BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2480
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Date of Hearing: May 11, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Lorena Gonzalez, Chair
AB
2480 (Bloom) - As Amended April 5, 2016
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|Policy |Water, Parks and Wildlife |Vote:|9 - 6 |
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No
SUMMARY:
This bill declares it is state policy to recognize and define
source watersheds as integral components of California's water
system, and eligible for financing on an equivalent basis with
other water infrastructure projects. Specifically, this bill:
1)Defines eligible maintenance and repair activities to include
the following forest ecosystem management activities:
a) Upland vegetation management to restore watershed
productivity and resilience.
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b) Wet and dry meadow restoration.
c) Road removal and repair.
d) Stream channel restoration.
e) Conservation of private forests to preserve
watershed integrity through permanent prevention of
conversion and degradation, achieved through conservation
easements.
f) Other projects with a demonstrated likelihood of
increasing conditions for water and snow attraction,
retention, and release under changing climate conditions.
2)Requires the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB), in
consultation with the Department of Water Resources (DWR), to
develop investment plans that prioritize actions for
restoration and conservation to improve watershed function in
the watersheds that flow into the Shasta and Oroville
Reservoirs by December 31, 2017.
FISCAL EFFECT:
1)Potential cost pressures in the hundreds of millions of
dollars or more to finance watershed maintenance and repair on
an equivalent basis with other water projects.
Based on watershed restoration projects in Denver and New
York, DWR estimates a per acre restoration cost of between
$430 to $1,500. The Klamath-Cascade Range spans more than 10
million acres. If restoration costs are similar to projects
in Denver and New York, costs may be somewhere in the $4.3 to
$10 billion range, which the State Water Project would likely
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be able to pass on to its ratepayers (GF or special fund).
2)Increased GF costs in the $800,000 to $1.2 million range for
SWRCB to develop investment plans in the watersheds that flow
into the Shasta and Oroville Reservoirs.
3)Unknown increased ongoing SWRCB costs to provide guidance and
oversight on watershed funding applications.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the author, this bill requires the
state to recognize the role of source watersheds in the water
system infrastructure and set the foundation for a
comprehensive restoration plan with the potential of financing
similar to that provided for the built infrastructure.
2)Background. A watershed is an area of land that drains all
the streams and rainfall to a common outlet such as the
outflow of a reservoir, mouth of a bay, or any point along a
stream channel. The word watershed is sometimes used
interchangeably with drainage basin or catchment. Ridges and
hills that separate two watersheds are called the drainage
divide. The watershed consists of surface water, including
lakes, streams, reservoirs, and wetlands and all the
underlying groundwater.
Watersheds are impacted by numerous stressors, including
drought, climate change, forest conversion, invasive species,
fire risks and fire suppression, neglect, and inadequate
forest management. According to the author, enhancing the
conditions of the watersheds increases water quality by
reducing sediment, lowering temperatures, and may also
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increase water quantity by as much as 5 to 20%.
3)Klamath-Region Watershed. The Klamath-Cascade watershed spans
10 million acres and serves as the headwaters of the
Sacramento River and the source of much of the water that
flows into the Delta. The Klamath-Cascade watershed receives
75% of the state's precipitation. According to the Pacific
Forest Trust, ensuring continued healthy watershed function
requires that 85% of the watershed remain intact as relatively
natural forest. The Trust is working with private landowners
in the region to conserve forests, and asserts that watershed
protection through maintenance of healthy forests is the least
costly and most effective approach to guaranteeing flows in
the Sacramento River.
This bill directs SWRCB to develop plans to maintain
watersheds in the Klamath-Cascade Region that feed the Shasta
and Oroville reservoirs, which, in turn, supply the State
Water Project and Central Valley Project.
Analysis Prepared by:Jennifer Galehouse / APPR. / (916)
319-2081
AB 2480
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