Amended in Assembly May 5, 2015

Amended in Assembly April 20, 2015

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 1482

Introduced by Assembly Member Gordon

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(Coauthors: Assembly Members Bloom, Rendon, and Mark Stone)

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February 27, 2015

An act to amend Section 75125 of, and to add Part 3.7 (commencing with Section 71150) to Division 34 of, the Public Resources Code, relating to climate change.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 1482, as amended, Gordon. Climate adaptation.

Existing law establishes the Natural Resources Agency, comprised of departments, boards, conservancies, and commissions responsible for the restoration, protection, and management of the state’s natural and cultural resources.

Existing law establishes the Strategic Growth Council in state government and assigns to the council certain duties, including providing, funding, and distributing data and information to local governments and regional agencies that will assist in the development and planning of sustainable communities.

This bill would require the agency, in coordination with the council, to address the impacts of climate change and climate adaptation by reviewing and coordinating existing grants and programs to maximize specified objectives, including, among others, establishing policy, guidelines, and guidance at the state level to inform planning decisions and ensuring that state investments consider climate change impacts, as well as promote the use of natural systems, whenever feasible, when developing physical infrastructure to address adaptation.

This bill also would expand the duties of the council to include overseeing and coordinating state agency actions to adapt to climate change and identifying and pursuing opportunities for state agencies to collaborate with federal or local agencies in their climate adaptation efforts.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

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

SECTION 1.  

The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:

(a) California’s climate is changing, posing an escalated threat
to public health, the environment, and public and private property
in the state. The increasing frequency of extreme weather events,
rising sea levels, and changes in hydrology, including diminishing
snowpack, among other climate change impacts, will touch every
part of residents’ lives in the next century and beyond. Planning
appropriately for these impacts will help us be better prepared for
the future.

(b) The impacts of climate change, including longer droughts,
extended floods, prolonged fire seasons with larger and more
intense fires, heat waves, and sea level rise, are already creating
challenges for public health and safety and causing destructive
property damage.

(c) Climate changes pose a threat not just to the lives and health
of residents but to the financial health of our state and local
governments.

(d) According to the Natural Resources Agency’s report,
“Safeguarding California: Reducing Climate Risk,” state-of-the-art
modeling shows that a single extreme winter storm in California
could cost on the order of $725,000,000,000, including total direct
property losses of nearly $400,000,000,000 and devastating impacts
to residents, the economy, and natural resources.

(e) Adapting to climate change in addition to reducing the
impacts of climate change on California’s natural resources and
infrastructure is essential to protecting the state’s environment and
economy over time and will require coordination across all state
departments and agencies.

(f) Given the potential impacts and the long-term nature of
effective planning, California needs to take action now.

SEC. 2.  

Part 3.7 (commencing with Section 71150) is added
to Division 34 of the Public Resources Code, to read:

 

PART 3.7.  Climate Change and Climate
Adaptation

 

71150.  

For purposes of this part, the following terms have the
following meanings:

(a) “Agency” means the Natural Resources Agency.

(b) “Council” means the Strategic Growth Council.

71152.  

It is the intent of the Legislature to prioritize the state’s
response to the begin delete unavoidable end delete impacts resulting from climate change
by ensuring all state departments and agencies prepare for and are
ready to respond to the impacts of climate change, such as extreme
weather events, the urban heat island effect, habitat loss, wildfire,
sea-level rise, and drought. It also is the intent of the Legislature
that the agency consider developing policies to address the impacts
of climate change and climate adaptation with a focus on people,
places, and water and that actions taken to address climate
adaptation should be consistent with the Safeguarding California
Plan.

71154.  

To address the impacts of climate change and climate
adaptation, the agency, in coordination with the council, shall
review and coordinate existing grants and programs to maximize
the following objectives:

(a) Educating the public about the consequences of climate
change, such as sea-level rise, extreme weather events, the urban
heat island effect, habitat loss, wildfire, and drought.

(b) Ensuring there is a continued repository for scientific data
on climate change and climate adaptation in the state in order to
facilitate educated state and local policy decisions.

(c) Establishing policy, guidelines, and guidance at the state
level to inform planning decisions and ensure that state investments
consider climate change impacts, as well as promote the use of
natural systems, whenever feasible, when developing physical
infrastructure to address adaptation.

(d) Encouraging regional collaborative planning efforts to
address regional climate change impacts and adaptation strategies.

(e) Promoting a water supply, delivery, and capture system that
is coordinated and can withstand a multiyear drought scenario.
Establishing both drought preparation programs, which will help
create sustainable water systems in the future, and immediate
drought response programs, which will reduce water demand or
increase supply within one to five years of any declared drought.

(f) Building resilient communities by developing urban greening
projects that reduce air pollution and heat reflection in urban areas
and create livable, sustainable communities in urban cores to
promote infill development and reduce vehicle miles traveled.

(g) Protecting and enhancing habitat and species strongholds
that are critical to the preservation of species that are at risk from
the consequences of climate change.

71156.  

For the purposes of implementing the objectives of this
part, the agency, begin insert to the extent feasible and end insert in coordination with
the council, shall identify and coordinate opportunities among its
departments in expending moneys from all of the following:

(a) The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, created pursuant to
Section 16428.8 of the Government Code.

(b) The Water Quality, Supply, and Infrastructure Improvement
Act of 2014, approved by the voters as Proposition 1 at the
November 4, 2014, statewide general election.

(c) Other state funds.

71158.  

The agency, in coordination with the council, shall
assess and coordinate across all state departments and agencies to
begin delete ensure that funding programs maximize end delete begin insert identify opportunities that
increase end insert the ability for state and local infrastructure, people, and
habitat and wildlife to begin delete cope with the consequences end delete begin insert adapt to the
impacts end insert of climate change.

SEC. 3.  

Section 75125 of the Public Resources Code is
amended to read:

75125.  

The council shall do all of the following:

(a) Identify and review activities and funding programs of
member state agencies that may be coordinated to improve air and
water quality, improve natural resource protection, increase the
availability of affordable housing, improve transportation, meet
the goals of the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006
(Division 25.5 (commencing with Section 38500) of the Health
and Safety Code), encourage sustainable land use planning, and
revitalize urban and community centers in a sustainable manner.
At a minimum, the council shall review and comment on the
five-year infrastructure plan developed pursuant to Article 2
(commencing with Section 13100) of Chapter 2 of Part 3 of
Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code and the State
Environmental Goals and Policy Report developed pursuant to
Section 65041 of the Government Code.

(b) Recommend policies and investment strategies and priorities
to the Governor, the Legislature, and to appropriate state agencies
to encourage the development of sustainable communities, such
as those communities that promote equity, strengthen the economy,
protect the environment, and promote public health and safety,
consistent with subdivisions (a) and (c) of Section 75065.

(c) Provide, fund, and distribute data and information to local
governments and regional agencies that will assist in developing
and planning sustainable communities.

(d) Manage and award grants and loans to support the planning
and development of sustainable communities, pursuant to Sections
75127, 75128, and 75129. To implement this subdivision, the
council may do all of the following:

(1) Develop guidelines for awarding financial assistance,
including criteria for eligibility and additional consideration.

(2) Develop criteria for determining the amount of financial
assistance to be awarded. The council shall award a revolving loan
to an applicant for a planning project, unless the council determines
that the applicant lacks the fiscal capacity to carry out the project
without a grant. The council may establish criteria that would allow
the applicant to illustrate an ongoing commitment of financial
resources to ensure the completion of the proposed plan or project.

(3) Provide for payments of interest on loans made pursuant to
this article. The rate of interest shall not exceed the rate earned by
the Pooled Money Investment Board.

(4) Provide for the time period for repaying a loan made
pursuant to this article.

(5) Provide for the recovery of funds from an applicant that fails
to complete the project for which financial assistance was awarded.
The council shall direct the Controller to recover funds by any
available means.

(6) Provide technical assistance for application preparation.

(7) Designate a state agency or department to administer
technical and financial assistance programs for the disbursing of
grants and loans to support the planning and development of
sustainable communities, pursuant to Sections 75127, 75128, and
75129.

(e) Provide an annual report to the Legislature that shall include,
but need not be limited to, all of the following:

(1) A list of applicants for financial assistance.

(2) Identification of which applications were approved.

(3) The amounts awarded for each approved application.

(4) The remaining balance of available funds.

(5) A report on the proposed or ongoing management of each
funded project.

(6) Any additional minimum requirements and priorities for a
project or plan proposed in a grant or loan application developed
and adopted by the council pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section
75126.

(f) Oversee and coordinate state agency actions to adapt to
climate change.

(g) Identify and pursue opportunities for state agencies to
collaborate with federal or local agencies in their climate adaptation
efforts.