BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair
AB 2516 (Gordon) - Sea level rise planning: database.
Amended: June 30, 2014 Policy Vote: NR&W 8-1
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: August 4, 2014 Consultant:
Marie Liu
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: AB 2516 would require the Natural Resources Agency
(agency), in collaboration with the Ocean Protection Council
(OPC), to develop and post on its website a Planning for Sea
Level Rise Database by January 1, 2016.
Fiscal Impact:
One-time costs of approximately $200,000 from the General Fund
in 2015 to establish the database.
Ongoing costs of approximately $65,000 from the General Fund
beginning in 2016 to maintain and update the database.
Background: Under existing law, the California Coastal
Conservancy is authorized to address the impacts and potential
impacts of climate change on coastal resources. The conservancy
is authorized to grant awards to public agencies and nonprofit
organizations for this purpose.
Existing law requires a local trustee of granted public trust
lands, whose annual gross public trust revenues exceed $250,000,
to prepare and submit to the State Lands Commission an
assessment of how it proposes to address sea level rise.
Executive Order S-13-08 (Schwarzenegger), required the agency,
through the Climate Action Team, to coordinate with local,
regional, state and federal public and private entities to
develop a state Climate Adaptation Strategy by 2009. The
strategy has since subsequently been updated.
Proposed Law: This bill would require the agency, in
collaboration with the OPC, to create and post on its website a
database of sea level rise planning information by January 1,
2016. This database would be titled Planning for Sea Level Rise
AB 2516 (Gordon)
Page 1
Database. The agency would be allowed to determine what
information goes into the database, and may include information
such as the geographic scope of the planning information;
whether the planning effort was required by local, state, or
federal law; the cost of the planning information; relevant
maps; and the sources of funding for the planning information.
The database must be organized geographically. The bill would
require updates twice a year.
The California Coastal Commission would be required to provide
the agency with specified information including, among other
things, the local agencies that are located in the coastal zone
and whether the local agency has a local coastal plan that
includes specified information.
By July 1, 2015, the California Coastal Commission, California
Energy Commission, Department of Transportation, regional water
quality control boards, San Francisco Bay Conservation and
Development Commission, State Coastal Conservancy, State Lands
Commission, State Water Resources Control Board, and airports,
ports, and investor-owned utilities within the coastal zone or
the San Francisco Bay Area would all be required to transmit
information to the agency regarding information regarding its
sea level rise planning This information would be required to
be updated biannually beginning January 1, 2016. The OPC would
be required to request this information from the listed agencies
and private entities.
Staff Comments: The agency would incur one-time costs of $50,000
for a contract to determine database scope and staff workload
costs of approximately $150,000 to establish the database.
Ongoing costs of approximately $65,000 would be needed to
administer and update the database.
The numerous entities that would be required to submit
information to the agency for inclusion in the database would
have minor and absorbable costs for that responsibility. Staff
notes that the bill explicitly does not require sea level rise
planning information to be developed by these entities, only
that any information developed be transmitted to the agency.
AB 2516 (Gordon)
Page 2