BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 530
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
530 (Rendon)
As Amended June 1, 2015
Majority vote
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|Committee |Votes |Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+------+----------------------+--------------------|
|Water |15-0 |Levine, Bigelow, | |
| | |Dababneh, Dahle, | |
| | |Dodd, Beth Gaines, | |
| | |Cristina Garcia, | |
| | |Gomez, Harper, Lopez, | |
| | |Mathis, Medina, | |
| | |Rendon, Salas, | |
| | |Williams | |
| | | | |
|----------------+------+----------------------+--------------------|
|Appropriations |17-0 |Gomez, Bigelow, | |
| | |Bonta, Calderon, | |
| | |Chang, Daly, Eggman, | |
| | |Gallagher, | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | |Eduardo Garcia, | |
| | |Gordon, Holden, | |
| | |Jones, Quirk, Rendon, | |
| | |Wagner, Weber, Wood | |
| | | | |
AB 530
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| | | | |
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SUMMARY: Requires the San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Rivers
and Mountains Conservancy (RMC) to staff, and the Secretary of the
California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA) to appoint, a working
group that is tasked with developing a revitalization plan for the
lower Los Angeles River (Lower LA River). Specifically, this
bill:
1)Makes findings including, but not limited to, the history and
importance of the Los Angeles (LA) River and the need to create
a plan for the Lower LA River that updates the LA County 1996 LA
River Revitalization Master Plan.
2)Adds a chapter to the RMC Act creating the Lower LA River
Working Group (Working Group) and specifying that the Working
Group shall develop a revitalization plan by March 1, 2017, for
the Lower LA River.
3)Requires the CNRA Secretary, in coordination with the LA County
Board of Supervisors, to appoint members to the Working Group
including, but not limited to, representatives from the RMC, LA
County, the Gateway Cities Council of Governments, the LA
Gateway Region Integrated Regional Water Management Plan Joint
Powers Authority, elected officials from cities that border the
Lower LA River, and non-profit organizations serving the LA
region.
4)Allows that revitalization plan development and implementation
may be funded from any public or private source including the
$100 million in funding from the Water Quality, Supply, and
Infrastructure Improvement Act of 2014 (Proposition 1 or Prop.
1).
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EXISTING LAW:
1)Designates the LA River as a traditional navigable waterway
protected under the federal Clean Water Act.
2)Establishes the RMC in the CNRA, as a state agency with the
following purposes:
a) To acquire and manage public lands within the Lower LA
River and San Gabriel River watersheds, and to provide
open-space, low-impact recreational and educational uses,
water conservation, watershed improvement, wildlife and
habitat restoration and protection, and watershed improvement
within the territory.
b) To preserve the San Gabriel River and the Lower LA River
consistent with existing and adopted river and flood control
projects for the protection of life and property.
c) To acquire open-space lands within the territory of the
conservancy.
d) To provide for the public's enjoyment and enhancement of
recreational and educational experiences on public lands in
the San Gabriel Watershed and Lower LA River, and the San
Gabriel Mountains in a manner consistent with the protection
of lands and resources in those watersheds.
3)Provides $30 million dollars in Prop. 1 for the RMC and another
$100 million in Prop. 1 for urban rivers and streams including,
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but not limited to, the LA River and its tributaries as defined
in the RMC Act and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy (SMMC)
Act, which covers the upper LA River.
4)Creates the LA County Flood Control District (LACFCD) and
empowers it to provide for:
a) Control and conservation of the flood, storm and other
waste waters of the district, to conserve those waters for
beneficial and useful purposes;
b) Protection of the harbors, waterways, public highways and
property in the district from flood water or storm water
damage; and,
c) Access to navigable waterways under LACFCD's control,
including the LA River, where such access is suitable for
education and recreational purposes and not inconsistent with
flood control and water conservation uses.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee:
1)Potential reimbursable local state mandated costs in the
$250,000 range (General Fund).
2)Additional costs, in the $50,000 to $100,000 range for the
Conservancy to staff the Working Group and develop the Plan.
3)Minor, absorbable costs for CNRA.
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COMMENTS: This bill would create a planning process for the Lower
LA River, the 19 miles of river that once it leaves downtown Los
Angeles flows through multiple cities until it reaches the Pacific
Ocean at Long Beach Harbor. The LA River is 51 miles long.
Currently, the upper 32-mile stretch, which reaches from the San
Fernando Valley to downtown LA and lies within the City of LA, has
its own LA River Revitalization Master Plan (City Master Plan)
released in 2007. The Lower LA River does not have such a plan.
The author states that there is not a revitalization plan specific
to the Lower LA River, although the 1996 County Los Angeles River
Master Plan (County Master Plan) included a few projects for
cities along the Lower LA River. The author states that there is
now a need for a comprehensive revitalization plan that focuses
more attention and resources on the Southeast LA County cities
which include Vernon, Commerce, Maywood, Bell, Bell Gardens,
Cudahy, South Gate, Lynwood, Compton, Paramount, Carson, and Long
Beach.
In the late 1700s when the Spanish founded the pueblo that became
LA, the LA River supported diverse flora and fauna and much of
what is now southern and western Los Angeles was marsh. As LA
grew and prospered, settlements and farming continued to encroach
upon the river's floodplain, while also depending upon it for
water. Devastating flooding in the 1930s forced the LACFCD to ask
for federal help. In 1936, Congress directed the United States
Army Corps of Engineers (Army Corps) to channelize the river to
help control flooding. Channelization by concrete started in 1938
and was completed in 1960.
Although planners had envisioned greenbelts interconnecting
parklands along the river as early as the 1930s, the more recent
interest in the revitalization and promotion of the re-integration
of the river and its tributaries into the adjacent neighborhoods
began in the mid-to-late 1980s. There was growing recognition
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that compared to other large American cities LA has relatively
fewer parks, particularly in under-represented communities. In
the early 1990s, community activism coincided with LA County
beginning a process that resulted in the County Master Plan in
1996. The County Master Plan described how economic growth could
be spurred along the river in the county through zoning changes
and the development of open space, recreational, cultural,
artistic, educational, and other opportunities.
The LA City Council established its own ad hoc committee on the
river in 2002 and the City's Master Plan was released in 2007.
Continuing the long-term goals of the County Master Plan, the City
Master Plan also promoted the revitalization of the river as a
multi-benefit solution to addressing and enhancing water quality
and flood control while enabling safe access to the river and
restoring a functional river ecosystem.
In 2010, the United States Environmental Protection Agency
announced that its designation of the LA River as a "traditional
navigable waterway," protected under the Clean Water Act, would
ensure the vitality of the river. The LA River was also
identified in 2010 as a priority by the Obama administration under
the America's Great Outdoors initiative and is now one of seven
pilot cities for the Urban Waters Federal Partnership. Then, in
May 2014, the Army Corps backed the $1 billion alternative in the
Los Angeles River Ecosystem Restoration Study, a plan to restore
an 11-mile stretch of the LA River from Griffith Park to downtown
LA.
Like this bill, AB 1251 (Gomez), of the current legislative
session, is focused on the LA River. AB 1251 would enact the
Greenway Development and Sustainability Act in order to promote a
greenway along the LA River that focuses on public-private
partnerships aimed at establishing a continuous pedestrian bikeway
along the LA River and its tributaries in order to foster job
creation, economic development, and community revitalization.
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Previously, SB 1201 (De León), Chapter 212, Statutes of 2012,
provided for public use of the LA River by adding education and
recreational purposes to the LA County Flood Control Act where
those uses were not inconsistent with flood control and water
conservation.
Supporters state that this bill starts a conversation about how
the entire LA River can be managed collaboratively as work on the
Lower LA River has lagged behind the upper parts of the river.
Supporters state that there is now a need for a comprehensive
revitalization plan that focuses more attention and resources on
the Southeast LA County cities.
There is no known opposition to this bill.
Analysis Prepared by:
Tina Leahy / W., P., & W. / (916) 319-2096 FN:
0000807