BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                    AB 2800


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          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  








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          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  








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            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. 










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             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.










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          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  








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          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