BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES AND WATER
Senator Fran Pavley, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 2800 Hearing Date: June 14,
2016
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|Author: |Quirk | | |
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|Version: |April 12, 2016 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Katharine Moore |
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Subject: Climate change: infrastructure planning
BACKGROUND AND EXISTING LAW
1)Executive Order S-13-08 (Schwarzenegger), among other things,
requires the Natural Resources Agency (CNRA), through the
Climate Action Team, to coordinate with local, regional,
state, federal and private entities to develop a state Climate
Adaptation Strategy. This strategy is required to summarize
the best known science on climate change impacts to the state,
assess the state's vulnerability to these impacts and outline
solutions to be implemented by or across state agencies to
promote resiliency to these impacts.
2)Executive Order B-30-15 (Brown), in addition to establishing a
40% greenhouse gas emission reduction goal by 2030, also
updated and revised the state's strategy for climate
adaptation. These include, among others, that:
a) The CNRA update the state's climate adaptation strategy
every three years and ensure that its provisions are fully
implemented. The state's strategy must identify
vulnerabilities to climate change by sector and regions, as
specified, outline primary risks to residents, property,
communities and natural systems, identify priority actions
needed to reduce these risks and identify a lead agency or
group of agencies to lead adaptation efforts in each
designated sector.
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b) Each sector's lead prepare an implementation plan by
September 2015 to outline the adaptation actions taken as
identified in the strategy and report back to the CNRA on
these actions.
c) State agencies take climate change into account in their
planning and investment decisions, and use full life-cycle
cost accounting to evaluate and compare infrastructure
investments and alternatives. In addition, state agencies'
planning and investments shall be guided by the principles
of preparedness for climate change, provide flexibility and
adaptive approaches for uncertain climate impacts, be
protective of vulnerable populations and prioritize natural
infrastructure solutions for climate change.
d) The state's Five-Year Infrastructure Plan will take
current and future climate change impacts into account for
all infrastructure projects.
e) The Office of Planning and Research establish a
technical advisory group to help state agencies incorporate
climate change impacts into planning and investment
decisions.
f) The state continues its climate change research program
to understand the impacts of climate change and how best to
prepare and adapt to these impacts.
3)The existing Caltrans Highway Design Manual (dated July 1,
2015) recognizes that the typical assumption for
infrastructure design, which was that previously-experienced
hydrology and climatology will be a good predictor of the
hydrology and climatology the project experiences over its
lifetime, may no longer be a valid assumption, although there
is no apparent consensus on an alternative.
4)Existing law (AB 1482, Gordon, c. 603, Statutes of 2015)
requires the Natural Resources Agency (CNRA), by July 1, 2017,
and every three 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. Transportation is among
the specified sectors.
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5)Existing law (SB 246, Wieckowski, c. 606, Statutes of 2015)
establishes the Integrated Climate Adaptation and Resiliency
Program through the Office of Planning and Research to
coordinate regional and local adaptation efforts with state
climate adaptation strategies. This includes working with and
coordinating local and regional efforts for climate adaptation
and resilience. Additionally, within one year of an updated
climate adaptation strategy being released, the Office of
Emergency Services is directed, as specified, to update the
Adaptation Planning Guide to provide tools and guidance to
regional and local governments and agencies in creating and
implementing climate adaptation and community resiliency plans
and projects. (Public Resources Code section 71356).
6)Existing law defines infrastructure as real property,
including land and improvements to the land, structures and
equipment integral to the operation of structures, easements,
rights-of-way and other forms of interest in property,
roadways, and water conveyances. (Government Code section
13101)
PROPOSED LAW
This bill would establish a Climate-Safe Infrastructure Working
Group (working group) with specified tasks to address how to
integrate scientific data regarding projected climate change
impacts into state infrastructure engineering.
Specifically, this bill would:
Require state agencies to take into account the expected
impacts of climate change when planning, designing, building,
and investing in state infrastructure.
Require the CNRA to establish the working group by July 1,
2017 to examine how best to integrate scientific data
regarding projected climate change impacts into state
infrastructure engineering.
Require that working group members meet one of two criteria:
o Be professional engineers with relevant expertise in
state infrastructure design from the Department of Water
Resources, the Department of Transportation and the
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Department of General Resources.
o Be scientists from the University of California and
the California State University Systems with expertise in
the impacts of climate change in the state.
Require the working group to coordinate with other climate
adaptation planning efforts, as specified.
Ask the working group to consider and offer recommendations on
the following issues:
o Current barriers to the integration of projected
climate change impacts to state infrastructure design,
o The development of practicable guidelines for
infrastructure planning and design to provide resiliency,
as specified,
o The identification of gaps in needed critical
engineering information, as specified,
o Consideration of design for multiple projected
climate scenarios, and
o Consideration of a platform or process to facilitate
communication between infrastructure engineers and
climate scientists.
Require by July 1, 2018 that the working group recommend to
the Legislature a process for integrating scientific knowledge
of projected climate change impacts in state infrastructure
design and for addressing the information gaps in a timely
manner.
Make appropriate and relevant findings and definitions.
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT
According to the author, "[w]hile California is at the cutting
edge of understanding how climate change will impact our state's
population and natural systems, there is a disconnect with
efforts to address these climate changes in our state's
infrastructure engineering, design, and construction."
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"Simply put, California cannot afford to spend billions of
dollars on new and upgraded infrastructure that will not be able
to withstand anticipated changes to California's climate and
natural systems."
"To ensure that California's public infrastructure can withstand
the impacts of future climate change, state engineers need to
engage with climate scientists to identify the gaps in practical
information that are necessary to help state employees design
and construct climate-resilient infrastructure. Unfortunately,
no such process currently exists to bring together state
engineers and climate scientists."
"AB 2800 establishes a working group composed of state
professional engineers and climate scientists to develop
recommendations for integrating climate change impacts into
state infrastructure design and construction. [?] The working
group will include state professional engineers from state
agencies involved in infrastructure planning and construction,
and scientists from state universities with expertise in climate
change impacts."
"AB 2800 will build on other adaptation efforts to begin to
ensure that the state identifies and incorporates climate-safe
specifications into state infrastructure in order to save lives,
property, and investments."
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION
None received
COMMENTS
This bill is double-referred to the Senate Environmental Quality
Committee . Elements of the bill subject to that Committee's
jurisdiction will be discussed there.
There is a role for the working group . Addressing state
infrastructure-specific engineering design challenges for
climate change adaptation appears to be a gap in the current
statutory state planning process for climate change adaptation.
The author's office continues to engage with stakeholders to
ensure the working group is appropriately inclusive.
Technical amendments . There is some existing lack of
specificity in the bill's language that may hinder the author's
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intent for this legislation. For example, while the bill's
language refers to "professional engineers," it is unclear if
that means someone employed as an engineer or an engineer
holding specific technical certification. The Committee may
wish to clarify this and make other similar technical and
clarifying amendments regarding working group composition to the
bill. [Amendment 1]
The state's reports on climate adaptation strategy . Pursuant to
the existing Executive Order, a California Climate Adaptation
Strategy was released in 2009. The CNRA recently updated this
strategy with the "Safeguarding California" report. According
to the CNRA's web-site, an early 2017 update to Safeguarding
California is anticipated. Information on other related
state-level climate change assessments, planning tools and other
activities is available on the CNRA's web-site.
SUGGESTED AMENDMENTS
AMENDMENT 1
On page 3, line 23: require that the working group's
membership be "reasonably equitably distributed" between
the two identified membership categories.
On page 3, line 24: specify that "professional engineers"
are those that are registered as such pursuant to Chapter 7
of Division 3 (commencing with Section 6700) of the
Business and Professions Code.
On page 3, line 27: add "and other relevant state agencies,
as applicable"
SUPPORT
Union of Concerned Scientists (sponsor)
American Society of Civil Engineers, Region 9
California League of Conservation Voters
California Shore and Beach Preservation Association
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Climate Resolve
Local Government Commission
National Audubon Society
National Parks Conservation Association
Silicon Valley Leadership Group
University of Southern California Sea Grant Program
OPPOSITION
None Received
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