BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                    AB 1061


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          Date of Hearing:  April 28, 2015


                  ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON WATER, PARKS, AND WILDLIFE


                                 Marc Levine, Chair


          AB 1061  
          Gallagher - As Introduced February 26, 2015


          SUBJECT:  Sacramento and San Joaquin Drainage District:  powers


          SUMMARY:  Allows the Sacramento and San Joaquin Drainage  
          District (District), which is under the management and control  
          of the Central Valley Flood Protection Board (Board), to  
          acquire, sell, lease, or rent properties and use any revenue  
          that is generated from those sales, leases or rentals for flood  
          control purposes.  


          EXISTING LAW:  


          1)Provides the Board authority for the protection and oversight  
            of levees, weirs, channels, and other features of federally  
            and state-authorized flood control facilities located in the  
            Sacramento River and San Joaquin River drainage basins.  

          2)Requires plans that involve the construction, enlargement, or  
            alteration of any levee, embankment, canal, or other  
            excavation in the bed of or along or near the banks of the  
            Sacramento or San Joaquin Rivers or any of their tributaries  
            or specified lands to be approved by the Board before such  
            activity is commenced.









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          3)Vests management and control of the District in the Board.  


          4)Authorizes the District to acquire, own, hold, use, and enjoy  
            any and all properties necessary for the purposes of the  
            District.

          FISCAL EFFECT:  Unknown


          COMMENTS:  This bill gives the District broader property-related  
          powers.  In addition to being able to hold and enjoy property,  
          this bill allows the District to acquire, sell (or otherwise  
          dispose of), lease or rent property, including rights-of-way and  
          easements, and applies any revenue from property transactions to  
          the flood control purposes of the District and the Board.


          1)Author's statement:  The author states that the District has  
            property rights dating back to the 1900s and that the SPFC  
            retains fee title, easements, and other land use agreements on  
            about 18,000 parcels.  According to the author, there are  
            agreements that allow for agricultural crop production, which  
            generates lease revenues to the State.  But the author adds  
            the revenues must go directly to the General Fund and cannot  
            be used for the maintenance and repair of flood control  
            projects.   



          2)Background:  The District boundaries comprise more than 1.9  
            million acres in the Central Valley along the general course  
            of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers, stretching from  
            Glenn and Butte Counties in the north to Madera and Fresno  
            Counties in the south.  The District was created in 1913 to  
            allow the State Engineer at the time, to procure data, and  
            perform surveys and examinations of the San Joaquin and  
            Sacramento rivers and their tributaries for the purpose of  








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            preparing a report to the Reclamation Board, which was the  
            current Board's predecessor agency.  


            The purpose of the report was to further plans for controlling  
            the floodwaters of the rivers and improve and preserve  
            navigation, reclamation, and the protection of the lands that  
            are susceptible to overflow from those rivers and their  
            tributaries.  Those plans culminated in the State Plan of  
            Flood Control (SPFC), a State-Federal flood protection system  
            in the Sacramento River and San Joaquin River watersheds.   
            Property rights for the SPFC are held by the District.  But  
            currently, lease revenues must go directly into the General  
            Fund.  

          3)A statutory change solved a similar issue for the Department  
            of Fish and Wildlife (DFW): DFW supplemented the costs of  
            maintenance and operations of DFW-managed lands by granting  
            revenue-generating leases for agricultural activities, where  
            compatible.  A state audit conducted in 2012 raised questions  
            regarding the accountability of the leasing process and the  
            reporting of revenues.  AB 749 (Wolk) Chapter 387, Statutes of  
            2013, authorized, among other provisions, that DFW could enter  
            into contracts, agricultural leases, or other agreements, as  
            specified, and use the revenues for the management and  
            operation of DFW lands. One example of a successful project is  
            the Yolo Basin Wildlife Refuge, where lands leased for the  
            growing of rice provide habitat for waterfowl and other  
            wildlife species, and managed grazing in other parts of the  
            refuge help to maintain vernal pool habitat.  The revenues  
            generated from the leases also assist the DFW in covering  
            maintenance and operations costs for the refuge.


          4)Prior and related legislation:  AB 162 (Wolk), Chapter 369,  
            Statutes of 2007 requires, among other actions, that each city  
            and county located within the boundaries of the District  
            submit the draft element, or draft amendment to the safety  
            element of its general plan, to the Board for review and  








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            comment.   


          5)Supporting arguments:  Supporters state that allowing the  
            lease revenue funding under this bill will improve  
            maintenance, help maximize environmental mitigation and  
            enhancement, and assist in offsetting mitigation costs.


          6)Suggested Committee amendment:  The current bill language  
            could create a possible legal ambiguity by suggesting that any  
            successor to the "lands of the district" receives the  
            district's powers.  Staff suggests amending lines 3 and 4 of  
            the bill, as follows, to clarify that the successor is to the  
            district itself:


               8504. The  district  district, and any successor  to the   of  
               the land of the  district, may do all of the following: 


          REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:




          Support


          Central Valley Flood Control Association (sponsor)


          Association of California Water Agencies




          Opposition









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          None on file




          Analysis Prepared by:Tina Cannon Leahy / W., P., & W. / (916)  
          319-2096