Bill Text: CA AB900 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended

California Assembly Bill 900

Bill Title: Aquifer recharge.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Failed) 2024-02-01 - From committee: Filed with the Chief Clerk pursuant to Joint Rule 56. [AB900 Detail]

Download: California-2023-AB900-Amended.html

Amended IN Assembly April 12, 2023

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 900

Introduced by Assembly Member Bennett

February 14, 2023

An act to amend Section 71154 of the Public Resources Code, and to add Section 227.5 to the Water Code, relating to water.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 900, as amended, Bennett. Aquifer ~~recharge: grant program: streamlined permitting.~~ recharge.

Existing law requires the Natural Resources Agency to update every 3 years the state’s climate adaptation strategy, known as the Safeguarding California Plan, and to coordinate with other state agencies to identify vulnerabilities to climate change by sectors and priority actions needed to reduce the risks in those sectors. Existing law requires, to address the vulnerabilities identified in the plan, state agencies to maximize specified objectives, including promoting the use of the plan to inform planning decisions and ensure that state investments consider climate change impacts, as well as promote the use of natural systems and natural infrastructure, when developing physical infrastructure to address adaptation.
This bill would add aquifers as part of the meaning of natural infrastructure.

Existing law establishes the Department of Water Resources in the Natural Resources Agency. Existing law authorizes the department to investigate any natural situation available for reservoirs or reservoir systems for gathering and distributing flood or other water not under beneficial use in any stream, stream system, lake, or other body of water. Existing law also authorizes the department to ascertain the feasibility of projects for those reservoirs or reservoir systems, the supply of water that may thereby be made available, and the extent and character of the areas that may be thereby irrigated, as well as the cost of those projects.

The bill would require the department to prepare and produce a report to the Legislature, by July 1, 2024, outlining best practices for aquifer recharge. The bill would require the report to include specified information, including, among other things, guidelines for a streamlined permitting process for aquifer recharge projects that implement the best practices outlined in the report. The bill would also require the department to create a grant program by July 1, 2025, to implement best practices in aquifer recharge, including a streamlined process for the issuance of ~~a permit.~~ grant funds.

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

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

SECTION 1.

Section 71154 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read:

71154.

To address the vulnerabilities identified in the plan, state agencies shall work to maximize, where applicable and feasible, all of 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, drought, threats to infrastructure and agriculture, worsening air and water quality, and public health impacts.

(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 and to help identify primary risks from climate change to residents, property, communities, and natural systems across the state.

(c) (1) Promoting the use of the plan to inform planning decisions and ensure that state investments consider climate change impacts, as well as promote the use of natural systems and natural infrastructure, when developing physical infrastructure to address adaptation.

(2) When developing infrastructure to address adaptation, where feasible, a project alternative should be developed that uses existing natural features and ecosystem processes or the restoration of natural features and ecosystem processes to meet the project’s goals.

(3) For purposes of this subdivision, “natural infrastructure” means using natural ecological systems or processes to reduce vulnerability to climate change related hazards, or other related climate change effects, while increasing the long-term adaptive capacity of coastal and inland areas by perpetuating or restoring ecosystem services. This includes, but is not limited to, the conservation, preservation, or sustainable management of any form of aquatic or terrestrial vegetated open space, such as beaches, dunes, tidal marshes, reefs, seagrass, aquifers, parks, rain gardens, and urban tree canopies. It also includes systems and practices that use or mimic natural processes, such as permeable pavements, bioswales, and other engineered systems, such as levees that are combined with restored natural systems, to provide clean water, conserve ecosystem values and functions, and provide a wide array of benefits to people and wildlife.

(d) Encouraging regional collaborative planning efforts to address regional climate change impacts and adaptation strategies.

(e) Promoting drought resiliency through an integrated water supply, delivery, and capture system that is coordinated and that can be resilient to a multiyear drought scenario while protecting water quality and public health. 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 greenhouse gas emissions.

(g) Protecting and enhancing habitat, species strongholds, and wildlife corridors that are critical to the preservation of species that are at risk from the consequences of climate change.

(h) Promoting actions to ensure healthy soils and sustainable agriculture; inform reliable transportation planning; improve emergency management response across sectors; ensure sufficient, reliable, and safe energy; improve capacity to reduce and respond to public health threats; address the impacts of climate change on disadvantaged communities; and protect cultural resources from the impacts of climate change.

(i) Prioritizing equity by ensuring public expenditures that address climate change adaptation prioritize protecting vulnerable communities, rectifying intersectional and systemic inequities, and enhancing low-income and vulnerable communities’ abilities to weather the impacts of climate change.

SECTION 1.SEC. 2.

Section 227.5 is added to the Water Code, to read:

227.5.

(a) (1) The department shall prepare and produce a report to the Legislature, by July 1, 2024, outlining best practices for aquifer recharge. The report shall include guidelines for a streamlined permitting process for aquifer recharge projects that implement the best practices outlined in the report.

(2) The department shall engage stakeholders, including academic institutions, farmers and ranchers, nongovernmental organizations, and local agencies, in order to receive input on best practices for aquifer recharge.
(3) The department shall include information in the report regarding the outcomes of implementation of Executive Order No. N-4-23, including the number of projects implemented, the amount of water recharged, the extent of flood threat reduction resulting from implementation, and any lessons learned.
(4) The report shall include recommendations to the Legislature on whether Executive Order No. N-4-23 needs to be made into a permanent program and, if so, what policy changes are necessary to accomplish this.

(b) (1) The department shall create a grant program to implement best practices in aquifer recharge, including a streamlined process for the issuance of ~~a permit.~~ grant funds.

(2) The grant program shall be implemented by July 1, 2025.
(c) (1) The requirement for submitting a report imposed under subdivision (a) is inoperative on January 1, 2028, pursuant to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code.
(2) A report to be submitted pursuant to subdivision (a) shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.