BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1799
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 14, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 1799 (Gordon) - As Amended: May 1, 2014
Policy Committee: Local
GovernmentVote:9 - 0
Water, Parks and Wildlife 14 -
0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill exempts a governmental entity or special district from
the requirement to provide an endowment for long-term
stewardship of mitigation lands if the entity provides evidence
that it possesses an investment-grade credit rating and provides
a resolution or contractual agreement to enforce the mitigation
requirements.
FISCAL EFFECT
1) On-going costs of approximately $600,000 (GF) to the
Department of Fish and Game for additional staff to develop
standards, perform reviews and assessments, track
compliance and engage in enforcement activities.
2) One-time costs of $150,000 to $200,000 (GF) to develop a
system for tracking compliance.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . The author asserts that requiring public agencies to
set aside funds in endowments permanently ties up more
taxpayer funds than is necessary to maintain the site, keeping
those funds from other critical projects including
environmental stewardship, public safety, and additional
mitigation projects. The author maintains that public agencies
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would still be required to provide mitigation, but this bill
would provide more flexibility as to how they finance those
mitigation obligations.
2)Background . Under existing law, public agencies that conduct
or approve projects that have significant environmental
impacts are required to obtain permits from various state and
federal agencies. As a condition of receiving the permits, the
public agency is required to mitigate for the environmental
impacts. The mitigation may take the form of setting aside
other resource conservation lands. When lands are set aside in
mitigation, the law requires that the mitigation lands be
protected in perpetuity. An endowment provides a means of
ensuring that funding will be available to provide for the
long-term stewardship of the mitigation lands in perpetuity.
Typically, the interest on the principle is used to fund the
annual management costs. This bill would permit a local
agency, state agency or special district that is credit worthy
to instead commit to provide the annual funding necessary for
the long-term stewardship of the lands through passage of a
resolution or through a contractual agreement.
3)Santa Clara Valley Water District . The sponsor, Santa Clara
Valley Water District, raises the issue of their Stream
Maintenance Program, which required over 400 acres at Coyote
Ridge to be set aside and maintained in perpetuity. Ongoing
maintenance of the property is estimated at $80,000 per year.
The District notes that they'd rather be able to budget for
this maintenance cost annually, but under current law, the
District has been requested to set aside $5 million of
taxpayer funds in a restricted account. According to the
sponsor, these are funds that would no longer be available for
other public projects and improvements.
4)Support . Local government groups assert this bill would
provide the needed flexibility for local governments to budget
and pay for mitigation costs as needed, and that the current
requirement to set aside funds greatly hinders the ability of
local governments to best utilize their valuable taxpayer
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dollars.
5)Opposition . A coalition of environmental groups raise a number
of concerns about the policy direction the bill sets,
asserting the bill undermines the long standing environmental
policy of the state which requires mitigation of loss or
damage to natural resources when a project is developed.
Analysis Prepared by : Jennifer Swenson / APPR. / (916)
319-2081