BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 103
Page 1
( Without Reference to File )
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 103 (Budget and Fiscal Review Committee)
As Amended February 25, 2014
Majority vote. Budget Bill Appropriation Takes Effect
Immediately
SENATE VOTE :Vote not relevant
Original Committee Reference: BUDGET
SUMMARY : Amends the 2013-14 Budget Act to include new
appropriations to address the state's urgent drought needs.
This bill, along with the companion trailer bill, SB 104,
proposes $687.4 million expenditures for drought related
activities.
The Senate amendments delete the Assembly version of this bill,
and instead:
1)Accelerate the appropriation of $77 million (Proposition 84,
1E funds and reimbursements) to the Department of Water
Resources (DWR) for Central Valley, multi-benefit flood
projects, including water supply, water storage, water quality
improvements and ecosystem benefits.
2)Appropriate $15 million (General Fund) to the Department of
Public Health (DPH) for emergency drinking water assistance
for drought-impacted areas. Eligible projects include,
alternate water supplies, improvements to existing water
systems to prevent contamination or provide other sources of
safe drinking water, and establishing connections to an
adjacent water system. These funds are to be used after all
eligible federal funds made available for the drought are
utilized.
3)Provide expenditure authority of $25.3 million (General Fund)
to the Department of Social Services (DSS) for food assistance
programs for persons affected by the drought. Specifies that
these funds be structured to maximize the potential federal
drought assistance.
4)Allocate $11 million (federal funds) to the Department of
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Housing and Community Development (HCD) for rental assistance
related to the drought.
5)Appropriate $4 million (State Water Pollution Cleanup and
Abatement Account) to the State Water Resources Control Board
(SWRCB) to secure emergency drinking water supplies for
disadvantaged communities with contaminated drinking water
supplies, including needs exacerbated by drought. Specify
that these funds be available for expenditure until June 30,
2017.
6)Accelerate the appropriation of $7 million (State Water
Pollution Control Revolving Fund Small Community Grant Fund)
to SWRCB for grants to small and severely disadvantaged
communities to comply with water quality regulations, protect
surface and groundwater quality, and reduce threats to public
health and safety. Specify that these funds be available for
expenditure until June 30, 2015.
7)Appropriate $2.5 million (General Fund) to SWRCB for extra
costs associated with and caused by the drought in the Water
Rights Program such as extra surveillance and monitoring of
water diversions, predictive modeling to identify priority
locations, and potentially implementing water curtailments and
taking enforcement actions.
8)Allocate $2 million (General Fund) to the Employment Training
Panel in the Employment Development Department for job
training related to drought related job losses.
9)Direct $1.8 million (General Fund) to the Office of Emergency
Services (OES) for disaster recovery assistance to
communities.
10)Appropriate $30 million, Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund
(GGRF), to DWR for local water use efficiency programs which
reduce GHG emissions. Of this amount, $20 million is for
local assistance and $10 million is to be used for state water
efficiency projects. Require that funding for GHG emission
reduction programs be subject to a 30-day Joint Legislative
Budget Committee (JLBC) notification prior to expenditure.
Specify that the notification must include a description of
proposed expenditures, how it will further the regulatory
purposes of AB 32 (N��ez), Chapter 488, Statutes of 2006, the
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Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, how it will achieve
specified GHG emission reductions, and how the agency will
document expenditure results.
11)Allocate $10 million (GGRF) to the California Department of
Food and Agriculture (CDFA) for agricultural water efficiency
projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Specify that
funding will be subject to legislative notification prior to
expenditure.
12)Accelerate the appropriation of $1.2 million (Waste Discharge
Permit Fund) to SWRCB for groundwater quality monitoring
(Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment Program).
13)Appropriate $800,000 (General Fund) to SWRCB to accelerate
implementation of a proposal to protect and ensure the
sustainability of groundwater resources in critically
overdrafted basins.
14)Appropriate $1 million (General Fund) to DWR for groundwater
monitoring and reporting efforts, including a new
well-completion report submission system.
15)Allow an existing $1 million (General Fund) appropriation to
DWR for flood emergency response to be used for the Save Our
Water Campaign to expand drought-related education and
outreach.
16)Direct $2.3 million (General Fund) to the Department of Fish
and Wildlife for urgent fish, stream, and conservation
activities related to the extreme drought conditions.
17)Appropriate $13 million (General Fund) to the California
Conservation Corp (CCC) for water conservation and drought
response projects, water efficiency education and outreach
activities, and local assistance grants to certified community
conservation corps. Specify that, to the extent feasible, the
CCC and the local conservation corps shall employ veterans and
unemployed young adults in the corps member teams to construct
and implement these projects.
18)Specify that this legislation is contingent on the enactment
of SB 104.
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19)Contain an appropriation allowing this bill to take effect
immediately upon enactment.
COMMENTS : California is experiencing its worst drought in
modern history. The purpose of this urgency drought relief
package is to provide immediate funding to help communities deal
with the devastating dry conditions affecting the state and to
increase local water supplies.
This bill accelerates many proposals in the Governor's Budget
that begin implementing the Administration's Water Action Plan
(WAP) aimed at improving the state's water supply and storage
through infrastructure investments, improving the management of
groundwater, and addressing water quality issues, particularly
in disadvantaged communities. This bill also includes emergency
funding for drinking water supplies for disadvantaged
communities, food assistance, job training, conservation
education and outreach activities, and urgent fish and stream
needs related to the drought. This bill has four main
components:
1)Infrastructure Investments to Improve Water Supply. The bill
accelerates the appropriation of $77 million to DWR for
Central Valley flood protection projects, through the
FloodSAFE Program, that provide additional public benefits,
including water supply and water quality improvements. The
FloodSAFE Program is a long-term strategic initiative
developed to reduce flood risk in California. Additionally,
the funds will be used to improve flood emergency response
throughout California, including response and recovery time
from a catastrophic levee failure event in the Delta, and
support statewide flood management planning. The Budget also
proposes to continue various existing flood control projects
and feasibility studies, including the Folsom Dam
Modifications Project.
2)Emergency Drinking Water, Water Supply and Water Quality. The
bill also accelerates funding for clean drinking water for
poor and disadvantaged communities. There are state and
federal clean drinking water funds available to spend to
provide clean drinking water for hard hit communities like
farmworker communities in the Central Valley. This bill
appropriates those funds and consolidates their deployment
under the SWRCB.
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3)Water and Energy Efficiency for Urban and Agricultural
Communities. The bill appropriates $30 million from
cap-and-trade auction revenue to DWR for programs that provide
a reduction of GHG emissions and also deliver state and local
water use efficiency. Of this amount, $20 million is directed
to local assistance for water/energy efficiency upgrades in
residential, commercial, and institutional sectors. Projects
could include installation of water saving devices, low-flow
toilets and showerheads, and water capture and water
recycling/reuse systems. The remaining $10 million will be
used for efficiency upgrades at two State Water Project (SWP)
facilities at the Hyatt and Thermalito power generation sites
near Oroville.
The bill also allocates $10 million from cap-and-trade auction
revenue to CDFA for agricultural water efficiency projects
that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This new program will
be based on the Air Resources Board's successful Carl Moyer
Program and invest in water irrigation treatment and
distribution systems that reduce water and energy use, augment
supply, and increase water and energy efficiency in
agricultural applications. Incentives will be ranked and
distributed based on financial need, immediacy of water
supply, increased and efficiency gained to address water
shortages, and reduction in water pumping or treatment that
uses energy causing greenhouse gas emissions.
Of the $40 million in cap-and-trade revenue proposed, $20
million is an acceleration of the Governor's Budget. The
other $20 million is in addition to the $850 million proposed
in the Governor's AB 32 Expenditure Plan.
4)Sustainable Groundwater Management. Groundwater basins are
the state's largest reservoir, 10 times the size of all its
surface reservoirs combined. In an average year, groundwater
provides 30% of California's water supply and much more in dry
periods. Eighty percent of Californians rely, at least in
part, on groundwater for their drinking water, and some cities
and rural areas rely entirely on groundwater. When managed
sustainably, groundwater can provide a crucial buffer against
drought. In some areas of the state, regional and local
agencies manage groundwater well. In other areas, groundwater
overdraft is causing subsidence, permanent reductions in
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underground storage capacity, seawater intrusion and other
water quality problems, and environmental damage. This
legislation requires better monitoring and management of
groundwater resources by providing funding to support the
continued implementation of the Statewide Groundwater
Elevation Monitoring Program, to protect the sustainability of
groundwater resources in critically overdrafted basins and
improving monitoring and reporting efforts.
This bill is an important first step in addressing urgent
needs brought on by the extreme drought. It contains
important funding for emergency drinking water to
disadvantaged communities in immediate need of water supplies.
Further, conditioning the cap-and-trade appropriations on a
30-day notice to the Legislature has merit. It would allow
the Legislature to more fully vet these proposals along with
other cap-and-trade proposals to ensure a consistent approach.
Analysis Prepared by : Gabrielle Meindl / BUDGET / (916)
319-2099
FN:
0003048