BILL ANALYSIS Ó SB 355 Page 1 SENATE THIRD READING SB 355 (Lara) As Amended June 25, 2015 Majority vote SENATE VOTE: 24-12 ------------------------------------------------------------------ |Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------| |Natural |7-0 |Williams, Cristina | | |Resources | |Garcia, Hadley, | | | | |Harper, McCarty, | | | | |Rendon, Mark Stone | | | | | | | |----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------| |Appropriations |14-0 |Gomez, Bigelow, | | | | |Bloom, Bonta, | | | | |Calderon, Chang, | | | | |Eggman, Gallagher, | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Eduardo Garcia, | | | | |Jones, Quirk, Rendon, | | | | |Weber, Wood | | | | | | | | | | | | SB 355 Page 2 ------------------------------------------------------------------ SUMMARY: Increases the San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy's (Conservancy) governing board to 15 voting members and nine ex officio members and specifies the additional members' qualifications. Specifically, this bill: 1)Expands the Conservancy's voting board members from 13 to 15 and specifies the two additional members will be appointed by the Governor. Specifies one member be a resident of a city bordering the San Gabriel River and one member be a resident of a city bordering the Lower Los Angeles River. 2)Expands the Conservancy's ex officio board members from seven to nine. Requires the additional members to be: a) A member of the Senate, appointed by the Senate Rules Committee. b) A member of the Assembly, appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly. EXISTING LAW: 1)Establishes the Conservancy, which is responsible for the preservation and protection of specified lands. 2)Requires the Conservancy to prepare a San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Parkway and Open Space Plan, which includes policies and priorities for the conservation of the San Gabriel River and its watershed, the Lower Los Angeles River, SB 355 Page 3 and the San Gabriel Mountains and identifies underused existing public open spaces and recommendations for providing better public use and enjoyment. 3)Establishes the Conservancy's governing board and specifies the board shall consist of 13 voting members and seven ex officio members, as follows: a) Voting members: i) A member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors; ii) Two members of the board of directors of the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments who must be a mayor or city council member; iii) Two members of the board of directors of the Gateway Cities Council of Governments, one must be the mayor of Long Beach or a Long Beach city council member and one must be appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly; iv) Two members of the Orange County Division of the League of California Cities who must be mayors or city council members; v) A San Gabriel Water Association representative; vi) A Central Basin Water Association representative; SB 355 Page 4 vii) A member proposed by an environmental organization involved in restoration, open space, or river preservation activities; viii) The Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency; ix) The Secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency; and, x) The Director of Finance. b) Ex officio members: i) The District Engineer of the United States (U.S.) Army Corps of Engineers; ii) The Regional Forester of the Pacific Southwest Region, U.S. Forest Service; iii) Director of Los Angeles County Department of Public Works; iv) Director of Orange County Department of Public Works; v) A member of the San Gabriel River Watermaster; vi) Director of State Parks; and, SB 355 Page 5 vii) Executive Officer of the Wildlife Conservation Board. FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, this bill has minor, absorbable state costs. COMMENTS: 1)Purpose of this bill. According to the author: The recently approved state water bond provides millions of dollars in funding opportunities for the revitalization of the Lower Los Angeles River watershed, including parks and open space along the river. Many of those funds, including a $30 million direct allocation for watershed improvements, and a share of $100 million for urban creek restoration, will be allocated through the Conservancy. Opportunities for improvements to the Lower Los Angeles River directly impact the communities that border the river. It is vital that the conservancy board include representation from the cities that border the river, to provide a local perspective on plans and developments. Adding state elected officials as non-voting board members in an advisory capacity has proven successful at other state conservancies. 2)Conservancy. The Conservancy was created by the California Legislature in 1999. It is one of 10 conservancies within the California Resources Agency. The Conservancy's mission is to preserve open space and habitat in order to provide for SB 355 Page 6 low-impact recreation and educational uses, wildlife habitat restoration and protection, and watershed improvements within its jurisdiction. The territory of the Conservancy includes the watersheds for the San Gabriel River and the lower Los Angeles River, along with portions of the Santa Clara River and the lower Santa Ana River. According to the Conservancy's Web-page it has received funding from Proposition 12 (2000), Proposition 13 (2000), Proposition 40 (2002), Proposition 50 (2002) and Proposition 84 (2006) in addition to the recently passed Proposition 1 (2014). Several of these bonds contained specified funding for the Conservancy [Proposition 84 ($36 million), Proposition 50 ($20 million), Proposition 40 ($40 million) and Proposition 12, which predated the establishment of the Conservancy, provided $25 million for the Los Angeles and San Gabriel River watersheds]. Additionally, Proposition 1 and the earlier bonds also include programs which the Conservancy would be eligible to receive funding from, such as urban river restoration, among others. 1)Legislative representation. There are nine other state conservancies with varying governing board member requirements which include: a) State Coastal Conservancy and Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy: In addition to their governing board members, three members of the Senate and three members of the Assembly are required to participate. There are no regional geographic requirements for the Senate or Assembly members. b) Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Conservancy: The governing board consists of 11 voting members and two nonvoting members. The two nonvoting members must consist of a Senator member and an Assembly Member from districts encompassing a portion of the Delta. c) The remaining six conservancies do not have any SB 355 Page 7 requirements for members of the Senate or Assembly to participate. This bill adds legislative representation to the Conservancy's governing board. Analysis Prepared by: Michael Jarred / NAT. RES. / (916) 319-2092 FN: 0001239