BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 2800 Page 1 ASSEMBLY THIRD READING AB 2800 (Quirk) As Amended April 12, 2016 Majority vote ------------------------------------------------------------------ |Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------| |Natural |7-2 |Williams, Cristina |Jones, Harper | |Resources | |Garcia, Gomez, | | | | |Hadley, McCarty, Mark | | | | |Stone, Wood | | | | | | | |----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------| |Appropriations |14-6 |Gonzalez, Bloom, |Bigelow, Chang, | | | |Bonilla, Bonta, |Gallagher, Jones, | | | |Calderon, Daly, |Obernolte, Wagner | | | |Eggman, Eduardo | | | | |Garcia, Roger | | | | |Hernández, Holden, | | | | |Quirk, Santiago, | | | | |Weber, Wood | | | | | | | | | | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------ SUMMARY: Establishes a Climate-Safe Infrastructure Working AB 2800 Page 2 Group (Working Group) to examine how to integrate scientific data concerning projected climate change impacts into state infrastructure engineering. Specifically, this bill: 1)Makes various findings related to climate change's impacts and the need to consider climate change impacts on siting and design standards and specifications. 2)Requires state agencies to take into account the expected impacts of climate change when planning, designing, building, and investing in state infrastructure. 3)Requires Natural Resources Agency (NRA), by July 1, 2017, to establish the Working Group to examine how to integrate scientific data concerning projected climate change impacts into state infrastructure engineering. 4)Requires the Working Group to consist of the following: a) Professional engineers with relevant expertise in state infrastructure design from the Department of Transportation, the Department of Water Resources, and the Department of General Services; and, b) Scientists from the University of California and the California State University systems with expertise in climate change impacts in California. 5)Requires the Working Group to consider and offer recommendations on how better integrate knowledge of climate impacts into infrastructure planning and design, including more communication between climate scientists and AB 2800 Page 3 infrastructure engineers. EXISTING LAW: 1)Pursuant to Executive Order B-30-15 (Brown), in addition to establishing a 40% Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission reduction goal by 2030, requires several actions on adaptation including: a) Requires NRA to update the state's climate adaptation strategy every three years and ensure that its provisions are fully implemented. Requires the state's climate adaptation strategy to: i) Identify vulnerabilities to climate change by sector and regions, including, at a minimum, the following sectors: water, energy, transportation, public health, agriculture, emergency services, forestry, biodiversity and habitat, and ocean and coastal resources; ii) Outline primary risks to residents, property, communities, and natural systems from these vulnerabilities and identify priority actions needed to reduce these risks; and, iii) Identify a lead agency or group of agencies to lead adaptation efforts in each sector. b) Requires each sector lead to prepare an implementation plan by September 2015 to outline the actions that will be taken as identified in state's climate adaptation strategy, and report back on those actions to the NRA. c) Requires state agencies to take climate change into account in their planning and investment decisions, and employ full life-cycle cost accounting to evaluate and compare infrastructure investments and alternatives. AB 2800 Page 4 d) Requires state agencies' planning and investment to be guided by the principles of climate preparedness, flexibility and adaptive approaches for uncertain climate impacts, protective of vulnerable populations, and prioritization of natural infrastructure solutions. e) Requires the state's Five-Year Infrastructure Plan to take current and future climate change impacts into account in all infrastructure projects. f) Requires Office of Planning and Research (OPR) to establish a technical advisory group to help state agencies incorporate climate change impacts into planning and investment decisions. g) Requires the state to continue its rigorous climate change research program focused on understanding the impacts of climate change and how best to prepare and adapt to such impacts. 2)Requires the NRA to update its climate adaptation strategy, the Safeguarding California Plan (Plan), by July 1, 2017, and every three years thereafter, by coordinating adaption activities among lead state agencies in each sector. FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee: 1)In addition to existing resources, the NRA estimates it will take an additional staff person working three-quarter time on this project to fulfill the requirements of the bill. AB 2800 Page 5 2)Unknown costs, likely absorbable for the state agency members of the Working Group (Department of Transportation, Department of Water Resources, Department of General Services). 3)Unknown costs, likely absorbable for the California State University and University of California to participate on the Working Group. 4)Absorbable costs for state agencies to account for the impacts of climate change when investing in state infrastructure. The recommendations provided by the Working Group may provide cost savings for state agencies' plans and projects. COMMENTS: According to a report by the American Society of Civil Engineers entitled, Adapting Infrastructure and Civil Engineering Practice to a Changing Climate: Engineers should engage in cooperative research involving scientists from across many disciplines to gain an adequate, probabilistic understanding of the magnitudes of future extremes and their consequences. Doing so will improve the relevance of modeling and observations for use in the planning, design, operation, maintenance and renewal of the built and natural environment. It is only when engineers work closely with scientists that the needs of the engineering community become fully understood, the limitations of the scientific knowledge become more transparent to engineers, and the uncertainties of the projections of future climate effects become fully recognized for engineering design purposes. This bill would implement the approach outlined above by creating the Working Group of both engineers and AB 2800 Page 6 scientists. This is a very different approach than past adaptation bills. Prior bills focused on a top down approach to incorporating adaptation into state and local government decisions. This bill focuses on collaboration between practitioners to drive systematic change. This bill also codifies one of points in the Governor's Executive Order B-30-15 related to state infrastructure. Analysis Prepared by: Michael Jarred / NAT. RES. / (916) 319-2092 FN: 0003119