BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES AND WATER
Senator Fran Pavley, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 1482 Hearing Date: June 23,
2015
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|Author: |Gordon | | |
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|Version: |June 16, 2015 Amended |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|William Craven |
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Subject: Climate adaptation.
BACKGROUND AND EXISTING LAW
1) Pursuant to Executive Order S-13-08 (Schwarzenegger),
requires the California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA), through
the Climate Action Team, to coordinate with local, regional,
state, federal, and private entities to develop, by 2009, a
state Climate Adaptation Strategy. Requires the strategy to
summarize the best known science on climate change impacts to
California, assess California's vulnerability to the identified
impacts, and outline solutions that can be implemented within
and across state agencies to promote resiliency.
2) Creates the Office of Planning and Research (OPR) to serve
the Governor and his or her Cabinet as staff for long-range
planning and research, and to constitute the comprehensive state
planning agency.
3) Creates the Strategic Growth Council (SGC), which consists of
the Director of OPR, the Secretary of the Natural Resources
Agency, the Secretary of the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA), the Secretary of Transportation, the Secretary of
California Health and Human Services, the Secretary of Business,
Consumer Services, and Housing, the Secretary of Food and
Agriculture, and three members of the public appointed by the
Governor.
4) Requires SGC to develop and administer the Affordable Housing
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and Sustainable Communities Program to reduce GHG emissions
through projects that implement land use, housing,
transportation, and agricultural land preservation practices to
support infill and compact development and that support other
related and coordinated public policy objectives. Continuously
appropriates to the SGC 20% of the annual proceeds of the
Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF).
5) On April 29, 2015, Governor Brown issued Executive Order
B-30-15. That order is perhaps better known for its declaration
that established an interim greenhouse gas emission reduction
target of 40% below 1990 levels to be achieved by 2030.
However, that order also made several declarations regarding
adaptation to climate change. State agencies are directed to do
all of the following:
a) Incorporate climate change impacts into the state's
five-year infrastructure plan;
b) Update the Safeguarding California Plan-the state's
climate adaptation strategy-to identify how climate change will
affect California infrastructure and industry and what actions
the state can take to reduce the risks posed by climate change;
c) Factor climate change into state agency's planning and
investment decisions; and
d) Implement measures under existing agency and
departmental authority to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
6. In addition, the order directed the CNRA to update the
Safeguarding California report every three years and ensure that
its provisions are fully implemented. That plan is directed to
contain the following:
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a) Identify vulnerabilities to climate change by sector and
regions, including, at a minimum, the following sectors: water,
energy, transportation, public health, agriculture, emergency
services, forestry, biodiversity and habitat, and ocean and
coastal resources;
b) Outline primary risks to residents, property,
communities and natural systems from these vulnerabilities and
identify priority actions needed to reduce these risks, and
c) Identify a lead agency or group of agencies to lead
adaptation efforts in each sector. Each sector lead will be
responsible to prepare an implementation plan by September 2015
and report to CNRA and actions taken.
7. The order requires the following additional steps:
a) Each sector lead agency will prepare an implementation
plan by 9/2015 and report to the CNRA on actions taken by
6/2016.
b) All state agencies shall take climate change into
account in planning and investment decisions, and to employ full
life-cycle cost accounting to evaluate and compare
infrastructure investments and alternatives.
c) State agencies' planning and investment will be guided
by the following:
1) Priority should be given to actions that both build
climate preparedness and reduce greenhouse gas emissions;
2) Where possible, flexible and adaptive approaches
should be taken to prepare for uncertain climate impacts;
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3) Actions should protect the state's most vulnerable
populations; and
4) Natural infrastructure solutions should be
prioritized.
8. The Governor directed that the state's five year
infrastructure plan will take current and future climate change
impacts into account in all infrastructure projects.
9. The Governor also directed OPR to establish a technical
advisory group to help state agencies incorporate climate change
impacts into planning and investment decisions.
10. The order concludes by stating it does create and rights or
benefits that are enforceable against the State of California or
its agencies, officers, or any other person.
PROPOSED LAW
1) This bill codifies verbatim the adaptation provisions of the
Executive Order, adds a reporting requirement, and directs OPR
to update the infrastructure plan to take into account future
climate change impacts into all infrastructure projects. It
additionally proposes the following:
2) Requires that the CNRA, in coordination with the SGC, review
and coordinate existing grants programs to maximize these
objectives:
a) Educate 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) Ensure that there is a repository for scientific data on
climate change and climate adaptation in the state to help
identify primary risks from climate change to residents,
property, communities, and natural systems across the state;
c) Establish policy, guidelines, and guidance at the state
level, through implementation of the Safeguarding California
Plan, to inform planning decisions and ensure that state
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investments consider climate change impacts as well as promote
the use of natural systems and natural infrastructure whenever
feasible when developing physical infrastructure to address
adaptation.
d) Encourage regional collaborative planning to address
regional climate change impacts and adaptation strategies;
e) Promote water supply, delivery, and capture system that
is coordinated to withstand a multiyear drought scenario. This
involves both drought preparation programs and immediate drought
response programs.
f) Build 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 mile traveled.
g) protect and enhance habitat strongholds and wildlife
corridors that are critical to the preservation of species that
are risk from the consequences of climate change.
3) The bill further directs the agency, in coordination with the
council, to identify and coordinate opportunities among its
departments in expending money from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction
Fund ,Proposition 1, and other state funds.
4) The SGC is directed in the bill to aid the CNRA in 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.
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT
According to the author, current law does not create a
comprehensive state climate adaptation policy. There is no
single state entity statutorily tasked with ensuring that
the state's response to climate change is focused and
consistent across agencies in order to best protect
California's residents, resources, and infrastructure from
the effects of climate change. As the state deals with
deepening drought, warmer temperatures, increased forest
fires, continued loss of habitat and biodiversity, and the
threat of sea-level rise along approximately 1,100 miles of
California coastline, state investments in infrastructure
and greenhouse gas reduction should, where possible,
further the goals of climate adaptation.
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In addition, as the impacts of climate change continue to
be felt in California, local governments will need
assistance in risk assessment of public and private
infrastructure, as well as planning assistance and
prioritization signals from the state on climate
adaptation.
In 2014, the Natural Resources Agency adopted the
Safeguarding California Plan (an update to the 2009
California Climate Adaptation Strategy), which begins to
lay out a statewide plan for climate adaptation. However,
there is no mechanism for enforcing this plan or ensuring
that state agency or department actions are consistent with
the Safeguarding California Plan. Further, while the
Strategic Growth Council is tasked with implementing the
Sustainable Communities Strategy and other planning
programs to combat climate change and reduce greenhouse
gases, it does not have the authority to also plan for
climate adaptation. These two existing state agencies are
ideal to oversee and coordinate California's climate
adaptation efforts.
The author's statement is endorsed in the letters from the
bill's supporters.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION
None received.
COMMENTS
1) This bill is still a work in progress especially regarding
the issue of which agency should be the designated lead for
climate adaptation and enforcement of the bill's provisions. The
Committee may well want to preserve the CNRA role in developing
the future Safeguarding California reports including the
cross-agency work required to do so. The Committee may also want
to preserve the other additions to the Safeguarding California
aspects of the executive order which would identify a lead
agency for each sector and to direct OPR update future
infrastructure plans to include current and future climate
change impacts into account in all infrastructure projects.
2) The next question involves the implementation measures
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contained in the bill that direct CNRA to take various actions.
Section 71153 directs the CNRA to "ensure the provisions" of the
plan are implemented. Section 71154 directs CNRA to "coordinate
existing grants and programs to maximize specified objectives,
one of which is "implementation of the Safeguarding California
Plan. In Section 71156, CNRA is directed to "assess and
coordinate" funding opportunities from specific funds. And in
Section 71158, the agency is directed to "assess and coordinate
across all state departments and agencies to identify
opportunities for state and local infrastructure, people and
wildlife to adapt to the impacts of climate change. It is not
known whether these objectives and these new roles, especially
the role of ensuring implementation of the plan, are acceptable
to CNRA or the administration as a whole.
Whether the bill ultimately retains that designation for CNRA,
or whether that designation is shifted to the SGC or OPR, or
whether the bill more surgically divides the workload among
those entities is the most open question still unresolved. The
author plans further discussions with the administration and
other interested parties.
3) As the bill moves forward, the author should consider adding
definitions for terms that are used in the bill but are not
currently defined in state law. These include terms such as
urban greening and natural infrastructure.
4) Staff notes that the reference to "coordinating" expenditures
from auction revenues and Prop 1 could be interpreted to mean
that climate adaptation is an eligible use for the entirety of
those funding sources, which is not the author's intent. It
instead should make reference to "appropriate" funding for
climate adaptation from those sources where such funding makes
adaptation eligible and where such funding satisfies other legal
requirements for the expenditure of regulatory fees in the case
of auction revenues.
Double-Referral. The Rules Committee referred this bill to both
the Committee on Natural Resources and Water and to the
Committee Environmental Quality. Therefore, if this bill passes
this committee, it will be referred to the Committee on
Environmental Quality, which will consider the issues within
their jurisdiction.
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Related legislation : SB 246 (Wieckowski) proposes also to codify
the Safeguarding California reports and would also establish an
advisory council within OPR to focus on climate adaptation.
SUPPORT
Asian Pacific Environmental Network
Audubon California (sponsor)
California Climate & Agriculture Network
California League of Conservation Voters
California ReLeaf
Center for Climate Change and Health
Climate Resolve
Coastal Environmental Rights Foundation
Defenders of Wildlife
Little Hoover Commission
Local Government Commission
National Parks Conservation Association
ReLeaf California
The Nature Conservancy
The Trust for Public Land
TreePeople
Wholly H2O
OPPOSITION
None Received
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