BILL ANALYSIS �
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| SENATE COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES AND WATER |
| Senator Fran Pavley, Chair |
| 2013-2014 Regular Session |
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BILL NO: SB 1217 HEARING DATE: April 22, 2014
AUTHOR: Leno URGENCY: No
VERSION: April 21, 2014 CONSULTANT: Bill Craven
DUAL REFERRAL: Rules FISCAL: Yes
SUBJECT: Climate change: preparedness.
BACKGROUND AND EXISTING LAW
The Natural Resources Agency, among other duties, oversees
implementation of several programs and initiatives within the
departments, boards, and commissions who comprise that agency.
Many of these efforts originated as executive orders, and many
of these date to the administration of Governor Schwarzenegger.
Those that are statutorily driven are predominately related to
energy policy at the California Energy Commission or the
development of carbon sequestration strategies in the forestry
sector.
Additionally, the agency has participated as a member of the
Climate Action Team. It has been actively involved as the lead
agency in the three California Climate Adaptation Strategy
reports. Both the Climate Action Team and the reports were
functions of an executive order. The latest draft in the series
of climate adaptation reports is called "Safeguarding
California" and was released in draft form at the end of 2013.
It addresses policy options in a number of resource-related
sectors such as forestry, agriculture, land use, coastal
protection, and others.
The Strategic Growth Council, whose membership includes the
Natural Resources Agency as well as other state agencies, was
created to focus attention across its member agencies on climate
change and the sustainable growth of California in ways that
will achieve the state's goals in innovative and cross-cutting
ways. It had responsibility for awarding sustainable community
grants authorized by Prop 84 and it specifically acknowledges
responses to climate change as an important part of its
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statutory mandate.
On a separate track from the work of the agency and council is
the ongoing update of the AB 32 scoping plan by the California
Air Resources Board which dedicates some attention to potential
greenhouse gas reductions that could occur on agricultural or
forested landscapes and in other resource sectors.
PROPOSED LAW
This bill contains findings and declarations that describe the
significant environmental and economic risks posed by climate
change to California's natural resources.
It contains two operational provisions: The first would direct
the Natural Resources Agency, in consultation with other state
agencies, to prepare a climate risk assessment and strategy on a
five-year cycle beginning on or before January 1, 2017. This
report would cover the range of natural resource risks facing
California from climate change including seal level rise,
drought, flood, impacts to wildlife habitats, increasing
temperatures, more frequent extreme weather events, and
increased wildland fire risks.
The second operational provision is directed at the Strategic
Growth Council. The council would be directed to develop a
strategy focused on the impacts of climate change on the state's
capital outlay and public infrastructure projects, including
risks reflected in the sister report prepared by the Natural
Resources Agency. Its reports would follow by one year the
reports of the Resources Agency.
The Strategic Growth Council reports would also identify and
prioritize climate resiliency projects of major significance
that would benefit essential public infrastructure and that
would provide near-term and longer term climate change benefits
to the state. These reports would also identify possible funding
sources for these projects. The council would report its
findings to the appropriate state agencies that are appropriated
capital outlay funding, as well as to the Legislature.
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT
According to the author, SB 1217 will codify the Natural
Resource Agency's existing climate change risk and vulnerability
assessments and schedule them for preparation every 5 years.
Additionally, SB 1217 will help coordinate climate change risk
assessments with appropriate projects among state agencies and
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local, regional, and federal entities.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION
None received.
COMMENTS
1. As noted earlier, the Resources Agency has been involved in
climate change programs and policy development that occurs among
its members and in reports for which it is the lead author.
This bill, if enacted, would be among the first that creates a
specific and ongoing role for the agency in the increasingly
important work of analyzing the specific risks across the
spectrum of natural resources for which it is responsible. It is
quite possible that the direction provided by this bill, if
enacted, could help both the agency and the Air Board with their
ongoing work on climate change.
2. Assuming the bill moves forward, the author may want to
consider an amendment that would direct the Natural Resources
Agency also to include possible priority projects or programs
possible sources of funds for any of those recommendations. This
is particularly important in light of the recent proposal of
Senator Steinberg that some portion of AB 32 cap and trade
auction revenues could be allocated to resources projects that
meet the legal requirements for those funds.
SUPPORT
None Received
OPPOSITION
None Received
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