BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 1095 Page 1 CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS AB 1095 (Eduardo Garcia) As Amended July 7, 2015 Majority vote -------------------------------------------------------------------- |ASSEMBLY: | 78-0 | (June 3, |SENATE: |39-0 | (August 31, | | | |2015) | | |2015) | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------- Original Committee Reference: W., P., & W. SUMMARY: Requires the California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA), on or before March 31, 2016, to submit to the Legislature a list of shovel-ready Salton Sea restoration projects, including information regarding project costs and project completion timelines. The Senate amendments define "shovel ready" as projects that are in the final planning, environmental review, or permitting phase. EXISTING LAW: 1)Authorizes $7.545 billion in general obligation funding for water-related projects and programs in Proposition 1 (2014), the Safe Drinking Water, Quality, and Infrastructure Act of AB 1095 Page 2 2014 (Proposition 1) including $475 million to fulfill State obligations related to: the Klamath Agreements; Tahoe Compact; San Joaquin River Restoration Agreement; Salton Sea Restoration; and, Central Valley Project Improvement Act refuge water supplies. 2)Establishes the Salton Sea Restoration Act (SSRA) with the legislative intent of providing that the State of California undertakes restoration of the Salton Sea ecosystem and the permanent protection of the wildlife dependent on that ecosystem based on a "preferred alternative" that is developed as a result of a restoration study and alternative selection process. 3)Requires the SSRA preferred alternative to provide the maximum feasible attainment of specified environmental objectives, including restoration of long-term stable aquatic and shoreline habitat to historic levels and diversity of fish and wildlife dependent on the Salton Sea, elimination of air quality impacts from restoration projects, and protection of water quality. 4)Requires the CNRA Secretary, in consultation with the Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW), the Department of Water Resources (DWR), the Salton Sea Authority (SSA), air quality districts, and the Salton Sea Advisory Committee, undertake a restoration study to determine a preferred alternative for restoration of the Salton Sea, prepare a Programmatic Environmental Impact Report analyzing the alternatives, and submit a preferred alternative to the Legislature on or before December 31, 2006. 5)Establishes the Salton Sea Restoration Fund, which is administered by the DFW Director, upon Legislative appropriation, for: environmental and engineering studies related to restoration of the Salton Sea; implementation of the preferred Salton Sea restoration alternative and conservation measures necessary to protect fish and wildlife dependent on the Sea; and, administrative, technical, and public outreach costs related to development and selection of AB 1095 Page 3 the preferred Salton Sea restoration alternative. FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs. COMMENTS: The Senate amendments add language requested by the author to clarify what constitutes a shovel ready project. The author states that absent such clarity, the shovel ready project list could potentially be cut short or minimal. The author adds that clarifying that shovel ready means those projects in the final design, permitting, or engineering phase will ensure that more projects that will help the Salton Sea are identified and therefore funded. The need to identify projects that will help the Salton Sea is urgent. The modern Salton Sea was accidentally created in 1905 when work on a canal led to a breach that allowed the entire flow of the Colorado River to empty into the Salton Sink for two years, filling the historic dry lake bed and creating one of the largest lakes in California. The Salton Sea's water level is currently maintained primarily by agricultural runoff which, under the Quantification Settlement Agreement (QSA), will start being reduced in 2017. The QSA is related to California's dependence on imported Colorado River water. The Colorado River Compact is a 1922 agreement among the seven Colorado River basin states as to how they will apportion an annual average of 15 million acre-feet (MAF) in Colorado River flows. As the rest of the southwest grew, the six other basin states began to pressure the Secretary of the Interior to give California a deadline to come up with a plan to ratchet back to its original allocation of 4.4 MAF rather than continuing to use about 5.2 MAF. In response, the federal government threatened to discontinue declaring surpluses and cut off the extra water supply until California came up with a "4.4 Plan." Thereafter, the major Colorado River water rights holders, Imperial Irrigation District (IID), the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the San Diego County AB 1095 Page 4 Water Authority, and the Coachella Valley Water District, entered into the QSA to help meet the 4.4 Plan. The QSA is a complex set of agreements to quantify water rights, engage in a series of water transfers, and restore the Salton Sea. The reason for including Salton Sea restoration is that, beginning in 2017, QSA-related ag-to-urban water transfers will reduce the agricultural runoff from IID that was providing significant inflow to the Sea. As a result, the Sea will shrink considerably in size, increasing in salinity and potentially exposing more than 100 miles of dusty lakebed to the desert winds. This will chronically and adversely affect both the environment and human health. For example, the Salton Sea supports over 400 species of birds, and is an internationally significant stopover site for hundreds of thousands of birds migrating along the Pacific Flyway. Fine particles could also blow over the Coachella and Imperial Valleys with the latter already suffering from the highest childhood asthma hospitalization rate in the state and both areas containing high numbers of seniors who are especially susceptible to poor air quality. Analysis Prepared by: Tina Leahy / W., P., & W. / (916) 319-2096 FN: 0001388