BILL ANALYSIS
SB 1205
Page 1
Date of Hearing: June 30, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Cameron Smyth, Chair
SB 1205 (Corbett) - As Amended: June 10, 2010
SENATE VOTE : 22-14
SUBJECT : Bay Area Disaster Recovery Planning Council Act.
SUMMARY : Establishes the Bay Area Disaster Recovery Planning
Council until January 1, 2030, to create a long-term regional
recovery plan by being cooperative with various stakeholders in
the bay area, including, but not limited to, the cities,
counties, special interests, school districts, emergency
managers, hospitals, members of the public, private business,
and nongovernmental organizations, as specified. Specifically,
this bill :
1)Establishes the Bay Area Disaster Recovery Planning Council
(Council) as a regional entity with jurisdiction extending
throughout the San Francisco Bay area.
2)Makes findings and declarations on how the San Francisco Bay
area will experience a major earthquake in its future and that
disasters not properly managed and planned for can easily
escalate into catastrophes that will have major lasting
consequences.
3)Makes findings and declarations that it is in the public's
interest to create the Council as a regional entity to
facilitate long-term disaster recovery planning for the bay
area.
4)Finds and declares that the Council will sponsor and review
local actions to improve preparation for long-term recovery,
including guidelines for member cities, counties, and agencies
to align finance department preparation, building ordinances,
emergency housing strategies, non-emergency response mutual
aid agreements, and a variety of additional tasks, along with
information gathering, plan consolidation, application for
resources, and policy discussion.
5)Requires the Council to create a long-term regional recovery
plan (plan) by cooperating with various stakeholders in the
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bay area, including, but not limited to, the cities, counties,
special districts, school districts, emergency managers,
hospitals, members of the public, private business, and
nongovernmental organizations.
6)Requires the scope and purpose of the plan to be for planning
for the region's resiliency following a disaster by increasing
the speed of rebuilding lifeline infrastructure, including,
but not limited to, water, and energy pipelines, planning for
temporary transportation and transit programs during the
repair of the transportation system, enhancing government
management capacity for large scale capital projects programs,
planning for the reconstruction of housing supply damaged by
the disaster, creating mechanisms to assist businesses with
temporary relocation and financing, and other issues
associated with sustainable redevelopment following a major
disaster.
7)Provides that in planning for these the council shall consult
with emergency managers and other local government staff
involved in disaster recovery to ensure that the plan
incorporates local planning efforts and is not duplicative of
work already being done in the region.
8)Prohibits the plan from being a post-disaster operations plan.
9)Specifies that nothing in this bill shall be deemed to confer
upon the Council any land use, regulatory, or permitting
authority.
10)Specifies that the power of the Council is limited to
planning.
11)Requires the Council to be governed by a board consisting of
all members of the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG)
Regional Planning Committee and the following members,
appointed by the ABAG Executive Board:
a) At least four members representing lifeline
infrastructure districts such as water and wastewater,
power and energy, telecommunications, and transit;
b) A school board member or member of county board of
education;
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c) A member representing a nonprofit service delivery
agency;
d) A member of the Bay Area Urban Area Security Initiative;
e) At least four members representing private sector
business, economics, and planning organizations; and,
f) A county or city emergency manager.
12)Requires board members serve at the pleasure of the ABAG
Executive Board and the ABAG Executive Board must fill
vacancies within 90 days.
13)Specifies that board members must exercise their independent
judgment on behalf of the interests of the residents, the
property owners, and the public as a whole in furthering the
bill's intent and purposes.
14)Requires the board to elect a chair and vice-chair.
15)Provides that the ABAG President must fix the time and place
of the board's first meeting.
16)Specifies that after the first meeting, the board must hold
meetings at times and places determined by the Council board's
chair.
17)States that within six months of the board's first meeting,
the board must convene a Bay Area Disaster Recovery Planning
Administrative Committee (Administrative Committee) to assist
and advise the board in carrying out its functions.
18)Requires the Council to appoint the membership of the
Administrative Committee, which shall be determined by the
Council based upon criteria that provide a broad
representation
of community and agency interests and geographical diversity
within the Council's jurisdiction over the long-term disaster
recovery in the San Francisco Bay area.
19)Specifies, not later than six months after the date of the
Council's first meeting, the board shall convene a Bay Area
Disaster Recovery Planning Technical Advisory Committee
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(Technical Advisory Committee) to be composed of local
emergency managers, city and regional planners, engineers, and
members of other technical fields, as necessary.
20)Requires the Council to appoint the membership of the
Technical Advisory Committee, which shall be determined by the
Council based upon criteria that provides a broad
representation of community and agency interest and
geographical diversity within the Council's jurisdiction over
the long-term disaster recovery in the San Francisco Bay area.
21)Requires the Administrative and Technical Advisory Committees
to meet on a regular basis.
22)Requires the Council to comply with the Ralph M. Brown Act,
the Public Records Act, and the Political Reform Act.
23)Specifies that the board is the legislative body of the
Council and shall establish policies
for the operation of the Council.
24)Authorizes the board to act either by ordinance or
resolution.
25)Provides that a majority vote of the board is necessary to
conduct business of the Council.
26)Requires that only members of the Council who are elected
from a city, county, or special district may vote on the
management of revenues; a majority vote of these members shall
be required to take action regarding the management of
revenues.
27)Prohibits the Council from applying for funding dedicated
solely for planning for emergency response immediately after a
disaster.
28)Authorizes the Council to all of the following:
a) Apply for and receive grants from federal and state
agencies;
b) Solicit and accept gifts, fees, grants, and allocations
from public and private entities;
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c) Receive and manage a dedicated revenue source;
d) Deposit or invest moneys of the council in banks or
financial institutions in the state in accordance with
state law;
e) Sue and be sued;
f) Engage counsel and other professional services;
g) Enter into contracts;
h) Enter into joint powers agreements; and,
i) Use interim or temporary staff, as specified.
29)Prohibits the Council from acquiring or owning real property.
30)Requires that the Council be funded through gifts, donations,
grants, state or local bonds, other appropriate funding
sources, and other types of financial assistance from public
and private sources.
31)Specifies that nothing in this bill shall be construed to
authorize the Council to incur debt or raise revenue by
levying taxes, assessments, or fees.
32)Requires the board to provide for regular audits of the
Council's accounts and records, maintain accounting records,
and report accounting transactions in accordance with
generally accepted accounting principles adopted by the
Government Accounting Standards Board of the Financial
Accounting Foundation for both public reporting purposes and
for reporting
of activities to the Controller.
33)Requires the board to provide for annual financial reports
and make them available to the public.
34)Defines "San Francisco Bay area" or "bay area" as the area
that includes the Counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin,
Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and
Sonoma.
35)Contains a sunset date of January 1, 2030.
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FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
1)According to the author's office, "the Bay Area is likely to
experience a major earthquake in its future. The Hayward
Fault, which runs through the dense urban cities of Fremont,
Oakland, Berkeley, and Hayward, is overdue for a major
earthquake. This earthquake is expected to damage lifeline
infrastructure and leave 156,000 housing units uninhabitable
and 356,600 people displaced.
Some issues such as decisions about long-term housing,
rebuilding transportation and land use change will not be made
effectively in the chaos following a disaster. Thinking
through these issues ahead of time will minimize the severe
economic and social consequences of a slow recovery on the
region and state. The San Francisco Bay Area constitutes a
region of vital importance to the state economy and future
business and technology innovation."
While the Bay Area has focused on risk mitigation strategies
and emergency response preparation, there has been less
attention to the long-term recovery period that will follow a
major disaster such as an earthquake. After implementing
short-term disaster response plans to address the region's
immediate life and safety needs, what happens in the months
and years following the disaster will determine whether the
region recovers and persists as a vibrant community and driver
of the nation's prosperity, or whether the region suffers
long-term depopulation and economic decline. According to the
sponsor, ABAG, SB 1205 improves the Bay Area's long-term
disaster recovery capacity by creating a regional Council
focused exclusively on generating and allocating resources for
the Bay Area's long-term disaster planning and recovery
efforts.
2)The Bay Area is home to several single-purpose regional
agencies, including ABAG. As early as 1970, ABAG's
groundbreaking comprehensive regional plan included an
earthquake hazards and planning component. Today ABAG is a
leader among planning agencies for its earthquake and hazards
planning program. The Committee may wish to consider whether
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the Bay Area needs yet another regional government agency.
What additional powers is
SB 1205 providing that ABAG already does not have itself?
3)Support Arguments : Supporters believe the Council creates a
structure for the region to plan together complex issues of
housing replacement, business recovery, government services,
transportation, health, education, vulnerable communities, and
land use change.
Opposition Arguments : The Committee may wish to consider why
the Legislature should play any role in establishing a
regional authority that Bay Area officials can create
themselves through the use of a joint powers agreement.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Association of Bay Area Governments [SPONSOR]
Bay Area Council
City and County of San Francisco
Cities of Brisbane, Calistoga, Campbell, Hercules, and Oakland
Council Member Julie Pierce, City of Clayton
Council Member Richard Garbarino, City of South San Francisco
Counties of San Mateo, Solano, and Sonoma
East Bay Municipal Utility District
Mayor Hank Stratford, City of Clayton
Santa Clara County Cities Association
South San Francisco Fire Department
Supervisor James P. Spering, District 3, Solano County Board of
Supervisors
Supervisor Mark Luce, District 2, Napa County Board of
Supervisors
Supervisor Rose Jacobs Gibson, District 4, San Mateo County
Board of Supervisors
Town of Los Gatos
Opposition
CA Department of Finance
Analysis Prepared by : Katie Kolitsos / L. GOV. / (916)
319-3958