BILL ANALYSIS
SB 790
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Date of Hearing: July 15, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Kevin De Leon, Chair
SB 790 (Pavley) - As Amended: July 2, 2009
Policy Committee: Environmental
Safety Vote: 5-2
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill authorizes grant funding for low-impact development
projects or projects that improve water quality or reduce
stormwater runoff, and authorizes local and regional stormwater
resource plans. Specifically, this bill:
1)Authorizes Proposition 84 grants to public and nonprofit
entities for certain types of projects, specifically:
a) Projects to implement "low-impact development" or the
principles of sustainability for new or existing
developments that improve water quality or reduce
stormwater runoff.
b) Projects that implement stormwater resource plans.
2)Authorizes a city, county, or special district to develop,
jointly or individually, stormwater management plans that meet
certain requirements, including that any plan be designed to
maximize water supply, water quality, and environmental and
other community benefits
3)Authorizes a regional water management group to coordinate its
planning activities to incorporate stormwater management
planning.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Negligible state costs.
2)Cost pressure, potentially in the millions of dollars, to the
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extent that projects authorized by this bill displace projects
that otherwise would have received funding from Proposition 84
monies.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale. According to the author, stormwater management
projects too often focus exclusively on protecting water
quality. As a result, many stormwater management projects
fail to achieve additional benefit that are nonetheless
compatible with protecting water quality, such a water supply
augmentation, wetland and habitat restoration, and open space
preservation. The author contends this bill, by authorizing
both funding and planning activities, changes the focus from
stormwater management to stormwater resource planning, which
encourages multiple benefit projects.
2)Background .
a) Stormwater management generally refers to efforts to
reduce or prevent stormwater from contaminating bodies of
water by diverting and capturing it for treatment. Most
discharges of stormwater require a permit under the federal
Clean Water Act because stormwater that runs off impervious
surfaces like pavement and asphalt often contains unsafe
levels of pollutants.
The Safe Drinking Water, Water Quality and Supply, Flood
Control, River and Coastal Protection Bond Act of 2006
(Proposition 84) authorized the sale of $5.4 in bonds. Of
that amount, $90 million is to be awarded by the State
Water Recourses Control Board (SWRCB) as matching grants to
local public agencies for the reduction and prevention of
stormwater contamination of rivers, lakes, and streams.
b) Stormwater resource planning , like stormwater
management, seeks to reduce or prevent contamination of
rivers, lakes, and streams. Stormwater resource planning
seeks to prevent stormwater from running off in the first
place. This occurs through capturing and storing
stormwater at the source for later reuse or allowing it to
percolate downward through permeable surfaces, thereby
decontaminating itself and restoring groundwater supplies.
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Low-impact development refers to a stormwater resource
planning strategy in which the volume of stormwater runoff
that results after a development is no greater than the
amount of stormwater runoff prior to the development. This
effect is achieve through techniques such as capturing
stormwater for later irrigation use onsite, installing
permeable surfaces instead of impermeable ones, and
diverting stormwater to permeable surfaces such as wetlands
and parks.
3)Supporters , including the Association of California Water
Agencies (ACWA) and numerous environmental and conservation
organizations, argue this bill will allow use of existing bond
funds to protect water quality while achieving other desirable
outcomes, such as reduced water use and increased open space.
There is no registered opposition to this bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Jay Dickenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081