BILL ANALYSIS
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| SENATE COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES AND WATER |
| Senator Fran Pavley, Chair |
| 2009-2010 Regular Session |
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BILL NO: AB 2761 HEARING DATE: June 9, 2010
AUTHOR: Assembly Natural Resources Cmte.URGENCY: No
VERSION: June 3, 2010 CONSULTANT: Katharine Moore
DUAL REFERRAL: No FISCAL:Yes
SUBJECT: Natural Resources
BACKGROUND AND EXISTING LAW
This is the Assembly Natural Resources committee bill.
The California Geological Survey (CGS) is the primary state
agency responsible for geologic hazard review and investigation
including the study and assessment of seismic hazards and
earthquakes. The state geologist is appointed by the director
of the Department of Conservation and must meet certain
professional requirements. The State Geologist is required to
provide advice to the director regarding technical, scientific
and engineering issues, including the scientific quality of the
California Geological Survey's (CGS) products and activities.
Existing law authorizes the state geologist to enter into
contracts and agreements with certain entities to provide
funding for services provided by the CGS pursuant to its
mission, and the CGS routinely contracts with state and federal
governmental entities for a variety of geological services. Due
to a recent technical drafting error (c. 254, Statutes of 2007
altering section 2205, Public Resources Code), the types of
entities that CGS may contract with have become ambiguous. Of
particular concern is CGS's ability to contract directly with
school districts to review geological hazard assessments and
proposed mitigation for school construction projects.
Historically, the Department of State Architects (DSA) has
secured CGS' assistance for these reviews via interagency
agreements, and has provided direct reimbursement to CGS from
funds paid directly to DSA by the school districts. A recent
policy change by the DSA now necessitates the execution of
individual contracts between CGS and each school district for
these reviews.
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Division 3, Chapter 1 of the Public Resources Code concerns the
Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) in the
Department of Conservation. Section 3102 declares that "the
Attorney General shall be the legal advisor for" DOGGR and
"shall perform or provide such legal services for" DOGGR as may
be required. Pursuant to Section 11040 et seq. of the
Government Code, the Attorney General (AG) represents state
agencies in litigation and other judicial proceedings.
The California Urban Forestry Act of 1978 (sections
4799.06-4799.12, Public Resources Code) sets many goals of
multiple benefit to urban communities. These include promoting
the use of urban forest resources; stopping the decline of urban
forests; improving environmental quality; creating local
forestry-related jobs; reducing energy consumption through the
advantageous use of tree and vegetative cover; reducing the
spread and impact of disease on urban forests and encouraging
maximum citizen participation and the cooperation of state and
local agencies in urban forestry projects, among others.
Although non-tree vegetation is specifically mentioned in parts
of the Act (e.g. sections 4799.07h, 4799.08d, 4799.09d), the
current definition of "urban forestry" (section 4799.09c) is
limited to trees. While the Department of Forestry and Fire
Prevention (CalFire) and other state agencies are authorized in
the Act to loan equipment to assist local tree maintenance
programs (section 4799.11b), the use of the word "surplus"
triggers the processes that the State Administrative Manual
requires for the disposal of surplus state property. Declaring
this equipment, such as portable sawmills, "surplus" makes the
equipment available to other departments and agencies for other
uses, potentially thwarting the purpose of section 4799.11b.
Further, limiting equipment loans to "local tree maintenance"
does not include the potential for this equipment to help meet
the urban waste reduction goals of AB 939 (Sher, c.1095,
Statutes of 1989) through fostering the recycling and reuse of
urban wood.
PROPOSED LAW
This bill:
(i) clarifies that the State Geologist may enter into
grant or cooperative agreements and contracts with
governmental - including school districts - and
non-governmental entities to provide technical, analytic
and research services related to geologic hazards
directly impacting those entities;
(ii) repeals the provision
requiring the Attorney General to act as the legal
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advisor and provide legal services to DOGGR;
(iii) updates the Urban
Forestry Act by modifying the definition of "urban
forestry" to include non-tree vegetation, and by
facilitating equipment loans to aid local or regional
urban forestry projects including green waste
utilization.
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT
According to the Department of Conservation, "ensuring that CGS
can provide review and consultation regarding geological hazards
at proposed school sites will ensure the safety of California's
schoolchildren." This bill "will provide the flexibility needed
to ensure that CGS technical expertise is available to other
types of government entities in evaluating and assessing
geologic and seismic hazards."
The authors state that "most agencies rely on the AG for
litigation services only. However, existing law, a relic of
1939, requires the AG to perform all legal services for DOGGR,
including review of permits, proposed regulations, environmental
impact reports, and communications associated with public
records requests; and advising DOGGR management on policy or
regulatory changes, among others. These services are more
appropriate for the Department's in-house counsel to perform.
DOGGR would remain represented by the AG in litigation matters."
According to the authors, adding "related vegetation" to the
definition of "urban forestry" is "widely accepted nation-wide,"
and also "well within the parameters of the Urban Forestry Act
as it currently stands." "Forests (and urban forests) are more
than just trees in both structure and function. Much of the
land area in a city is rooftops and other places you cannot
necessarily plant trees. Likewise, having vegetation below the
canopy of the urban forest provides additional functionality for
storm-water runoff and other issues." Gaining the ability to
more readily loan out equipment such as portable sawmills in
support of urban forestry efforts is "similar to how other
programs loan out chippers to help reduce hazardous fuels in the
wild-land urban interface." Equipment loans would potentially
be of considerable assistance to municipalities attempting to
meet urban forestry goals and may also create jobs.
SUPPORT
None received
OPPOSITION: None received
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