BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2800| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- THIRD READING Bill No: AB 2800 Author: Quirk (D) Amended: 8/2/16 in Senate Vote: 21 SENATE NATURAL RES. & WATER COMMITTEE: 7-2, 6/14/16 AYES: Pavley, Allen, Hertzberg, Hueso, Jackson, Monning, Wolk NOES: Stone, Vidak SENATE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE: 6-1, 6/29/16 AYES: Wieckowski, Bates, Hill, Jackson, Leno, Pavley NOES: Gaines SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 6-1, 8/11/16 AYES: Lara, Bates, Beall, Hill, McGuire, Mendoza NOES: Nielsen ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 59-19, 6/1/16 - See last page for vote SUBJECT: Climate change: infrastructure planning SOURCE: Union of Concerned Scientists DIGEST: This bill requires the California Natural Resources Agency to establish a Climate-Safe Infrastructure Working Group by July 1, 2017 to examine how to integrate scientific data concerning projected climate change impacts into state infrastructure engineering. ANALYSIS: AB 2800 Page 2 Existing law: 1)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. 2)Establishes the Governor's Office of Planning and Research (OPR) as the comprehensive state planning agency and requires OPR to assist state, regional, and local agencies in a variety of research and planning efforts, including climate adaptation. a) There is an advisory council to OPR comprised of members from a range of scientific and technical disciplines with expertise in the intersection of climate change and various sectors. b) The Integrated Climate Adaptation and Resiliency Program coordinates regional and local adaptation efforts with state climate adaptation strategies and programs. This includes: i) Working with and coordinating local and regional efforts for climate adaptation and resilience, and ii) Coordinating and maintain the state's clearinghouse of certain climate resources, as specified. 3)Establishes the California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA) and requires it, 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, priority actions needed to reduce the risks in those sectors and identify a lead agency or group of agencies to lead AB 2800 Page 3 adaptation efforts in each sector. Transportation is among the specified sectors. Actions taken to implement the strategy are required to be reported to the CNRA. 4)Establishes the Office of Emergency Services and directs it, as specified, to update the Adaptation Planning Guide, within one year of an updated climate adaptation strategy being released. The guide provides tools and guidance to regional and local governments and agencies in creating and implementing climate adaptation and community resiliency plans and projects. 5)Requires that state agencies work to maximize, where applicable and feasible, educating the public about the consequences of climate change; ensuring there is a continuous repository for scientific data on climate change and adaptation to help identify climate change risks and facilitate educated state and local policy decisions. 6)Establishes the Strategic Growth Council and requires it to identify and review activities and funding programs of state agencies that may be coordinated to address, among other goals, the strategies and priorities developed in the climate adaptation plan. This bill establishes 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. Specially, this bill: 1)Requires state agencies to take into account the expected impacts of climate change when planning, designing, building, and investing in state infrastructure. 2)Requires, by July 1, 2017, the CNRA establish a Climate-Safe Infrastructure Working Group (working group) to determine how to integrate scientific data about projected climate change impacts into state infrastructure engineering, as specified. AB 2800 Page 4 3)Requires the working group include the following members with relevant experience and/or expertise, as specified: a) Professional engineers from Caltrans, the Department of Water Resources, the Department of General Services and other state agencies, as applicable. b) Scientists from the University of California and California State University and other California-based institutions. c) Licensed architects. 4)Specifies the working group membership be equitably distributed among the membership categories, as specified, shall work in coordination with other planning efforts and build upon existing available information. 5)Requires the working should consider and make recommendations on: a) Barriers between integrating projected climate change impacts and state infrastructure design, b) The development of guidelines for infrastructure planning and design that are climate-resilient, c) Identification of relevant critical information gaps, d) Appropriate engineering design for different climate scenarios, AB 2800 Page 5 e) The facilitation of communication between climate scientists and infrastructure engineers. 6)By July 1, 2018 the working group will report back to the Legislature on a process to integrate climate science and projected climate change impacts into state infrastructure design and for addressing information gaps. 7)Sunsets on July 1, 2020, as specified. 8)Makes appropriate and relevant legislative findings. Background Administration policies regarding climate change adaptation. Executive Order S-13-08 (Schwarzenegger), among other things, requires the 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. 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: 1)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. AB 2800 Page 6 2)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. 3)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. 4)The state's Five-Year Infrastructure Plan will take current and future climate change impacts into account for all infrastructure projects. 5) The Office of Planning and Research establish a technical advisory group to help state agencies incorporate climate change impacts into planning and investment decisions. 6)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. The Legislature passed three laws, AB 1482 (Gordon, Chapter 603, Statutes of 2015), SB 246 (Wieckowski, Chapter 606, Statutes of 2015), and SB 379 (Jackson, Chapter 608, Statutes of 2015) that build on this Executive Order in various ways to strengthen and codify several climate adaptation efforts within the state. 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. 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 AB 2800 Page 7 strategy with the Safeguarding California reports. 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. Comments 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 coordination requirement with other climate adaptation planning efforts should help to avoid duplication of efforts given the multiple climate adaptation planning efforts currently underway. FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.:YesLocal: No According to the Senate Appropriations Committee analysis, the costs associated with this bill are as follows: 1)Approximately $150,000 to the CNRA (General Fund) for staff and contracting costs. 2)Unknown costs, likely absorbable, for the state agency members of the working group (Department of Transportation, Department of Water Resources, and 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. AB 2800 Page 8 SUPPORT: (Verified8/11/16) Union of Concerned Scientists (source) American Institute of Architects, California Council American Society of Civil Engineers, Region 9 California League of Conservation Voters California Shore and Beach Preservation Association Climate Resolve Local Government Commission National Audubon Society National Parks Conservation Association Professional Engineers in California Government Silicon Valley Leadership Group University of Southern California Sea Grant Program OPPOSITION: (Verified8/11/16) None received 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." "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 Page 9 "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." ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 59-19, 6/1/16 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Arambula, Atkins, Baker, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Hadley, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones-Sawyer, Lackey, Levine, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, McCarty, Medina, Mullin, Nazarian, O'Donnell, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Rendon NOES: Travis Allen, Bigelow, Brough, Chang, Dahle, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Grove, Harper, Jones, Kim, Mathis, Mayes, Obernolte, Olsen, Patterson, Steinorth, Wagner, Waldron NO VOTE RECORDED: Linder, Melendez Prepared by:Katharine Moore / N.R. & W. / (916) 651-4116 8/15/16 19:39:59 **** END ****