BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1656
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 1656 (Fong)
As Amended March 29, 2012
Majority vote
NATURAL RESOURCES 6-3 LOCAL GOVERNMENT 9-0
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|Ayes:|Chesbro, Brownley, |Ayes:|Smyth, Alejo, Bradford, |
| |Dickinson, Huffman, | |Campos, Davis, Gordon, |
| |Monning, Skinner | |Hueso, Knight, Norby |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Knight, Grove, Halderman | | |
| | | | |
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APPROPRIATIONS 12-5
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|Ayes:|Fuentes, Blumenfield, | | |
| |Bradford, Charles | | |
| |Calderon, Campos, Davis, | | |
| |Gatto, Ammiano, Hill, | | |
| |Lara, Mitchell, Solorio | | |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Harkey, Donnelly, | | |
| |Nielsen, Norby, Wagner | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Expands the jurisdiction of the East Bay representative
on the San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority (Authority);
expands project eligibility to include the San Francisco Bay Area
(Bay Area); extends the sunset date for the Authority from 2029 to
2036. Specifically, this bill :
1)Expands the jurisdiction of the board member from the East Bay
to include all of Contra Costa County (currently limited to the
area west of the City of Pittsburg).
2)Expands project eligibility to include projects within all of
the Bay Area, rather than only the San Francisco Bay shoreline,
as defined.
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3)Extends the sunset for the Authority to January 1, 2036.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Defines "San Francisco Bay" as "all areas that are subject to
tidal action from the south end of the bay to the Golden Gate
(Point Bonita-Point Lobos) and to the Sacramento River line (a
line between Stake Point and Simmons Point, extended
northeasterly to the mouth of Marshall Cut), including all
sloughs, and specifically, the marshlands lying between mean
high tide and five feet above mean sea level; tidelands (land
lying below mean low tide)."
2)Defines "San Francisco Bay Area" as "the area within the State
Coastal Conservancy's San Francisco Bay Area Conservancy
Program," as specified, and "includes the Counties of Alameda,
Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa
Clara, Solano, and Sonoma."
3)Establishes the Authority to raise and allocate resources for
the restoration, enhancement, protection, and enjoyment of
wetlands and wildlife habitats in the San Francisco Bay and
along its shoreline; specifies that its jurisdiction extends
throughout the Bay Area.
4)Establishes a governing board for the Authority composed of
seven members, to be appointed by the Association of Bay Area
Governments:
a) One member, who serves as chair, must be a resident of the
Bay Area with expertise in the implementation of the San
Francisco Bay Area Conservancy Program;
b) One member who is an elected official of a bayside city or
county in the North Bay, as defined;
c) One member who is an elected official of a bayside city or
county in the East Bay, as defined;
d) One member who is an elected official of a bayside city or
county in the South Bay, as defined;
e) One member who is an elected official of a bayside city or
county in the West Bay, as defined; and,
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f) Two members who are elected officials of a bayside city or
county or regional park district, regional open-space
district, or regional park and open-space district, as
specified.
5)Authorizes the Authority to raise funding through a broad array
of measures, including levying a special tax, benefit
assessment, or property-related fee; pursuing grant funding;
issuing revenue bonds; and incurring bond indebtedness.
Specifies that the principal and interest of any bond
indebtedness be repaid before January 1, 2029.
6)Specifies that an eligible project shall do at least one of the
following:
a) Restore, protect, or enhance tidal wetlands, managed
ponds, or natural habitats on the San Francisco Bay
shoreline;
b) Build or enhance shoreline levees or other flood
management features that are part of a project to restore,
enhance, or protect the lands in (a);
c) Provide or improve public access or recreational amenities
that are part of a project to restore, enhance, or protect
the lands in (a);
7)Requires regular auditing of the Authority's accounts and
records. Requires the board to provide annual financial
reports.
8)Sunsets the Authority on January 1, 2029.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee:
1)Negligible direct state costs. (The Authority currently
receives administrative support from the Coastal Conservancy,
roughly equivalent to less than $50,000 annually. However, the
Conservancy anticipates its administrative support of the
Authority to cease, or to be funded by contract, following
parcel tax measures the Authority is expected soon to place
before Bay Area voters.)
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2)Substantial cost pressures, in the millions of dollars annually
starting in a future fiscal year, to fund wetlands and wildlife
habitat restoration, enhancement, protection, and recreational
activities. (GF, future resources bond proceeds.)
COMMENTS : The San Francisco Bay is the second largest in the
nation and perhaps the most biologically significant estuary on
the Pacific Coast. Approximately 500 species of fish and wildlife
call it home, 128 of them threatened or endangered like the
California clapper rail and salt marsh harvest mouse. The Bay has
also suffered what is likely the most extensive degradation of any
estuary in the U.S. Many years of filling, pollution, and alien
species invasions have taken a great toll on the ecosystem.
Today, only 20% of the Bay's original tidal marshes and wetlands
remain. Despite these losses, however--or perhaps because of
them--the Bay is now a major center for a vibrant habitat
restoration movement.
The Authority was established by AB 2954 (Lieber), Chapter 690,
Statutes of 2008, to restore shoreline wetland habitat around the
San Francisco Bay. In 2007, Save the Bay released a report
proposing a broad framework to achieve a goal of 100,000
cumulative acres of wetlands in the Bay. The report estimated
costs of about $1.43 billion over 50 years to restore, monitor,
and maintain approximately 36,000 acres of wetlands that have
already been acquired, not including the costs of acquiring and
restoring an additional 22,912 acres. AB 2954 implemented this
recommendation.
Previously, the Legislature created the San Francisco Bay Area
Conservancy Program (Program) in 1997 within the State Coastal
Conservancy. Since then, it has helped develop and fund over 425
restoration and other projects, urban and rural, large and small,
in Bay and Delta waters, in streams and on land. The Program has
lead or facilitated the restoration planning for four of the
largest restoration projects in the Bay totaling over 26,000 acres
and at a cost of over $1.2 billion.
According to the sponsor, current statute specifies that the
Authority's jurisdiction includes the entire San Francisco Bay
Area, including Contra Costa County. However, the East Bay seat
on the governing board excludes the eastern portion of the county.
This bill expands the jurisdiction of the East Bay board member
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to include all of Contra Costa County.
This bill also expands the eastern boundary for eligible projects
to include all of the Bay-related shoreline in Solano and Contra
Costa counties. The author states that important Bay restoration
opportunities have been identified on the eastern Solano and
Contra Costa county shorelines.
Additionally, this bill extends the sunset date for the Authority
from 2029 to 2036. The sponsor indicates that revenue for
restoration project is not expected prior to 2015, and possibly as
late as 2017, depending on when a ballot measure passes. Funding
from a ballot measure would continue to come in for 10 years.
Analysis Prepared by : Elizabeth MacMillan / NAT. RES. / (916)
319-2092
FN: 0003937