BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES AND WATER
Senator Fran Pavley, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 2616 Hearing Date: June 28,
2016
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|Author: |Burke | | |
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|Version: |May 31, 2016 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|William Craven |
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Subject: California Coastal Commission: environmental justice
BACKGROUND AND EXISTING LAW
1. Pursuant to the Coastal Act:
a) Establishes the Commission in the Natural Resources
Agency and requires the Commission to consist of 15 members
(3 non-voting and 12 voting).
b) Requires the membership of the Commission include six
members of the public at large and six from local
governments representatives from six coastal regions.
c) Provides that the Governor, the Speaker of the Assembly,
and Senate Rules Committee each appoint four of the
members.
d) Requires the Governor, the Senate Committee on Rules,
and the Speaker of the Assembly to make good faith efforts
to assure that their appointments, as a whole, reflect, to
the greatest extent feasible, the economic, social, and
geographic diversity of the state.
e) Requires a person planning to perform or undertake any
development in the coastal zone to obtain a coastal
development permit (CDP) from the Commission or local
government enforcing a Local Coastal Program (LCP).
f) Defines "development" to mean, among other things, the
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placement or erection of any solid material or structure on
land or in water. "Structure" includes, but is not limited
to, any building, road, pipe, flume, conduit, siphon,
aqueduct, telephone line, and electrical power transmission
and distribution line.
g) Defines the "coastal zone" as the land and water area of
the State of California from the Oregon border to the
border of the Republic of Mexico, extending seaward to the
state's outer limit of jurisdiction, including all offshore
islands, and extending inland generally 1,000 yards from
the mean high tide line of the sea. In significant coastal
estuarine, habitat, and recreational areas, the coastal
zone extends inland to the first major ridgeline
paralleling the sea or five miles from the mean high tide
line of the sea, whichever is less. In developed urban
areas, the zone generally extends inland less than 1,000
yards. The coastal zone does not include the area of
jurisdiction of the San Francisco Bay Conservation and
Development Commission, nor any area contiguous thereto,
including any river, stream, tributary, creek, or flood
control or drainage channel flowing into such area.
2) The Government Code defines "environmental justice" to mean
the fair treatment of people of all races, cultures, and incomes
with respect to the development, adoption, implementation, and
enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.
PROPOSED LAW
This bill would add three new members to the Commission to
represent environmental justice communities. It also allows, but
does not require, the Commission, when acting on a coastal
development permit to consider environmental justice and the
equitable distribution of environmental benefits throughout the
state.
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT
According to the author, the bill gives a voice to the
environmental justice community by adding three new
environmental justice members and provides the Commission the
ability to consider environmental justice issues when making
decisions regarding the California coast. She believes that the
bill is consistent with a recent law that added additional
environmental justice representatives to the California Air
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Resources Control Board and a pending proposal to add
representation to the South Coast Air Quality Management Board.
An environmental/social justice coalition has adopted a support
if amended position that seeks to strengthen the civil rights
language in the bill but expressed a lack of support over the
proposal to add three new members. It would like a public
process to ensure that the environmental justice appointees
represent impacted communities. It is also concerned by the
recent action of the Coastal Commission to suggest an amendment
to this bill that the three new members are elected
officials-and not public members--who may or may not adequately
represent disadvantaged communities.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION
Opposition arguments raise several considerations: (1) Expanding
the size of the commission may or may not result in improved
consideration of environmental justice considerations; (2) that
the 12-member commission currently comprises 4 people of color,
two LGBT members, and a majority of 7 women, which suggests that
representatives of underserved communities are currently
serving.
As an alternative to three new members, the California State
Association of Counties suggests one environmental justice
advisory member.
The County of Santa Barbara believes that environmental justice
should be handled by the commission currently and does not
support adding new commissioners for the specific purposes that
the Commission should be handling already.
COMMENTS
1. Environmental Justice.
According to the Office of Environmental Health Hazard
Assessment, approximately 8 million Californians (21%) live in
zip codes that are
considered "highly impacted" by environmental, public health,
and socioeconomic stressors. Nearly half of
all Californians live within six miles of a facility that is a
significant greenhouse gas emitter (46%), and they are
disproportionately people of color (62%). Throughout California,
people of color face a 50% higher risk of cancer from
ambient concentrations of air pollutants listed under the
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Clean Air Act. These impacts affect all Californians. The Air
Resources Board (ARB) estimates that air pollution exposure
accounts for 19,000 premature deaths, 280,000 cases
of asthma, and 1.9 million lost work days every year.
2. Discussions with the author and the Committee resulted in a
potential mechanism to achieve environmental justice
representation within the existing structure of 12 members as
well as to strengthen the environmental justice language in the
bill:
Each of the appointing authorities (Speaker, Senate Rules,
Governor) has 4 appointees consisting of two public appointments
and two appointees from local government.
The amendment would provide that one of the four, from each of
the appointing authorities, must represent disadvantaged
communities. The statutory balance of 6 public members and 6
local government members would not be altered.
The appointing authorities would have to decide which of their
appointees would represent disadvantaged communities and the
timing of that appointment. The amendment would not require that
any current commissioners be removed. (Amendment 1)
The Committee recommends that the environmental justice members
actually reside in the communities they represent on the
commission, and have a demonstrated commitment to environmental
justice. (Amendment 2)
Additionally, the Committee and the author have discussed adding
a cross-reference from the Civil Rights Act (Government Code
section 11135(a) or another appropriate cross-reference) so that
the statutory link between environmental justice and the Coastal
Act is made crystal clear and would therefore become an
obligation of all commissioners to uphold. (Amendment 3).
It should also be stated that these amendments do not affect the
discretion of an appointing authority to increase the
representation from disadvantaged communities or from
communities historically disproportionately affected by
environmental impacts.
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SUGGESTED AMENDMENTS
AMENDMENT 1
Provide that one of the four appointees by each appointing
authority represents disadvantaged communities on a
selection schedule determined by each appointing authority.
AMENDMENT 2
Provide that each appointee pursuant to Amendment 1 reside
in a disadvantaged community or a community historically
disproportionately affected by environmental impacts, and
that each appointee has demonstrated a commitment to
environmental justice.
AMENDMENT 3
Add appropriate cross-reference to the Civil Rights Act.
SUPPORT
All are support if amended:
Audubon California
California Coastal Commission
California Coastal Protection Network
California League of Conservation Voters
Courage Campaign
Environment California
Sierra Club California
Trust for Public Land
OPPOSITION
California State Association of Counties
Committee for Green Foothills
County of Santa Barbara
San Luis Obispo Coastkeeper
-- END --
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