Bill Text: CA AB876 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Chaptered

California Assembly Bill 876

Bill Title: Pajaro River Flood Risk Management Project: environmental laws: exemptions.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)

Status: (Passed) 2023-10-13 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 816, Statutes of 2023. [AB876 Detail]

Download: California-2023-AB876-Chaptered.html

Assembly Bill No. 876

CHAPTER 816

An act relating to the Pajaro River Flood Risk Management Project, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.

[ Approved by Governor October 13, 2023. Filed with Secretary of State October 13, 2023. ]

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 876, Robert Rivas. Pajaro River Flood Risk Management Project: environmental laws: exemptions.

Existing law provides for funding for the project for flood control on the Pajaro River in the Counties of Monterey and Santa Cruz, authorized by the federal Flood Control Act of 1966. Existing law also requires a flood management project that receives financial assistance, as provided, to meet specified requirements, and requires the Department of Water Resources or a specified state entity to submit a report to the Legislature that indicates whether the project meets those requirements.

This bill would exempt the Pajaro River flood control project from various state and local environmental laws and regulations, only if specified criteria are met and only until a specified date, and as of that date would repeal these provisions. The bill would provide, among other exemptions, that a specified report, as described, shall be conclusively presumed to satisfy the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act for the Pajaro River Project, including to support the issuance of any permit, funding, or other approval by a state or local agency for the Pajaro River Project when implementing the California Environmental Quality Act. The bill would also require the Pajaro Regional Flood Management Agency to consult with the Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board regarding the avoidance, minimization, or mitigation of specified environmental impacts, on or before March 1, 2024, as provided.

This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Counties of Monterey and Santa Cruz.

This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Vote: 2/3 Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES 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) Recent catastrophic flooding in the community of Pajaro in the County of Monterey, located in the Pajaro River watershed, as well as other major floods in that watershed over the past several decades, have highlighted the need to develop modern flood control infrastructure to protect that region and the disadvantaged communities located there as expeditiously as possible. Historical inequities in state and federal flood control funding and policies have left the communities in the Pajaro River watershed, many of which are disadvantaged and economically distressed, with low protection from flood risks. Levels of flood protection in the Pajaro River watershed are among the lowest of any federal flood control system in California, with levees along certain stretches of the Pajaro River providing only a five-year level of flood protection. Poor levee strength in some areas has further reduced their expected performance. Unusually strong winter storms in early 2023 caused a levee breach that devastated the community of Pajaro. Several major floods have severely impacted the local community since construction of the current levee system. The previous major flood, in the 1990s, caused multiple deaths and over $100,000,000 in damages.

(b) In the City of Watsonville and community of Pajaro, per capita income is less than one-half the state and national averages. Local residents are highly vulnerable to the impacts of flooding. Many are renters or unhoused people with minimal to no financial security. Flood damage to local agricultural fields also causes job loss for the large farmworker population in the region, further compounding the impacts of flooding and forcing many people to leave their homes in search of economic opportunity.

(c) In addition to its public benefits relating to flood protection, the Pajaro River Project will restore and provide habitat for California native fish and wildlife. The Pajaro River Project has received an Engineering With Nature designation under the United States Army Corps of Engineers’ program of the same name based on the habitat benefits created, enhanced, and restored by the design and configuration of improvements, and the Department of Water Resources has partnered with the project nonfederal sponsor, the Pajaro Regional Flood Management Agency, to incorporate habitat and groundwater recharge enhancements through Ecological Floodplain Inundation Potential (EcoFIP) analysis and implementation. Due to the environmental and habitat benefits to be created, enhanced, and restored, the project is consistent with various elements of Executive Order No. N-82-20, including the goal of conserving 30 percent of California’s lands and coastal waters by 2030.

(d) The Pajaro River Project aligns with the vision behind numerous state efforts to increase the pace and scale of environmental restoration and land management efforts by streamlining the state’s process to approve and facilitate conservation and restoration projects in a manner that safeguards the state’s economic sustainability and food security, protects and restores biodiversity, and builds climate resilience. These include, but are not limited to, the state’s “Cutting the Green Tape” initiative, which aims to expedite environmentally beneficial projects to combat our ongoing climate and biodiversity crises and provide environmental quality and access to the outdoors in historically disadvantaged communities.

(e) Executive Order No. N-10-23 suspended the application of Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 1600) of Division 2 of the Fish and Game Code, and regulations adopted pursuant to that chapter; certain statutes, rules, and requirements applicable to activities under the jurisdiction of the State Water Resources Control Board and the regional water quality control boards; and Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code, and regulations adopted pursuant to that division to levee repairs, debris and sediment removal, and vegetation management activities in the Pajaro River and its tributaries completed before November 1, 2023, but legislation is needed to provide regulatory consistency.

SEC. 2.

(a) For purposes of this section, “Pajaro River Project” or “project” means the project for flood control on the Pajaro River and its tributaries in the Counties of Monterey and Santa Cruz, as authorized by Public Law 89-789 and Public Law 101-640, inclusive of components described in the recommended plan in Chapter 6 of the document entitled Pajaro River Flood Risk Management Project, Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties, California: Final General Reevaluation Report and Integrated Environmental Assessment (revised December 2019), prepared by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. For purposes of this section, the project does not include ongoing or postconstruction operations and maintenance.

(b) To protect human health, safety, and the environment and to reduce the risks of local catastrophic flooding, the Pajaro River Project and the issuance of any permit, funding, or other approval by a state or local agency for the Pajaro River Project is exempt from all of the following:

(1) Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 1600) of Division 2 of the Fish and Game Code and the regulations adopted pursuant to that chapter.

(2) Waste discharge requirements and any related mitigation requirements pursuant to Division 7 (commencing with Section 13000 of the Water Code), including Sections 13260 and 13263 of the Water Code, and regulations adopted pursuant to those sections, with the exception of waste discharge requirements and any related mitigation requirements pursuant to Section 13160 of the Water Code and Sections 13370 to 13389, inclusive, of the Water Code and regulations adopted pursuant to those sections.

(c) The document entitled Pajaro River Flood Risk Management Project, Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties, California: Final General Reevaluation Report and Integrated Environmental Assessment (revised December 2019) shall be conclusively presumed to satisfy the requirements of Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code for the Pajaro River Project, including to support the issuance of any permit, funding, or other approval by a state or local agency for the Pajaro River Project when implementing Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code.

(d) This section is operative only if all of the following criteria apply to all components of the project to which they are applicable:

(1) The project will increase the level of flood protection for disadvantaged communities, as defined in Section 79505.5 of the Water Code, as described in the project nonfederal cost-share report published April 28, 2020, submitted to the Department of Water Resources for the project, including achieving 100-year flood protection in the City of Watsonville and the community of Pajaro in the County of Monterey.

(2) The project has received an Engineering With Nature designation under the United States Army Corps of Engineers’ program of the same name based on the habitat benefits created, enhanced, and restored by the design and configuration of improvements, through which an intentional alignment of natural and engineering processes efficiently and sustainably deliver economic, environmental, and social benefits. This includes the setback of some or all Pajaro River Project levees from their original locations to enhance habitat for fish and wildlife.

(3) The state has partnered with the Pajaro Regional Flood Management Agency or any federal project sponsor, including the United States Army Corps of Engineers, to incorporate habitat and groundwater recharge enhancements through Ecological Floodplain Inundation Potential (EcoFIP) analysis and implementation.

(4) The project incorporates best management practices to control erosion and runoff from construction activities.

(5) The project incorporates visual surface water monitoring to detect and correct accidental discharge of construction-related pollutants.

(6) The project does not involve disposal or placement of flood-delivered sediments into waters of the state or at locations or in a manner where sediments may be washed into waters of the state by rainfall or runoff.

(7) The project is undertaken to avoid causing a violation of applicable water quality standards, including impairment of designated beneficial uses, for receiving waters as adopted in any applicable State Water Resources Control Board or Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board water quality control plan.

(e) On or before March 1, 2024, the Pajaro Regional Flood Management Agency shall consult with the Department of Fish and Wildlife on feasible avoidance, minimization, or mitigation of Pajaro River Project impacts to fish and wildlife.

(f) On or before March 1, 2024, the Pajaro Regional Flood Management Agency shall provide a description of all project components to the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board and consult with the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board on feasible avoidance, minimization, and mitigation of Pajaro River Project impacts to beneficial uses of waters of the state and water quality.

(g) If the project meets the criteria of subdivision (d) and conducts consultations as required by subdivisions (e) and (f), then paragraph (4) of subdivision (a) of Section 12582.7 of the Water Code and subdivision (b) of Section 5650 of the Fish and Game Code shall be deemed met and shall constitute conclusive evidence that the project meets all applicable laws and regulations of the state or any local or regional regulatory agency relating to avoidance, minimization, or mitigation of environmental impacts, with the exception of Section 13160 of the Water Code and Sections 13370 to 13389, inclusive, of the Water Code and regulations adopted pursuant to those sections. The nonfederal and local sponsor or sponsors of the project shall provide technical reports and underlying data and information as reasonably required for purposes of paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) of Section 12582.7 of the Water Code.

(h) The project shall comply with all other applicable federal, state, and local laws.

(i) This section shall remain in effect only until December 31, 2035, or the date the Department of Water Resources or the United States Army Corps of Engineers files a public declaration that the Pajaro River Project construction has been completed, and notifies the Secretary of the State of its determination, whichever occurs first, and as of that date is repealed.

SEC. 3.

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 flood risk challenges the communities along the Pajaro River face. For that reason, in order to remedy historical inequities in state flood control efforts and protect the communities along the Pajaro River from the risk of flooding, including the impacts of frequent flooding and flood evacuation orders within the Pajaro Valley Unified School District as acknowledged in Executive Order No. N-6-23, a special statute is needed that furthers the goals of Executive Order No. N-10-23 to protect communities within the Pajaro River watershed from flooding.

SEC. 4.

This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the California Constitution and shall go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:

In order to provide adequate flood protection to disadvantaged communities in the Pajaro Valley as expeditiously as possible, it is necessary for this act to take effect immediately.