BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 691| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- THIRD READING Bill No: AB 691 Author: Muratsuchi (D) Amended: 8/12/13 in Senate Vote: 21 SENATE NATURAL RESOURCES AND WATER COMMITTEE : 7-2, 6/25/13 AYES: Pavley, Evans, Hueso, Jackson, Lara, Monning, Wolk NOES: Cannella, Fuller SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8 ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 51-21, 5/23/13 - See last page for vote SUBJECT : State lands: granted trust lands: sea level rise SOURCE : State Lands Commission State Controller John Chiang DIGEST : This bill 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. ANALYSIS : Existing law 1. Protects, pursuant to the common law doctrine of the Public Trust (Public Trust Doctrine), the public's right to use CONTINUED AB 691 Page 2 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. 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 of sea level rise for all of its legislatively granted public trust lands pursuant to this bill 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, and 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 CONTINUED AB 691 Page 3 following: A. An assessment of the impact 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 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; and 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. The description shall include, but is not limited to, how wetlands restoration and habitat preservation would mitigate impacts of sea level rises. 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. In CONTINUED AB 691 Page 4 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; and C. The revenues derived from its granted public trust lands and assets 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. Background The Commission created by the Legislature in 1938 as an independent body composed of three members - the Lieutenant Governor, State Controller and the Director of Finance. Among other duties, the Commission is responsible for managing over 4 million acres of sovereign land acquired by California at statehood. These sovereign lands include the beds of navigable rivers, lakes and streams, and tide and submerged lands. These lands are subject to the Public Trust Doctrine which protects the public's right to use California's waterways for commerce, navigation, fishing, boating, natural habitat protection, and other water-oriented activities. Public trust lands are held in trust by the state for the benefit of the people of California. Periodically, however, the Legislature transfers sovereign lands to local government entities for management purposes subject to certain terms and conditions, including the public trust. The state retains oversight authority over public trust lands granted to local governments. Currently, there are 85 grants to local governments (grantees). The grantee is a trustee to the lands and the revenues generated from these lands are held in trust and may only be used for purposes consistent with the public trust. Examples of granted lands include the Ports of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Diego. According to the National Research Council, the sea level off most of the state's coast is expected to rise approximately 1.4 meters by 2100, an amount slightly higher than projected for global sea levels. This sea level rise will likely increase damage in the state's coastal areas from storm surges and high waves. This is an issue that has serious implications for CONTINUED AB 691 Page 5 public trust lands held by local trustees. For example, in California's coastal areas approximately one-half million people (based upon the 2009 population) and $100 billion of property would be at risk at the end of the century from the estimated impact of a 100 year storm coupled with the anticipated sea level rise. In 2009, the Commission sent 104 surveys regarding sea level rise to all of its grantees and lessees of major facilities along the coast and San Francisco Bay. Of the 104 surveys sent, 40 were completed and returned. The responses indicated that most trustees have not yet begun to comprehensively consider the impacts of sea level rise. A similar survey was conducted in 2010 and yielded similar results. Prior Legislation AB 752 (Brownley, 2011) would have required local trustees to perform an assessment of sea level rise on granted lands (held in Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee). FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: Yes SUPPORT : (Verified 8/12/13) State Lands Commission (co-source) State Controller John Chiang (co-source) California Coastkeeper Alliance Coastal Environmental Rights Foundation Sierra Club California OPPOSITION : (Verified 8/12/13) California State Association of Counties League of California Cities ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author, this bill "would ensure that a local trustee takes reasonable steps to protect public trust lands from sea level rise. [?] AB 691 begins the process of taking reasonable and wise steps to preventing Californians from losing these important public assets." CONTINUED AB 691 Page 6 "This bill places the responsibility in the hands of the local trustee because they are the ones best equipped to assess sea level rise." The Sierra Club California states "requiring local trustees to address the impacts of impending changes such as sea level rise ensures that economic and natural communities in the potentially affected areas are prepared. The requirement also elevates public attention to climate change's serious consequences. Providing public access to the documents creates a transparency which holds the local trustees accountable." ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : In a joint letter, the California State Association of Counties and the League of California Cities stated that "we're already planning for sea level rise" and that this bill represents "another mandate for local government." The two opponents raise concerns about the uncertainty of which grantee is affected by this bill and the potential duplication of existing requirements to address sea level rise in existing local planning processes. Both express a wish to continue working with the author's office. ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 51-21, 5/23/13 AYES: Alejo, Ammiano, Atkins, Bloom, Blumenfield, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chesbro, Cooley, Daly, Dickinson, Eggman, Fong, Frazier, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gordon, Hall, Roger Hernández, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Medina, Mitchell, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Weber, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez NOES: Achadjian, Allen, Bigelow, Chávez, Conway, Dahle, Donnelly, Fox, Beth Gaines, Hagman, Harkey, Linder, Logue, Mansoor, Melendez, Morrell, Nestande, Olsen, Patterson, Wagner, Wilk NO VOTE RECORDED: Gorell, Gray, Grove, Holden, Jones, Waldron, Vacancy, Vacancy RM:d 8/13/13 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END **** CONTINUED AB 691 Page 7 CONTINUED