BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



          SENATE COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES AND WATER
                             Senator Fran Pavley, Chair
                                2015 - 2016  Regular 

          Bill No:            AB 142          Hearing Date:    July 14,  
          2015
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          |Author:    |Bigelow                |           |                 |
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          |Version:   |April 6, 2015    Amended                             |
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          |Urgency:   |No                     |Fiscal:    |Yes              |
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          |Consultant:|William Craven                                       |
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                 Subject:  Wild and scenic rivers: Mokelumne River.

          BACKGROUND AND EXISTING LAW
          The California Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (Act):

          1)Declares that it is the policy of the state that certain  
            rivers that possess extraordinary scenic, recreational,  
            fishery, or wildlife values be preserved in their  
            "free-flowing" state, together with their immediate  
            environments, for the benefit and enjoyment of the people of  
            the state.  Declares that such use of these rivers is the  
            highest and most beneficial use, and is a reasonable and  
            beneficial use of water.

          2)Defines "free-flowing" as existing or flowing without  
            artificial impoundment, diversion, or other modification of  
            the river.  (The presence of low dams, diversion works, and  
            other minor structures does not automatically bar a river's  
            inclusion within the wild and scenic rivers system (system).

          3)Requires that those rivers or segments of rivers included in  
            the system be classified as one of the following:

             a)   Wild rivers, which are those rivers or segments of  
               rivers that are free of impoundments and generally  
               inaccessible except by trail, with watersheds or shorelines  
               essentially primitive and waters unpolluted;

             b)   Scenic rivers, which are those rivers or segments of  







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               rivers that are free of impoundments, with shorelines or  
               watersheds still largely primitive and shorelines largely  
               undeveloped, but accessible in places by roads; or

             c)   Recreational rivers, which are those rivers or segments  
               of rivers that are readily accessible by road or railroad,  
               may have some development along their shorelines, and may  
               have undergone some impoundment or diversion in the past.

          4)Designates several California rivers and segments thereof as  
            components of the system. 

          5)Requires the California Natural Rivers Agency (NRA) to be  
            responsible for coordinating the activities of state agencies  
            whose activities affect the rivers in the system with those of  
            other state, local, and federal agencies with jurisdiction  
            over matters that may affect the rivers.

          6)Requires the NRA to study and submit to the Governor and  
            Legislature reports on the suitability or nonsuitability for  
            addition to the system when the Legislature designates  
            potential additions to the system. The reports shall include  
            the following:
               a)     Recommendations and proposals with respect to the  
                 designation of a river or segment;
               b)     Maps and illustrations to show the area included  
                 within the report;
               c)     Characteristics which do or do not make the area a  
                 worthy addition to the system;
               d)     Status of land ownership and use; and
               e)     Potential uses which will be enhanced, foreclosed,  
                 or curtailed if included in the system.

          PROPOSED LAW
          The bill would:

          1)Require a study by the NRA that analyzes the suitability or  
            non-suitability of the designation of the Mokelumne River, its  
            tributaries, or portions thereof as additions to the system.

          2) Require the study to include:
             a)   A suitability analysis that includes the potential  
               effects on the ability of public agencies and utilities  
               within the watershed to feasible and projected future water  








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               requirements through the development of new water supplies  
               from the Mokelumne River;
             b)   Any effects of climate change on river values and water  
               supply; 
             c)   Instances in which the secretary of the NRA allowed a  
               water diversion to be constructed on a river segment listed  
               in the system; 
             d)   Instances in which the State Water Resources Control  
               Board approved an application to appropriate water from a  
               river segment that is a part of the system and what  
               restrictions, if any, were placed on the appropriation of  
               water as a result of that river segment's inclusion in the  
               system. 
             e)   Maps and illustrations to show the area included within  
               the report;
             f)   Characteristics which do or do not make the area a  
               worthy addition to the system;
             g)   Status of land ownership and use; and
             h)   Potential uses which will be enhanced, foreclosed, or  
               curtailed if included in the system.

          3) Require the NRA's clear recommendation on whether the  
          Legislature should enact legislation to add the portion or any  
          segment of the Mokelumne River to the system in a report due on  
          or before December 31, 2016.

          4) Establish interim protections for the Mokelumne during the  
          study period and implementation of any recommendation to add  
          segments to the system that prohibit dams, reservoirs, or other  
          water impoundment facilities from construction unless the  
          secretary determines that the facility is needed to supply  
          domestic water to the residents of the county or counties  
          through which the river and segment flows and the secretary also  
          determines that the facility will not adversely affect the  
          free-flowing condition and natural character of the river. This  
          provision exempts the Amador Water Agency's water rights  
          application (5647X03) that is pending before the State Water  
          Resources Control Board. 

          5) Define the reach of the Mokelumne that may be added to the  
          system as upstream from the upper extent of the Pardee Reservoir  
          at the elevation of not less than 580 feet above mean sea level.  










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          6) Extend existing law prohibiting state agencies from  
          cooperating with new dams on rivers in the system to the stretch  
          of the Mokelumne that is subject to the study. 

          ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT
          The goal of the author and many of the supporters is to ensure  
          that a study is completed before designation of the Mokelumne is  
          considered in legislation. Last year, Senator Hancock carried SB  
          1199 which would have achieved such a designation without a  
          study. That bill was held in the Assembly Appropriations  
          Committee. 

          The author and supporters also have requested protection of the  
          existing water right proposal of the Amador Water Agency now  
          pending before the State Water Resources Control Board, and the  
          effect of any designation on water supply reliability. 

          ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION
          According to the author, there is no longer any opposition to  
          the bill. 

          COMMENTS
          There are different points of agreement among the supporters of  
          this bill, and there have been active discussions among them to  
          consider possible amendments. Committee staff was involved in a  
          recent meeting at which several amendments were agreed upon by  
          the author and the lead supporters from the conservation  
          community and the affected water agency. Those amendments  
          resolve all but one or two of the items still under discussion.  
          The bill may be amended later by agreement of the stakeholders,  
          or not. The following amendments have been agreed to by the  
          stakeholders. These add specified studies and assessments into  
          the secretary's study, add a date certain by which the interim  
          protections terminate, geographically define the upper limit of  
          the river segment to be included in the study, and make other  
          changes. 

          SUGGESTED AMENDMENTS 
          
          AMENDMENT 1
               Page 3, line 1 Add cross reference to 5093.50 for "river  
          values" - 5093.548(a)(2) 

          AMENDMENT2








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               Add as 5093.548(a) (3) - page 3 after line 2
               "The following feasibility studies and assessments included  
               within the implementation Plan of the Mokelumne Watershed  
               Interregional Sustainability Evaluation, Final Report dated  
               June 2015: 7a, 7b, 7d, 7f. The inclusion of these studies  
               and assessments in this subsection shall not be construed  
               as an exemption from a wild scenic designation."


          AMENDMENT 3
          Page 3, line 19. Extend the report deadline to 12/31/17. 


          AMENDMENT 4
               page 3, line 31 and page 4, line 24) 5093.548(f) - Add  
               outside limit on interim protection date of December 31,  
               2021. 

          AMENDMENT 5
               page 4, line 6.  Add upper limit on potential designation  
               area to 5093.549- "from 0.50 miles miles downstream of the  
               Salt Springs 97-066 Dam to upstream"

               AMENDMENT 6
               Add uncodified language to allow for state funding of the  
               following feasibility studies and assessments included  
               within the implementation Plan of the Mokelumne Watershed  
               Interregional Sustainability Evaluation, Final Report dated  
               June 12, 2015 that are identified as: 7a, 7b, 7d, 7f


          SUPPORT
          Amador City
          Amador County Board of Supervisors
          Amador County Business Council
          Amador County Republican Central Committee
          Amador Water Agency
          American Whitewater
          Association of California Water Agencies
          CA Wildlife Foundation/CA Oaks
          Calaveras Amador Mokelumne River Authority
          Calaveras Community Action Project
          Calaveras County Board Of Supervisors 








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          Calaveras County Republican Party
          Calaveras County Taxpayers Association
          Calaveras County Water District
          Calaveras Public Utility District
          California League of Conservation Voters
          California Outdoors
          California Sportfishing Protection Alliance
          California Water Impact Network
          Center for Sierra Nevada Conservation
          Central Sierra Mining
          City of Ione
          City of Jackson
          City of Plymouth
          City of Sutter Creek
          Clean Water Action
          East Bay Municipal Utility District 
          El Dorado Irrigation District
          Environmental Water Caucus
          First Mace Water Association
          Foothill Conservancy
          Friends of the River
          Jackson Valley Irrigation District
          Mountain Counties Water Resources Association 
          My Valley Springs
          Natural heritage Institute
          North Coast Rivers Alliance
          Northern California Council of the International Federation of  
          Fly Fishers
          O.A.R.S. Companies, Inc.
          Pine Grove CSD
          Planning and Conservation League
          Rabb Park CSD
          Sierra Business Council
          South Yuba River Citizens League
          Terre Rouge & Easton Wines
          One individual 

          OPPOSITION
          None Received

          

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