BILL NUMBER: AB 1482 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 16, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 5, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 20, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Gordon
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Bloom, Rendon, and Mark Stone)
FEBRUARY 27, 2015
An act to amend Section 75125 of, and to add Part 3.7 (commencing
with Section 71150) to Division 34 of, the Public Resources Code,
relating to climate change.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1482, as amended, Gordon. Climate adaptation.
Existing law establishes the Natural Resources Agency, comprised
of departments, boards, conservancies, and commissions responsible
for the restoration, protection, and management of the state's
natural and cultural resources.
Existing law establishes the Strategic Growth Council in state
government and assigns to the council certain duties, including
providing, funding, and distributing data and information to local
governments and regional agencies that will assist in the development
and planning of sustainable communities.
This bill would require the agency, by July 1, 2017, and
every 3 years thereafter, to update the state's climate adaptation
strategy, as provided. The bill would require the agency, in
coordination with the council, to address the impacts of climate
change and climate adaptation by reviewing and coordinating existing
grants and programs to maximize specified objectives, including,
among others, establishing policy, guidelines, and guidance at the
state level to inform planning decisions and ensuring that state
investments consider climate change impacts, as well as promote the
use of natural systems, systems and natural
infrastructure, whenever feasible, when developing physical
infrastructure to address adaptation. The bill would require the
Office of Planning and Research, by July 1, 2019, to update the
state's Five-Year Infrastructure Plan to take current and future
climate impacts into account in all infrastructure
projects.
This bill also would expand the duties of the council to include
aiding the Natural Resources Agency in overseeing and
coordinating state agency actions to adapt to climate change and
identifying and pursuing opportunities for state agencies to
collaborate with federal or local agencies in their climate
adaptation efforts.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) California's climate is changing, posing an escalated threat
to public health, the environment, the economy, and public
and private property in the state. The increasing frequency of
extreme weather events, including floods and heat waves, fires,
rising sea levels, and changes in hydrology, including
diminishing snowpack, snowpacks and more
frequent droughts, among other climate change impacts, will
touch every part of residents' lives in the next century and beyond.
Planning appropriately for these impacts will help us be better
prepared for the future.
(b) The impacts of climate change, including longer droughts,
extended floods, prolonged fire seasons with larger and more intense
fires, heat waves, and sea level rise, are already creating
challenges for public health and safety and causing destructive
property damage.
(c) Climate changes pose change poses
a threat not just to the lives and health of residents but
also to the state's economy and to the financial health of our
state and local governments.
(d) According to the Natural Resources Agency's report,
"Safeguarding California: Reducing Climate Risk," state-of-the-art
modeling shows that a single extreme winter storm in California could
cost on the order of $725,000,000,000, including total direct
property losses of nearly $400,000,000,000 and devastating impacts to
residents, the economy, and natural resources.
(e) Adapting to climate change change,
in addition to reducing the impacts of climate change on
California's natural resources and infrastructure
infrastructure, is essential to protecting the state's
environment and economy over time and will require coordination
across all state departments and agencies.
(f) Given the potential impacts and the long-term nature of
effective planning, California needs to take action now.
SEC. 2. Part 3.7 (commencing with Section 71150) is added to
Division 34 of the Public Resources Code, to read:
PART 3.7. Climate Change and Climate Adaptation
71150. For purposes of this part, the following terms have the
following meanings:
(a) "Agency" means the Natural Resources Agency.
(b) "Council" means the Strategic Growth Council.
71152. It is the intent of the Legislature to prioritize the
state's response to the impacts resulting from climate change by
ensuring all state departments and agencies prepare for and are ready
to respond to the impacts of climate change, such as extreme weather
events, the urban heat island effect, habitat loss, wildfire,
sea-level rise, and drought. It also is the intent of the Legislature
that the agency consider developing policies to address the impacts
of climate change and climate adaptation with a focus on people,
places, and water and that actions taken to address climate
adaptation should be consistent with the Safeguarding California
Plan.
71153. (a) By July 1, 2017, and every three years thereafter, the
agency shall update the state's climate adaptation strategy, the
Safeguarding California Plan. As part of the update, the agency shall
do all of the following:
(1) Identify vulnerabilities to climate change by sector and
regions, including, at a minimum, the following sectors:
(A) Water.
(B) Energy.
(C) Transportation.
(D) Public health.
(E) Agriculture.
(F) Emergency services.
(G) Forestry.
(H) Biodiversity and habitat.
(I) Ocean and coastal resources.
(2) Identify priority actions needed to reduce risks in those
sectors.
(3) Identify a lead agency or group of agencies to lead adaptation
efforts in each sector and ensure the provisions of Safeguarding
California Plan are implemented.
(4) Report to the Legislature, pursuant to Section 9795 of the
Government Code, on actions taken to implement the Safeguarding
California Plan.
(b) By July 1, 2019, the Office of Planning and Research shall
update the state's Five-Year Infrastructure Plan to take current and
future climate change impacts into account in all infrastructure
projects.
71154. To address the impacts of climate change and climate
adaptation, the agency, in coordination with the council, shall
review and coordinate existing grants and programs to maximize the
following objectives:
(a) Educating the public about the consequences of climate change,
such as sea-level rise, extreme weather events, the urban heat
island effect, habitat loss, wildfire, and drought.
(b) Ensuring there is a continued repository for scientific data
on climate change and climate adaptation in the state in order to
facilitate educated state and local policy decisions.
decisions and to help identify primary risks from
climate change to residents, property, communities, and natural
systems across the state.
(c) Establishing policy, guidelines, and guidance at the state
level level, through implementation of the
Safeguarding California Plan, to inform planning decisions and
ensure that state investments consider climate change impacts, as
well as promote the use of natural systems,
systems and natural infrastructure, whenever feasible, when
developing physical infrastructure to address adaptation.
(d) Encouraging regional collaborative planning efforts to address
regional climate change impacts and adaptation strategies.
(e) Promoting a water supply, delivery, and capture system that is
coordinated and can withstand a multiyear drought scenario.
Establishing both drought preparation programs, which will help
create sustainable water systems in the future, and immediate drought
response programs, which will reduce water demand or increase supply
within one to five years of any declared drought.
(f) Building resilient communities by developing urban greening
projects that reduce air pollution and heat reflection in urban areas
and create livable, sustainable communities in urban cores to
promote infill development and reduce vehicle miles traveled.
(g) Protecting and enhancing habitat and
habitat, species strongholds
strongholds, and wildlife corridors that are critical to the
preservation of species that are at risk from the consequences of
climate change.
71156. For the purposes of implementing the objectives of this
part, the agency, to the extent feasible and in coordination with the
council, shall identify and coordinate opportunities among its
departments in expending moneys from all of the following:
(a) The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, created pursuant to Section
16428.8 of the Government Code.
(b) The Water Quality, Supply, and Infrastructure Improvement Act
of 2014, approved by the voters as Proposition 1 at the November 4,
2014, statewide general election.
(c) Other state funds.
71158. The agency, in coordination with the council,
agency shall assess and coordinate across all
state departments and agencies to identify opportunities that
increase the ability for state and local infrastructure, people, and
habitat and wildlife to adapt to the impacts of climate change.
SEC. 3. Section 75125 of the Public Resources Code is amended to
read:
75125. The council shall do all of the following:
(a) Identify and review activities and funding programs of member
state agencies that may be coordinated to improve air and water
quality, improve natural resource protection, increase the
availability of affordable housing, improve transportation, meet the
goals of the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006
(Division 25.5 (commencing with Section 38500) of the Health and
Safety Code), encourage sustainable land use planning, and revitalize
urban and community centers in a sustainable manner. At a minimum,
the council shall review and comment on the five-year infrastructure
plan developed pursuant to Article 2 (commencing with Section 13100)
of Chapter 2 of Part 3 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government
Code and the State Environmental Goals and Policy Report developed
pursuant to Section 65041 of the Government Code.
(b) Recommend policies and investment strategies and priorities to
the Governor, the Legislature, and to appropriate state agencies to
encourage the development of sustainable communities, such as those
communities that promote equity, strengthen the economy, protect the
environment, and promote public health and safety, consistent with
subdivisions (a) and (c) of Section 75065.
(c) Provide, fund, and distribute data and information to local
governments and regional agencies that will assist in developing and
planning sustainable communities.
(d) Manage and award grants and loans to support the planning and
development of sustainable communities, pursuant to Sections 75127,
75128, and 75129. To implement this subdivision, the council may do
all of the following:
(1) Develop guidelines for awarding financial assistance,
including criteria for eligibility and additional consideration.
(2) Develop criteria for determining the amount of financial
assistance to be awarded. The council shall award a revolving loan to
an applicant for a planning project, unless the council determines
that the applicant lacks the fiscal capacity to carry out the project
without a grant. The council may establish criteria that would allow
the applicant to illustrate an ongoing commitment of financial
resources to ensure the completion of the proposed plan or project.
(3) Provide for payments of interest on loans made pursuant to
this article. The rate of interest shall not exceed the rate earned
by the Pooled Money Investment Board.
(4) Provide for the time period for repaying a loan made pursuant
to this article.
(5) Provide for the recovery of funds from an applicant that fails
to complete the project for which financial assistance was awarded.
The council shall direct the Controller to recover funds by any
available means.
(6) Provide technical assistance for application preparation.
(7) Designate a state agency or department to administer technical
and financial assistance programs for the disbursing of grants and
loans to support the planning and development of sustainable
communities, pursuant to Sections 75127, 75128, and 75129.
(e) Provide an annual report to the Legislature that shall
include, but need not be limited to, all of the following:
(1) A list of applicants for financial assistance.
(2) Identification of which applications were approved.
(3) The amounts awarded for each approved application.
(4) The remaining balance of available funds.
(5) A report on the proposed or ongoing management of each funded
project.
(6) Any additional minimum requirements and priorities for a
project or plan proposed in a grant or loan application developed and
adopted by the council pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 75126.
(f) Oversee and coordinate Aid the Natural
Resources Agency in overseeing and coordinating state agency
actions to adapt to climate change.
(g) Identify and pursue Aid the
Natural Resources Agency in identifying and pursuing
opportunities for state agencies to collaborate with federal or local
agencies in their climate adaptation efforts.