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 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Author: |Gordon | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Version: |June 16, 2015 Amended | ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes | ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Consultant:|William Craven | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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 AB 1482 (Gordon) Page 2 of ? 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: AB 1482 (Gordon) Page 3 of ? 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; AB 1482 (Gordon) Page 4 of ? 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 AB 1482 (Gordon) Page 5 of ? 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. AB 1482 (Gordon) Page 6 of ? 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 AB 1482 (Gordon) Page 7 of ? 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. AB 1482 (Gordon) Page 8 of ? 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 -- END --