BILL NUMBER: SB 461 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 30, 2013
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 16, 2013
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 1, 2013
INTRODUCED BY Senator Leno
FEBRUARY 21, 2013
An act to add Section 6217.9 to the Public Resources Code,
relating to coastal resources.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 461, as amended, Leno. State tide and submerged lands: mineral
extraction leases: revenues.
Existing law authorizes the State Lands Commission to lease tide
and submerged lands and beds of navigable rivers and lakes for the
extraction of oil and gas, as specified. Existing law, with specified
exceptions, generally requires the State Lands Commission, on and
after July 1, 2006, to deposit all revenue, money, and remittances,
derived from mineral extraction leases on state tide and submerged
lands into the General Fund, to be available upon appropriation by
the Legislature for specified purposes.
This bill would create the Coastal Adaptation Fund in the State
Treasury, and would authorize the expenditure of moneys in the fund,
in an amount not to exceed $15,000,000 annually, by the Ocean
Protection Council, the Department of Fish and Wildlife, the
California Coastal Commission, the State Coastal Conservancy,
the State Lands Commission, and the San Francisco Bay
Conservation and Development Commission, upon appropriation by the
Legislature in the annual Budget Act, for
purposes relating to the preparation, planning, and implementation of
measures, activities that prepare, plan, and implement
measures based upon the best available scientific information,
that are designed to address and adapt
to sea level rise and coastal climate
change, and related impacts. This change.
The bill would require the Legislature to appropriate
unspecified amounts for these purposes to each of these state
agencies in the annual Budget Act and would require that funding
made available pursuant to these provisions be in accordance with
the 2009 California Climate Adaptation Strategy, as specified. The
bill would require the Natural Resources Agency to ensure that moneys
expended from the fund are in compliance with the strategy and would
authorize the agency to require each of the above-listed entities to
provide information necessary to implement these provisions. The
bill would require the agency to make certain information regarding
activities funded by the Coastal Adaptation Fund available
on a publicly accessible Internet Web site. The bill would also
make various findings and declarations.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) The coast of California is a vital and invaluable natural
resource of statewide importance belonging to all the people, and its
preservation and accessibility by current and future generations is
of paramount concern to the residents of this state and nation.
(b) Burning nonrenewable fossil fuels that are extracted from
California's public lands and state tidelands contributes to global
climate change and sea level rise, which threatens the state's
coastal natural resources, human, plant, and animal communities,
public infrastructure, coastal tourism and recreational
opportunities, and the state's fifty-billion-dollar ($50,000,000,000)
coastal economy.
(c) Royalty revenue generated from leases authorizing the
extraction of nonrenewable resources on the state's trust lands
should be prioritized for planning, minimizing, and mitigating the
environmental impacts of those activities, including, but not limited
to, sea level rise.
(d) California's coastal management agencies, the California
Coastal Commission, the San Francisco Bay Conservation and
Development Commission, and the State Coastal Conservancy, have broad
authority for protecting coastal resources, enhancing public access
to and along the shoreline, and working in partnership with local
governments in long-range land use planning, permitting, and
projects.
(e) The State Lands Commission, Ocean Protection Council, and the
Department of Fish and Wildlife have constitutional and statutory
obligations to protect natural resources on other coastal public
lands while ensuring public access.
(f) Recent "King Tide" events, during which residents photographed
the local consequences of extreme high tide events around the state,
illustrate that California's coastal communities are not prepared
for the coming "new normal" of rising sea levels, and that enhanced
coastal planning and management of coastal resources and development
continue to be of preeminent concern to the state.
(g) The current rate of global sea level rise calls for an urgent,
coordinated, statewide initiative to actively plan for adaptation
and mitigation strategies to address the inevitable economic and
environmental impacts of sea level rise in this state.
(h) California has an existing "planning infrastructure" already
in place to address sea level rise, coastal management, and
associated planning and land use issues in the form of local coastal
programs and the San Francisco Bay Plan.
(i) Maintaining a strong state coastal management program,
including comprehensive updates of existing planning documents, is
the most efficient, cost-effective, and practical method for ensuring
that statewide coastal management and climate change policies are
locally implemented and that unplanned and costly ad hoc responses
that risk more significant environmental and social harm are avoided.
(j) Revenues generated from state tideland, oil, and gas leases
were historically allocated for environmental projects and programs
with a nexus to the extraction activities.
(k) In order for the state to maintain its strong coastal
management program and to plan and prepare comprehensively for sea
level rise in the face of a rapidly changing climate, it is
appropriate to allocate revenues from nonrenewable resource royalties
to purposes related to coastal resource protection and management,
including forward-thinking sea level rise and climate change
planning.
SEC. 2. Section 6217.9 is added to the Public Resources Code, to
read:
6217.9. (a) (1) The Coastal Adaptation Fund
is hereby created in the State Treasury. Moneys in the fund may be
expended, in an amount not to exceed fifteen million dollars
($15,000,000), by the Ocean Protection Council, the Department of
Fish and Wildlife, the California Coastal Commission, the State
Coastal Conservancy, the State Lands Commission, and the
San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission,
upon Commission. The moneys are subject to
appropriation by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act,
for purposes relating to the preparation, planning, and
implementation of measures, to fund activities that
prepare, plan, and implement measures, based upon the best
available scientific information, that are designed to
address and adapt to sea level rise and coastal climate
change, and related impacts change .
(2) Moneys appropriated to the State Coastal Conservancy shall be
subject to Section 31113, and the State Coastal Conservancy shall
collaborate with all appropriate public conservancies and commissions
in the geographic areas of those entities in implementing this
section.
(b) The Legislature shall appropriate at least ____ dollars ($
____) in the annual Budget Act to each of the state agencies
described in subdivision (a), for the purposes stated therein.
(c) Moneys made available pursuant to this section shall be used
to fund activities that are in accordance with the 2009 California
Climate Adaption Strategy, or the most recent update to the strategy,
as prepared by the Natural Resources Agency.
(d) The Natural Resources Agency shall ensure that moneys expended
from the Coastal Adaptation Fund are in compliance with the 2009
California Climate Adaptation Strategy, or its most recent update,
and, in ensuring compliance with the strategy, the agency may require
the entities described in subdivision (a) to provide information
necessary to implement this section.
(e) In accordance with subdivision (d), the Natural Resources
Agency shall also, on a publicly accessible Internet Web site,
annually make available information regarding any activity funded
pursuant to this section. The information shall include, at a
minimum, all of the following:
(1) The name of the agency, or agencies, to which funding was
allocated.
(2) A summary of the activity funded by the Coastal Adaptation
Fund, including the activity's purpose and its relationship to the
2009 California Climate Adaptation Strategy, or its update.
(3) The amount allocated for the activity.
(4) An anticipated timeline and total cost for completion of the
activity.