BILL NUMBER: AB 691	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  AUGUST 12, 2013
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JULY 1, 2013
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 22, 2013
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 11, 2013

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  from
  of  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  States,  
States in 1850,  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  common law  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  common law  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
 common law  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  from   of 
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  Interim  Guidance Document, and any
subsequent updates to those reports that become available six months
prior to the date the  assessment is required to be submitted
to the commission.   local trustee submits the
assessment to the commission.  A local trustee's assessment
prepared pursuant to subdivision (c) shall include all of the
following:
   (1) An assessment of the impact of  a range of 
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
 Interim  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.  The description shall include,
but is not limited to, how wetlands restoration and habitat 
 preservation would mitigate impacts of sea level rise. 
   (e) In addressing the impacts  from   of
 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.