BILL NUMBER: AB 1164 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE SEPTEMBER 1, 2015
AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 16, 2015
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 coauthors: Assembly Members Gonzalez and McCarty)
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, as specified. 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 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.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as
an urgency statute.
Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: yes no .
Fiscal committee: yes no .
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.
SEC. 2. Section 53087.7 is added to the Government Code, to read:
53087.7. (a) 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.
(b) A city, including a charter city, county, or city and county,
may impose reasonable restrictions on the type of synthetic grass or
artificial turf that may be installed on residential property
provided that those restrictions do not do either of the following:
(1) Substantially increase the cost of installing synthetic grass
or artificial turf.
(2) Effectively prohibit the installation of synthetic grass or
artificial turf.
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. 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 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. 5. SEC. 4. 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.