BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 246
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SENATE THIRD READING
SB
246 (Wieckowski)
As Amended September 1, 2015
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE: 26-11
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|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Natural |8-1 |Williams, Dahle, |Harper |
|Resources | | | |
| | | | |
| | |Cristina Garcia, | |
| | |Hadley, McCarty, | |
| | |Rendon, Mark Stone, | |
| | |Wood | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Appropriations |12-5 |Gomez, Bloom, Bonta, |Bigelow, Chang, |
| | |Calderon, Nazarian, |Gallagher, Jones, |
| | |Eggman, Eduardo |Wagner |
| | |Garcia, Holden, | |
| | |Quirk, Rendon, Weber, | |
| | |Wood | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
SB 246
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SUMMARY: Establishes the Climate Adaptation and Resiliency
Program (Program) to be administered by the Office of Planning
and Research (OPR) to work with and assist local and regional
efforts for climate adaptation and resilience. Specifically,
this bill:
1)Requires the Director of OPR to establish the Program by
January 1, 2017, to coordinate state, regional and local
efforts to adapt to the impacts of climate change. To the
extent feasible, requires an emphasis on climate equity, as
specified. Requires the Program, working with and
coordinating local and regional efforts for climate adaption
and resilience, to do the following:
a) Promote and coordinate state agency support for local
and regional efforts.
b) Ensure that state planning, guidance, and guidelines
reflect the efforts and challenges faced by local and
regional entities pursuing adaptation and resilience.
c) Assist the Office of Emergency Services and other
relevant agencies with coordinating regular updates to the
Adaptation Planning Guide (Guide).
d) Coordinate and maintain the state's clearinghouse for
climate adaptation information.
1)Requires within one year of an update to the Safeguarding
California Plan, the Office of Emergency Services, in
coordination with the Natural Resources Agency to review and
update, as necessary, the Guide.
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2)Establishes an advisory council, with a range of experience,
to support OPR by providing scientific and technical support
and to facilitate coordination among state, regional, and
local agency efforts to adapt to the impacts of climate
change.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Requires, pursuant to the California Global Warming Solutions
Act [AB 32 (Núñez), Chapter 488, Statutes of 2006], the Air
Resources Board (ARB) to adopt a statewide greenhouse gas
(GHG) emissions limit equivalent to 1990 levels by 2020 and to
adopt rules and regulations to achieve maximum technologically
feasible and cost-effective GHG emission reductions.
2)Pursuant to Executive Order S-13-08 (Schwarzenegger), requires
Natural Resources Agency (NRA), through the Climate Action
Team, to coordinate with local, regional, state, federal, and
private entities to develop, by 2009, a state Climate
Adaptation Strategy. Requires the strategy to summarize the
best known science on climate change impacts to California,
assess California's vulnerability to the identified impacts,
and outline solutions that can be implemented within and
across state agencies to promote resiliency.
3)Requires OPR and NRA to periodically update the guidelines for
the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions or the effects of
GHG emissions as required by the California Environmental
Quality Act (CEQA), including, but not limited to, effects
associated with transportation or energy consumption, and to
incorporate new information or criteria established by ARB
pursuant to AB 32.
4)Pursuant to Executive Order B-30-15 (Brown), in addition to
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establishing a 40% GHG emission reduction goal by 2030,
requires several actions on adaptation including:
a) Requires NRA to update every three years the state's
climate adaptation strategy and ensure that its provisions
are fully implemented. Requires the state's climate
adaptation strategy to:
i) Identify vulnerabilities to climate change by sector
and regions, including, at a minimum, the following
sectors: water, energy, transportation, public health,
agriculture, emergency services, forestry, biodiversity
and habitat, and ocean and coastal resources;
ii) Outline primary risks to residents, property,
communities, and natural systems from these
vulnerabilities, and identify priority actions needed to
reduce these risks; and,
iii) Identify a lead agency or group of agencies to lead
adaptation efforts in each sector.
b) Requires each sector lead to prepare an implementation
plan by September 2015 to outline the actions that will be
taken as identified in state's climate adaptation strategy,
and report back on those actions to the NRA.
c) Requires state agencies to take climate change into
account in their planning and investment decisions, and
employ full life-cycle cost accounting to evaluate and
compare infrastructure investments and alternatives.
d) Requires state agencies' planning and investment to be
guided by the principles of climate preparedness,
flexibility and adaptive approaches for uncertain climate
impacts, protective of vulnerable populations, and
prioritization of natural infrastructure solutions.
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e) Requires the state's Five-Year Infrastructure Plan to
take current and future climate change impacts into account
in all infrastructure projects.
f) Requires OPR to establish a technical, advisory group to
help state agencies incorporate climate change impacts into
planning and investment decisions.
g) Requires the state to continue its rigorous climate
change research program focused on understanding the
impacts of climate change and how best to prepare and adapt
to such impacts.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee:
1)Increased annual General Fund (GF) costs of $200,000 for OPR
to administer the Program.
2)One-time GF costs of $50,000 for data base development.
3)Ongoing annual costs GF costs of $50,000 for OPR to reimburse
the Cal Tech Agency for webhosting.
COMMENTS: According to the United States Environmental
Protection Agency, "adaptation is the adjustments that society
or ecosystems make to limit negative effects of climate change.
It can also include taking advantage of opportunities that a
changing climate provides." In 2009, the NRA described
adaptation as a relatively new concept in California policy and
stated the term means, "efforts that respond to the impacts of
climate change - adjustments in natural or human systems to
actual or expected climate changes to minimize harm or take
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advantage of beneficial opportunities."
California's adaptation efforts can be traced back to 2008, when
Governor Schwarzenegger ordered the NRA, through the Climate
Action Team (CAT), to coordinate with local, regional, state,
federal, public and private entities to develop, by 2009, the
state's Climate Adaptation Strategy. The Governor
Schwarzenegger's Executive Order required the strategy to
summarize the best known science on climate change impacts for
California, assess California's vulnerability to the identified
impacts, and outline solutions that can be implemented within
and across state agencies to promote resiliency. As a result,
NRA drafted The 2009 California Climate Adaptation Strategy.
The state's Climate Adaptation Strategy represents the work of
seven sector-specific working groups led by 12 state agencies,
boards, and commissions, and numerous stakeholders. The state's
Climate Adaptation Strategy proposes a comprehensive set of
recommendations designed to inform and guide California decision
makers as they begin to develop policies that will protect the
state, its residents, and its resources from a range of climate
change impacts. In July of 2014, NRA released an update to the
2009 California Climate Adaptation Strategy Safeguarding
California: Reducing Climate Risk.
Analysis Prepared by:
Michael Jarred / NAT. RES. / (916) 319-2092 FN:
0001936
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