Amended  IN  Assembly  March 07, 2024

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 2450

Introduced by Assembly Member Aguiar-Curry
(Coauthor: Senator Dodd)

February 13, 2024

An act to add Sections 12663.1 and 12663.2 to the Water Code, relating to water.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 2450, as amended, Aguiar-Curry. Flood control: City of Woodland: Lower Cache Creek.
Existing law provides for state cooperation with the federal government in the construction of specified flood control projects. For certain flood control projects authorized on or after January 1, 2002, or for small flood management projects for which specified findings have been made on or after that date, existing law requires the state to pay 50% of specified nonfederal costs. Existing law authorizes the state to pay up to 70% of those nonfederal costs upon the recommendation of the Department of Water Resources or the Central Valley Flood Protection Board if either entity determines that the project will advance one of several specified objectives. Existing law authorizes a plan of improvement for flood control and water conservation on Cache Creek, including Clear Lake, in the Counties of Yolo and Lake.
This bill would specifically adopt and approve the Lower Cache Creek Flood Risk Management Project, as provided. The bill would also authorize the state to provide funds, up to 99% of the costs, as specified, for the project for flood control on the Lower Cache Creek in the County of Yolo, and would authorize the City of Woodland to receive funds for these purposes under specified conditions. The bill would also authorize the state to authorize funding, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to be used for planning, engineering, designing, mitigation, and constructing the project if the Director of Water Resources makes specified findings.
This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the City of Woodland.
Vote: MAJORITY   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) The Lower Cache Creek Project protecting the City of Woodland in the County of Yolo, was authorized by the United States Congress in Section 209 of the Flood Control Act of 1962 (Public Law 87-874), Section 202(a)(11) of the Water Resource Development Act of 2020 (Division AA of Public Law 116-260), and Section 401(2) of the Water Resources Development Act of 2022 (Public Law 117-263).
(b) The City of Woodland, partnering with the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the Central Valley Flood Protection Board (board), and the Department of Water Resources (department) prepared a feasibility study that concluded the City of Woodland is at risk of flooding in a seven-year flood event. The study proposed a project to meet State Urban Level of Flood Protection requirements.
(c) The recommended project was based on a series of engineering and environmental impact studies prepared by the USACE with the cooperation of the department, the board, and the City of Woodland. These studies supported federal authorization of regional improvements to the Sacramento River Flood Control Project, including federal authorizations in the Water Resources Development Act of 2022 (Public Law 117-263).
(d) Residents in the floodplain meet the state definition of being an economically disadvantaged community. The project will provide ecological benefits that contribute to the Central Valley Flood Protection Plan’s Conservation Strategy. The City of Woodland’s entire industrial area, which employs over 10,000 people and is a vital part of the region’s food and agricultural economy, is in the floodplain and would benefit from the project.
(e) The voters of the City of Woodland enacted an initiative measure (Measure S) in 2004 that established a city policy to encourage a regional flood control project that would protect both the City of Woodland and other nearby areas of the County of Yolo. To help implement that policy, Measure S prohibited the city from funding or taking any other action to support the Lower Cache Creek Flood Barrier or any “substantially similar structure” without voter approval. This act does not affect the validity of Measure S, its applicability to any flood control project, including the subject of this act, or the outcome of the litigation challenging the city’s approval of the project.

SEC. 2.

 Section 12663.1 is added to the Water Code, to read:

12663.1.
 The Lower Cache Creek Project along Cache Creek adopted and authorized by the United States Congress in the Water Resources Development Act of 2022 (Public Law 117-263), is hereby adopted and approved substantially in accordance with the recommendations of the Chief of Engineers of the United States Army Corps of Engineers in the Report entitled “Lower Cache Creek, Yolo County, Woodland and Vicinity, California Final Chiefs Report” and dated June 21, 2021, at an estimated cost to the state of the sum of one hundred twenty-eight million two hundred thirty-five thousand four hundred fifty dollars ($128,235,450) that may be appropriated by the Legislature for state participation, upon the recommendation and advice of the department or the board.

SEC. 3.

 Section 12663.2 is added to the Water Code, to read:

12663.2.
 (a) Notwithstanding Section 12585.7, the state may provide funds, up to 99 percent of the costs, for the project for flood control on the Lower Cache Creek in the County of Yolo, that is substantially in accordance with the recommendations of the Chief of Engineers of the United States Army Corps of Engineers in the “Lower Cache Creek, Yolo County, Woodland and Vicinity, California Final Chiefs Report” dated June 21, 2021, as follows:
(1) At an estimated cost to the state of the sum of one hundred twenty-eight million two hundred thirty-five thousand four hundred fifty dollars ($128,235,450) that may be appropriated for state cooperation by the Legislature upon the recommendations and advice of the department.
(2) Upon a specific written determination by the department that the project meets the requirements of Section 12582.7.
(b) The state assumes no liability for damages that may result from the project by either of the following:
(1) Authorizing the project in accordance with this section.
(2) The appropriation by the Legislature of funds upon the recommendations and advice of the department.
(c) The City of Woodland may receive funds only if it enters into an agreement with the department pursuant to which the City of Woodland agrees to indemnify and hold and save harmless the state, its officers, agents, and employees for any and all liability for damages that may result from the project.
(d) State funding, upon appropriation by the Legislature, may be used for planning, engineering, designing, mitigation, and constructing the project within authorized project boundaries as set forth in the recommendations of the Chief of Engineers of the United States Army Corps of Engineers, as authorized by the Water Resources Development Act of 2022 (Public Law 117-263) and the additional project features identified in the Woodland Flood Risk Management Project Final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) and any future supplements or addendums to this EIR. The state may advance funds for the planning, engineering, design, and construction of the authorized project and supplemental features identified in the EIR, and the acquisition of required lands, easements, rights-of-way, utility relocations, disposal sites, and borrow areas for, and mitigation of, the authorized project, as specified in the Army Corps of Engineers report entitled “Lower Cache Creek, Yolo County, Woodland and Vicinity, California Final Interim Feasibility Report Flood Risk Management.” The state shall have the discretion to may reduce retention withheld under any cost-share agreement to fund the Lower Cache Creek Flood Risk Management Project to 0 percent and is authorized to may advance funding in the absence, in whole or in part, of federal funding, in which case the funding shall not exceed the amount that would be the equivalent nonfederal share if there was federal project funding.
(e) Before any funds appropriated by the Legislature are provided to the flood control project, the director shall find both each of the following:
(1) The project qualifies for a 99-percent state cost share based upon the gross calculation of the cumulative benefits the project provides as described in a nonfederal cost-share report submitted to the department for the project.
(2) The project is located in the County of Yolo, contains significant state assets, and economic hardship exists within the benefit area of the project, as demonstrated in a nonfederal cost-share report submitted to the department for the project, and the project would include setback levees.
(3) A binding agreement with a federally recognized tribal government headquartered within the County of Yolo provides for both of the following:
(A) Monitoring of ground disturbing project activities by trained tribal monitors.
(B) A treatment plan for any tribal cultural resources disturbed or otherwise identified as a result of those ground disturbing project activities.
(f) For purposes of this section, “liability for damages” includes, but is not limited to, liability for damages relating to the construction or operation of the project or the failure of the project to operate as intended.

SEC. 4.

 This act does not affect, and shall not be construed to affect, the validity of City of Woodland Measure S (2004), its applicability to any flood control project, including the subject of this act, or the outcome of the litigation in Yolo County Farm Bureau v. City of Woodland (Yolo County Superior Court Case No. CV 2021-0564; 3rd District Court of Appeal Case No. C097202).

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 need to improve flood control on the Lower Cache Creek located in the County of Yolo as described in Section 1 of this act.