Existing law requires any funds appropriated for Yuba River debris control to be used for construction, renewal, and repair of works for restraining, impounding, and control of debris resulting from mining operations, natural erosion, and other causes.

This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to that provision.

SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair

2017 - 2018 Regular Session

SB 474 (Galgiani) - Disaster Preparedness and Flood Prevention Bond Act of 2006

This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.

Bill Summary:

SB 474 requires the Department of Water Resources (DWR) to expend $110 million from its Proposition E funds to upgrade the Reclamation District 17 (RD 17) levee system to provide the urban level of flood protection.

Fiscal Impact:

• $110 million (Proposition 1E bond funds) to DWR to fund upgrades to the RD 17 levee system.

Background:

The 2007 Flood Legislative Package. In 2007, the Legislature passed and the Governor signed a comprehensive package of flood bills. (See Legislative History) The flood legislation intended to address a number of flood management problems in the state, and the underlying causes of those problems, including flood control system deficiencies, the availability of flood risk information, and links between land use planning and flood management.

To address these issues, the legislation required the DWR and the Central Valley Flood Protection Board (Board) to establish a systemwide approach to improving flood management in specified areas and to adopt the Central Valley Flood Protection Plan (CVFPP). The CVFPP had to additionally recommend actions for achieving flood protection and other environmental goals, as well as an implementation timeline and funding plan. The legislation also required DWR and the Board to provide updated information on flooding, and outlined several requirements and prohibitions for local jurisdictions to ensure that land use planning and management considers flood risk.

The legislation defined the urban level of flood protection as “the level of protection that is necessary to withstand flooding that has a 1-in-200 chance of occurring in any given year” (referred to as a 200-year level of protection), and set the national Federal Emergency Management Act (FEMA) standard of flood protection of 100-year protection as the objective for nonurbanized areas.

Reclamation District 17 (RD 17). RD 17 is located in San Joaquin County, just south of the City of Stockton along the east side of the Delta. Its levee system consists of approximately 16.2 miles of project levees, including the RD 17 levees along the left bank of French Camp Slough, the levees along the right bank of the San Joaquin River, and the levees along the right bank of Walthall Slough. The RD 17 levee system also includes about 2.8 miles of dryland levees mostly located at the southern end of the district.

The Disaster Preparedness and Flood Protection Bond Act of 2006 (Proposition 1E). In November 2006, the voters approved Proposition 1E. As later amended in November 2014 by Proposition 1, Proposition 1E provided nearly $4 billion for a variety of flood control and stormwater management projects, all of which has been appropriated.

RD 17’s 100-year Levee Seepage Area Project is among the projects funded through Proposition 1E. The project provides for the design, repair, and construction of 16 miles of the existing levee system to provide 100-Year level of protection and ultimately the 200-year level of protection on the right bank of the San Joaquin River. The total project cost is $53.3 million, with the state funding $39.7 million and the local fund contributing $13.6 million. The project is currently on time and budget, with a scheduled completion date of December 1, 2019.

Proposed Law:

This bill:

Requires the DWR to expend $110 million (of the $182 million of Proposition E funds appropriated in the Budget Act of 2015 for flood protection projects) to upgrade the levee system in RD 17 to provide the urban level of flood protection.

Makes findings and declarations relating to the need for a special law.

Related Legislation:

AB 1471 (Rendon, Statutes of 2014, Chapter 188) placed the Water Quality, Supply, and Infrastructure Improvement Act of 2014 on the November 2014. The act, which became Proposition 1, provided a new authorization totaling $7.545 billion ($425 million in unissued bonds and $7.120 billion in new general obligation bonds) to fund water resources related programs and projects. Sixty seven percent of California voter voted in favor of the ballot measure.

SB 5 (Machado, Statutes of 2007, Chapter 364), SB 17 (Florez, Statutes of 2007, Chapter 365), AB 5 (Wolk, Statutes of 2007, Chapter 366), AB 70 (Jones, Statutes of 2007, Chapter 367), AB 156 (Laird, Statutes of 2007, Chapter 368), and AB 162 (Wolk, Statutes of 2007, Chapter 369) outlined several requirements for DWR, the board, and local government entities related to flood management.

Staff Comments:

Purpose of the bill. According to the author, “SB 474 is necessary to enable Reclamation District 17 to utilize state funding to complete development of a comprehensive Central Valley Flood Protection Plan, which will protect our local communities, and facilities. In 1997 there were damaging floods in San Joaquin County, when more than 40 inches of rain fell within a five day period in the Sierra Nevada watershed, flooding thirty-two square miles of land. Flood waters put pressure on a Southern Pacific Transportation Company line that cut through Stewart Tract, causing it to buckle. Flood waters carried everything from gas tanks full of propane, to containers of windshield washer fluid, leaving toxic materials and hazardous waste behind as waters subsided. This legislation seeks a commitment of $110M from state Prop 1E Bond funds for this critical system upgrade which will include system wide improvements for disaster preparedness and flood prevention projects.”

“Without a commitment from the state for its share of funds from Prop 1E, constituents and businesses within San Joaquin County, as well as state and federal assets (Interstate 5, Sharpe Army Depot, and Duel Vocational Institution to name a few) will be vulnerable to another devastating flood.”

What’s The Project? Staff notes the Senate Natural Resource and Water Committee analysis which contends, “The bill does not identify a specific project for funding. There currently is no project designed for RD 17 to reach the urban level of development, nor a cost estimate for such a project…Additionally, the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has declined to develop a project for RD 17 as a part of its study to improve flood risk management along the lower San Joaquin River. The USACE’s analysis showed that such a project would violate requirements of federal Executive Order 11988 (EO). Under that EO, it is the policy of the USACE to formulate projects which, to the extent possible, avoid inducing development in the base flood plain. The USACE determined that an additional project beyond RD 17’s 100-year Levee Seepage Area Project (described above in the background) would encourage development in the deep flood plain.” RD 17’s 100-year Levee Seepage Area Project is underway and is on schedule to be completed by 12/1/2019. And there is current state funding to help develop a project for RD 17 to reach 200-year protection. Until the current project is completed and a project is designed to achieve 200 level of protection, further state funding appears premature. This especially seems to be the case as it would take funding away from a number of otherwise ready to go flood protection projects.”

Redirects funds from planned projects implementing flood management planning efforts. According to DWR, uncommitted Proposition 1E section 5096.821 funds are currently planned for several purposes/projects. These projects implement state flood protection plans developed over the past several years.

As laid out in DWR’s FloodSAFE Budget Change Proposal (2015), these projects were selected because of their consistency with the state’s guiding documents on flood management: the FloodSAFE California Initiative (a long-term strategic initiative developed to reduce flood risk in California), the State System-wide Investment Approach (SSIA) as outlined in the legislatively-mandated 2012 CVFPP, and the 2013 California’s Flood Future report (that outlines deficiencies related to flood management). The redirection of funding to RD 17 required by this bill will likely result in DWR delaying or abandoning projects that were selected through a deliberative process because of their ability to achieve the greatest benefit.

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