BILL ANALYSIS
AB 39
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ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 39 (Huffman)
As Amended April 2, 2009
Majority vote
WATER, PARKS & WILDLIFE 9-1
APPROPRIATIONS 12-5
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|Ayes:|Huffman, Chesbro, |Ayes:|De Leon, Ammiano, Charles |
| |Blumenfield, Caballero, | |Calderon, Davis, Fuentes, |
| |Krekorian, | |Hall, John A. Perez, Price, |
| |Bonnie Lowenthal, John A. | |Skinner, Solorio, |
| |Perez, Salas, Yamada | |Torlakson, Krekorian |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+----------------------------|
|Nays:|Anderson |Nays:|Nielsen, Duvall, Harkey, |
| | | |Miller, |
| | | |Audra Strickland |
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SUMMARY : Requires development of a new plan for the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta). Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires the California Water and Ecosystem Council to develop
a plan to implement the Delta Vision Strategic Plan issued by
the Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force.
2)Requires submission of the plan to the Legislature before
January 1, 2011.
3)Provides for definition of unspecified terms.
EXISTING LAW requires the Secretary of the Natural Resources
Agency to develop a strategic plan for the Delta, and authorizes
various state agencies, including the California Bay-Delta
Authority, to implement Delta projects under the CALFED
Bay-Delta Program.
FISCAL EFFECT : The Assembly Appropriations Committee estimates
one-time, special fund costs of $500,000 to $1 million to create
this Delta Plan.
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COMMENTS : For several years, the Delta has suffered a crisis -
ecosystem, water supply, levee stability, water quality, policy,
program, and litigation. In June 2004, a privately owned levee
failed and the State spent nearly $100 million to fix it and
save an island whose property value was far less. In August
2005, the Department of Fish & Game (DFG) reported a trend
showing severe decline in the Delta fishery. In 2006, the
Legislature reorganized Delta programs and funding under the
Resources Agency Secretary. In 2007, a federal judge, acting
under the federal Endangered Species Act, declared illegal
certain federal biological opinions about near-extinct fish and
restricted water exports from the Delta, to the San Francisco
Bay Area, the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California. The
Governor shortly thereafter called the Legislature into an
extraordinary session on water.
Through this enduring Delta crisis, the Legislature and the
Governor initiated, in 2006, a process to develop a new
long-term vision for the Delta. AB 1574 (Kuehl) of 2006
required a cabinet committee to present recommendations for a
Delta vision. The Governor created a Delta Vision Blue-Ribbon
Task Force to advise the Cabinet Committee. The Task Force
produced an October 2008 Strategic Plan, which the Cabinet
Committee largely adopted and submitted the recommendations to
the Legislature on January 3, 2009. The primary exception to
the Cabinet Committee's adoption was the Task Force's
recommendation for a new comprehensive, independent "California
Delta Water and Ecosystem Council" (CDEW). The Strategic Plan
provides a broad framework for action in the Delta, with
numerous recommendations requiring action by the Legislature.
This bill would require CDEW, which has not been created, to
develop a plan to implement the Task Force's Strategic Plan.
Committee members received a copy of the Strategic Plan at the
committee's February hearing on the Delta. While the bill does
not include details of the proposed plan, its reliance on the
Strategic Plan means that its outline can be derived from the
Strategic Plan's seven goals:
1) Legally acknowledge the co-equal goals of restoring the
Delta ecosystem and creating a more reliable water supply
for California.
2) Recognize and enhance the unique cultural, recreational
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and agricultural values of the California Delta as an
evolving place, an action critical to achieving the
co-equal goals.
3) Restore the Delta ecosystem as the heart of a healthy
estuary.
4) Promote statewide conservation efficiency, and
sustainable use.
5) Build facilities to improve the existing water
conveyance system and expand statewide storage, and operate
both to achieve the co-equal goals.
6) Reduce risks to people, property, and state interests in
the Delta by effective emergency preparedness, appropriate
land uses, and strategic levee investments.
7) Establish a new governance structure with the authority,
responsibility, accountability, science support, and secure
funding to achieve these goals.
The Strategic Plan also includes numerous strategies to achieve
those goals and specified actions to implement the strategies.
In some cases, the actions identified issues that still needed
further analysis and a final decision, which may include making
tradeoffs among the often competing Delta interests.
The author asserts that this bill is a work-in-progress that
will allow continued discussion of the direction for the Delta.
Legislators, from both houses and both parties, recently
completed a series of weekly discussions of Delta issues. In
the weeks ahead, after all the Delta bills from both houses
proceed to the second house, a more complete set of proposals
for addressing the Delta crisis may emerge. The author has
committed to work with interested members through the
legislative process. The other Assembly Delta bill whose author
has committed to develop Delta legislation through bi-cameral
collaboration is AB 13 (Salas) - the Delta conservancy bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Alf W. Brandt / W., P. & W. / (916)
319-2096
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FN: 0001186