BILL NUMBER: AB 2800 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 580
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 24, 2016
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 24, 2016
PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 22, 2016
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 25, 2016
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 17, 2016
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 2, 2016
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 16, 2016
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 12, 2016
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 18, 2016
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Quirk
FEBRUARY 19, 2016
An act to add and repeal Section 71155 of the Public Resources
Code, relating to climate change.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2800, Quirk. Climate change: infrastructure planning.
Existing law requires the Natural Resources Agency, by July 1,
2017, and every 3 years thereafter, to update the state's climate
adaptation strategy to identify vulnerabilities to climate change by
sectors and priority actions needed to reduce the risks in those
sectors.
This bill, until July 1, 2020, would require state agencies to
take into account the current and future impacts of climate change
when planning, designing, building, operating, maintaining, and
investing in state infrastructure. The bill, by July 1, 2017, and
until July 1, 2020, would require the agency to establish a
Climate-Safe Infrastructure Working Group for the purpose of
examining how to integrate scientific data concerning projected
climate change impacts into state infrastructure engineering, as
prescribed. The bill would require the working group to consist of
registered professional engineers with specified relevant expertise
from the Department of Transportation, the Department of Water
Resources, the Department of General Services, and other relevant
state agencies; scientists with specified expertise from the
University of California, the California State University, and other
institutions; and licensed architects with specified relevant
experience. The bill would require the working group, by July 1,
2018, to make specified recommendations to the Legislature and the
Strategic Growth Council.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) The impacts of climate change are already being felt in
California and include record-breaking drought, wildfires, flooding,
sea level rise, coastal erosion, and heat waves. These impacts are
projected to worsen with a future punctuated by what are now
considered extreme weather events.
(b) As the climate warms, California will need to design and
maintain infrastructure, including, but not limited to, roads,
bridges, buildings, and water systems, to withstand increasingly
severe impacts.
(c) The scientific community is developing sound scientific
understanding of projected impacts from climate change. The engineers
responsible for overseeing, designing, and building state
infrastructure must consider the influence of climate change impacts
on siting and design standards and specifications.
(d) As California spends billions of dollars on infrastructure,
expecting it to last many decades, state engineers should be provided
with practicable information on projected climate change impacts
that they should consider when establishing standards and planning
and designing structures that are critical to California's economy
and public safety.
(e) Prolonged heat waves, extreme precipitation events, severe
drought, increasing wildfires, and other potentially dangerous
climate change impacts will require significant changes in designing
and building projects, such as roads, bridges, buildings, and water
infrastructure, and require planning for the resilience and
restoration of natural systems.
(f) There is a significant body of climate science being developed
and continually updated to inform decisionmakers and provide
guidance on the predicted impacts. Infrastructure project planning
and design must incorporate design standards and specifications for
climate change impacts.
(g) Due to Executive Order B-30-15, current efforts by state
agencies provide built-in resources, processes, and expertise that
can be utilized to provide coordination between scientists and those
responsible for designing, building, and overseeing critical state
infrastructure.
SEC. 2. Section 71155 is added to the Public Resources Code, to
read:
71155. (a) Consistent with this part, state agencies shall take
into account the current and future impacts of climate change when
planning, designing, building, operating, maintaining and investing
in state infrastructure.
(b) (1) By July 1, 2017, the agency shall establish a Climate-Safe
Infrastructure Working Group for the purpose of examining how to
integrate scientific data concerning projected climate change impacts
into state infrastructure engineering, including oversight,
investment, design, and construction.
(2) The working group shall consist of the following:
(A) Professional engineers registered in accordance with Chapter 7
(commencing with Section 6700) of Division 3 of the Business and
Professions Code with relevant expertise in state infrastructure
design from the Department of Transportation, the Department of Water
Resources, the Department of General Services, and other relevant
state agencies, as applicable.
(B) Scientists from the University of California, the California
State University, and other institutions who have expertise in
climate change projections and impacts across California.
(C) Licensed architects with relevant experience in state
infrastructure design, as applicable.
(3) The two groups specified in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of
paragraph (2) shall be equitably represented in the membership of the
working group, to the extent reasonable and appropriate.
(4) The working group shall work in coordination with other state
climate adaptation planning efforts and shall consider and build upon
existing information produced by the state, including information
from the most recent California Climate Change Assessment conducted
pursuant to Executive Order S-3-05, the plan, and the State of
California Sea-Level Rise Guidance Document completed pursuant to
Executive Order S-13-08, among other resources.
(5) The working group shall work in coordination with other state
agencies that advance sustainability in infrastructure, including the
council and the Government Operations Agency.
(c) The working group shall consider and investigate, at a
minimum, the following issues:
(1) The current informational and institutional barriers to
integrating projected climate change impacts into state
infrastructure design.
(2) The critical information that engineers responsible for
infrastructure design and construction need to address climate change
impacts.
(3) How to select an appropriate engineering design for a range of
future climate scenarios as related to infrastructure planning and
investment.
(d) (1) By July 1, 2018, the working group shall make
recommendations to the Legislature that address the issues listed in
subdivision (c), including recommendations for all of the following:
(A) Integrating scientific knowledge of projected climate change
impacts into state infrastructure design.
(B) Addressing critical information gaps identified by the working
group.
(C) A platform or process to facilitate communication between
climate scientists and infrastructure engineers.
(2) By July 1, 2018, the recommendations submitted pursuant to
paragraph (1) also shall be submitted to the council to inform its
review, conducted pursuant to Section 75125, of the five-year
infrastructure plan developed pursuant to Article 2 (commencing with
Section 13100) of Chapter 2 of Part 3 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the
Government Code.
(e) This section shall become inoperative on July 1, 2020, and, as
of January 1, 2021, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute,
that becomes operative on or before January 1, 2021, deletes or
extends the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.