incurred by a local agency to pay for the program or level
of service mandated by this act, within the meaning of Section
17556 of the Government Code, will be paid solely from the
revenues derived from the public trust lands and assets that are
granted to that local agency by the state.