Amended in Senate May 28, 2013

Amended in Senate April 30, 2013

Amended in Senate April 16, 2013

Amended in Senate April 1, 2013

Senate Bill No. 461

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 begin delete $15,000,000 end delete begin insert $10,000,000 end insert 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 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.

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 begin delete fifteen end delete begin insert ten end insert million dollars begin delete ($15,000,000) end delete
begin insert ($10,000,000) end insert , 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. The
moneys are subject to appropriation by the Legislature in the annual
Budget Act, 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.

(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.