BILL ANALYSIS Ó SB 379 Page 1 SENATE THIRD READING SB 379 (Jackson) As Amended July 6, 2015 Majority vote SENATE VOTE: 23-16 ------------------------------------------------------------------ |Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------| |Local |8-0 |Maienschein, | | |Government | |Gonzalez, Alejo, | | | | |Chiu, Cooley, Gordon, | | | | |Holden, Linder | | | | | | | |----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------| |Appropriations |12-5 |Gomez, Bloom, Bonta, |Bigelow, Chang, | | | |Calderon, Daly, |Gallagher, Jones, | | | |Eggman, Eduardo |Wagner | | | |Garcia, Holden, | | | | |Quirk, Rendon, Weber, | | | | |Wood | | | | | | | | | | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------ SB 379 Page 2 SUMMARY: Requires cities and counties to update their safety elements to address climate adaptation and resiliency strategies. Specifically, this bill: 1)Requires a city or county to review and update the safety element as necessary to address climate adaptation and resiliency strategies applicable to that city or county, either upon the next revision of a local hazard mitigation plan, on or after January 1, 2017, adopted in accordance with the federal Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000, or if a local jurisdiction has not adopted a local hazard mitigation plan, beginning on or before January 1, 2022. 2)Requires the review to consider advice provided in the Office of Planning and Research's (OPR) General Plan Guidelines, and to include all of the following: a) A vulnerability assessment that identifies the risks that climate change poses to the local jurisdiction and the geographic areas at risk from climate change impacts, including, but not limited to, an assessment of how climate change may affect the risks addressed, pursuant to provisions in the safety element that require a city or county to identify flood hazards and fire hazards; i) Information that may be available from federal, state, regional, and local agencies that will assist in developing the vulnerability assessment and the adaptation policies and strategies required pursuant to b) below, including, but not limited to, all of the following: (1) Information from the Internet-based Cal-Adapt tool; SB 379 Page 3 (2) Information from the most recent version of the California Adaptation Planning Guide; (3) Information from local agencies on the types of assets, resources, and populations that will be sensitive to various climate change exposures; (4) Information from local agencies on their current ability to deal with the impacts of climate change; (5) Historical data on natural events and hazards, including locally prepared maps of areas subject to previous risk, areas that are vulnerable, and sites that have been repeatedly damaged; (6) Existing and planned development in identified at-risk areas, including structures, roads, utilities, and essential public facilities; and, (7) Federal, state, regional, and local agencies with responsibility for the protection of public health and safety and the environment, including special districts and local offices of emergency services. b) A set of adaptation and resilience goals, policies, and objectives based on the information specified in a) above, for the protection of the community. SB 379 Page 4 c) A set of feasible implementation measures designed to carry out the goals, policies, and objectives identified pursuant to b) above, including, but not limited to, all of the following: i) Feasible methods to avoid or minimize climate change impacts associated with new uses of land; ii) The location, when feasible, of new essential public facilities outside of at-risk areas, including, but not limited to, hospitals and health care facilities, emergency shelters, emergency command centers, and emergency communications facilities, or identifying construction methods or other methods to minimize damage if these facilities are located in at-risk areas; iii) The designation of adequate and feasible infrastructure in an at-risk area; iv) Guidelines for working cooperatively with relevant local, regional, state, and federal agencies; and, v) The identification of natural infrastructure that may be used in adaptation projects, where feasible. Where feasible, the plan shall use existing natural features and ecosystem processes, or the restoration of natural features and ecosystem processes, when developing alternatives for consideration. Defines "natural infrastructure" to mean the preservation or restoration of ecological processes, to increase resiliency to climate change, manage other environmental hazards, or both. States that this may include, but is not limited to, floodplain and wetlands restoration or preservation, combining levees with restored natural systems to reduce SB 379 Page 5 flood risk, and urban tree planting to mitigate high heat days. d) If a city or county has adopted a local hazard mitigation plan, or other climate adaptation plan or document that fulfills commensurate goals and objectives and contains the information required pursuant to this bill's provisions, separate from the general plan, an attachment of, or reference to, the local hazard mitigation plan or other climate adaption plan or document. 3)Allows cities or counties that have an adopted hazard mitigation plan, or other climate adaptation plan or document that substantially complies with this bill's provisions, or have substantially equivalent provisions in their general plans, to use that information in the safety element to comply with this bill's provisions, and requires cities and counties to summarize and incorporate by reference into the safety element the other general plan provisions, climate adaptation plan or document specifically showing how each requirement of this bill's provisions has been met. 4)Requires, after the initial revision of the safety element pursuant to this bill's provisions, the planning agency to review, and if necessary, revise the safety element to identify new information that was not available during the previous revision of the safety element, upon each subsequent revision of the housing element. EXISTING LAW: 1)Requires every city and county to adopt a general plan with seven mandatory elements: land use, circulation, housing, conservation, open space, noise and safety. SB 379 Page 6 2)Requires the general plan to include a safety element for the protection of the community from any unreasonable risks associated with the effects of seismically induced surface rupture, ground shaking, ground failure, tsunami, seiche, and dam failure, slope instability leading to mudslides and landslides, subsidence, liquefaction, and other seismic hazards as specified, and other geologic hazards known to the legislative body, flooding, and wildland and urban fires. Requires the safety element to include mapping of known seismic and other geologic hazards and to address evacuation routes, military installations, peakload water supply requirements, and minimum road widths and clearances around structures, as those items related to identified fire and geologic hazards. 3)Requires the safety element, upon the next revision of the housing element on or after January 1, 2009, to do the following: a) Identify information regarding flood hazards, as specified; b) Establish a set of comprehensive goals, policies, and objectives based on information identified pursuant to a) above; and, c) Establish a set of feasible implementation measures designed to carry out the goals, policies and objectives established pursuant to 3b), above. 4)Requires, upon the next revision of the housing element on or after January 1, 2014, the safety element to be reviewed and SB 379 Page 7 updated as necessary to address the risk of fire for land classified as state responsibility areas, and land classified as very high fire hazard severity zones. 5)Requires, after the initial revision of the safety element pursuant to 3) and 4) above, the planning agency to review, and if necessary, revise the safety element to identify new information that was not available during the previous revision of the safety element, upon each revision of the housing element. FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, negligible state cost. Local agencies have the authority to charge fees to pay for the required updates, therefore, local mandate costs are not reimbursable. COMMENTS: 1)Bill Summary. This bill requires cities and counties to include a vulnerability assessment and climate adaptation and resilience strategies in the safety elements of their general plans beginning on January 1, 2017, upon the next revision of their local hazard mitigation plan adopted per the federal Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000. If a city or county does not have an adopted local hazard mitigation plan, the city or county would be required to update the safety element before January 1, 2022. The bill requires the climate adaptation strategy to include a set of goals, policies and objectives for the community, and a set of feasible implementation measures designed to carry out the identified goals, policies, and objectives. This bill is an author-sponsored measure. SB 379 Page 8 2)Author's Statement. According to the author, "Except for the housing element, the Planning and Zoning Law does not require counties and cities to regularly revise their general plans. Cities' and counties' major land use decisions - subdivisions, zoning, public works projects, use permits - must be consistent with their general plans. "Climate change may well be the foremost challenge of our time - and it is already having a significant and measurable impact on California's environment. An August 2013 report by California's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment entitled 'Indicators of Climate Change in California,' tracks 36 indicators of climate change and its effects and shows that climate change is occurring throughout California, including impacts to the coast, the Central Valley and the Sierra Nevada Mountains. These impacts include decreasing spring snowmelt runoff, rising sea levels, shrinking glaciers, increasing wildfires, warming lakes and oceans, and the gradual migration of many plants and animals to higher elevations. "There are many efforts under way in California by the administration and state agencies to address climate change. For example, in July 2014, the California Natural Resources Agency, in coordination with other state agencies, updated its 2009 California Climate Adaptation Strategy, now called the "Safeguarding California Plan." This Plan is designed to provide policy guidance for state decision makers in nine specific areas. In July 2012, the Governor's Office of Emergency Services, the California Natural Resources Agency, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency released the "California Adaptation Planning Guide" for use by local communities to address climate change impacts. Further examples include the California Coastal Commission's recent release of its draft Sea Level Rise Policy Guidance and there is the expectation that the Governor's Office of Planning and Research will soon release revised General Plan Guidelines SB 379 Page 9 that will include climate adaptation. "California has become the national leader on efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but much work still needs to be done at the state, regional, and local levels to adapt to the effects of climate change impacting California. While some cities and counties have been proactive in addressing climate change adaptation in their local planning efforts, many have not. There is no requirement in current law that they consider climate adaptation as part of their general plan process as they plan for the future." 3)Background on Climate Adaptation. The 2012 California Climate Adaptation Planning Guide, prepared and promoted by the Natural Resources Agency, the Office of Emergency Services, and OPR, provides guidance and support to regional and local bodies in developing vulnerability assessments and adaptation strategies. The guide consists of an overview document and three companion documents for use as needed in defining local and regional impacts, understanding regional characteristics, and identifying adaptation strategies. The guide is meant to allow for flexibility across communities in terms of the time, money, and effort available for adaptation. 4)The Little Hoover Commission, an independent state oversight agency with bipartisan membership, released a 2014 report titled "Governing California Through Climate Change." This study reviewed the state's preparedness for the impacts of climate change, often referred to as "slow-moving emergency," through conducting multiple hearings, meetings, and interviews with experts and stakeholders. One of their five main recommendations included: "Governments at all levels should build climate risk assessment and adaptation into general plans, hazard mitigation plans and all local planning processes." SB 379 Page 10 5)Local Government Plans. Every county and city must adopt a general plan with seven mandatory elements: land use, circulation, housing, conservation, open space, noise, and safety. Except for housing elements, state law does not require counties and cities to regularly revise their general plans. OPR's General Plan Guidelines recommend the information that local planners should collect, suggest goals, policies, and objectives that local general plans could adopt, and list a wide range of feasible implementation measures to carry out those local goals. OPR is expected to release updated General Plan Guidelines later in 2015. The federal Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 requires local governments to adopt comprehensive Hazard Mitigation Plans (HMPs) in order to receive additional federal funding after a disaster. HMPs must describe the type, location, and extent of all natural hazards that can affect the jurisdiction; describe the jurisdiction's vulnerability to these hazards; include a mitigation strategy that provides the jurisdiction's blueprint for reducing the potential losses; and, contain a plan maintenance process. The plan maintenance process must include a schedule of monitoring, evaluating, and updating the mitigation plan on a five-year process for local governments to incorporate the mitigation plan into other planning mechanisms, and discuss how the community will continue public participation in the plan maintenance process. Climate action plans are another local government planning tool, although voluntary in nature. Climate action plans provide one way for an agency to outline the specific activities that the agency is planning to undertake to reduce greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions. In general, information is gathered by the city or county to produce a GHG inventory, and then the climate action plan builds upon that information to focus on those activities that can achieve the greatest SB 379 Page 11 emission reductions in the most cost effective manner. OPR recommends that climate action plans, or other similar local government policies or programs to address GHG emissions, should be developed in conjunction with a general plan update whenever possible (usually affecting the land use and circulation elements in a general plan). Other types of planning instruments related to GHG emissions reductions include the adoption of policies in the General Plan, adoption of an optional climate change or global warming element in the General Plan, Greenhouse Gas Reduction Plans, Sustainability Plans, and ordinances, which can all serve a purpose similar to that of a climate action plan. Based on OPR's Annual Planning Survey Results from 2012 (based on 2011 responses), of the 482 cities, 83 cities had already adopted some sort of climate action plan or policy, 170 cities were "in process" of doing so, and 85 cities had a climate action plan or program or policy "planned" for the future. Of the 58 counties, 12 counties had already adopted some sort of climate action plan or policy, 25 counties were "in the process" of doing so, and eight counties had a climate action plan or program "planned" for the future. 6)Arguments in Support. Supporters argue that there is no requirement in law that cities and counties consider climate adaptation as part of their general plan process in planning for the future, and that this bill fills that gap by requiring them to prepare, as part of their safety elements, a vulnerability assessment that identifies what risks climate change poses to the local jurisdiction, adaptation and resiliency policies and objectives, and feasible implementation measures to achieve them. 7)Arguments in Opposition. The League of California Cities SB 379 Page 12 believes that this bill should be amended to provide a definition of "climate adaptation and resiliency," provide funding for the new duties under the bill, and not limit climate-change planning to the safety element. Analysis Prepared by: Debbie Michel / L. GOV. / (916) 319-3958 FN: 0001389