BILL ANALYSIS
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 12
Author: Simitian (D)
Amended: 6/2/09
Vote: 21
SENATE NATURAL RES. & WATER COMMITTEE : 7-3, 4/14/09
AYES: Pavley, Kehoe, Leno, Padilla, Simitian, Wiggins,
Wolk
NOES: Cogdill, Hollingsworth, Huff
NO VOTE RECORDED: Benoit
SENATE LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE : 3-2, 4/29/09
AYES: Wiggins, Kehoe, Wolk
NOES: Cox, Aanestad
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 7-5, 5/28/09
AYES: Kehoe, Corbett, DeSaulnier, Hancock, Leno, Oropeza,
Yee
NOES: Cox, Denham, Runner, Walters, Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Wolk
SUBJECT : Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, Clean
Drinking Water,
Water Supply Security, and Environmental
Improvement Act
of 2009
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill establishes the Delta Ecosystem and
CONTINUED
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Water Council to advance the coequal goals of restoring the
Delta ecosystem and creating a more reliable water supply
in California. The board of directors of the council will
consist of seven unspecified members.
ANALYSIS : In 1995, as required by the Delta Protection
Act, the Delta Protection Commission (Commission) adopted a
resource management plan for a statutorily designated
primary zone of nearly 490,000 acres within the
Sacramento-San Joaquin river delta.
Cities and counties in the primary zone have 180 days after
the Commission adopts or subsequently amends its resource
management plan to submit to the Commission proposed
general plan amendments that make their general plans
consistent with 11 statutory criteria. The Commission has
60 days to approve the proposed general plan amendments,
making 11 documented findings. A city or county then has
120 days to adopt the approved general plan amendments.
This general plan consistency requirement applies only to
land uses in the Delta's primary zone, and does not apply
to land uses in the smaller secondary zone.
The Legislature created a cabinet-level Delta Vision
Committee to prepare a Delta Vision and Strategic Plan
which the Committee produced in January 2009. Governor
Schwarzenegger also created a Governor's Delta Vision Blue
Ribbon Task Force which released a Delta Vision Strategic
Plan in October 2008. The Task Force's report called for a
new governance structure with the authority,
responsibility, accountability, science support, and secure
funding to achieve its recommended co-equal goals for
restoring the Delta ecosystem and creating a more reliable
water supply.
This bill makes legislative findings and declares all of
the following:
1.The coequal goals of restoring the Delta ecosystem and
creating a more reliable water supply in California are
the foundation of water and ecosystem policymaking.
2.All state agencies with significant responsibilities
relating to the Delta should implement their statutory
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duties in a manner that advances these coequal goals.
3.All water project operational agreements, contracts for
water use, water right permits, and financial agreements
that impact the Delta should reflect and promote these
coequal goals.
The bill establishes the Delta Ecosystem and Water Council
to advance the coequal goals of restoring the Delta
ecosystem and creating a more reliable water supply in
California.
The board of directors of the council will consist of seven
unspecified members.
The bill requires the council to prepare and adopt a plan
referred to as the California Delta Ecosystem and Water
Plan that incorporates the plans of other agencies, as
appropriate.
The council will have exclusive authority to determine the
consistency of any project proposed or approved by a state
agency or local government with the plan adopted pursuant
to this division.
The council will prepare on or before August 1, 2010, a
schedule for preparing and adopting the plan.
The council will establish a goal for the adoption of the
plan by December 1, 2010.
If the plan is not adopted by December 1, 2010, the council
will adopt an interim strategic plan.
The plan will be prepared in order to achieve the coequal
goals of the Delta Vision. The plan shall build upon other
plans, modifying and extending those plans as needed to
meet the requirements of this division. Those other plans
include, but are not limited to, the ecosystem restoration
program being developed by the Department of Fish and Game,
the land use and resource management plan developed by the
Delta Protection Commission, any local habitat conservation
plan within the Delta, the Suisun Marsh plan under
development, the provisions of the California Water Plan
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that address reliable water supply being developed by the
department, and the conservation program resulting from the
Bay Delta Conservation Plan.
Those persons responsible for implementing the plans will
do so in a manner that is consistent with the plan adopted
pursuant to this division.
The council may impose a per-acre-foot fee on water
diversions within the Delta watershed, and a fee on any
water conveyed through or around the Delta. The revenues
generated from fees imposed pursuant to this section, or
from similar fee revenues collected by another state
agency, shall be available, upon appropriation, to fund the
activities authorized in this division.
The bill makes further legislative findings and declares
all of the following:
1.California should maintain a strong and consistent
investment in science and engineering important to the
Delta. There needs to be a more direct link between
scientific investigation and real-world management and
policy.
2.To achieve this, the council requires both a permanent
science and engineering program staff and an independent
science and engineering board that reviews actions
undertaken by the council.
3.The science and engineering program and the independent
science and engineering board should receive stable,
adequate funding.
4.The science and engineering program should be a
replacement for, and a successor to, the successful
CALFED Independent Science Program, and a newly
constituted independent science and engineering board
should replace the CALFED Independent Science Board.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
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According to the latest Senate Appropriations Committee
analysis:
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
yearGeneral/
Special*
Implementation of Potentially in the hundreds
of millions General/
conservation plans
Special*
New science program $10,000 to $20,000 per
yearGeneral/
Special*
Delta Protection $1,500 $1,500
General/ Commission consistency
Special*
determinations
Reimbursable state Unknown
General/
mandates Special
*
* New special fund. Potentially offset by fee revenues.
CTW:mw:n 5/22/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: NONE RECEIVED
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