Amended in Senate June 22, 2015

Amended in Assembly April 21, 2015

Amended in Assembly March 26, 2015

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 1164

Introduced by Assembly Member Gatto

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(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Gonzalez)

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February 27, 2015

An act to add Section begin delete 14526.7 end delete begin insert 53087.7 end insert to the Government Code, relating to begin delete highways. end delete begin insert water conservation, making an appropriation therefor, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately. end insert

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 1164, as amended, Gatto. begin delete State highways: evaluation and rating. end delete begin insert Water conservation: drought tolerant landscaping. end insert

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Existing law generally authorizes every city and county, including a charter city, in this state to make and enforce within its limits all local, police, sanitary, and other ordinances and regulations that are not in conflict with general laws.

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This bill would prohibit a city, including a charter city, county, and city and county, from enacting or enforcing any ordinance or regulation that prohibits the installation of synthetic grass or artificial turf on residential property. The bill would additionally state that this is an issue of statewide concern.

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The bill would continuously appropriate $300,000,000 from the General Fund to the State Water Resources Control Board in equal amounts of $100,000,000 for each of the 2015-16, 2016-17, and 2017-18 fiscal years, to provide matching funds to specified local agencies to provide incentives to residents to replace water inefficient landscaping with drought tolerant landscaping.

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The bill would state the intent of the Legislature to streamline the installation of infrastructure that collects graywater for the purposes of recycling water to be used for nonpotable uses.

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This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

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Existing law gives the Department of Transportation full possession and control of the state highways. Existing law requires the department to prepare a state highway operation and protection program for the expenditure of transportation funds for major capital improvements that are necessary to preserve and protect the state highway system.

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This bill would require the department, in consultation with specified entities, to conduct an annual evaluation and rating of the overall quality of the state highway system and the resources needed to provide a system in good repair, and would require a report to specified committees of the Legislature in that regard annually until 2020. The bill would also require the department to post the report on its Internet Web site.

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Vote:  begin delete majority end delete begin insert ²⁄₃ end insert . Appropriation:  begin delete no end delete begin insert yes end insert . Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

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begin insert SECTION 1. end insert   

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The Legislature hereby finds and declares:

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(a) With the lowest snowpack ever recorded, California finds
itself in 2015 in the fourth year of a historic, prolonged, and
potentially devastating drought.

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(b) Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. issued an Executive order
on April 1, 2015, which, for the first time in California history,
directs the State Water Resources Control Board to implement
mandatory water reductions across the state to reduce water usage
by 25 percent.

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(c) One component of the Governor’s Executive order compels
the replacement of 50 million square feet of lawns throughout the
state with drought tolerant landscaping.

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(d) Among a wide variety of drought tolerant landscaping are
a variety of native plants and landscaping alternatives, including
the installation of synthetic grass or artificial turf.

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(e) According to the Department of Water Resources, landscape
irrigation represents 43 percent of urban water use. The
installation of synthetic grass or artificial turf, in lieu of
conventional lawns and landscapes, can directly reduce outdoor
water use to help meet the Governor’s mandated 25-percent
statewide water use reduction.

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(f) The vast majority of Californians may today elect to install
synthetic grass or artificial turf in their single-family residential
landscapes.

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begin insert SEC. 2. end insert   

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It is the intent of the Legislature to streamline the
installation of infrastructure that collects graywater for the
purposes of recycling water to be used for nonpotable uses.

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begin insert SEC. 3. end insert   

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begin insert Section 53087.7 is added to the end insert begin insert Government Code end insert begin insert , to
read: end insert

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begin insert 53087.7. end insert   

A city, including a charter city, county, or city and
county, shall not enact any ordinance or regulation, or enforce
any existing ordinance or regulation, that prohibits the installation
of synthetic grass or artificial turf on residential property.

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begin insert SEC. 4. end insert   

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The Legislature finds and declares the prolonged
drought, along with climate change, requires the state to address
water conservation goals that will have long-term impacts in this
state. The Legislature further finds and declares that drought
tolerant landscaping, including the installation of synthetic grass
or artificial turf, is a viable landscaping alternative that will further
the goal of addressing long-term water conservation. Therefore,
allowing property owners in this state to install synthetic grass or
artificial turf on their residential properties is a matter of statewide
concern, not a municipal affair as that term is used in Section 5
of Article XI of the California Constitution.

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begin insert SEC. 5. end insert   

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Notwithstanding Section 13340 of the Government
Code, the sum of three hundred million dollars ($300,000,000) is
hereby continuously appropriated from the General Fund to the
State Water Resources Control Board to be expended in equal
shares of one hundred million dollars ($100,000,000) for each of
the 2015-16, 2016-17, and 2017-18 fiscal years to provide
matching funds to any city, county, city and county, public water
agency, or private water agency to provide incentives to residents
to replace water inefficient landscaping with drought tolerant
landscaping.

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begin insert SEC. 6. end insert   

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This act is an urgency statute necessary for the
immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within
the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into
immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:

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In order to address the historic, prolonged, and potentially
devastating drought, it is necessary that residents of this state be
able to replace water inefficient landscaping with drought tolerant
landscaping as quickly as possible; therefore, it is necessary that
this act take effect immediately.

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SECTION 1.  

Section 14526.7 is added to the Government
Code, to read:

14526.7.  

(a) The department shall conduct an annual evaluation
and rating of the overall quality of the state highway system and
the resources needed to provide a system in good repair. The
evaluation shall demonstrate how resource, staffing, and
programming decisions impact the overall condition of the state
highway system. The evaluation shall address the number of
distressed lane miles, bridge conditions, and life cycle costs. The
evaluation shall also include, but not be limited to, all of the
following:

(1) The rating of the state’s urban interstate lane miles, measured
according to the International Roughness Index, and the schedule
and resources needed to bring at least 90 percent of the lane miles
rated less than 170 (the federal rating of poor condition) into good
condition.

(2) The rating of the state’s rural interstate lane miles, measured
according to the International Roughness Index, and the schedule
and resources needed to bring at least 95 percent of the lane miles
rated less than 170 (the federal rating of poor condition) into good
condition.

(3) The percentage of lane miles on the state freeways and
highways that are distressed lane miles and the schedule and
resources needed to bring the percentage of distressed lane miles
to 5 percent or less.

(4) The schedule and resources needed to bring the pavement
level of service to the well-maintained pavement level for 95
percent or more of the lane miles on the state freeways and
highways.

(5) The percentage of the state’s bridges that achieve a bridge
health index (BHI) rating of at least 94, the percentage of bridges
with a BHI rating of 80 or lower, and the schedule and resources
needed to perform bridge maintenance and capital repairs to ensure
that all of the state’s bridges achieve a BHI rating of at least 94.

(6) The number of the state’s bridges that are structurally
deficient or functionally obsolete under federal standards and the
schedule and resources needed to ensure that no more than 10
percent of the state’s bridges are structurally deficient or
functionally obsolete.

(b) In conducting the evaluation specified in subdivision (a),
the department shall consult with the following:

(1) The commission.

(2) Regional transportation agencies.

(3) County transportation agencies.

(c) The department shall provide the evaluation and rating
specified in subdivision (a) in an annual report, on or before March
31, to the Assembly Committee on Transportation and the Senate
Committee on Transportation and Housing. The report shall also
be posted on the department’s Internet Web site.

(d) The requirement for submitting a report imposed under
subdivision (c) is inoperative after March 31, 2020, pursuant to
Section 10231.5.

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