BILL ANALYSIS
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CONFERENCE COMPLETED
Bill No: SB 12
Author: Simitian (D)
Amended: Conference Report No. 1 - 9/9/09
Vote: 21
CONFERENCE COMMITTEE VOTE : 8-0, 9/9/09
AYES: Senators Steinberg, Pavley, Padilla, and Florez,
Assembly Members Bass, Huffman, Caballero, and Solorio
NO VOTE RECORDED: Aanestad, Cogdill, Fuller, Huff,
Jeffries, Nielsen
SUBJECT : Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Council
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : Conference Committee Amendments delete the prior
version of the bill which declares legislative intent to
enact legislation to establish the Sacramento-San Joaquin
Delta Stewardship Council. This bill now provides for a
comprehensive plan for taking care of the Sacramento-San
Joaquin Delta including the establishment of a Delta
Stewardship Council and the Delta Independent Science
Board. It expands the State Water Resources Control
Board's collection and reporting of data concerning the
delta and establishment of a Delta Watermaster. It also
repeals the California Bay-Delta Authority. Lastly, the
bill becomes operative if the other bills of the
comprehensive water planning package are enacted - SB 229
(Pavley), SB 458 (Steinberg and Simitian), AB 39 (Huffman),
and AB 49 (Feuer and Huffman).
CONTINUED
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ANALYSIS : Existing law generally provides that the
state, or a county, city, district, or other political
subdivision, or any public officer or body acting in its
official capacity on behalf of any of those entities, may
not be required to pay any fee for the performance of an
official service. Existing law exempts from this provision
any fee or charge for official services required pursuant
to specified provisions of law relating to water use or
water quality.
This bill expands the exemption to other provisions
relating to water use, including provisions that require
the payment of fees to the State Water Resources Control
Board (SWRCB) for official services relating to statements
of water diversion and use.
Existing law requires the Secretary of the Natural
Resources Agency to convene a committee to develop and
submit to the Governor and the Legislature, on or before
December 31, 2008, recommendations for implementing a
specified strategic plan relating to the sustainable
management of the Delta.
This bill establishes the Delta Stewardship Council as an
independent agency of the state. The council would be
required to consist of seven members appointed in a
specified manner. This bill specifies the powers of the
council. The council will be required to establish a
consultation process for the purposes of the act. This
bill requires a state or local public agency that proposes
to undertake certain proposed actions that will occur
within the boundaries of the Delta or the Suisun Marsh to
prepare, and submit to the council, a specified written
certification of consistency with the Delta Plan, created
pursuant to AB 39 (Huffman), 2009-10 Regular Session, prior
to taking those actions. By imposing these requirements on
a local public agency, this bill imposes a state-mandated
local program. This bill establishes an appeal process by
which a person may claim that a proposed action is
inconsistent with the Delta Plan, as prescribed.
This bill imposes requirements on the Department of Water
Resources in connection with the preparation of a specified
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Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP). The BDCP would only be
permitted to be incorporated in the Delta Plan if certain
requirements are met.
This bill establishes the Delta Independent Science Board,
whose members would be selected by the council. This bill
requires the Delta Independent Science Board to develop a
scientific program relating to the management of the Delta.
This bill requires the SWRCB to establish an effective
system of Delta watershed diversion data collection and
public reporting by December 31, 2010. This bill requires
the SWRCB to develop new instream flow criteria for the
Delta ecosystem, as specified. The SWRCB will be required
to submit those determinations to the council. This bill
requires the SWRCB, in consultation with the council, to
appoint a special master for the Delta, referred to as the
Delta Watermaster. This bill grants specified authority to
the Delta Watermaster.
The California Bay-Delta Authority Act establishes the
California Bay-Delta Authority in the Resources Agency.
The Act requires the authority and the implementing
agencies to carry out programs, projects, and activities
necessary to implement the Bay-Delta Program, defined to
mean those projects, programs, commitments, and other
actions that address the goals and objectives of the CALFED
Bay-Delta Programmatic Record of Decision, dated August 28,
2000, or as it may be amended.
This bill repeals that Act. This bill imposes requirements
on the council in connection with the repeal of that Act.
These provisions would only become operative if SB 229, SB
458, AB 39, and AB 49 of the 2009-10 Regular Session of the
Legislature, relating to water use and resource management,
are enacted and become effective on or before January 1,
2010.
Background
The Delta . For several years, the Delta has suffered a
crisis - ecosystem, water supply, levee stability, water
quality, policy, program, and litigation. In June 2004, a
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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
and Game 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.
Delta Vision . 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. SB 1574
(Kuehl), Chapter 535, Statutes 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.
Legal Framework for the Delta . Since statehood, California
has asked much of the Delta. Conflicting demands have led
to crisis and conflict - between and among agencies,
stakeholders and natural resources. The Delta Vision
process spent more than 18 months, investigating the Delta,
engaging agencies and stakeholders, and thinking carefully
about the Delta's challenges and prospects for change. The
Task Force's first recommendation was to change the
fundamental legal framework for the state to make decisions
as to its activities in the Delta - encapsulated in two
"coequal goals" of "restoring the Delta ecosystem and
creating a more reliable water supply for California."
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
DLW:mw 10/8/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: NONE RECEIVED
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