BILL NUMBER: AB 1164 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 1, 2015
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 22, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 21, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 26, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Gatto
(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Gonzalez)
FEBRUARY 27, 2015
An act to add Section 53087.7 to the Government Code, relating to
water conservation, making an appropriation therefor, and declaring
the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1164, as amended, Gatto. Water conservation: drought tolerant
landscaping.
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.
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.
The bill would continuously appropriate $300,000,000 from the
General Fund to the State Water Resources Control Board
Department of Water Resources 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.
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.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as
an urgency statute.
Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: yes. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature hereby finds and declares:
(a) With the lowest snowpack ever recorded, California finds
itself in 2015 in the fourth year of a historic, prolonged, and
potentially devastating drought.
(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.
(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.
(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.
(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.
(f) The vast majority of Californians may today elect to install
synthetic grass or artificial turf in their single-family residential
landscapes.
SEC. 2. 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.
SEC. 3. SEC. 2. Section 53087.7 is
added to the Government Code, to read:
53087.7. 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.
SEC. 4. SEC. 3. 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.
SEC. 5. SEC. 4. 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 Department of Water Resources 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.
SEC. 6. SEC. 5. 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:
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.