BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
12 (Simitian)
Hearing Date: 05/18/2009 Amended: 05/05/2009
Consultant: Brendan McCarthy Policy Vote: NR&W 7-3, LG 3-2
SB 12 (Simitian)
Page 2
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BILL SUMMARY: SB 12 would establish the Delta Ecosystem and
Water Council. The Council would be required to adopt a plan to
restore the Delta ecosystem and ensure a reliable water supply,
determine whether any project approved by a state agency or
local government is consistent with the plan, assume
responsibility for any conservation plan for the Delta, and
impose a fee on water diversions within the Delta or exported
from or around the Delta.
The bill would establish a California Delta Conservancy, with
responsibilities related to the Delta ecosystem. The bill would
establish a Delta Science and Engineering Board, with specified
responsibilities. The bill would also require the Delta
Protection Commission to carry out additional land use
responsibilities.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 Fund
New Council staff Up to $6,500 per year General
/
Special
*
New Conservancy staff Up to $15,000 per year General
/
Special
*
Implementation of Potentially in the hundreds of
millionsGeneral /
conservation plans Special
*
New science program $10,000 to $20,000 per year General
/
Special
*
Delta Protection $1,500 $1,500 General
/
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Commission consistency Special
*
determinations
Reimbursable state Unknown General
/
mandates Special
*
* New special fund. Potentially offset by fee revenues.
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STAFF COMMENTS: This bill meets the criteria for referral to the
Suspense file.
Under current law, the Delta Protection Commission has developed
a management plan for land use issues in the Delta. The policies
contained in the management plan have been adopted into the
general plans of local governments in the Delta. In the event
that a local government makes a land use decision that may
conflict with Delta Protection Commission policies, the
Commission acts as an appellate body for those decisions.
During its 2005-2006 Regular Session, the Legislature passed and
the Governor signed AB1200 (Laird), SB1574 (Kuehl), and AB1803
(Committee on Budget). Together, these bills required an
assessment of the potential impacts on water supplies of
catastrophic failures in the Delta, identification and
evaluation of options to protect water supplies and the
ecosystem of the Delta, the development of a vision for a
sustainable Delta, and a strategic plan to achieve a sustainable
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Additionally, SB 1574 created a
Delta Vision Committee to develop the vision and strategic plan.
On September 28, 2006, the Governor issued an Executive Order
that, established a Blue Ribbon Task Force and directed it to
develop a vision for the Delta.
In October 2008, the Blue Ribbon Task Force published its Delta
Vision Strategic Plan. According to the plan, in order to
achieve a healthy Delta and a more reliable water system for
Californians, policy makers must:
Legally acknowledge the co-equal goals of restoring the Delta
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ecosystem and creating a more reliable water supply for
California.
Recognize and enhance the unique cultural, recreational, and
agricultural values of the California Delta as an evolving
place, an action critical to achieving the co-equal goals.
Restore the Delta ecosystem as the heart of a healthy estuary.
Promote statewide water conservation, efficiency, and
sustainable use.
Build facilities to improve the existing water conveyance
system and expand statewide storage, and operate both to
achieve the co-equal goals.
Reduce risks to people, property, and state interests in the
Delta by effective emergency preparedness, appropriate land
uses, and strategic levee investments.
Establish a new governance structure with the authority,
responsibility, accountability, science support, and secure
funding to achieve these goals.
The report of the Blue Ribbon Task force can be considered a
starting point for several bills under consideration by this
committee relating to the Delta.
SB 12 establishes the Delta Ecosystem and Water Council, which
would be charged with to coequal goals of restoring the Delta
ecosystem and creating a more reliable water supply in the
state. The Council would have a seven member board of directors,
serving eight year terms. The Council would be required to
prepare and adopt a California Delta Ecosystem and Water Plan
which would address species protection, water flow and water
quality requirements, land use issues, and financing
information.
The bill would give the Council the exclusive authority to
determine whether any project proposed or approved by any state
agency or local government is consistent with the Plan. In
addition, the Council would assume responsibility for any
conservation or habitat management plan developed for the Delta.
The Council would also establish policies and procedures to
ensure that the operations of the water export system are
consistent with the Plan.
Because the bill would establish a new entity in state
government with responsibilities that are broadly defined, it is
difficult to accurately estimate the costs to operate the
Council. Staff notes that the San Francisco Bay Conservation and
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Development Commission has somewhat analogous authority within
the San Francisco Bay, and has an ongoing budget of about $6
million per year. This cost, plus the additional costs to
develop and periodically revise a require plan, and the costs
for Council member salaries would amount to about $6.5 million
per year.
The bill authorizes the Council to impose fees on water
diversions within the Delta watershed and on any water conveyed
through or around the Delta. The revenues, upon appropriation by
the Legislature, would be available for the bill's provisions.
The bill would establish the California Delta Conservancy to
implement the ecosystem restoration elements of the Plan. The
Conservancy would coordinate state ecosystem-related projects in
the Delta and acquire or manage lands as needed.
As mentioned above, the costs for operating a new Conservancy
are unknown. Staff notes that the Coastal Commission, which has
as similar mission, has an annual operating budget of about $11
million. Given that regulatory issues in the Delta are as
complicated, if not more complicated, than on the coast,
operating costs for the proposed Delta Conservancy could be up
to $15 million per year. In addition to the annual staff costs,
there would be substantial costs for actually implementing any
habitat restoration plan. The CalFed program has spent over $570
million over the past decade on programs relating to ecosystem
restoration in the Delta. While the scope of activities
authorized under this bill is unknown, efforts to protect
environmental attributes of the Delta in the past have proved
very costly.
The bill would establish the Delta Science and Engineering Board
to research scientific issues related to the Delta, synthesize
the best available scientific information for policymakers,
review all major projects undertaken to advance the goals of the
Delta Vision, and conduct independent scientific reviews of the
work of government agencies, upon request. The Board would
function as a replacement and successor to the existing CalFed
Science Program. Over the past several years, the CalFed Science
Program has been budgeted between $10 million and $35 million
per year.
The bill would require cities and counties in the Delta to
revise their general plans to make them consistent with the
SB 12 (Simitian)
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California Delta Ecosystem and Water Plan.
The bill would also revise the composition and responsibilities
of the Delta Protection Commission. It would require the
Commission to revise its management plan so that it is
consistent with the Council's California Delta Ecosystem and
Water Plan. The Commission would also be responsible for
determining that the general plans of cities and counties in the
Delta are consistent the California Delta Ecosystem and Water
Plan. The Commission would be given the additional
responsibility to review any project proposed or approved by a
state or local agency in the Delta, to ensure that the project
is consistent with the California Delta Ecosystem and Water
Plan. The cost to carry out these responsibilities would be
about $1.5 million per year.
Because the bill allows the Council to impose requirements on
local governments, including general plan requirements, the bill
would impose a state mandate.
Staff notes that this bill is one of several bills relating to
the Delta that will be before this committee, including, SB 229
(Pavley), SB 457 (Wolk), and SB 458 (Wolk).