BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 1089 Page 1 ASSEMBLY THIRD READING AB 1089 (Eduardo Garcia) As Introduced February 27, 2015 Majority vote -------------------------------------------------------------------- |Committee |Votes |Ayes |Noes | |----------------+------+-----------------------+--------------------| |Natural |9-0 |Williams, Dahle, | | |Resources | |Cristina Garcia, | | | | |Hadley, Harper, | | | | |McCarty, Rendon, Mark | | | | |Stone, Wood | | | | | | | |----------------+------+-----------------------+--------------------| |Appropriations |17-0 |Gomez, Bigelow, Bloom, | | | | |Bonta, Calderon, | | | | |Chang, Daly, Eggman, | | | | |Gallagher, Eduardo | | | | |Garcia, Holden, Jones, | | | | |Quirk, Rendon, Wagner, | | | | |Weber, Wood | | -------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: Expands the Coachella Mountains Conservancy (Conservancy) jurisdiction to include the lands of the Cities of Coachella and Indio and expands the membership of the governing board to include representatives from these cities. AB 1089 Page 2 FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee: 1)Minor, absorbable cost increases of less than $1,000 per year. 2)Conservancy board members are entitled to a $75 per diem for board meetings, the Conservancy typically meets six times per year. COMMENTS: The diverse desert landscape of the Coachella Valley (Valley) provides habitat for dozens of plant and animal species, some found nowhere else in the world. The Valley is also one of the fastest growing areas in rapidly expanding Riverside County. The Valley has a projected population growth of 600,000 over the next 10 years. The Conservancy's mission is to protect the natural and cultural resources of the Coachella Valley: the scenic, wildlife, cultural, geologic, and recreational resources. Since its inception, the Conservancy and its partners have conserved over 81,000 acres. The Cities of Indio and Coachella, located on the Valley floor, were not originally included within the Conservancy's jurisdiction. In 1997, the boundaries of the Conservancy were expanded to coincide with the boundaries of the Coachella Valley Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan/Natural Communities Conservation Plan (MSHCP). The MSHCP identified an additional 160,000 acres of land to be acquired to create a total system of 725,000 acres of conserved lands. The Conservancy has done trail work and acquisitions on the borders of both the Cities of Coachella and Indio. The Water Quality, Supply, and Infrastructure Improvement Act of 2014 (Proposition 1) allocated $10 million for the Conservancy to do multibenefit water quality, water supply and watershed protection and restoration projects. This bill would allow for some of those projects to be in the Cities of Coachella and Indio and revises the Conservancy jurisdiction to be AB 1089 Page 3 consistent with the MSHCP. Analysis Prepared by: Michael Jarred / NAT. RES. / (916) 319-2092 FN: 0000246