BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 691
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 691 (Muratsuchi)
As Amended April 22, 2013
Majority vote
NATURAL RESOURCES 6-2 APPROPRIATIONS 12-5
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|Ayes:|Chesbro, Garcia, |Ayes:|Gatto, Bocanegra, |
| |Muratsuchi, Skinner, | |Bradford, |
| |Stone, Williams | |Ian Calderon, Campos, |
| | | |Eggman, Gomez, Hall, |
| | | |Rendon, Pan, Quirk, Weber |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Grove, Patterson |Nays:|Harkey, Bigelow, |
| | | |Donnelly, Linder, Wagner |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Requires a local trustee of granted public trust lands
whose annual gross public trust revenues exceed $250,000 to
prepare and submit to the State Lands Commission (Commission) an
assessment of how it proposes to address sea level rise.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Defines "local trustee" as 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)Establishes that addressing the impacts from 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.
3)Requires, by July 1, 2019, a local trustee whose gross public
trust revenues average over $250,000 annually between January
1, 2009, until January 1, 2014, to prepare and submit to the
Commission an assessment of how it proposes to address sea
level rise (sea level rise assessment).
4)Requires the sea level rise assessment to include all of the
following:
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a) 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;
b) 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;
c) 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; and
d) 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.
5)Requires the Commission to exempt a local trustee from
preparing a sea level rise assessment if the Commission finds
any of the following:
a) 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;
b) 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; or
c) The revenues derived from its granted public trust lands
and assets or funding made available to it from other
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discretionary sources is not sufficient to pay for the cost
of assessing the impacts of sea level rise on granted
public trust land.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Protects, pursuant to the common law doctrine of the Public
Trust (Public Trust Doctrine), the public's right to use
California's waterways for commerce, navigation, fishing,
boating, natural habitat protection, and other water oriented
activities. The Public Trust Doctrine provides that filled
and unfilled tide and submerged lands and the beds of lakes,
streams, and other navigable waterways (i.e., public trust
lands) are to be held in trust by the state for the benefit of
the people of California.
2)Establishes that the Commission is the steward and manager of
the state's public trust lands. The Commission has direct
administrative control over the state's public trust lands and
oversight authority over public trust lands granted by the
Legislature to local governments.
3)Grants, in trust, state public trust lands to over 80 local
public agencies (local trustees) to be managed for the benefit
of all the people of the state and pursuant to the Public
Trust Doctrine and terms of the applicable granting statutes.
4)Recognizes a local trustee's fiduciary duty to take reasonable
steps under the circumstances to take and keep control of and
to preserve the trust property.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee:
1)Potential redirection of an unknown amount of granted public
trust revenue offset by potential future state savings
resulting from planning and preventative measures.
This bill would require certain local trustees of granted
public lands to submit planning information relating to sea
level rise to the Commission.
This bill however exempts trustees if gross annual revenues
are less than $250,000 and requires the Commission to provide
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an exemption if the revenues derived from the trustee's
granted public lands or available through third-party funding
are not sufficient to pay for the cost of the plan. This bill
also exempts trustees from using the revenue for this purpose
if the granted lands are not subject to sea level rise.
2)Minor, absorbable (special fund) costs to the Commission to
make copies available to other state agencies and post the
information on their Web site.
COMMENTS : For over 100 years, the Legislature has granted
public trust lands to local trustees so they can be managed
locally for the benefit of the people of California. There are
over 80 trustees in the state, including the ports of Los
Angeles, Long Beach, San Diego, San Francisco, Oakland,
Richmond, Benicia, and Eureka. While these trust lands are
managed locally, the Commission has oversight authority to
ensure those local trustees are complying with the Public Trust
Doctrine and the applicable granting statutes.
Sea level rise is an issue that has far reaching consequences
for public trust lands held by local trustees. Sea level rise
threatens coastal communities and infrastructure, including
transportation facilities, electric utility systems and power
plants, storm water systems and wastewater treatment plants and
outfalls, vast areas of wetlands, and many other human and
natural systems. According to research funded in part by the
California Ocean Protection Council, a 55 inch sea level rise,
with a 100 year storm event along the California coast places
approximately 480,000 people and nearly $100 billion of property
at risk.
A local trustee's failure to plan for sea level rise may be
considered a breach of its trust responsibilities since the
trustee has a fiduciary duty to the people of California to take
reasonable steps under the circumstances to take and keep
control of and to preserve the trust property (this duty is
codified in Public Resources Code Section 6009.1). To assist in
avoiding such a breach, this bill will require a local trustee
to assess the impacts of sea level rise on granted public trust
lands and describe how the local trustee proposes to protect
those lands. The local trustee is in the best position to
conduct this assessment because it has the administrative
control over its granted trust land and, in most cases,
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generates revenues off of the land, which must be used for
purposes such as managing and preserving the trust assets.
California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) . According to
Section 15262 of the CEQA Guidelines, a project involving only
feasibility or planning studies for possible future actions
which the agency, board, or commission has not approved,
adopted, or funded does not require the preparation of an
environmental impact report or negative declaration. A sea
level rise assessment required by this bill appears to fall
under this feasibility or planning studies provision.
Analysis Prepared by : Mario DeBernardo / NAT. RES. / (916)
319-2092
FN: 0000672