BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 861|
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 861
Author: Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee
Amended: 6/13/14
Vote: 21
PRIOR VOTES NOT RELEVANT
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : Not available
SUBJECT : Budget Trailer Bill: Public Resources
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill makes various changes to implement the
resources, environmental protection, energy, and agriculture
budget actions adopted as part of the 2014-15 Budget package.
Assembly Amendments delete the Senate version of this bill,
which expressed legislative intent to enact statutory changes
relating to the Budget Act, and instead add the current
language.
ANALYSIS : This bill includes the following key changes:
1.Amendment for New Solar Homes Partnership . Includes a
technical amendment taken by the Senate Budget and Fiscal
Review Committee on June 15, 2014, related to the financial
components of the California Solar Initiative, including the
New Solar Homes Partnership, and the Electric Program
Investment Charge. The amendment requires the Public
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Utilities Commission to be notified by the Energy Commission
that other funding sources for the program have been exhausted
before requiring those electrical corporations to continue
administration of the program until the monetary limit is
reached.
2.Climate Resilience Account . Establishes the Climate
Resilience Account to provide additional funding to
specifically address the risk and impacts of climate change,
sea level rise, and associated extreme events.
3.Climate Assessment . Allows the Environmental License Plate
Fund to be used for climate assessment.
4.Drinking Water Reorganization . Provides the necessary
statutory authority to transfer the drinking water program
from the Department of Public Health to the State Water
Resources Control Board including merging of loan programs.
5.Seismic Mapping . Allows the Strong-Motion Instrumentation and
Seismic Hazards Mapping Fund to fund the Alquist-Priolo
seismic mapping program and increases the amount assessed on
building permit fees that provide revenues to the Fund.
6.Oil Spill Response . Authorizes the Oil Spill Prevention and
Administration Fund to be used for inland oil response,
eliminates the fee sunset, and expands the fee base to include
all crude oil entering the state.
7.Hydraulic Fracturing . Provides necessary statutory cleanup
related to hydraulic fracturing regulations at the State Water
Resources Control Board including specifying that regulations
finalized on or before January 1, 2015, become effective July
1, 2015, and makes technical changes to the authority of the
Board related to area-specific ground water monitoring
programs.
8.Enforcement of Marijuana Cultivation . Allows the Waste
Discharge Permit Fund and Department of Fish and Wildlife
civil penalty revenues to be used to pay back a loan from the
Timber Regulation and Forest Restoration Fund, which is to be
used for the enforcement of environmental damage from
marijuana activities over the next three years.
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9.Recycling Audits . Allows for audits of beverage manufacturers
and distributors to be reviewed every five years, rather than
three years, allowed under current statute.
10.Rubberized Tire Chip Seals . Clarifies that rubberized chip
seal projects are eligible for project funding, in addition to
currently allowed asphalt concrete, within the tire recycling
programs.
11.Parks Revenue Generation and Capital Projects . Extends the
revenue generation program at the Department of Parks and
Recreation for five years and re-establishes the Parks Project
Revolving Fund to allow capital outlay funds longer
encumbrance periods upon transfer to the fund. Clarifies that
the State Park Contingent Fund, used for private donations to
parks, is continued.
12.Fisheries Restoration Grants . Specifies that existing
restoration grants be prioritized to the Fisheries Restoration
Grant Program at the Department of Fish and Wildlife and to
grant programs administered by state conservancies.
13.Coastal Permitting . Authorizes the California Coastal
Commission to impose an administrative civil penalty, by
majority vote and at a duly noticed public hearing, on a
person who intentionally and knowingly violates the public
access provisions of the California Coastal Act.
14.Lumber Assessment . Codifies the Board of Equalization
retailer reimbursement regulations that were approved on
September 10, 2013.
15.Local Conservation Corps . Diversifies the Local Conservation
Corps funding under the Department of Resources Recycling and
Recovery, and creates a separate statutory section to continue
the program.
16.Environmental Justice Grants . Increases the cap on
environmental justice grants distributed by the Secretary for
Environmental Protection from $20,000 to $50,000 and
authorizes the award of up to $1.5 million for this purpose.
17.Self-Generated Incentive Program . Extends the sunset date
for the program by five years and makes various technical
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changes and program reforms to specify eligibility for
incentives under the program limited to distributed energy
resource technologies.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: Yes Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
JA:e 6/15/14 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: NONE RECEIVED
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