BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE
Senator Patricia Wiggins, Chair
BILL NO: SB 457 HEARING: 4/29/09
AUTHOR: Wolk FISCAL: Yes
VERSION: 4/13/09 CONSULTANT: Detwiler
DELTA STEWARDSHP PLAN AND LAND USE
Background and Existing Law
In 1995, as required by the Delta Protection Act, the Delta
Protection Commission adopted a resource management plan
for a statutorily designated primary zone of nearly 490,000
acres within the Sacramento-San Joaquin river delta (SB
1866, Johnston, 1992).
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 (SB 1574,
Kuehl, 2006). Governor Schwarzenegger also created a
Governor's Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force which
released its 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.
Proposed Law
Senate Bill 457 creates the Delta Stewardship Council. SB
457 requires the Delta Protection Commission to present a
draft Delta Stewardship Plan to the Council by October 1,
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2010. The bill tells the Council that it should adopt its
new Delta Plan before January 1, 2011. The Council must
review and, if necessary, revise its Delta Plan every five
years. The Commission must revise its resource management
plan to be consistent with the new Delta Stewardship Plan.
I. Land use planning and development . SB 457 requires the
Commission to require that the general plans of the cities
and counties within the Delta must be consistent with the
new Delta Stewardship Plan.
General plans . SB 457 requires the Commission to
review and certify the city and county general plans for
consistency with both the Commission's resource management
plan and the Council's Delta Stewardship Plan.
Development proposals . SB 457 requires the Commission
to exercise consistency determination authority over
development proposals in the primary zone. The Commission
must make an affirmative determination that any project
approved by a city or county within the primary zone is
consistent with both the Commission's resource management
plan and the Council's Delta Stewardship Plan.
Proposed projects . SB 457 requires the Commission to
hold hearings, receive testimony, and make recommendations
to the Council on proposed projects that are subject to the
Council's approval: major water, road, railroad, utility,
and levee infrastructure projects in the Delta.
II. Delta governance and programs . SB 457 contains
extensive legislative findings and determinations. SB 457
creates and assigns substantive and fiscal duties to the:
Delta Stewardship Council.
Delta Science and Engineering Program.
Delta Stewardship Fund.
Comments
1. State interest, local decisions . There's no longer any
doubt that the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta's
resources are statewide assets. Both the legislative and
executive branches have convinced themselves that stronger
institutions and more effective programs are essential to
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restoring the Delta's ecosystem and creating a more
reliable water supply. SB 457 tackles this challenge by
creating the Delta Stewardship Council, the Delta Science
and Engineering Program, and the Delta Stewardship Fund.
The bill uses a three-step approach to carry out its goals:
first, the bill assigns policy guidance to the Delta
Stewardship Council and its Delta Stewardship Plan; second,
the bill relies on the existing Delta Protection Commission
to supervise the integration of these statewide values into
the existing county and city general plans; and third, the
bill leaves direct land use decisions with the Delta's
county boards of supervisors and city councils. SB 457
assigns the right roles to the right levels of government.
2. Plans, projects, or both ? Existing law requires
city and county general plans to be consistent with the
Delta Protection Commission's resource management plan for
the primary zone. SB 457 goes further by requiring the
Commission to certify local general plans' consistency with
the new Delta Stewardship Plan. Because the bill requires
the Council to review and revise its Delta Plan every five
years, the Commission must also review local general plans
every five years. However, the bill intrudes into local
officials' traditional land use prerogatives by requiring
the Commission to determine if every local government
project in the primary zone is consistent with both the
Commission's resource management plan and the Council's new
Delta Plan. The Committee may wish to consider the point
of these duplicate regional reviews. If a local general
plan is consistent with the Commission's resource
management plan and the Council's Delta Stewardship Plan,
why do regional officials need to review every development
proposal?
3. Project-by-project reviews . Responding to the
perception that local officials weren't adequately
protecting regional and statewide resources, the
Legislature created four regional commissions to plan and
then regulate land use: the San Francisco Bay Conservation
and Development Commission (BCDC), the Tahoe Regional
Planning Agency (TRPA), the California Coastal Commission,
and the Delta Protection Commission. These statutes
generally require new regional plans, require local plans
to be consistent with the regional plans, and sometimes
require the regional commissions to review development
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projects and issue permits. These laws spell out how the
property owners apply for development permits, how the
public officials give public notice and hold hearings on
the permit applications, how the commissions decide on
these permit applications, how the opponents can appeal the
commissions' decisions, and how any plaintiffs can file
legal challenges. In contrast, SB 457 simply requires the
Delta Protection Commission to exercise direct consistency
determination authority over development proposals in the
primary zone (page 20, lines 8-12), without explaining the
procedures that protect due process rights. The Committee
may wish to consider amendments that replace this general
assignment with specific procedures that promote managerial
transparency and administrative accountability. Should the
BCDC statute be the bill's model?
4. Related bills . SB 457 is not the only bill affecting
the Delta's resources. On April 29, the Senate Local
Government Committee will also consider SB 12 (Simitian).
SB 229 (Pavley) and SB 458 (Wolk) are already in the Senate
Appropriations Committee. The Assembly is also working on
AB 13 (Salas) and AB 39 (Huffman).
5. Double-referred . The Senate Rules Committee ordered
the double-referral of SB 457; first to the Senate Natural
Resources and Water Committee, then to the Senate Local
Government Committee. On April 14, the Senate Natural
Resources and Water Committee considered the Delta resource
policy questions in SB 457 and then passed the bill on a
7-3 vote. On April 29, the Senate Local Government
Committee can consider the bill's effects on local land use
planning and decision making.
Support and Opposition (4/23/09)
Support : Planning and Conservation League, County of
Solano.
Opposition : Association of California Water Agencies.