BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 935
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CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB
935 (Salas)
As Amended August 17, 2016
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |80-0 |(June 3, 2016) |SENATE: |30-3 |(August 22, |
| | | | | |2016) |
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Original Committee Reference: W., P., & W.
SUMMARY: This bill requires the Department of Water Resources
(DWR), upon appropriation by the Legislature, to fund a reverse
flow pump-back project on the Friant-Kern Canal that
substantially conforms to the project description set forth by
the draft investment strategy released by the San Joaquin River
Restoration Program in December 2014.
The Senate amendments delete the Assembly version of the bill,
and instead:
1)Requires the DWR, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to
grant up to $7 million for the Reverse Flow Pump-back
Facilities on the Friant-Kern Canal Restoration Project
(Project).
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2)Limit the DWR's funding share of the Project to up to 80% of
the total.
3)Establish prerequisites to funding, including:
a) All feasibility studies are complete and draft
environmental impact reports (EIRs) required pursuant to
the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) are
available for public review.
b) Financial commitments to the DWR director are equal to
or greater than 75% of the non-state cost share of the
project.
4)Requires the Project, if funded, to comply with any applicable
provisions of state and federal law.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Establishes the DWR within the Natural Resources Agency, which
manages and undertakes planning with regard to water resources
in the state.
2)Prohibits a public agency, under CEQA, from making a
discretionary decision to approve a project, including funding
a project, if there are potentially significant impacts on the
environment that could be reduced by feasible alternatives or
feasible mitigation measures.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS: The Assembly version of this bill contained a general
requirement for the DWR to fund local and regional conveyance
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projects. The Senate version of this bill deletes the general
requirement and instead, specifies a project that would help
minimize water supply impacts to Friant Division long-term
contractors from actions to help implement the San Joaquin River
Restoration Program (SJRRP).
The San Joaquin River is the second longest river in California
and historically supported large runs of salmon and other
cold-water fish. After Friant Dam was constructed by the United
States Department of Interior, Bureau of Reclamation
(Reclamation), parts of the San Joaquin River went completely
dry in most years. Environmental groups then brought litigation
citing, among other claims, the requirements in California law
that the owner of any dam must allow sufficient water to pass
through to keep fish in good condition below the dam. In 2006,
after 18 years of litigation, a federal court approved a
settlement between the federal government, the environmental
plaintiffs, and the Friant Water Users Authority. The SJRRP
settlement had two objectives: a restoration program that would
provide the river with continuous flows to the Sacramento-San
Joaquin River Delta and support naturally reproducing
populations of Chinook salmon, and a water management goal of
minimizing water supply impacts to San Joaquin River water
users.
Thereafter, Reclamation initiated an investment strategy in
support of the SJRRP water management goal in order to identify
projects that, in conjunction with other activities, could
cost-effectively reduce or avoid water supply impacts to the
Friant Contractors. Reclamation, in collaboration with the
Friant Contractors, identified, screened, developed, evaluated,
and ranked over 500 project concepts to form a list of
approximately 60 projects. Of these, 21 projects were further
evaluated as ready-to-implement priority projects. The results
were presented in a March 2015 report titled Water Management
Goal Investment Strategy Final Report (Final Report).
The Reverse Flow Pump-Back Facilities on the Friant-Kern Canal
project that would be funded through this bill is among the 21
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projects evaluated in the Final Report.
The Friant-Kern Canal is a Federal Central Valley Project canal
that conveys water from Friant Dam on the San Joaquin River near
Fresno, southward to various Friant Contractors along the east
side of the San Joaquin Valley, terminating at the Kern River
near Bakersfield. Currently, the Friant-Kern Canal has limited
pump-back operational capacity which is used occasionally to
deliver north the water from the Cross Valley Canal or water
extracted from water banks on the Kern River fan. This project
would install permanent pump-back facilities with higher
capacities along the southern portion of the Friant-Kern Canal.
The project would allow water that was released for restoration
flows on the San Joaquin River, captured downstream, and
conveyed via the Cross Valley Canal, to be pumped back up the
Friant-Kern Canal to a number of Friant Contractors. The Final
Report ranked this project 4th of 21, with an estimated cost of
$7.6 million that included planning and environmental review,
and a little over two years to complete. The project has been
estimated to convey approximately 15,000-30,000 acre-feet
annually and is expected to avoid 2,750 metric tons of carbon
emissions over the life of the project.
Analysis Prepared by:
Ryan Ojakian / W., P., & W. / (916) 319-2096
FN: 0004764