Bill Text: CA AB838 | 2019-2020 | Regular Session | Chaptered

California Assembly Bill 838 (Prior Session Legislation)

Bill Title: Flood management: Mossdale Tract.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Passed) 2020-09-28 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 208, Statutes of 2020. [AB838 Detail]

Download: California-2019-AB838-Chaptered.html

Assembly Bill No. 838

CHAPTER 208

An act to amend Sections 65865.5, 65962, and 66474.5 of, and to add Section 65962.1 to, the Government Code, relating to flood management.

[ Approved by Governor September 28, 2020. Filed with Secretary of State September 28, 2020. ]

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 838, Eggman. Flood management: Mossdale Tract.

Unless a city or county within the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley makes certain findings after the effective date of specified amendments to its general plan, the Planning and Zoning Law prohibits a city or county from entering into a development agreement for property located in a flood hazard zone; approving a discretionary permit, ministerial permit, or other discretionary entitlement for a project that is located within a flood hazard zone, as specified; or approving a tentative map, or a parcel map for which a tentative map was not required, for a subdivision that is located within a flood hazard zone. Those findings include, among others, that the local flood management agency has made adequate progress on the construction of a flood protection system that will result in flood protection equal to or greater than the urban level of flood protection in urban or urbanizing areas. Existing law further requires urban and urbanizing areas protected by any levee that is part of the facilities of the State Plan of Flood Control to achieve the urban level of flood protection by 2025.

This bill would instead require the Mossdale Tract, as defined, to achieve the urban level of flood protection by 2028. The bill would authorize the Department of Water Resources to require the San Joaquin Area Flood Control Agency to contribute its fair and reasonable share of any property damage caused by a flood, as specified.

This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Mossdale Tract.

Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NO

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

Section 65865.5 of the Government Code is amended to read:

65865.5.

(a) Notwithstanding any other law, after the amendments required by Sections 65302.9 and 65860.1 have become effective, the legislative body of a city or county within the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley shall not enter into a development agreement for property that is located within a flood hazard zone unless the city or county finds, based on substantial evidence in the record, one of the following:

(1) The facilities of the State Plan of Flood Control or other flood management facilities protect the property to the urban level of flood protection in urban and urbanizing areas or the national Federal Emergency Management Agency standard of flood protection in nonurbanized areas.

(2) The city or county has imposed conditions on the development agreement that will protect the property to the urban level of flood protection in urban and urbanizing areas or the national Federal Emergency Management Agency standard of flood protection in nonurbanized areas.

(3) The local flood management agency has made adequate progress on the construction of a flood protection system that will result in flood protection equal to or greater than the urban level of flood protection in urban or urbanizing areas or the national Federal Emergency Management Agency standard of flood protection in nonurbanized areas for property located within a flood hazard zone, intended to be protected by the system. Except as provided in Section 65962.1, for urban and urbanizing areas protected by project levees, the urban level of flood protection shall be achieved by 2025.

(4) The property in an undetermined risk area has met the urban level of flood protection based on substantial evidence in the record.

(b) The effective date of amendments referred to in this section shall be the date upon which the statutes of limitation specified in subdivision (c) of Section 65009 have run or, if the amendments and any associated environmental documents are challenged in court, the validity of the amendments and any associated environmental documents has been upheld in a final decision.

(c) This section does not change or diminish existing requirements of local flood plain management laws, ordinances, resolutions, or regulations necessary to local agency participation in the national flood insurance program.

SEC. 2.

Section 65962 of the Government Code is amended to read:

65962.

(a) Notwithstanding any other law, after the amendments required by Sections 65302.9 and 65860.1 have become effective, each city and county within the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley shall not approve a discretionary permit or other discretionary entitlement that would result in the construction of a new building or construction that would result in an increase in allowed occupancy for an existing building, or a ministerial permit that would result in the construction of a new residence, for a project that is located within a flood hazard zone unless the city or county finds, based on substantial evidence in the record, one of the following:

(1) The facilities of the State Plan of Flood Control or other flood management facilities protect the project to the urban level of flood protection in urban and urbanizing areas or the national Federal Emergency Management Agency standard of flood protection in nonurbanized areas.

(2) The city or county has imposed conditions on the permit or discretionary entitlement that will protect the project to the urban level of flood protection in urban and urbanizing areas or the national Federal Emergency Management Agency standard of flood protection in nonurbanized areas.

(3) The local flood management agency has made adequate progress on the construction of a flood protection system which will result in flood protection equal to or greater than the urban level of flood protection in urban or urbanizing areas or the national Federal Emergency Management Agency standard of flood protection in nonurbanized areas for property located within a flood hazard zone, intended to be protected by the system. Except as provided in Section 65962.1, for urban and urbanizing areas protected by project levees, the urban level of flood protection shall be achieved by 2025.

(4) The property in an undetermined risk area has met the urban level of flood protection based on substantial evidence in the record.

SEC. 3.

Section 65962.1 is added to the Government Code, to read:

65962.1.

(a) For purposes of Sections 65865.5, 65962, and 66474.5, the Mossdale Tract shall achieve the urban level of flood protection by 2028.

(b) For purposes of this section, “Mossdale Tract” means an area of land identified as Reclamation District No. 17 on page 144 of Bulletin No. 37 (1930) of the Department of Water Resources, along with such contiguous urban and urbanizing areas to the east of the tract as would be subject to flooding from the San Joaquin River at an urban level of flood protection.

(c) Notwithstanding Section 8307 of the Water Code, the San Joaquin Area Flood Control Agency may be required to contribute its fair and reasonable share of any property damage caused by a flood to the extent that the state’s exposure to liability for property damage has been increased by cities or counties unreasonably approving, as defined in Section 8307 of the Water Code, any new development in the Mossdale Tract between the years 2025 and 2028.

SEC. 4.

Section 66474.5 of the Government Code is amended to read:

66474.5.

(a) Notwithstanding any other law, after the amendments required by Sections 65302.9 and 65860.1 have become effective, the legislative body of each city and county within the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley shall deny approval of a tentative map, or a parcel map for which a tentative map was not required, for a subdivision that is located within a flood hazard zone unless the city or county finds, based on substantial evidence in the record, one of the following:

(1) The facilities of the State Plan of Flood Control or other flood management facilities protect the subdivision to the urban level of flood protection in urban and urbanizing areas or the national Federal Emergency Management Agency standard of flood protection in nonurbanized areas.

(2) The city or county has imposed conditions on the subdivision that will protect the project to the urban level of flood protection in urban and urbanizing areas or the national Federal Emergency Management Agency standard of flood protection in nonurbanized areas.

(4) The property in an undetermined risk area has met the urban level of flood protection based on substantial evidence in the record.

SEC. 5.

The Legislature finds and declares that a special statute is necessary and that a general statute cannot be made applicable within the meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California Constitution because of the unique circumstances of the Mossdale Tract. In particular, recent studies have shown that climate change is expected to be significantly more impactful to the San Joaquin River than to other Central Valley waterways, and climate change, coupled with delays in a federal study of the river basin, creates unique issues in achieving an urban level of flood protection by 2025 for the Mossdale Tract.