BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES AND WATER
Senator Fran Pavley, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 2480 Hearing Date: June 28,
2016
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|Author: |Bloom | | |
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|Version: |June 13, 2016 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Dennis O'Connor |
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Subject: Source watersheds: financing
BACKGROUND AND EXISTING LAW
The California Water Code contains a number of statements of
state water policy. These include:
The water resources of the State [are to] be put to beneficial
use to the fullest extent of which they are capable, and that
the waste or unreasonable use or unreasonable method of use of
water be prevented. CWC §100.
All water within the State is the property of the people of
the State, but the right to the use of water may be acquired
by appropriation in the manner provided by law. CWC §102.
It is hereby declared to be the established policy of this
State that the use of water for domestic purposes is the
highest use of water and that the next highest use is for
irrigation. §106.
It is hereby declared to be the established policy of the
state that every human being has the right to safe, clean,
affordable, and accessible water adequate for human
consumption, cooking, and sanitary purposes. CWC §106.6.
On March 8, 2016, this committee had an oversight hearing titled
"Assessing California's Chronically Under Funded Water Needs:
Options for Moving Forward." The hearing included a panel that
described different approaches to resolving some of these
funding challenges. Among the panelists was Laurie A. Wayburn,
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Co-founder, Co-CEO, and President of the Pacific Forest Trust.
In her testimony, she described an approach to invest in healthy
watersheds and provide more water supply.
( http://sntr.senate.ca.gov/content/2016-informationaloversight-he
arings )
PROPOSED LAW
This bill would:
Declare it to be "the established policy of the state that
source watersheds are recognized and defined as integral
components of California's water infrastructure."
State that source watersheds that supply the state and
federally operated systems, the State Water Project and the
federal Central Valley Project, collectively provide 80
percent of state reservoir capacity and are of particular
importance to maintaining the reliability of California's
water supply.
State that to the extent feasible, the maintenance and repair
of these watersheds and associated projects shall receive
financing consideration on the same basis with other water
collection and treatment infrastructure.
Limit eligible maintenance and repair activities pursuant to
this bill to the following forest ecosystem management
activities:
1. Upland vegetation management to restore the watershed's
productivity and resiliency.
2. Wet and dry meadow restoration.
3. Road removal and repair.
4. Stream channel restoration.
5. Conservation of private forests to preserve watershed
integrity through permanent prevention of conversion and
degradation, achieved through conservation easements.
6. Other projects with a demonstrated likelihood of
increasing conditions for water and snow attraction,
retention, and release under changing climate conditions.
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT
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According to the author, "California's water system is highly
complex and sophisticated. 80% of its reservoir supply is held
in two dam facilities, the Shasta and Oroville Dams, which are
the built infrastructure foundation for the State and Central
Valley Water Projects."
"[T]hese projects rely on more than the built infrastructure to
function. They rely on the five watersheds above the dams to
collect, treat and deliver that water to the dams. These are
the Feather, Pit, McCloud, Upper Sacramento and Trinity River
watersheds. While there is recognition that watersheds play
these functions in various parts of the water code, there is no
policy or system of support for this natural infrastructure
which is integral to, and supplies and complements, the built
infrastructure of these water systems."
"Further, there is substantial scientific recognition that
watershed condition affects the quality and quantity of water
delivered by watersheds to dams. The condition of these five
watersheds is distinctly suboptimal. Enhancing that condition
would increase water quality (reducing sediment such as ash &
soil), lowering temperatures, and likely quantity (from 5-20% or
more depending on conditions) as well as fundamental function."
"Restoration and conservation in these watersheds has been
sporadic, inadequate and supported by general obligation bonds.
There has been no comprehensive plan developed for their
restoration and conservation to enhance our water security. Such
efforts to date have been both limited and uncoordinated and
fiscally inefficient."
"AB 2480 therefore recognizes the fundamental water system
infrastructure role of source watersheds, and set the foundation
for a comprehensive plan of restoration and conservation, with
the potential of future financing to be appropriately classed as
revenue bonds and similarly financed as the built infrastructure
improvements and maintenance are."
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION
According to the Association of California Water Agencies
(ACWA), "AB 2480 would declare state policy that source
watersheds are recognized and defined as integral components of
California's water system. As amended, this bill would now
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require that, to the extent feasible, the maintenance and repair
of source watersheds and associated projects would receive
financing consideration 'on the same basis' with other water
collection and treatment infrastructure and would specify that
the maintenance and repair activities that are eligible for
funding are limited to certain forest ecosystem management
activities. This bill does not define what 'on the same basis'
would mean. The bill also does not include language prohibiting
the imposition of a public goods charge to finance the
provisions of this bill."
"With respect to financing, much of the land within these source
watersheds is federal national forest lands. If we are going to
enhance these watersheds, we need to support a federal-state
partnership in the funding portion moving forward."
"ACWA supports watershed funding that is paid for through the
General Fund, the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (Cap and Trade),
or a future General Obligation Water Bond. We do not support a
public goods charge or statewide water tax to fund watersheds or
any other priorities."
"For these reasons, ACWA opposes AB 2480 and respectfully
requests your "NO" vote when the bill is heard in the Senate
Natural Resources and Water Committee on June 28, 2016."
COMMENTS
ACWA Headwaters Framework. On March 20, 2015, the ACWA released
a policy framework aimed at effectively managing headwaters
areas such as the Sierra Nevada, source of much of the state's
water supply.
According to ACWA's press release, "The formal release of the
document, 'Improving the Resiliency of California's Headwaters,'
comes the day after Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative leaders
outlined an emergency drought package to mobilize state
resources to deal with a fourth year of drought. Given the
severity of the drought, the risk of more destructive wildfires
this summer and ongoing climate change, ACWA believes it is time
to elevate headwaters issues and engage partners at all levels
'Improving the Resiliency of California's Headwaters - A
Framework,' makes nearly 30 specific recommendations in the
areas of improved planning, coordination and implementation,
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managing headwaters resources, research and financing headwaters
improvements."
Among the recommendations in ACWA's report were:
Improved headwaters management must become a high priority for
state, federal and local agencies.
Agencies at all levels should find ways to help public and
private landowners restore meadows and watersheds to improve
their critical functions and reduce wildfire impacts.
Stakeholders at all levels should invest and participate in
landscape-level research that explores water and forestry
relationships, including ecological forest thinning which can
have multiple benefits for water supply reliability, water
quality and ecosystems. ( http://www.acwa.com/Headwaters )
What Does The Science Show? While studies show a water supply
benefit to different watershed restoration activities, the
economics are a bit less clear. For example, a recent study by
the Nature Conservancy titled Estimating the Water Supply
Benefits from Forest Restoration in the Northern Sierra Nevada,
found:
"This assessment is a first attempt at calculating the water
supply benefits from watershed-scale forest restoration in the
northern Sierra Nevada. These watershed level results suggest
that the economic benefits from water yield increases may be an
important argument in favor of additional forest restoration
investments. Nevertheless it is important to emphasize that such
actions do not represent a solution to California's water
crisis, but rather a sensible investment in forest management
that is likely to create benefits for water users downstream."
(Podolak, K., D. Edelson, S. Kruse, B. Aylward, M. Zimring, and
N. Wobbrock. 2015. Estimating the Water Supply Benefits from
Forest Restoration in the Northern Sierra Nevada. An unpublished
report of The Nature Conservancy prepared with Ecosystem
Economics. San Francisco, CA.)
( http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/northamerica/united
states/california/forest-restoration-northern-sierras.pdf )
SUGGESTED AMENDMENTS: None
SUPPORT
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Audubon California
Bear-Yuba Land Trust
California League of Conservation Voters
California ReLeaf
Defenders of Wildlife
Former Legislator, Wesley Chesbro
Lutheran Office of Public Policy
Mono Lake Committee
Pacific Forest Trust
Sequoia Riverlands Trust
Trust for Public Land
Wholly H2O
OPPOSITION
Association of California Water Agencies
San Diego County Water Authority
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