BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2529
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Date of Hearing: April 19, 2004
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES
Hannah-Beth Jackson, Chair
AB 2529 (Kehoe) - As Amended: March 31, 2004
SUBJECT : California Ocean Plan.
SUMMARY : Requires the State Water Resources Control Board
(SWRCB) to revise the California Ocean Plan to include
protecting the water quality of marine reserves and various
other protected areas in the ocean and makes those areas
eligible for state bond-financed water quality projects.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Pursuant to the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act of
1970 (commencing with 13000 of the Water Code), requires the
SWRCB to formulate and adopt the California Ocean Plan, a
water quality control plan for ocean waters, and review it
every three years to verify the adequacy human health and
marine wildlife standards.
2)Pursuant to the Watershed, Clean Beaches, and Water Quality
Act of 2002 (commencing with 30901 of the Public Resources
Code), establishes a framework for expenditures of bond
proceeds and other revenues for various programs, such as
clean beaches, urban stormwater, nonpoint pollution control,
watershed management, and local assistance grants for these
purposes.
3)Pursuant to the Marine Managed Areas Improvement Act of 2000
(commencing with 36001 of the Public Resources Code),
declares state policy regarding assuring the long-term
viability and productivity and of marine and estuarine
ecosystems, establishes a system of marine/estuarine managed
areas, and prohibits certain activities within designated
managed areas.
THIS BILL :
1)Requires the SWRCB to update the Ocean Plan by February 2006
to include among the beneficial uses of ocean waters marine
protected areas and marine life reserves, state marine
reserves, state marine parks, state marine conservation areas,
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state marine cultural preservation areas, and state marine
recreational management areas.
2)Requires the SWRCB to include in the Ocean Plan by July 2007
numeric standards for water quality to protect these
beneficial uses.
3)Requires the SWRCB to consult with the Department of Fish and
Game (DFG) and the Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR).
4)Include in the Watershed, Clean Beaches, and Water Quality Act
projects that restore and protect the water quality and
environment of marine managed areas, as defined in the Marine
Managed Areas Improvement Act, and areas of special biological
significance, as defined in the Ocean Plan, thereby making
those projects eligible for funding from bond proceeds and
other revenue governed by the Watershed, Clean Beaches, and
Water Quality Act.
5)Requires the SWRCB to give priority, in making grants, to
projects that treat or remove existing waste discharges or
prevent probable waste discharges, into areas of special
biological significance, as defined in the Ocean Plan.
6)Appropriates an unspecified amount from the bond proceeds
authorized by the Water Security, Clean Drinking Water,
Coastal and Beach Protection Act of 2002, which was approved
by the voters as Proposition 50 at the November 5, 2002
General Election, to the SWRCB for grants to local public
agencies and nonprofit organizations projects that restore and
protect the water quality and environment of marine managed
areas.
7)Requires that projects funded through grants be able to
contribute to sustained, long-term water quality or
environmental restoration for a period of 20 years, address
the causes of degradation rather than the symptoms, and be
consistent with water quality control plans and resource
protection plans developed by other responsible agencies.
8)Requires a grant applicant to submit to a monitoring and
reporting plan with specified information, establishes other
conditions on the award of a grant, and requires, upon
completion of a project, the grant recipient submit a report
to the SWRCB.
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9)Requires the SWRCB to appoint a task force representing
coastal communities, interested nonprofit groups, and marine
resource users, to review all proposals for grant funding.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
1)Background
Clean water is essential to the health of marine resources.
Pollution that threatens that health can come from direct
("point" source) discharges or from runoff from the land
("nonpoint" source) discharges. Plumes of contaminated runoff
can float on top of heavier seawater and have been shown to
extend 25 miles or more offshore. Nutrient pollution can
create toxic algae blooms or "red tides". Many of these
sources of pollution depend on activities and practices on
nearby land areas or along streams that flow into the ocean.
2)Ocean Plan Update
The next update of the California Ocean Plan will be conducted
from 2003 through 2005. This bill requires SWRCB to place an
emphasis on improving water quality in California's marine
managed areas in updating the plan. This will involve
identifying and reducing or eliminating point and non-point
source discharges of pollutants into ocean waters. The bill
does not specify how far upstream SWRCB may go to identify and
eliminate these pollutants.
3)Pew Oceans Commission
The many significant changes affecting the coastal and marine
environment were extensively documented in the May 2003 report
of the Pew Oceans Commission, America's Living Oceans:
Charting a Course for Sea Change. The report was the subject
of a hearing of the Assembly Select Committee on Coastal
Protection (Jackson, Chair) on March 24, 2004. At the
hearing, Pew Commissioners the Hon. Leon Panetta (Chair),
Julie Packard (Monterey Bay Aquarium), Pietro Parravanno
(President, Institute for Fisheries Resources), the
Secretaries of Resources and CalEPA, and Dr. Steve Palumbi
(marine reserve expert) testified to those changes, providing
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examples such as increasing impacts on ocean water quality
from human population growth and other activities occurring on
land, newly discovered impacts to resources and natural
systems, and advances in scientific understanding of the
biological interactions and cycles important to maintaining a
marine environment. The findings of the Pew Oceans Commission
make it clear that the continued vitality of California's
economy depends on a change of perspective that addresses the
management and protection of coastal and marine resources on
an ecosystem basis. The changes proposed in this bill are
consistent with those findings.
4)Water, Parks &Wildlife Committee Amendments
AB 2529 was double-referred to the Assembly Committee on Water,
Parks and Wildlife and Committee on Natural Resources. The
Committee on Water, Parks and Wildlife, at its April 13, 2004,
meeting, proposed amendments to delete Section 4 of the bill
(page 6, line 38, to page 7, line 13, inclusive) and requested
the Committee on Natural Resources to include these amendments
in its committee report, in order to allow the bill to proceed
without delay. Section 4 appropriates an unspecified amount
of bond proceeds from Proposition 50 for the purposes of the
bill.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
The Ocean Conservancy (sponsor)
Defenders of Wildlife
Natural Resources Defense Council
Planning and Conservation League
San Diego BayKeeper
Sierra Club California
Opposition
California Building Industry Association
California Building Industry Council
California Business Properties Association
California Chamber of Commerce
California Manufacturers and Technology Association
Consulting Engineers and Land Surveyors of California
Regional Council of Regional Counties
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Resource Landowners Coalition
Western States Petroleum Association
Analysis Prepared by : Jeff Arthur / NAT. RES. / (916) 319-2092