BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1585
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
1585 (Alejo)
As Amended May 31, 2016
2/3 vote. Urgency
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|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Water |12-1 |Levine, Bigelow, |Harper |
| | |Dodd, Eggman, | |
| | |Cristina Garcia, | |
| | |Eduardo Garcia, | |
| | |Gomez, Lopez, Mathis, | |
| | |Olsen, Salas, | |
| | |Williams | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Appropriations |16-1 |Gonzalez, Bigelow, |Obernolte |
| | |Bloom, Bonilla, | |
| | |Bonta, Calderon, | |
| | |Chang, Daly, Eggman, | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | |Eduardo Garcia, Roger | |
| | |Hernández, Holden, | |
| | |Quirk, Santiago, | |
| | |Weber, Wood | |
| | | | |
AB 1585
Page 2
| | | | |
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SUMMARY: Appropriates $10 million from the General Fund (GF) to
the Monterey County Water Resources Agency (MCWRA) for
construction of a water conveyance tunnel between Lake
Nacimiento and Lake San Antonio in Monterey and San Luis Obispo
Counties. Specifically, this bill:
1)Appropriates $10 million from the GF to the MCWRA for the
purpose of constructing, in accordance with a specified
design-build process, a water conveyance tunnel between Lake
Nacimiento and Lake San Antonio, and spillway modifications at
Lake San Antonio to increase storage by 60,000 acre feet.
2)States legislative findings and declarations regarding the
drought, water supply, water quality, and flood risk
challenges facing the state, and specifically the Monterey
County region. States further legislative findings and
declarations regarding capacity and overflow challenges
experienced at Lake Nacimiento and Lake San Antonio, two
reservoirs that provide water supply, groundwater recharge,
flood control, prevention of saltwater intrusion, and
recreational benefits to the Salinas Valley, and plans to
construct a tunnel or pipeline between the two reservoirs to
mitigate these challenges. Finally, makes legislative
findings regarding the area's status as a disadvantaged
community, and states that the area is a distressed community
that is a priority for state funding.
3)States legislative findings and declarations that a special
law is necessary to address the emergency circumstances of the
drought and the benefits these projects will provide to the
region.
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4)Includes an urgency clause stating that it is necessary that
this statute take effect immediately in order to responsibly
store water during California's prolonged drought; to protect
the Salinas Valley from flooding; and to protect water supply,
water quality, distressed communities, and urban and rural
property and structures during the El Niño.
EXISTING LAW:
1)The Water Quality, Supply, and Infrastructure Improvement Act
of 2014 (Proposition 1) makes available $7.45 billion in
general obligation bond funds for various state water needs,
including $810 million for integrated regional water
management projects, $43 million of which is allocated to the
central coast region of the state. Proposition 1 also makes
available $2.7 billion for water storage projects. These
funds are continuously appropriated to the California Water
Commission, which is tasked with selecting the projects to be
funded through a competitive public process, as specified.
2)Provides that, subject to regional priorities, eligible
projects for the integrated regional water management funds
made available in Proposition 1 include, among other things,
local and regional surface and underground water storage
projects, and regional water conveyance facilities that
improve integration of separate water systems.
3)Provides that the Proposition 1 integrated regional water
management funds shall be for expenditures on, and competitive
grants and loans to, projects in an integrated regional water
management plan. Prohibits the Legislature from appropriating
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funding made available by Proposition 1 to a specific project.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, appropriates $25 million from an unspecified state
account to the MCWRA .
COMMENTS: This bill would appropriate $10 million for the
purpose of constructing, in accordance with a specified
design-build process, a water conveyance tunnel between Lake
Nacimiento and Lake San Antonio, and for spillway modifications
at Lake San Antonio that would increase storage capacity by
60,000 acre feet.
The author notes that in the midst of the worst drought
California has ever experienced, increasing water capture
capacity in the Salinas Valley watershed is important regionally
and statewide. Any water not captured through the reservoirs at
Lake San Antonio and Lake Nacimiento in Monterey and San Luis
Obispo counties floods nearby areas. The author emphasizes that
much of the damage from past floods in the area has impacted the
most economically disadvantaged parts of the Salinas Valley. In
addition, the inability to capture more water impacts
agriculture which is a major source of jobs and economic
activity in the area. An Interlake Tunnel (Tunnel) would allow
for excess water from Lake Nacimiento to flow to Lake San
Antonio in order to maximize the capture of water in the Salinas
Valley watershed. The additional water would help protect
agricultural jobs in the Valley. The Tunnel would also increase
water quality by reducing the flooding of agricultural fields,
and reducing the intrusion of seawater. The Tunnel will also
reduce potential flood damage in the region by reducing flood
spillage by an average of 11,857 acre feet per year.
MCWRA is responsible for managing, protecting, and enhancing
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water supply and water quality, as well as providing flood
protection, in the County of Monterey. MCWRA is a proponent of
the Interlake Tunnel and Spillway Modification Project which
this bill seeks to fund. The project would include construction
of a 12,000 foot long gravity flow water conveyance tunnel
connecting Lake Nacimiento and Lake San Antonio reservoirs. The
Lake Nacimiento reservoir fills three times faster than the Lake
San Antonio reservoir resulting in unused storage in Lake San
Antonio when Lake Nacimiento is at capacity and releasing flood
spills. In addition to the Interlake Tunnel, the proposed
project includes spillway modifications that would increase
storage capacity in Lake San Antonio reservoir. A preliminary
report prepared by MCWRA in November 2015 concludes that the
project would provide potential ecological benefits including
flood management, groundwater recharge, surface and groundwater
quality, and benefits to biological resources. The report
indicates that these potential benefits and other effects of the
project will be further identified and analyzed in an
Environmental Impact Report to be prepared in compliance with
the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) which has not
yet been completed. The project has been under consideration
since the late 1970s and was included in the 2013 Greater
Monterey County Integrated Regional Water Management Plan.
MCWRA indicates that in 2014 a group of Salinas Valley growers
revitalized the urgency for the Tunnel project due to heightened
awareness from the multi-year drought. The MCWRA report
indicates that constructing the Tunnel would add approximately
20,000 acre feet of net water storage. Increasing the capacity
of the Lake San Antonio reservoir would also increase the
storage capacity at that reservoir by 60,000 acre feet. This
would provide additional storage for flood control and
conservation releases. According to MCWRA, the additional
storage and controlled releases resulting from the project would
benefit the watershed by reducing flood damage and flood safety
concerns, increasing potential for groundwater recharge,
improving water quality by reducing sediments and pesticide
residues from flooded agricultural fields, reducing salinity
from sea water intrusion, and improving instream flows
benefitting biological habitat and wildlife. Reducing reservoir
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spills would also reduce the likelihood of White Bass entering
the Salinas River and the loss of juvenile Steelhead fish to
predation.
AB 155 (Alejo), Chapter 865, Statutes of 2014, authorized MCWRA
to award a design-build contract for the combined design and
construction of a project to connect Lake San Antonio, and Lake
Nacimiento with an underground tunnel or pipeline for the
purpose of maximizing water storage, supply, and groundwater
recharge.
The project that would be funded through this bill would appear
to be an eligible project to compete for funding under at least
two different categories of funding made available for water
management projects in Proposition 1. As stated above,
Proposition 1 made available $810 million for projects that are
included in integrated regional water management plans. Of this
amount, $43 million is specifically allocated to the central
coast region, of which the Salinas Valley is a part. Eligible
projects include local and regional surface and underground
water storage projects, regional water conveyance facilities
that improve integration of separate water systems, and
watershed protection, restoration, and management projects that
improve water supply reliability. Eligible projects also
include those that provide multiple benefits such as water
quality, water supply, flood control, or open space. The bond
requires that projects that achieve multiple benefits receive
special consideration. At least 10% of the funds authorized by
this chapter of the bond must also be allocated to projects that
directly benefit disadvantaged communities. A 50% cost share
from non-state sources is required, but this requirement can be
waived or reduced for projects that directly benefit a
disadvantaged community or an economically distressed area. The
project that this bill seeks to fund would thus appear to be
well positioned to receive favorable consideration in a
competitive process for a share of these funds.
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The project would also appear to meet the eligibility criteria
to compete for a share of the funding made available through
Proposition 1 for water storage projects being administered by
the California Water Commission. The California Water
Commission is currently soliciting concept proposals from
interested parties for proposed storage projects.
The Legislature in drafting Proposition 1 relied on several core
principles; one being the desire to avoid individual project
earmarks and instead rely on competitive processes for
allocating funding for projects statewide and regionally. This
principle of avoiding individual project earmarks is a principle
that applies beyond the context of the bond, and points more
broadly to the policy goal of having individual projects
evaluated through competitive processes that examine in detail
the merits of those projects in the context of other statewide
and regional goals.
This bill does not specify whether the MCWRA would be required
to provide a local cost share as a match to the state
appropriation for this project. The author's office indicates
that the local region intends for over two-thirds of the
anticipated $6 million in costs for the project to be financed
by local farmers and rate payers through a Proposition 218
process, however, this bill is currently silent as to whether a
local match would be a condition of the state appropriation.
Supporters emphasize this bill will help ensure that a
critically needed water transfer project is able to be
constructed, and point to the enactment of AB 155, which
authorized the MCWRA to construct a water transfer pipeline or
tunnel between the two lakes utilizing the design-build
construction method in conjunction with a Project Labor
Agreement (PLA). PLAs are agreements that require award of
government contracts for public construction projects to
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unionized firms.
Opponents assert this bill would pressure the county to use a
design-build approach to construction of the pipeline or tunnel
connecting the two reservoirs, and a PLA for the project. The
opponents are self-described Merit Shop employer associations
who indicate they follow a way of doing business that rewards
employees based on performance, and support award of contracts
based on safety, quality and value, regardless of labor
affiliation.
Analysis Prepared by:
Diane Colborn / W., P., & W. / (916) 319-2096
FN:
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