Existing law authorizes various conservancies to acquire, manage, direct the management of, and conserve lands in the state. Under existing law, the Salton Sea Authority, a joint powers authority, is authorized to form an infrastructure financing district for purposes of restoring the Salton Sea. Existing law creates the Salton Sea Lithium Fund in the State Treasury and continuously appropriates moneys in the fund to the Natural Resources Agency for restoration projects developed or required pursuant to specified plans, State Water Resources Control Board orders, including Order WR 2017-0134, and grants.

This bill would establish the Salton Sea Conservancy within the Natural Resources Agency for specified purposes related to the Salton Sea region, including to operate, maintain, and manage projects, as they are completed, that are planned or built under the authority of the Salton Sea Management Program to fulfill the states obligations as detailed in State Water Resources Control Board Order WR 2017-0134 and to acquire, hold, and manage land and property rights, including easements and water rights, within the Salton Sea Region after restoration or mitigation projects are built. The bill would require the conservancy to carry out programs, projects, and activities to further those purposes. The bill would require, by January 1, 2026, the conservancy to be governed by a board of directors composed of designated membership, including certain members appointed by certain local agencies. The bill would set forth the powers, duties, and limitations of the board of directors and the conservancy, as provided. The bill would create the Salton Sea Conservancy Fund and would state that the Legislature intends to support the fund through authorized proceeds from the sale of bonds and allocations from the Salton Sea Lithium Fund. The bill would make its provisions operative only if the Safe Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, Drought Preparedness, and Clean Air Bond Act of 2024 is approved by the voters at the November 5, 2024, statewide general election. By imposing new duties on local agencies, this bill would create a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

Existing law authorizes various conservancies to acquire, manage, direct the management of, and conserve lands in the state. Under existing law, the Salton Sea Authority, a joint powers authority, is authorized to form an infrastructure financing district for purposes of restoring the Salton Sea. Existing law creates the Salton Sea Lithium Fund in the State Treasury and continuously appropriates moneys in the fund to the Natural Resources Agency for restoration projects developed or required pursuant to specified plans, State Water Resources Control Board orders, including Order WR 2017-0134, and grants.

This bill would establish the Salton Sea Conservancy within the Natural Resources Agency for specified purposes related to the Salton Sea region, including to operate, maintain, and manage projects, as they are completed, that are planned or built under the authority of the Salton Sea Management Program to fulfill the states obligations as detailed in State Water Resources Control Board Order WR 2017-0134 and to acquire, hold, and manage land and property rights, including easements and water rights, within the Salton Sea Region after restoration or mitigation projects are built. The bill would require the conservancy to carry out programs, projects, and activities to further those purposes. The bill would require, by January 1, 2026, the conservancy to be governed by a board of directors composed of designated membership, including certain members appointed by certain local agencies. The bill would set forth the powers, duties, and limitations of the board of directors and the conservancy, as provided. The bill would create the Salton Sea Conservancy Fund and would state that the Legislature intends to support the fund through authorized proceeds from the sale of bonds and allocations from the Salton Sea Lithium Fund. The bill would make its provisions operative only if the Safe Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, Drought Preparedness, and Clean Air Bond Act of 2024 is approved by the voters at the November 5, 2024, statewide general election. By imposing new duties on local agencies, this bill would create a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

Existing law authorizes various conservancies to acquire, manage, direct the management of, and conserve lands in the state. Under existing law, the Salton Sea Authority, a joint powers authority, is authorized to form an infrastructure financing district for purposes of restoring the Salton Sea. Existing law creates the Salton Sea Lithium Fund in the State Treasury and continuously appropriates moneys in the fund to the Natural Resources Agency for restoration projects developed or required pursuant to specified plans, State Water Resources Control Board orders, including Order WR 2017-0134, and grants.

This bill would establish the Salton Sea Conservancy within the Natural Resources Agency for specified purposes related to the Salton Sea region, including, among other things, to oversee the operation, maintenance, and management of projects including to operate, maintain, and manage projects, as they are completed, that are planned or built under the authority of the Salton Sea Management Program to fulfill the states obligations as detailed in State Water Resources Control Board Order WR 2017-0134 and to acquire, hold, and manage land or and property rights rights, including easements, and water rights, within the Salton Sea Region after restoration or mitigation projects are built. The bill would require the conservancy to carry out programs, projects, and activities to further those purposes. The bill would require, by January 1, 2026, the conservancy to be governed by a board of directors composed of designated membership. membership, including certain members appointed by certain local agencies. The bill would set forth the powers, duties, and limitations of the board of directors and the conservancy, as provided. The bill would create the Salton Sea Conservancy Fund and would make moneys in the fund, including authorized proceeds from the sale of bonds and allocations from the Salton Sea Lithium Fund, available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for purposes of the conservancy. state that the Legislature intends to support the fund through authorized proceeds from the sale of bonds and allocations from the Salton Sea Lithium Fund. The bill would make its provisions operative only if the Safe Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, Drought Preparedness, and Clean Air Bond Act of 2024 is approved by the voters at the November 5, 2024, statewide general election. By imposing new duties on local agencies, this bill would create a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

Existing law authorizes various conservancies to acquire, manage, direct the management of, and conserve lands in the state. Under existing law, the Salton Sea Authority, a joint powers authority, is authorized to form an infrastructure financing district for purposes of restoring the Salton Sea. Existing law creates the Salton Sea Lithium Fund in the State Treasury and continuously appropriates moneys in the fund to the Natural Resources Agency for restoration projects developed or required pursuant to specified plans, State Water Resources Control Board orders, including Order WR 2017-0134, and grants.

This bill would establish the Salton Sea Conservancy within the Natural Resources Agency for specified purposes related to the Salton Sea region, including, among other things, to support implementation of restoration projects, in consultation and coordination with the Salton Sea Authority, to conserve fish and wildlife and control potential air emissions associated with a receding Salton Sea shoreline, and to oversee the operation, maintenance, and management of projects completed pursuant to specified plans. to fulfill the states obligations as detailed in State Water Resources Control Board Order WR 2017-0134 and to acquire, hold, and manage land or property rights within the Salton Sea Region after restoration projects are built. The bill would require the conservancy to carry out programs, projects, and activities to further those purposes. The bill would require require, by January 1, 2026, the conservancy to be governed by a board of directors composed of designated membership. The bill would set forth the powers, duties, and limitations of the board of directors and the conservancy, as provided. The bill would create the Salton Sea Conservancy Fund and would make moneys in the fund fund, including authorized proceeds from the sale of bonds and allocations from the Salton Sea Lithium Fund, available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for purposes of the conservancy. By imposing new duties on local agencies, this bill would create a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

Existing law authorizes various conservancies to acquire, manage, direct the management of, and conserve lands in the state. Under existing law, the Salton Sea Authority, a joint powers authority, is authorized to form an infrastructure financing district for purposes of restoring the Salton Sea.

This bill would establish the Salton Sea Conservancy within the Natural Resources Agency to undertake various activities for specified purposes related to the Salton Sea region. region, including, among other things, to support implementation of restoration projects, in consultation and coordination with the Salton Sea Authority, to conserve fish and wildlife and control potential air emissions associated with a receding Salton Sea shoreline, and to oversee the operation, maintenance, and management of projects completed pursuant to specified plans. The bill would require the conservancy to carry out programs, projects, and activities to further those purposes. The bill would require the conservancy to be governed by a board of directors and directors composed of designated membership. The bill would set forth the powers, duties, and limitations of the board of directors and the conservancy, as provided. The bill would create the Salton Sea Conservancy Fund and would make moneys in the fund available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for purposes of the conservancy. By imposing new duties on local agencies, this bill would create a state-mandated local program.

Existing law authorizes various conservancies to acquire, manage, direct the management of, and conserve lands in the state.

This bill would establish the Salton Sea Conservancy within the Natural Resources Agency to undertake various activities related to the Salton Sea region. The bill would require the conservancy to be governed by a board of directors and would set forth the powers, duties, and limitations of the board of directors and the conservancy, as provided. The bill would create the Salton Sea Conservancy Fund and would make moneys in the fund available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for purposes of the conservancy.

Existing law authorizes various conservancies to acquire, manage, direct the management of, and conserve lands in the state.

This bill would establish the Salton Sea Conservancy within the Natural Resources Agency to undertake various activities related to the Salton Sea region. The bill would require the conservancy to be governed by a board of directors and would set forth the powers, duties, and limitations of the board of directors and the conservancy, as provided. The bill would create the Salton Sea Conservancy Fund and would make moneys in the fund available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for purposes of the conservancy.

Existing law authorizes various conservancies to acquire, manage, direct the management of, and conserve lands in the state.

This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact subsequent legislation to establish the Salton Sea Conservancy within the Natural Resources Agency to undertake various activities related to the Salton Sea region. The bill would require the conservancy to be governed by a board of directors and would set forth the powers, duties, and limitations of the board of directors and the conservancy, as provided. The bill would create the Salton Sea Conservancy Fund and would make moneys in the fund available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for purposes of the conservancy.

Existing law authorizes various conservancies to acquire, manage, direct the management of, and conserve lands in the state.

This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact subsequent legislation to establish the Salton Sea Conservancy within the Natural Resources Agency to undertake various activities related to the Salton Sea region.

 UNFINISHED BUSINESS  

Bill No: SB 583

Author: Padilla (D), et al.

Amended: 8/23/24

Vote: 21

SENATE NATURAL RES. & WATER COMMITTEE: 10-0, 4/18/23

AYES: Min, Seyarto, Allen, Becker, Dahle, Eggman, Gonzalez, Grove, Laird, Limón

NO VOTE RECORDED: Hurtado

SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 5/18/23

AYES: Portantino, Jones, Ashby, Bradford, Seyarto, Wahab, Wiener

SENATE FLOOR: 39-0, 5/31/23

AYES: Allen, Alvarado-Gil, Archuleta, Ashby, Atkins, Becker, Blakespear, Bradford, Caballero, Cortese, Dahle, Dodd, Durazo, Eggman, Glazer, Gonzalez, Grove, Hurtado, Jones, Laird, Limón, McGuire, Menjivar, Min, Newman, Nguyen, Niello, Padilla, Portantino, Roth, Rubio, Seyarto, Skinner, Smallwood-Cuevas, Stern, Umberg, Wahab, Wiener, Wilk

NO VOTE RECORDED: Ochoa Bogh

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 66-0, 8/29/24 - See last page for vote

SUBJECT: Salton Sea Conservancy

SOURCE: Author

DIGEST:

• 1. This bill creates the Salton Sea Conservancy, contingent upon passage of the Safe Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, Drought Preparedness, and Clean Air Bond Act of 2024.

Assembly Amendments

made the creation of the Salton Sea Conservancy contingent upon passage of a bond act; revised the Salton Sea Conservancy’s purpose, powers, duties, and limitations; amended the governing board’s membership, requirements, and authorities; and modified definitions.

ANALYSIS:

Existing law:

1. Establishes the Salton Sea Restoration Act. (Fish and Game Code (FGC) §§2930 et seq.)
2. Provides that it is the intent of the Legislature that the State of California undertake the restoration of the Salton Sea ecosystem and the permanent protection of the wildlife dependent on that ecosystem. (FGC §2931(a).)
3. Provides that restoration of the Salton Sea shall provide for the maximum feasible attainment of the following objectives:
   1. Restoration of long-term stable aquatic and shoreline habitat for the historic levels and diversity of fish and wildlife that depend on the Salton Sea.
   2. Elimination of air quality impacts from the restoration projects.
   3. Protection of water quality. (FGC §2931(c).)
4. Designates the Secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA), in consultation and coordination with the Salton Sea Authority, as the lead of Salton Sea restoration efforts. (FGC §2942(a).)
5. Authorizes the Salton Sea Authority, among other authorities, to review existing long-term plans for restoration of the Salton Sea and recommend to the CNRA Secretary changes to existing restoration plans, as specified. (FGC §2942(b)(1)(E).)

This bill:

1. Establishes the Salton Sea Conservancy Act, contingent upon approval of the Safe Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, Drought Preparedness, and Clean Air Bond Act of 2024 by the voters at the November 4, 2024, statewide general election.
2. Defines terms.
3. Creates the Salton Sea Conservancy (alt: conservancy) as a state agency within CNRA for the following purposes:
   1. To operate, maintain, and manage projects, as they are completed, that are planned or built under the authority of the Salton Sea Management Program, as defined, to fulfill the state’s obligations as detailed in State Water Resources Control Board Order WR 2017-0134.
   2. To acquire, hold, and manage land and property rights, including easements and water rights, within the Salton Sea region, as defined, after restoration or mitigation projects are built.
4. Limits the jurisdiction of the Salton Sea Conservancy to the Salton Sea region, as defined.
5. Directs the Salton Sea Conservancy to carry out programs, projects, and activities to further the conservancy’s purposes, as specified.
6. Requires the Salton Sea Conservancy to governed by a board of directors by January 1, 2026, consisting of 15 voting members, appointed as follows:
   1. Three public members, one each appointed by the Governor, the Speaker of the Assembly, and the Senate Rules Committee, as specified.
   2. Five members appointed by local or tribal entities. Specifically, one member each appointed by the Riverside County Board of Supervisors, the Imperial County Board of Supervisors, the Coachella Valley Water District, the Imperial Irrigation District, and the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians, as specified, or their designees.
   3. Two representatives appointed by the CNRA Secretary from nongovernmental organizations focused on environmental justice and fish and wildlife habitat work in the region.
   4. The CNRA Secretary and the Directors of Finance, Fish and Wildlife, Water Resources, and Parks and Recreation, or their designees.
7. Provides for seven ex officio nonvoting members of the governing board, including members of federal agencies, as specified, or their designees.
8. Requires the local agencies specified in 6(b) above to ensure that one of the appointed members of those agencies is the president of the Salton Sea Authority.
9. Establishes rules for the governing board, including related to board member terms and requirements, the designation of the chair and vice chair, the establishment of a quorum, the appointment of an executive officer, the location of regular meetings, and the applicability of the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act, among others.
10. Establishes the governing board’s authorities, including to enter into contracts, establish advisory boards or committees, hold community meetings, and engage in public outreach, among others.
11. Establishes the Salton Sea Conservancy Fund in the State Treasury.
12. Establishes the powers, duties, and limitations of the Salton Sea Conservancy, including authorization to acquire interests in real property from willing sellers or transferors, an exemption from the Property Acquisition Law for real property acquisitions, and a prohibition on exercising the power of eminent domain, among others.
13. Requires, by January 1, 2027, and annually thereafter, the Salton Sea Conservancy to report to the Governor and Legislature on its implementation of its purposes, programs, projects, and activities, as specified.
14. Provides for reimbursement if the Commission on State Mandates determines that this bill contains costs mandated by the state.

Background

The Salton Sea. The Salton Sea is California’s largest lake, located 235 feet below sea level in Riverside and Imperial Counties. Today’s Salton Sea was formed in 1905 when massive flooding caused the Colorado River to break through an irrigation canal and flow uncontrolled into the Salton Basin. After the breach was fixed, the Salton Sea has been primarily sustained by agricultural drain water.

Many species depend on the Salton Sea ecosystem: it is home to many species of fish and is a critical stop on the Pacific Flyway for migrating birds, including several threatened and endangered species. The Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1930 to preserve wintering habitat for waterfowl and other migratory birds. The southern end of the Salton Sea may be the richest source of geothermal energy in the United States and possibly the world.

The federal government owns most of the land under the Salton Sea. The Imperial Irrigation District also owns a significant amount of land under the Salton Sea and the Coachella Valley Water District has a very small amount of acreage. In the north, approximately 11,000 acres are owned by the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians and held in trust by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. There are a few private holdings.

The Quantification Settlement Agreement. In 2003, the state, Imperial Irrigation District, Coachella Valley Water District, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, and multiple additional parties entered into a series of agreements to address longstanding issues regarding usage of Colorado River water. These agreements are collectively known as the Quantification Settlement Agreement (QSA), the main purpose of which is to reduce California’s use of Colorado River water to 4.4 million acre-feet per year.

The QSA includes an agreement to transfer water that was historically used to irrigate farm fields near the Salton Sea to two Southern California water districts. This has resulted in reduced flows into the Salton Sea, causing the water level to recede. It has also led to increased salinity and concentrated nutrients from farm runoff, both of which create inhospitable conditions for fish and wildlife. Receding water levels have also created public health risks for nearby residents due to air pollution from dust particles released from the previously submerged lakebed.

The role of state agencies. AB 71 (V. Manuel Perez, Chapter 402, Statutes of 2013) articulated the state’s goals and established a state framework for Salton Sea restoration. The goals include permanently protecting fish and wildlife that are dependent on the Salton Sea ecosystem, restoring the long-term stable aquatic and shoreline habitat for fish and wildlife that depend on the Salton Sea, mitigating air quality impacts, and protecting water quality, among others.

AB 71 designated the CNRA Secretary as the state’s lead for Salton Sea restoration. The bill provided that the CNRA Secretary and the Legislature shall maintain full authority and responsibility for any state obligation under the QSA and that both shall have final approval for any proposed restoration plan. AB 71 also authorized CDFW and the Department of Water Resources (DWR) to undertake certain restoration efforts.

Governor Brown launched the Salton Sea Management Program (SSMP) in 2018 to coordinate Salton Sea restoration efforts. CNRA, CDFW, and DWR implement the SSMP while the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) monitors and assesses progress on the implementation of the SSMP. In 2018, the SSMP released the “Phase I: Ten-Year Plan” to guide state projects at the Salton Sea and to address potential public health and environmental effects over the next decade. The SSMP is also working to establish a long-term pathway for the Salton Sea beyond the next decade, including work to evaluate the feasibility of water importation as a strategy for restoration of the Salton Sea. To this effect, the program released a draft long-range plan for public comment in December 2022.

The role of the Salton Sea Authority. The Salton Sea Authority is a joint powers authority comprised of Imperial and Riverside Counties, the Imperial Irrigation District, the Coachella Valley Water District, and the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indian Tribe. According to its website, this authority seeks to protect human health, and revitalize the environment and economy of the Salton Sea. AB 71 required the CNRA Secretary to consult and coordinate with the authority on restoration. AB 71 also directed the CNRA Secretary to seek input from the authority on certain components of Salton Sea restoration, including public access and recreational components, habitat mosaics and location, and opportunities for economic development.

Comments

The state’s 10 conservancies have a strong track record of bringing multiple jurisdictions and diverse stakeholder groups together to develop and implement collaborative, community supported, consensus-based projects. Given their limited, geographical focus, they can bring sustained attention and resources, when funded, to difficult, intractable regional problems, like those found in the Salton Sea. A conservancy offers one, often very effective, way for the state to more easily target funding to a specific region and, once it gets a program up and running, can rapidly deploy state funding to ready-go-projects. Further, conservancies can play an effective role in resolving land use conflicts among local entities, private landowners, the state, and other stakeholders.

FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: Yes

According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee:

1. According to the Department of Finance (DOF), CNRA interprets this bill to dissolve the existing Salton Sea Management Program (SSMP) and shift all staff and responsibilities currently undertaken by CNRA, the State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board), the Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW), and the Department of Water Resources (DWR) to the new Conservancy. In total, CNRA estimates this bill shifts approximately three CNRA staff, 18 DWR staff, and 15 DFW staff along with significant funding (General Fund, bond funds) in the millions of dollars to the Conservancy. DOF estimates additional General Fund costs in the low millions of dollars to support administrative, legal, and other transition costs.
2. Costs of an unknown but significant amount, likely in the millions of dollars, for the Conservancy to implement projects, programs, and activities consistent with its mission (Salton Sea Conservancy Fund, General Fund, bond funds). DOF notes this bill does not identify a sustainable revenue stream for the Salton Sea Conservancy Fund, thereby implicating the General Fund.
3. DFW estimates costs of approximately 238,000 in fiscal year 2024-25 and $230,000 ongoing for one new senior environmental scientist to serve on the Conservancy's board of directors as a nonvoting member (General Fund). DOF notes DFW received $1.7 million and six positions in the fiscal year 2023-24 budget (Salton Sea Restoration Fund) for the SSMP. If these funds and positions are not transferred to the new Conservancy, DOF notes DFW could likely absorb the costs to participate on the Conservancy’s board.
4. Minor and absorbable costs to DWR.
5. DOF contends this bill does not create a state-reimbursable mandate because it does not require a new program or higher level of service to be provided by local agencies. In addition, local government participants on the board of directors could be compensated from the Conservancy’s budget.

SUPPORT: (Verified 8/27/24)

Alianza Coachella Valley
Audubon California
City of Brawley

City of Calexico
City of El Centro

Comite Civico del Valle, Inc.

Kounkuey Design Initiative Inc.
Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability
Pacific Institute

Salton Sea Authority
Sierra Club California

Water Foundation

1 individual

OPPOSITION: (Verified 8/27/24)

Supervisor V. Manuel Perez, County of Riverside

Cabazon Band of Cahuilla Indians
Coachella Valley Conservation Commission

Coachella Valley Water District
Salton Sea Action Committee
Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians

ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: According to the author, “The Salton Sea is a burgeoning environmental catastrophe that threatens not only the immediate communities surrounding that inland sea, but the entire Southland. Located in a historically underserved community, residents are experiencing nosebleeds, bronchitis, and asthma due to the evaporating sea exposing the lakebed containing toxic elements. The Salton Sea Conservancy is a critical step to expediting the construction of new habitat and dust suppression projects for the local communities and wildlife. The conservancy will help unite all of the efforts and get them working together to address this exploding health threat.”

ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION: All letters registering an “oppose” position that are publicly available were submitted prior to the last round of amendments adopted in the Assembly. For example, the Salton Sea Authority registered an “oppose unless amended” position on June 19, 2023, requesting amendments to 1) limit the conservancy’s scope to operations and maintenance of completed projects, 2) add representation of Authority member agencies to the conservancy’s board, 3) require the conservancy to develop a strategic plan outlining how it will meet its mission while avoiding duplication, and 4) limit tribal representation on the board to tribes that have historically resided in the Salton Sea region.

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 66-0, 8/29/24

AYES: Addis, Aguiar-Curry, Alanis, Alvarez, Arambula, Bains, Bauer-Kahan, Bennett, Berman, Boerner, Bonta, Bryan, Calderon, Juan Carrillo, Wendy Carrillo, Chen, Connolly, Davies, Dixon, Flora, Mike Fong, Friedman, Gabriel, Garcia, Gipson, Grayson, Haney, Hart, Holden, Hoover, Irwin, Jackson, Jones-Sawyer, Kalra, Lee, Low, Lowenthal, Maienschein, McCarty, McKinnor, Muratsuchi, Stephanie Nguyen, Pacheco, Papan, Pellerin, Petrie-Norris, Quirk-Silva, Ramos, Rendon, Reyes, Luz Rivas, Rodriguez, Blanca Rubio, Santiago, Schiavo, Soria, Ting, Valencia, Villapudua, Wallis, Ward, Weber, Wicks, Wilson, Wood, Robert Rivas

NO VOTE RECORDED: Cervantes, Megan Dahle, Essayli, Gallagher, Lackey, Mathis, Ortega, Jim Patterson, Joe Patterson, Sanchez, Ta, Waldron, Zbur

Prepared by: Catherine Baxter / N.R. & W. / (916) 651-4116

8/29/24 19:38:12

**** END ****

SENATE THIRD READING

STR Bill Id:SB 583

Author:(Padilla)

As Amended Ver:August 23, 2024

Majority vote

SUMMARY

Establishes the Salton Sea Conservancy (Conservancy) to operate, maintain, and manage projects, as they are completed, that are planned and built under the authority of the Salton Sea Management Program (SSMP) to fulfill the state's obligations, among other things.

Major Provisions

1. Establishes the Conservancy as a state agency within the Natural Resources Agency (NRA) to operate, maintain, and manage projects, as they are completed, that are planned or built under the authority of the Salton Sea Management Program to fulfill the state's obligations as detailed in State Water Resources Control Board Order WR 2017-0134; and, acquire, hold, and manage land or land and property rights, including easements and water rights, within the Salton Sea region after restoration or mitigation projects are built.
2. Designates the Conservancy's jurisdiction as the Salton Sea region.
3. Requires the Conservancy to be governed by a board of directors, by January 1, 2026, as specified, and establishes requirements for the board.
4. Establishes the Salton Sea Conservancy Fund (Fund) in the State Treasury. States the Legislature's intent to support the Salton Sea Conservancy Fund through authorized proceeds from the sale of bonds and allocations from the Salton Sea Lithium Fund.
5. Requires the Conservancy to cooperate and consult with the city or county in which a grant is proposed to be expended or an interest in real property is proposed to be acquired, and shall, as necessary or appropriate, coordinate its efforts with other state agencies, in cooperation with the Secretary of NRA.
6. Specifies the Conservancy's grant authorities.
7. Authorizes the Conservancy to acquire from willing sellers or transferors interests in real property and improve, lease, or transfer interests in real property, in order to carry out the purposes of this bill. Exempts acquisition of an interest in real property from the Property Acquisition Law.
8. Requires the Conservancy to report to the Legislature by January 1, 2027, and annually thereafter.
9. Provide that this bill shall only become operative only if the Safe Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, Drought Preparedness, and Clean Air Bond Act of 2024 is approved by the voters at the November 5, 2024, statewide general election.

COMMENTS

The Salton Sea is a shallow, landlocked, highly saline body of water in Riverside and Imperial counties. It has been shrinking since 2004, and began shrinking at a greater rate as a result of terms of the Quantification Settlement Agreement (QSA), which resulted in 40% less water flowing into the Salton Sea. Fugitive dust emissions from the exposed lakebed have impacted the air quality conditions at the Salton Sea and surrounding communities. Some of this dust contains toxic elements that were transported through agricultural runoff, such as arsenic and selenium. Due to high winds and arid climate around the Sea, this fine dust can become airborne, thereby increasing the amount of particulate matter in the air in the Imperial and Coachella Valleys.

The Secretary of NRA and the directors of the Department of Water Resources (DWR) and the Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) – together, the SSMP team—are responsible for implementing the SSMP's 10-Year Plan to improve conditions by constructing 30,000 acres of habitat and dust suppression projects around the Sea. The 10-year Plan must be consistent with the requirements of the Salton Sea Restoration Act. The SSMP team released its 10-Year Plan in 2017 and updated it in 2018 to guide the State's projects at the Salton Sea over the next decade (2018-2028). The 10-Year Plan identifies projects to be implemented on areas of lakebed that have been, or will be, exposed at the Salton Sea by 2028.

The Conservancy proposed under this bill would operate, maintain, and manage projects, as they are completed, that are planned and built under the authority of the SSMP to fulfill the state's obligations.

This bill will only become operative only if the Safe Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, Drought Preparedness, and Clean Air Bond Act of 2024 is approved by the voters at the November 5, 2024, statewide general election.

According to the Author

The Salton Sea is a burgeoning environmental catastrophe that threatens not only the immediate communities surrounding that inland sea, but the entire Southland. Located in a historically underserved community, residents are experiencing nosebleeds, bronchitis, and asthma due to the evaporating sea exposing the lakebed containing toxic elements. The Salton Sea Conservancy is a critical step to expediting the construction of new habitat and dust suppression projects for the local communities and wildlife. The conservancy will help unite all of the efforts and get them working together to address this exploding health threat.

Arguments in Support

Environmental groups, including Audubon California and the Sierra Club, write, "The proposed conservancy could consolidate state operations under one roof to help expedite the construction of new habitat and dust suppression projects at the Salton Sea to better address the needs of local communities. Creating a Salton Sea Conservancy is especially timely as the state shifts from planning to building projects and will help coordinate operations with local agencies."

Arguments in Opposition

No letters on file for current version of the bill.

FISCAL COMMENTS

Unknown

VOTES

SENATE FLOOR: 39-0-1

YES: Allen, Alvarado-Gil, Archuleta, Ashby, Atkins, Becker, Blakespear, Bradford, Caballero, Cortese, Dahle, Dodd, Durazo, Eggman, Glazer, Gonzalez, Grove, Hurtado, Jones, Laird, Limón, McGuire, Menjivar, Min, Newman, Nguyen, Niello, Padilla, Portantino, Roth, Rubio, Seyarto, Skinner, Smallwood-Cuevas, Stern, Umberg, Wahab, Wiener, Wilk

ABS, ABST OR NV: Ochoa Bogh

ASM NATURAL RESOURCES: 10-0-1

YES: Luz Rivas, Flora, Addis, Friedman, Hoover, Muratsuchi, Pellerin, Ward, Wood, Zbur

ABS, ABST OR NV: Mathis

ASM APPROPRIATIONS: 12-0-4

YES: Holden, Bryan, Calderon, Wendy Carrillo, Dixon, Mike Fong, Hart, Lowenthal, Papan, Pellerin, Weber, Wilson

ABS, ABST OR NV: Megan Dahle, Mathis, Sanchez, Soria

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 68-0-12

YES: Addis, Aguiar-Curry, Alanis, Alvarez, Arambula, Bennett, Berman, Boerner, Bonta, Bryan, Calderon, Juan Carrillo, Wendy Carrillo, Cervantes, Chen, Connolly, Davies, Dixon, Flora, Mike Fong, Friedman, Gabriel, Garcia, Gipson, Haney, Hart, Holden, Hoover, Irwin, Jackson, Jones-Sawyer, Kalra, Lee, Low, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Mathis, McCarty, McKinnor, Muratsuchi, Stephanie Nguyen, Ortega, Pacheco, Papan, Jim Patterson, Pellerin, Petrie-Norris, Quirk-Silva, Ramos, Rendon, Reyes, Luz Rivas, Rodriguez, Blanca Rubio, Santiago, Schiavo, Soria, Ting, Valencia, Villapudua, Waldron, Ward, Weber, Wicks, Wilson, Wood, Zbur, Robert Rivas

ABS, ABST OR NV: Bains, Bauer-Kahan, Megan Dahle, Essayli, Vince Fong, Gallagher, Grayson, Lackey, Joe Patterson, Sanchez, Ta, Wallis

UPDATED

VERSION: August 23, 204

CONSULTANT: Paige Brokaw / NAT. RES. /(916) 319-2092 FN: 0004416

 UNFINISHED BUSINESS  

Bill No: SB 583

Author: Padilla (D), et al.

Amended: 9/1/23

Vote: 21

SENATE NATURAL RES. & WATER COMMITTEE: 10-0, 4/18/23

AYES: Min, Seyarto, Allen, Becker, Dahle, Eggman, Gonzalez, Grove, Laird, Limón

NO VOTE RECORDED: Hurtado

SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 5/18/23

AYES: Portantino, Jones, Ashby, Bradford, Seyarto, Wahab, Wiener

SENATE FLOOR: 39-0, 5/31/23

AYES: Allen, Alvarado-Gil, Archuleta, Ashby, Atkins, Becker, Blakespear, Bradford, Caballero, Cortese, Dahle, Dodd, Durazo, Eggman, Glazer, Gonzalez, Grove, Hurtado, Jones, Laird, Limón, McGuire, Menjivar, Min, Newman, Nguyen, Niello, Padilla, Portantino, Roth, Rubio, Seyarto, Skinner, Smallwood-Cuevas, Stern, Umberg, Wahab, Wiener, Wilk

NO VOTE RECORDED: Ochoa Bogh

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 68-0, 9/7/23 - See last page for vote

SUBJECT: Salton Sea Conservancy

SOURCE: Author

DIGEST:

This bill creates the Salton Sea Conservancy (SSC or conservancy) to oversee the operation, maintenance, and management of projects that are planned and built under the authority of the Salton Sea Management Program to fulfill the state’s obligations as detailed in State Water Resources Control Board Order WR 2017-0134, among other purposes.

Assembly Amendments

revise the SSC’s purpose to oversee the operation, maintenance, and management of projects that are planned and built under the authority of the Salton Sea Management Program to fulfill the state’s obligations as detailed in State Water Resources Control Board Order WR 2017-0134, among others.

• Revise the membership and rules of the SSC’s governing board.
• Direct the SSC governing board to prepare and adopt a strategic plan to achieve the goals of the conservancy.
• Revise the SSC’s powers, duties, and limitations, including to authorize the conservancy to award grant funds to state agencies, local public agencies, tribes, and nonprofit organizations.
• Clarify that the bill does not limit or alter the state’s obligations to the Salton Sea as identified in any state plan or contractual commitment related to the management of the Salton Sea, as specified.
• Define additional terms.
• Provide for reimbursement if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state.

ANALYSIS:

Existing law:

1. Establishes the Salton Sea Restoration Act. (Fish and Game Code (FGC) §§2930 et seq.)
2. Provides that it is the intent of the Legislature that the State of California undertake the restoration of the Salton Sea ecosystem and the permanent protection of the wildlife dependent on that ecosystem. (FGC §2931(a).)
3. Provides that restoration of the Salton Sea shall provide for the maximum feasible attainment of the following objectives:
   1. Restoration of long-term stable aquatic and shoreline habitat for the historic levels and diversity of fish and wildlife that depend on the Salton Sea.
   2. Elimination of air quality impacts from the restoration projects.
   3. Protection of water quality. (FGC §2931(c).)
4. Defines, for the purpose of the Salton Sea restoration plan, the Salton Sea ecosystem to include the Salton Sea, the agricultural lands surrounding the Salton Sea, and the tributaries and drains within the Imperial and Coachella Valleys that deliver water to the Salton Sea. (FGC §2931(d).)
5. Designates the Secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA), in consultation and coordination with the Salton Sea Authority, as the lead of Salton Sea restoration efforts. (FGC §2942(a).)
6. Authorizes the Salton Sea Authority, among other authorities, to review existing long-term plans for restoration of the Salton Sea and recommend to the CNRA Secretary changes to existing restoration plans, as specified. (FGC §2942(b)(1)(E).)

This bill creates the SSC to oversee the operation, maintenance, and management of projects that are planned and built under the authority of the Salton Sea Management Program to fulfill the state’s obligations as detailed in State Water Resources Control Board Order WR 2017-0134, among other purposes. Specifically, this bill:

1. Establishes the Salton Sea Conservancy Act and creates the SSC as a state agency within CNRA for multiple purposes, including:
   1. To oversee the operation, maintenance, and management of projects that are planned and built under the authority of the Salton Sea Management Program to fulfill the state’s obligations as detailed in State Water Resources Control Board Order WR 2017-0134.
   2. To acquire, hold, and manage land or property rights within the Salton Sea region after restoration projects are built.
2. Limits the SSC’s jurisdiction to the Salton Sea region, as defined.
3. Directs the SSC to carry out programs, projects, and activities to further the conservancy’s purposes, as specified.
4. Requires, by January 1, 2026, the SSC to be governed by a board of directors consisting of 15 voting members and six ex officio nonvoting members, as follows:
   1. Voting members:
      1. Two public members appointed by the Governor subject to confirmation by the Senate, as specified.
      2. One public member appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly, as specified, and one public member appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules, as specified.
      3. One member who is appointed by the Riverside County Board of Supervisors, as specified, and one member who is appointed by the Imperial County Board of Supervisors, as specified.
      4. One member who is appointed by the Coachella Valley Water District, as specified, and one member who is appointed by the Imperial Irrigation District, as specified
      5. One member who is appointed by the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians, as specified.
      6. One representative of a nongovernmental organization focused on environmental justice work in the region and one representative of a nongovernmental organization focused on fish and wildlife habitat work in the region, both appointed by the CNRA Secretary.
      7. The CNRA Secretary and the Directors of Finance, Fish and Wildlife, and Water Resources, as specified.
   2. Ex officio, nonvoting members:
      1. The Environmental Protection Secretary and the State Water Resources Control Board Chairperson, as specified.
      2. One representative of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, one representative of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, one representative of the federal Bureau of Reclamation, and one representative of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, as specified.
5. Requires the local agencies specified in (a)(iii) – (a)(v) above to ensure that one of the appointed members of those agencies is the Salton Sea Authority president, so that the president is always represented on the board.
6. Designates the CNRA Secretary as the chairperson of the board and the Salton Sea Authority president as the vice chairperson of the board.
7. Prescribes terms, rules, and authorities for the board and board members, including that the board shall conduct business in accordance with the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act.
8. Directs the SSC board, within two years of hiring an executive officer, to prepare and adopt a strategic plan to achieve the goals of the conservancy, as specified.
9. Establishes the SSC’s powers, duties, and limitations, including that the conservancy may acquire from willing sellers or transferors interests in real property, as specified, however, the conservancy shall not have the power of eminent domain.
10. Directs the SSC, on or before January 1, 2027, and annually thereafter, to prepare and submit a report to the Governor and the Legislature on implementation of the SCC’s mandates, as specified.
11. Provides that the bill shall not limit or alter the state’s obligations to the Salton Sea, as specified.
12. Defines terms.
13. Provides for reimbursement if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state.

FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: Yes

According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee:

1. According to the Department of Finance (DOF), CNRA interprets this bill to dissolve the existing Salton Sea Management Program (SSMP) and shift all staff and responsibilities currently undertaken by CNRA, the State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board), the Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW), and the Department of Water Resources (DWR) to the new Conservancy. In total, CNRA estimates this bill shifts approximately three CNRA staff, 18 DWR staff, and 15 DFW staff along with significant funding (General Fund, bond funds) in the millions of dollars to the Conservancy. DOF estimates additional General Fund costs in the low millions of dollars to support administrative, legal, and other transition costs.

2) Costs of an unknown but significant amount, likely in the millions of dollars, for the Conservancy to implement projects, programs, and activities consistent with its mission (Salton Sea Conservancy Fund, General Fund, bond funds). DOF notes this bill does not identify a sustainable revenue stream for the Salton Sea Conservancy Fund, thereby implicating the General Fund.

3) DFW estimates costs of approximately 238,000 in fiscal year 2024-25 and $230,000 ongoing for one new senior environmental scientist to serve on the Conservancy's board of directors as a nonvoting member (General Fund). DOF notes DFW received $1.7 million and six positions in the fiscal year 2023-24 budget (Salton Sea Restoration Fund) for the SSMP. If these funds and positions are not transferred to the new Conservancy, DOF notes DFW could likely absorb the costs to participate on the Conservancy’s board.

4) Minor and absorbable costs to DWR.

5) DOF contends this bill does not create a state-reimbursable mandate because it does not require a new program or higher level of service to be provided by local agencies. In addition, local government participants on the board of directors could be compensated from the Conservancy’s budget.

SUPPORT: (Verified 8/14/24)

Alianza Coachella Valley

Audubon California

City of Brawley

City of Calexico

City of El Centro

Kounkuey Design Initiative INC.

Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability

Pacific Institute

Sierra Club California

Water Foundation

1 individual

OPPOSITION: (Verified 8/14/24)

Supervisor V. Manuel Perez, County of Riverside

Cabazon Band of Cahuilla Indians
Coachella Valley Conservation Commission

Coachella Valley Water District
Salton Sea Action Committee

Salton Sea Authority
Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians

ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: According to the author, “The Salton Sea is a burgeoning environmental catastrophe that threatens not only the immediate communities surrounding that inland sea, but the entire Southland. Located in a historically underserved community, residents are experiencing nosebleeds, bronchitis, and asthma due to the evaporating sea exposing the lakebed containing toxic elements. The Salton Sea Conservancy is a critical step to expediting the construction of new habitat and dust suppression projects for the local communities and wildlife. The conservancy will help unite all of the efforts and get them working together to address this exploding health threat.”

ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION: All letters registering an “oppose” position that are publicly available were submitted prior to recent amendments adopted in the Assembly. For example, the Salton Sea Authority registered an “oppose unless amended” position on June 19, 2023, requesting amendments to 1) limit the conservancy’s scope to operations and maintenance of completed projects, 2) add representation of Authority member agencies to the conservancy’s board, 3) require the conservancy to develop a strategic plan outlining how it will meet its mission while avoiding duplication, and 4) limit tribal representation on the board to tribes that have historically resided in the Salton Sea region. Although amendments adopted in the Assembly appear to address these concerns, the Salton Sea Authority has not registered a new position on this bill.

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 68-0, 9/7/23

AYES: Addis, Aguiar-Curry, Alanis, Alvarez, Arambula, Bennett, Berman, Boerner, Bonta, Bryan, Calderon, Juan Carrillo, Wendy Carrillo, Cervantes, Chen, Connolly, Davies, Dixon, Flora, Mike Fong, Friedman, Gabriel, Garcia, Gipson, Haney, Hart, Holden, Hoover, Irwin, Jackson, Jones-Sawyer, Kalra, Lee, Low, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Mathis, McCarty, McKinnor, Muratsuchi, Stephanie Nguyen, Ortega, Pacheco, Papan, Jim Patterson, Pellerin, Petrie-Norris, Quirk-Silva, Ramos, Rendon, Reyes, Luz Rivas, Rodriguez, Blanca Rubio, Santiago, Schiavo, Soria, Ting, Valencia, Villapudua, Waldron, Ward, Weber, Wicks, Wilson, Wood, Zbur, Robert Rivas

NO VOTE RECORDED: Bains, Bauer-Kahan, Megan Dahle, Essayli, Vince Fong, Gallagher, Grayson, Lackey, Joe Patterson, Sanchez, Ta, Wallis

Prepared by: Catherine Baxter / N.R. & W. / (916) 651-4116

8/14/24 16:16:03

**** END ****

 UNFINISHED BUSINESS  

Bill No: SB 583

Author: Padilla (D), et al.

Amended: 9/1/23

Vote: 21

SENATE NATURAL RES. & WATER COMMITTEE: 10-0, 4/18/23

AYES: Min, Seyarto, Allen, Becker, Dahle, Eggman, Gonzalez, Grove, Laird, Limón

NO VOTE RECORDED: Hurtado

SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 5/18/23

AYES: Portantino, Jones, Ashby, Bradford, Seyarto, Wahab, Wiener

SENATE FLOOR: 39-0, 5/31/23

AYES: Allen, Alvarado-Gil, Archuleta, Ashby, Atkins, Becker, Blakespear, Bradford, Caballero, Cortese, Dahle, Dodd, Durazo, Eggman, Glazer, Gonzalez, Grove, Hurtado, Jones, Laird, Limón, McGuire, Menjivar, Min, Newman, Nguyen, Niello, Padilla, Portantino, Roth, Rubio, Seyarto, Skinner, Smallwood-Cuevas, Stern, Umberg, Wahab, Wiener, Wilk

NO VOTE RECORDED: Ochoa Bogh

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 68-0, 9/7/23 - See last page for vote

SUBJECT: Salton Sea Conservancy

SOURCE: Author

DIGEST:

This bill creates the Salton Sea Conservancy (SSC or conservancy) to oversee the operation, maintenance, and management of projects that are planned and built under the authority of the Salton Sea Management Program to fulfill the state’s obligations as detailed in State Water Resources Control Board Order WR 2017-0134, among other purposes.

Assembly Amendments

revise the SSC’s purpose to oversee the operation, maintenance, and management of projects that are planned and built under the authority of the Salton Sea Management Program to fulfill the state’s obligations as detailed in State Water Resources Control Board Order WR 2017-0134, among others.

• Revise the membership and rules of the SSC’s governing board.
• Direct the SSC governing board to prepare and adopt a strategic plan to achieve the goals of the conservancy.
• Revise the SSC’s powers, duties, and limitations, including to authorize the conservancy to award grant funds to state agencies, local public agencies, tribes, and nonprofit organizations.
• Clarify that the bill does not limit or alter the state’s obligations to the Salton Sea as identified in any state plan or contractual commitment related to the management of the Salton Sea, as specified.
• Define additional terms.
• Provide for reimbursement if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state.

ANALYSIS:

Existing law:

1. Establishes the Salton Sea Restoration Act. (Fish and Game Code (FGC) §§2930 et seq.)
2. Provides that it is the intent of the Legislature that the State of California undertake the restoration of the Salton Sea ecosystem and the permanent protection of the wildlife dependent on that ecosystem. (FGC §2931(a).)
3. Provides that restoration of the Salton Sea shall provide for the maximum feasible attainment of the following objectives:
   1. Restoration of long-term stable aquatic and shoreline habitat for the historic levels and diversity of fish and wildlife that depend on the Salton Sea.
   2. Elimination of air quality impacts from the restoration projects.
   3. Protection of water quality. (FGC §2931(c).)
4. Defines, for the purpose of the Salton Sea restoration plan, the Salton Sea ecosystem to include the Salton Sea, the agricultural lands surrounding the Salton Sea, and the tributaries and drains within the Imperial and Coachella Valleys that deliver water to the Salton Sea. (FGC §2931(d).)
5. Designates the Secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA), in consultation and coordination with the Salton Sea Authority, as the lead of Salton Sea restoration efforts. (FGC §2942(a).)
6. Authorizes the Salton Sea Authority, among other authorities, to review existing long-term plans for restoration of the Salton Sea and recommend to the CNRA Secretary changes to existing restoration plans, as specified. (FGC §2942(b)(1)(E).)

This bill creates the SSC to oversee the operation, maintenance, and management of projects that are planned and built under the authority of the Salton Sea Management Program to fulfill the state’s obligations as detailed in State Water Resources Control Board Order WR 2017-0134, among other purposes. Specifically, this bill:

1. Establishes the Salton Sea Conservancy Act and creates the SSC as a state agency within CNRA for multiple purposes, including:
   1. To oversee the operation, maintenance, and management of projects that are planned and built under the authority of the Salton Sea Management Program to fulfill the state’s obligations as detailed in State Water Resources Control Board Order WR 2017-0134.
   2. To acquire, hold, and manage land or property rights within the Salton Sea region after restoration projects are built.
2. Limits the SSC’s jurisdiction to the Salton Sea region, as defined.
3. Directs the SSC to carry out programs, projects, and activities to further the conservancy’s purposes, as specified.
4. Requires, by January 1, 2026, the SSC to be governed by a board of directors consisting of 15 voting members and six ex officio nonvoting members, as follows:
   1. Voting members:
      1. Two public members appointed by the Governor subject to confirmation by the Senate, as specified.
      2. One public member appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly, as specified, and one public member appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules, as specified.
      3. One member who is appointed by the Riverside County Board of Supervisors, as specified, and one member who is appointed by the Imperial County Board of Supervisors, as specified.
      4. One member who is appointed by the Coachella Valley Water District, as specified, and one member who is appointed by the Imperial Irrigation District, as specified
      5. One member who is appointed by the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians, as specified.
      6. One representative of a nongovernmental organization focused on environmental justice work in the region and one representative of a nongovernmental organization focused on fish and wildlife habitat work in the region, both appointed by the CNRA Secretary.
      7. The CNRA Secretary and the Directors of Finance, Fish and Wildlife, and Water Resources, as specified.
   2. Ex officio, nonvoting members:
      1. The Environmental Protection Secretary and the State Water Resources Control Board Chairperson, as specified.
      2. One representative of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, one representative of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, one representative of the federal Bureau of Reclamation, and one representative of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, as specified.
5. Requires the local agencies specified in (a)(iii) – (a)(v) above to ensure that one of the appointed members of those agencies is the Salton Sea Authority president, so that the president is always represented on the board.
6. Designates the CNRA Secretary as the chairperson of the board and the Salton Sea Authority president as the vice chairperson of the board.
7. Prescribes terms, rules, and authorities for the board and board members, including that the board shall conduct business in accordance with the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act.
8. Directs the SSC board, within two years of hiring an executive officer, to prepare and adopt a strategic plan to achieve the goals of the conservancy, as specified.
9. Establishes the SSC’s powers, duties, and limitations, including that the conservancy may acquire from willing sellers or transferors interests in real property, as specified, however, the conservancy shall not have the power of eminent domain.
10. Directs the SSC, on or before January 1, 2027, and annually thereafter, to prepare and submit a report to the Governor and the Legislature on implementation of the SCC’s mandates, as specified.
11. Provides that the bill shall not limit or alter the state’s obligations to the Salton Sea, as specified.
12. Defines terms.
13. Provides for reimbursement if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state.

FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: Yes

According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee:

1. According to the Department of Finance (DOF), CNRA interprets this bill to dissolve the existing Salton Sea Management Program (SSMP) and shift all staff and responsibilities currently undertaken by CNRA, the State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board), the Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW), and the Department of Water Resources (DWR) to the new Conservancy. In total, CNRA estimates this bill shifts approximately three CNRA staff, 18 DWR staff, and 15 DFW staff along with significant funding (General Fund, bond funds) in the millions of dollars to the Conservancy. DOF estimates additional General Fund costs in the low millions of dollars to support administrative, legal, and other transition costs.

2) Costs of an unknown but significant amount, likely in the millions of dollars, for the Conservancy to implement projects, programs, and activities consistent with its mission (Salton Sea Conservancy Fund, General Fund, bond funds). DOF notes this bill does not identify a sustainable revenue stream for the Salton Sea Conservancy Fund, thereby implicating the General Fund.

3) DFW estimates costs of approximately 238,000 in fiscal year 2024-25 and $230,000 ongoing for one new senior environmental scientist to serve on the Conservancy's board of directors as a nonvoting member (General Fund). DOF notes DFW received $1.7 million and six positions in the fiscal year 2023-24 budget (Salton Sea Restoration Fund) for the SSMP. If these funds and positions are not transferred to the new Conservancy, DOF notes DFW could likely absorb the costs to participate on the Conservancy’s board.

4) Minor and absorbable costs to DWR.

5) DOF contends this bill does not create a state-reimbursable mandate because it does not require a new program or higher level of service to be provided by local agencies. In addition, local government participants on the board of directors could be compensated from the Conservancy’s budget.

SUPPORT: (Verified 9/8/23)

Alianza Coachella Valley

Audubon California

City of Brawley

City of Calexico

City of El Centro

CleanEarth4Kids.org

County of Imperial

Kounkuey Design Initiative, Inc.

Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability

Pacific Institute

Sierra Club California

Vision y Compromiso

Water Foundation

1 individual

OPPOSITION: (Verified 9/8/23)

Cabazon Band of Cahuilla Indians
Calexico Wellness Center

California Environmental Justice Coalition

Calipatria Chamber of Commerce

Campesinos Unidos, Inc.
Central California Environmental Justice Network

City Heights Community Development Corporation

Coachella Valley Conservation Commission
Coachella Valley Water District
Comite Civico del Valle

Communities for a New California

Council Member Maria J. Nuñez, City of San Marcos

Desert Healthcare District & Foundation

Imperial Valley Equity and Justice Coalition

Jobs to Move America

La Union Hace La Fuerza

Lideres Campesinas

Los Amigos de la Comunidad

Our Roots Multicultural Center

Promotores Collaborative of San Luis Obispo County

Promotores Comunitarios Del Desierto

Raizes

Salton Sea Action Committee

Salton Sea Authority
Sierra Community House

Supervisor V. Manuel Perez, County of Riverside

Sure Helpline Center

Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians

Universidad Popular

West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project

ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: According to the author, “The Salton Sea is a burgeoning environmental catastrophe that threatens not only the immediate communities surrounding that inland sea, but the entire Southland. Located in a historically underserved community, residents are experiencing nosebleeds, bronchitis, and asthma due to the evaporating sea exposing the lakebed containing toxic elements. The Salton Sea Conservancy is a critical step to expediting the construction of new habitat and dust suppression projects for the local communities and wildlife. The conservancy will help unite all of the efforts and get them working together to address this exploding health threat.”

ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION: All letters registering an “oppose” position that are publicly available were submitted prior to recent amendments adopted in the Assembly. For example, the Salton Sea Authority registered an “oppose unless amended” position on June 19, 2023, requesting amendments to 1) limit the conservancy’s scope to operations and maintenance of completed projects, 2) add representation of Authority member agencies to the conservancy’s board, 3) require the conservancy to develop a strategic plan outlining how it will meet its mission while avoiding duplication, and 4) limit tribal representation on the board to tribes that have historically resided in the Salton Sea region. Although amendments adopted in the Assembly appear to address these concerns, the Salton Sea Authority has not registered a new position on this bill.

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 68-0, 9/7/23

AYES: Addis, Aguiar-Curry, Alanis, Alvarez, Arambula, Bennett, Berman, Boerner, Bonta, Bryan, Calderon, Juan Carrillo, Wendy Carrillo, Cervantes, Chen, Connolly, Davies, Dixon, Flora, Mike Fong, Friedman, Gabriel, Garcia, Gipson, Haney, Hart, Holden, Hoover, Irwin, Jackson, Jones-Sawyer, Kalra, Lee, Low, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Mathis, McCarty, McKinnor, Muratsuchi, Stephanie Nguyen, Ortega, Pacheco, Papan, Jim Patterson, Pellerin, Petrie-Norris, Quirk-Silva, Ramos, Rendon, Reyes, Luz Rivas, Rodriguez, Blanca Rubio, Santiago, Schiavo, Soria, Ting, Valencia, Villapudua, Waldron, Ward, Weber, Wicks, Wilson, Wood, Zbur, Robert Rivas

NO VOTE RECORDED: Bains, Bauer-Kahan, Megan Dahle, Essayli, Vince Fong, Gallagher, Grayson, Lackey, Joe Patterson, Sanchez, Ta, Wallis

Prepared by: Catherine Baxter / N.R. & W. / (916) 651-4116

9/8/23 14:17:45

**** END ****

SENATE THIRD READING

STR Bill Id:SB 583

Author:(Padilla)

As Amended Ver:September 1, 2023

Majority vote

SUMMARY

Establishes the Salton Sea Conservancy to oversee the operation, maintenance, and management of projects that are planned and built under the authority of the Salton Sea Management Program (SSMP) to fulfill the state's obligations, among other things.

Major Provisions

1. Establishes the Salton Sea Conservancy as a state agency within the Natural Resources Agency (NRA) to oversee the operation, maintenance, and management of projects that are planned and built under the authority of the SSMP to fulfill the state's obligations; to acquire, hold, and manage land or property rights within the Salton Sea region after restoration projects are built; to provide increased opportunities for equitable outdoor recreation; to undertake efforts to enhance public use and enjoyment of lands owned by the public; to assist the regional economy through the operation of the conservancy's program; to support efforts that advance both environmental preservation and the economic well-being of Salton Sea region residents in a complementary manner; to support efforts that advance climate resiliency and equity; and, to create a public forum for discussing ongoing land management and other relevant issues within the Salton Sea region.
2. Designates the Conservancy's jurisdiction as the Salton Sea region.
3. Requires the Conservancy to be governed by a board of directors, by January 1, 2026, as specified, and establishes requirements for the board.
4. Authorizes the Conservancy's expenses for support and administration to be paid from the Conservancy's operating budget and any other funding sources available to the Conservancy.
5. Establishes the Salton Sea Conservancy Fund (Fund) in the State Treasury. Requires moneys in the Fund, including authorized proceeds from the sale of bonds and allocations from the Salton Sea Lithium Fund, to be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, only for the purposes of the Conservancy.
6. Requires the Conservancy to cooperate and consult with the city or county in which a grant is proposed to be expended or an interest in real property is proposed to be acquired, and shall, as necessary or appropriate, coordinate its efforts with other state agencies, in cooperation with the Secretary of NRA.
7. Specifies the Conservancy's grant authorities.
8. Authorizes the Conservancy to acquire from willing sellers or transferors interests in real property and improve, lease, or transfer interests in real property, in order to carry out the purposes of this bill.
9. Requires the Conservancy to report to the Legislature by January 1, 2027, and annually thereafter.

COMMENTS

There are currently 10 independent conservancies under NRA that are charged with the protection and preservation of the lands within their statutorily specified jurisdictions. The conservancies also work to provide recreational opportunities, facilitate climate adaptation, connect people to the regional landscapes, and bring state investments to the region for the aforementioned purposes. This bill would create an 11^th conservancy for the Salton Sea region, as defined.

The Salton Sea is a shallow, landlocked, highly saline body of water in Riverside and Imperial counties. The Sea is shallow, which causes large areas of lake bed (playa) to be quickly exposed as the water recedes. It has been shrinking since 2004, and began shrinking at a greater rate as a result of terms of the Quantification Settlement Agreement (QSA), which resulted in 40% less water flowing into the Salton Sea. As the shore recedes, at least 75 square miles of playa will be exposed by 2045, with additional dust becoming windblown as the exposed playa dries out. Fugitive dust emissions from the exposed lakebed have impacted the air quality conditions at the Salton Sea and surrounding communities. Some of this dust contains toxic elements that were transported through agricultural runoff, such as arsenic and selenium. Due to high winds and arid climate around the Sea, this fine dust can become airborne, thereby increasing the amount of particulate matter in the air in the Imperial and Coachella Valleys.

In 2003, the Legislature enacted a package of QSA implementation bills, including the original Salton Sea Restoration Act and findings and statements of legislative intent that the state undertake the restoration of the Salton Sea ecosystem.

The Secretary of NRA and the directors of the Department of Water Resources (DWR) and the Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) – together, the SSMP team – are responsible for implementing the SSMP's 10-Year Plan to improve conditions by constructing 30,000 acres of habitat and dust suppression projects around the Sea. The 10-year Plan must be consistent with the requirements of the Salton Sea Restoration Act. The SSMP team released its 10-Year Plan in 2017 and updated it in 2018 to guide the State's projects at the Salton Sea over the next decade (2018-2028). The 10-Year Plan identifies projects to be implemented on areas of lakebed that have been, or will be, exposed at the Salton Sea by 2028.

This proposed Conservancy under this bill would oversee the operation, maintenance, and management of projects that are planned and built under the authority of the SSMP to fulfill the state's obligations pertaining to Salton Sea restoration.

The makeup of the governing board of directors would integrate the Conservancy into the existing framework of restoration activity leads by establishing the Secretary of NRA as the chairperson of the board, and the president of the Salton Sea Authority as the vice chairperson of the board. Further, the local agencies party to the QSA and associated with the Salton Sea Authority are included, such as Riverside County, Imperial County, the Coachella Valley Water District, and the Imperial Irrigation District. The Torres-Martinez Band of Desert Cahuilla Indians as a land owner should also be included.

President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act is providing $250 million to restore the Salton Sea. This funding will complement the $583 million in state funding committed to date to Salton Sea restoration.

According to the Author

The Salton Sea is a burgeoning environmental catastrophe that threatens not only the immediate communities surrounding that inland sea, but the entire Southland. Located in a historically underserved community, residents are experiencing nosebleeds, bronchitis, and asthma due to the evaporating sea exposing the lakebed containing toxic elements. The Salton Sea Conservancy is a critical step to expediting the construction of new habitat and dust suppression projects for the local communities and wildlife. The conservancy will help unite all of the efforts and get them working together to address this exploding health threat.

Arguments in Support

Environmental groups, including Audubon California and the Sierra Club, write, "The proposed conservancy could consolidate state operations under one roof to help expedite the construction of new habitat and dust suppression projects at the Salton Sea to better address the needs of local communities. Creating a Salton Sea Conservancy is especially timely as the state shifts from planning to building projects and will help coordinate operations with local agencies."

Arguments in Opposition

The Coachella Valley Water District writes (based on a prior version of the bill), "The boundaries of the proposed Conservancy cover the entire hydrological region that contains the Salton Sea, which overlap the areas served not only by public water agencies, but also other public agencies with responsibility for environmental restoration. The most obvious one being the Coachella Valley Mountains Conservancy. This would inevitably lead to counterproductive competition for scarce bond and state funds."

FISCAL COMMENTS

According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, this bill would result in:

1. Ongoing costs of an unknown, but significant amount, likely in the millions of dollars, for NRA to hire permanent staff for the Conservancy and for the Conservancy to implement projects consistent with its mission (Salton Sea Conservancy Fund or General Fund). This bill does not identify a sustainable revenue stream for the Salton Sea Conservancy Fund. Absent future bond funds or revenue in the Salton Sea Lithium Fund, this bill will likely implicate the General Fund.
2. DFW estimates costs of approximately 238,000 in fiscal year 2024-25 and $230,000 ongoing for one new senior environmental scientist to serve on the Conservancy's board of directors (General Fund). The Department of Finance (DOF) notes DFW received $1.7 million and six positions in the fiscal year 2023-24 budget (Salton Sea Restoration Fund) for the SSMP. If these funds and positions are not transferred to the new Conservancy, DOF notes DFW could likely absorb the costs to participate on the Conservancy's board.
3. Minor and absorbable costs to DWR.
4. DOF contends this bill does not create a state-reimbursable mandate because it does not require a new program or higher level of service to be provided by local agencies. In addition, local government participants on the board of directors could be compensated from the Conservancy's budget.

VOTES

SENATE FLOOR: 39-0-1

YES: Allen, Alvarado-Gil, Archuleta, Ashby, Atkins, Becker, Blakespear, Bradford, Caballero, Cortese, Dahle, Dodd, Durazo, Eggman, Glazer, Gonzalez, Grove, Hurtado, Jones, Laird, Limón, McGuire, Menjivar, Min, Newman, Nguyen, Niello, Padilla, Portantino, Roth, Rubio, Seyarto, Skinner, Smallwood-Cuevas, Stern, Umberg, Wahab, Wiener, Wilk

ABS, ABST OR NV: Ochoa Bogh

ASM NATURAL RESOURCES: 10-0-1

YES: Luz Rivas, Flora, Addis, Friedman, Hoover, Muratsuchi, Pellerin, Ward, Wood, Zbur

ABS, ABST OR NV: Mathis

ASM APPROPRIATIONS: 12-0-4

YES: Holden, Bryan, Calderon, Wendy Carrillo, Dixon, Mike Fong, Hart, Lowenthal, Papan, Pellerin, Weber, Wilson

ABS, ABST OR NV: Megan Dahle, Mathis, Sanchez, Soria

UPDATED

VERSION: September 1, 2023

CONSULTANT: Paige Brokaw / NAT. RES. / (916) 319-2092 FN: 0001658

Date of Hearing: August 23, 2023

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

Chris Holden, Chair

SBPCA Bill Id:SB 583

Author:(Padilla) – As Amended Ver:July 6, 2023

Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: Yes Reimbursable: No

SUMMARY:

This bill establishes the Salton Sea Conservancy (Conservancy) within the California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA).

Specifically, this bill, among other things:

1. Establishes the Conservancy as a state agency within CNRA to support implementation of restoration projects, in consultation and coordination with the Salton Sea Authority, to conserve fish and wildlife and control potential air emissions associated with a receding Salton Sea shoreline; to oversee the operation, maintenance, and management of projects completed pursuant to specified plans; expend funds and award grants and loans to develop and implement specified programs and projects; and undertake other specified tasks. Specifies a number of other powers, duties, and limitations for the Conservancy.
2. Requires the Conservancy to be governed by a board of directors consisting of specified members; specifies roles and responsibilities for the board; and requires the board to adopt a strategic plan to achieve the goals of the Conservancy.
   
3. Authorizes the Conservancy’s expenses for support and administration be paid from the Conservancy’s operating budget and any other funding sources available to the Conservancy.
   
4. Establishes the Salton Sea Conservancy Fund in the State Treasury. Requires moneys in the Fund be available, upon appropriation, only for the purposes of the Conservancy.
   
5. Requires the Conservancy, by January 1, 2025 and annually thereafter, to submit a report to the Governor and Legislature on its support of the implementation of, and oversight of operations, maintenance, and management of projects completed under, specified plans.

FISCAL EFFECT:

1) According to the Department of Finance (DOF), CNRA interprets this bill to dissolve the existing Salton Sea Management Program (SSMP) and shift all staff and responsibilities currently undertaken by CNRA, the State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board), the Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW), and the Department of Water Resources (DWR) to the new Conservancy. In total, CNRA estimates this bill shifts approximately three CNRA staff, 18 DWR staff, and 15 DFW staff along with significant funding (General Fund, bond funds) in the millions of dollars to the Conservancy. DOF estimates additional General Fund costs in the low millions of dollars to support administrative, legal, and other transition costs.

2) Costs of an unknown but significant amount, likely in the millions of dollars, for the Conservancy to implement projects, programs, and activities consistent with its mission (Salton Sea Conservancy Fund, General Fund, bond funds). DOF notes this bill does not identify a sustainable revenue stream for the Salton Sea Conservancy Fund, thereby implicating the General Fund.

3) DFW estimates costs of approximately 238,000 in fiscal year 2024-25 and $230,000 ongoing for one new senior environmental scientist to serve on the Conservancy's board of directors as a nonvoting member (General Fund). DOF notes DFW received $1.7 million and six positions in the fiscal year 2023-24 budget (Salton Sea Restoration Fund) for the SSMP. If these funds and positions are not transferred to the new Conservancy, DOF notes DFW could likely absorb the costs to participate on the Conservancy’s board.

4) Minor and absorbable costs to DWR.

5) DOF contends this bill does not create a state-reimbursable mandate because it does not require a new program or higher level of service to be provided by local agencies. In addition, local government participants on the board of directors could be compensated from the Conservancy’s budget.

COMMENTS:

1) Purpose. According to the author:

The Salton Sea is a burgeoning environmental catastrophe that threatens not only the immediate communities surrounding that inland sea, but the entire Southland.  Located in a historically underserved community, residents are experiencing nosebleeds, bronchitis, and asthma due to the evaporating sea exposing the lakebed containing toxic elements. The Salton Sea Conservancy is a critical step to expediting the construction of new habitat and dust suppression projects for the local communities and wildlife. The conservancy will help unite all of the efforts and get them working together to address this exploding health threat.

2) Background.

State Conservancies. There are 10 conservancies under CNRA charged with the protection and preservation of the lands within their statutorily specified jurisdictions. The conservancies also work to provide recreational opportunities, facilitate climate adaptation, connect people to the regional landscapes, and bring state investments to the region for the aforementioned purposes.

Salton Sea. According to CNRA, flows into the Salton Sea have declined in recent years, and the result is a shrinking, increasingly saline lake. As the Salton Sea recedes, previously submerged lakebed is being exposed, creating dust that is of concern to local communities. For a more detailed discussion of the decades-long history and issues facing the Salton Sea, please see the Assembly Natural Resources Committee analysis of this bill.

Over the last 40 years, numerous ideas and plans had been proposed by various entities to restore the Salton Sea. Those proposals have had limited success because, among other challenges, they have not been adequately funded. Under the direction of Governor Newsom, CNRA, DWR, and DFW are implementing the SSMP, which includes a 10-year plan to improve conditions by constructing 30,000 acres of habitat and dust suppression projects around the Salton Sea. In addition, the Salton Sea Authority – a joint powers authority – is responsible for working in consultation and cooperation with the state to oversee the comprehensive restoration of the Salton Sea.

There is both strong support and strong opposition among local stakeholders to the idea of creating a Salton Sea Conservancy. Riverside County Supervisor V. Manuel Perez argues the Conservancy will undermine the “proven successful partnership between local entities and the state to deliver state-funded projects at the Sea, and potentially sidestep the local priorities of the Salton Sea Authority and the County of Riverside.” Conversely, the Imperial County Board of Supervisors argues the Conservancy will “help unite the efforts of local stakeholders and the State of California by establishing a governing body that is representative of key players at both levels of government.” Supporters note the Conservancy helps ensure there is an established fund and leading entity to help the state and locals transition from planning to implementing the operation and maintenance of projects that aid the Salton Sea – arguably the most challenging and resource-intensive aspect of Salton Sea restoration.

President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act is providing $250 million to restore the Salton Sea. This funding will complement over $450 million in state funding committed to date to Salton Sea restoration.

Analysis Prepared by: Nikita Koraddi / APPR. / (916) 319-2081

Date of Hearing: June 26, 2023

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES

Luz Rivas, Chair

SBPCA Bill Id:SB 583

Author:(Padilla) – As Amended Ver:June 8, 2023

SENATE VOTE: 39-0

SUBJECT: Salton Sea Conservancy.

SUMMARY: Establishes the Salton Sea Conservancy to support implementation of the Salton Sea Management Program Phase I: 10-Year Plan (10-Year Plan) and the Long-Range Plan (LRP) prepared by the state’s Salton Sea Management Program (SSMP).

EXISTING LAW:

1. Establishes the Salton Sea Restoration Act, including the state’s comprehensive management plan for the Salton Sea, known as the John J. Benoit Salton Sea Restoration Plan. (Fish and Game Code (FGC) 2930)
2. Establishes the intent of the Legislature the State of California undertake the restoration of the Salton Sea ecosystem and the permanent protection of the wildlife dependent on that ecosystem. Defines the Sea ecosystem as including, but limited to, the Salton Sea, the agricultural lands surrounding the Salton Sea, and the tributaries and drains within the Imperial and Coachella Valleys that deliver water to the Salton Sea. (FGC 2931)
3. Requires the Natural Resources Agency (NRA) to act as the lead agency and work cooperatively with designated staff from the Department of Water Resources (DWR), the State Air Resources Board, the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB), and the Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW). Requires NRA to remain the lead agency for implementation, in partnership with one or more of its departments, unless and until legislation is enacted on or after January 1, 2009, establishing a new governance structure for restoration of the Salton Sea. (FGC 2932.3)
4. Defines the SSMP as the10-Year Plan published in August 2018, or revised thereafter. (FGC 2950)
5. Establishes the Salton Sea Authority as the joint powers authority comprised of the County of Imperial, the County of Riverside, the Imperial Irrigation District, the Coachella Valley Water District, and the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indian Tribe. (FGC 2941 (d))
6. Requires the NRA, in consultation and coordination with the Salton Sea Authority, to lead the Salton Sea restoration efforts. Provides that the Secretary of NRA and the Legislature maintain full authority and responsibility for any state obligation under the Quantification Settlement Agreement (QSA). (The QSA is an agreement signed in 2003 that defined the rights to Colorado River water). (FGC 2942)

THIS BILL:

1. Establishes the Salton Sea Conservancy Act.
2. Defines terms used throughout the bill, including:
   1. “Long-Range Plan” as the plan prepared by the SSMP to comply with State Water Resources Control Board Order (revised) WR 2017-01342002-0013. The plan must be consistent with the requirements of the order and the Salton Sea Restoration Act.
   2. “Salton Sea region” means the geographic boundaries of the Salton Sea ecosystem, including the Salton Sea, the agricultural lands surrounding the Salton Sea, and the tributaries and drains within the Imperial and Coachella Valleys that deliver water to the Salton Sea.
   3. “Salton Sea Management Program Phase I: 10-Year Plan” as the plan for action over the 10-year period from 2018 to 2028 to improve conditions around the Salton Sea by constructing projects that create habitat and reduce dust from exposed lakebed on 30,000 acres.
3. Establishes the Salton Sea Conservancy as a state agency within NRA to support implementation of the Salton Sea Management Program Phase I: 10-Year Plan and the Long-Range Plan.
4. Designates the Conservancy’s jurisdiction as the Salton Sea region.
5. Requires the Conservancy to carry out programs, projects, and activities to further the Conservancy’s purposes. Authorizes this to include any, any combination, or all of the following:
   1. Expending funds and awarding grants and loans to develop and implement programs and projects that are designed to further the Conservancy’s purposes;
   2. Engaging community members and stakeholders through education, outreach, opportunities to provide input, and volunteering on programs and projects;
   3. Coordinating, collaborating, and partnering with federal, tribal, state, regional, and local jurisdictions and stakeholders to develop and implement programs and projects; and,
   4. Identifying and working to resolve any barriers or impediments to progress, including capacity or organizational deficiencies.
6. Requires the Conservancy to be governed by a board of directors, which shall include:
   1. Eight voting members to each serve a four-year term, appointed as follows:
      1. One public member appointed by the Governor subject to confirmation by the Senate, who is not an elected official and who resides within the conservancy’s territory;
      2. One public member appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly, who is not an elected official and who resides within the conservancy’s territory;
      3. One public member appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules, who is not an elected official and who resides within the conservancy’s territory; and,
      4. Five members appointed from local governments surrounding the Salton Sea, area tribes, local environmental justice organizations, and others.
   2. Five ex officio, nonvoting members to each serve a four-year term and designated as follows:
      1. The Director of Finance, or the director’s designee;
      2. The Secretary of NRA, or the secretary’s designee;
      3. The Director of the DFW, or the director’s designee;
      4. The Director of DWR, or the director’s designee; and,
      5. One representative of the United States Bureau of Land Management, designated by the United States Secretary of the Interior.
7. Requires the voting members of the board to annually elect a chairperson, vice chairperson, and other officers from among the voting members, as necessary. If the office of the chairperson or vice chairperson becomes vacant, a new chairperson or vice chairperson shall be elected by the voting members of the board to serve for the remainder of the term.
8. Provides that a majority of the voting members shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of the business of the Conservancy. Prohibits the board from transacting the business of the Conservancy if a quorum is not present at the time a vote is taken. Requires a decision of the board to have an affirmative vote of five of the voting membership, and the vote is binding with respect to all matters acted on by the Conservancy.
9. Requires the board to rules and procedures for the conduct of business by the Conservancy.
10. Authorizes the board to establish advisory boards or committees, hold community meetings, and engage in public outreach.
11. Requires the board to maintain a headquarters office within the Salton Sea region. Authorizes the Conservancy to rent or own real and personal property and equipment pursuant to applicable statutes and regulations.
12. Requires the board to determine the qualifications of, and appoint, an executive officer of the Conservancy, who shall be exempt from civil service. Requires the board to employ other staff as necessary to execute the powers and functions.
13. Authorizes the board to enter into contracts with private entities and public agencies to procure consulting and other services necessary to achieve the purposes of this bill.
14. Authorizes the Conservancy’s expenses for support and administration to be paid from the Conservancy’s operating budget and any other funding sources available to the Conservancy.
15. Requires the board to conduct business in accordance with the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act.
16. Requires the board to hold its regular meetings within the Salton Sea region.
17. Establishes the Salton Sea Conservancy Fund (Fund) in the State Treasury. Requires moneys in the Fund to be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, only for the purposes of the Conservancy.
18. Authorizes the Conservancy to engage in partnerships with nonprofit organizations, local public agencies, and landowners.
19. Requires the Conservancy to cooperate and consult with the city or county in which a grant is proposed to be expended or an interest in real property is proposed to be acquired, and shall, as necessary or appropriate, coordinate its efforts with other state agencies, in cooperation with the Secretary of NRA.
20. Authorizes the Conservancy to require a grantee to enter into an agreement with the Conservancy on terms and conditions specified by the Conservancy.
21. Authorizes the Conservancy to require a cost-share or local funding requirement for a grant. Authorizes the Conservancy to make that cost-share or local funding requirement contingent upon the total amount of funding available, the fiscal resources of the applicant, or the urgency of the project. Authorizes the Conservancy to waive cost-share requirements.
22. Authorizes the Conservancy to fund or award grants for plans and feasibility studies consistent with its plans.
23. Authorizes the Conservancy to seek repayment or reimbursement of funds granted on terms and conditions it deems appropriate. Requires the proceeds of repayment to be deposited in the Fund.
24. Authorizes the Conservancy to require any funds that exceed the costs of eligible or approved projects or of acquisition to be returned to the Conservancy, to be available for expenditure when appropriated by the Legislature.
25. Authorizes the Conservancy to provide grants and loans to state agencies, local public agencies, tribes, and nonprofit organizations to further the purposes of this bill.
26. Requires an entity applying for a grant from the Conservancy to acquire an interest in real property to specify all of the following in the grant application:
    1. The intended use of the property;
    2. The manner in which the land will be managed; and,
    3. How the cost of ongoing operations, maintenance, and management will be provided, including an analysis of the maintaining entity’s financial capacity to support those ongoing costs.
27. States that the Conservancy may sue and be sued.
28. Authorizes the Conservancy to acquire from willing sellers or transferors interests in real property and improve, lease, or transfer interests in real property, in order to carry out the purposes of this bill.
29. Authorizes the Conservancy to enter into an agreement with a public agency, nonprofit organization, or private entity for the construction, management, or maintenance of facilities authorized by the Conservancy.
30. Prohibits the Conservancy from exercising the power of eminent domain.
31. Authorizes the Conservancy to pursue and accept funds from various sources, including, but not limited to, federal, state, and local funds or grants, gifts, donations, bequests, devises, subventions, grants, rents, royalties, or other assistance and funds from public and private sources.
32. Authorizes the Conservancy to accept fees levied by others.
33. Authorizes the Conservancy to create and manage endowments.
34. Requires all funds received by the Conservancy to be deposited in the Fund for expenditure for the purposes of this bill
35. Requires on or before January 1, 2025, and annually thereafter, the Conservancy to prepare and submit a report to the Governor and the Legislature on its implementation of the 10-Year Plan and the LRP that includes all of the following:
    1. A schedule of projects undertaken by the Conservancy and a schedule of grants and loans made by the Conservancy;
    2. The program or goal specified by the 10-Year Plan or the LRP under which each project, grant, or loan was carried out and the manner and extent to which the goals of the project, grant, or loan, and the goals of this bill, were achieved and the actual cost thereof, including an accounting;
    3. A schedule of grants awarded to the Conservancy and the disposition of the funds granted;
    4. The disposition of the funds appropriated to the Conservancy in the fiscal year preceding the year in which the report is made;
    5. A review of local, state, and federal government actions taken to implement the 10-Year Plan or the LRP;
    6. A detailed workplan for the upcoming year that identifies projects for delivery, objectives, major tasks, and expected completion dates; and,
    7. An identification of additional funding, legislation, or other resources required that would more effectively enable the Conservancy or local governments to carry out the purposes of this bill.
36. Authorizes the Conservancy to expend funds and award grants and loans to develop projects and programs that are designed to further the purposes of this bill.
37. Authorizes the Conservancy to provide and make available technical information, expertise, and other nonfinancial assistance to public agencies, nonprofit organizations, and tribal organizations, to support program and project development and implementation.

FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, this bill would result in unknown ongoing costs, likely in the hundreds of thousands of dollars annually (General Fund or Salton Sea Conservancy Fund) to establish and administer the new Salton Sea Conservancy and its programs, and unknown, likely significant ongoing cost pressure, possibly in the tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars (General Fund, special funds, or bond funds) to provide funding for Salton Sea Conservancy projects and programs.

COMMENTS:

1. Author’s statement.

The Salton Sea is a burgeoning environmental catastrophe that threatens not only the immediate communities surrounding that inland sea, but the entire Southland.  Located in a historically underserved community, residents are experiencing nosebleeds, bronchitis, and asthma due to the evaporating sea exposing the lakebed containing toxic elements. The Salton Sea Conservancy is a critical step to expediting the construction of new habitat and dust suppression projects for the local communities and wildlife. The conservancy will help unite all of the efforts and get them working together to address this exploding health threat.

1. State conservancies. There are currently 10 independent conservancies under NRA that are charged with the protection and preservation of the lands within their statutorily specified jurisdictions. The conservancies also work to provide recreational opportunities, facilitate climate adaptation, connect people to the regional landscapes, and bring state investments to the region for the aforementioned purposes. The current conservancies include:

• Coastal Conservancy – established in 1976 
• Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy – established in 1980
• Tahoe Conservancy – established in 1985
• Coachella Valley Mountains Conservancy – established in 1991
• San Joaquin River Conservancy – established in 1992
• San Diego River Conservancy – established in 2003
• Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Conservancy – established in 2010
• San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy – established in 1999
• Baldwin Hills and Urban Watersheds Conservancy – established in 2000
• Sierra Nevada Conservancy – established in 2004

All conservancies have a governing board, mission statement, geographic territory, and stipulated powers, duties, and limitations.

Existing law also establishes the Wildlife Conservation Board (WCB) in the Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) to provide a single and coordinated program for the acquisition of lands and facilities suitable for recreational purposes, and adaptable for conservation, propagation, and utilization of the fish and game resources of the state. The state’s 10 conservancies collaborate with the WCB to provide conservation and restoration programs and funding for the entire state.

1. Salton Sea. The Salton Sea is a shallow, landlocked, highly saline body of water in Riverside and Imperial counties at the southern end of California. Thirty-five miles long and 15 miles wide, the lake extends from the Coachella Valley into the Imperial Valley and contains approximately 7.5 million acre feet of water. The current lake was formed from an inflow of water from the Colorado River in 1905. 

The land under the Salton Sea is owned almost entirely by three entities. The largest is the Federal Government. The Bureau of Reclamation and the Bureau of Land Management under the Department of the Interior (DOI) own the lion’s share (exact amount unknown). Additionally a large amount of land under the Salton Sea is owned by the Imperial Irrigation District.  In the north, there are approximately 11,000 acres of tribal lands owned by the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians. The Coachella Valley Water District also has a small amount of acreage.  

In 1930, a wildlife refuge was established on some wetlands along the edge of the lake that had attracted migratory birds, and it is now home of North America’s largest population of migratory waterfowl outside of the Everglades. In the 1970s, scientists issued warnings about the changes to the lake; gravity carries agricultural runoff downhill through the New and Alamo rivers to the lake, resulting in toxic levels of salts, selenium, and fertilizers. Because of its location in an area of high evaporation, the Salton Sea has been accumulating soluble salts and insoluble constituents in its bottom sediment for more than 100 years.

The Sea is shallow, which causes large areas of lake bed (playa) to quickly be exposed as the water recedes. It has been shrinking since 2004, and began shrinking at a greater rate as a result of terms of the QSA. The QSA provided a transition period for the state to reduce its consumption of Colorado River water to its 4.4 million acre feet entitlement. Under the terms of the agreement, the Imperial Irrigation District agreed to transfer large quantities of irrigation water to the San Diego County Water Authority to service a growing population while providing a pathway for the state of California to restore the Salton Sea. On January 1, 2018, 40% less water began flowing into the Salton Sea as the 15-year mitigation period ended per the 2003 water transfer agreement. As the shore recedes, at least 75 square miles of playa will be exposed by 2045, with additional dust becoming windblown as the exposed playa dries out.

Fugitive dust emissions from the exposed lakebed have impacted the air quality conditions at the Salton Sea and surrounding communities. Some of this dust contains toxic elements that were transported through agricultural runoff, such as arsenic and selenium. Due to high winds and arid climate around the Sea, this fine dust can become airborne, thereby increasing the amount of particulate matter in the air in the Imperial and Coachella Valleys.

The declining inflows have also resulted in higher salinity, affecting many of the approximately 400 species of birds that use the Sea. Continued loss of water in future years will result in the continued degradation of the Salton Sea ecosystem due to increasing salinity and other water quality issues, including temperature extremes, eutrophication (increased nutrient loads), related anoxia (oxygen deficiency), and algal productivity.

Over the last 40 years, numerous ideas and plans had been proposed by various entities to restore the Salton Sea. Those proposals have had limited success largely because they have not been funded. The question around Salton Sea restoration has not been one of, what is necessary; it has been one of, what is feasible mitigation given the funds available. To some extent, this has prevented first attainable steps from being taken because it has not been clear that necessary subsequent steps would follow.

In 2010 the Legislature enacted SB 51 (Ducheny), Chapter 303, Statutes of 2010, which, among other things, established the Salton Sea Restoration Council to serve as the state agency responsible for overseeing restoration of the Salton Sea. SB 51 required the Council to evaluate Salton Sea restoration plans, including the $9 billion 2007 preferred alternative, and to report to the Governor and the Legislature by June 30, 2013, with a recommended restoration plan. The Governor's 2012 Reorganization Plan eliminated the Council, effective December 31, 2012, before the Council ever actually met.

1. Salton Sea Restoration Act. In 2003, the Legislature enacted a package of QSA implementation bills, including the original Salton Sea Restoration Act and findings and statements of legislative intent that the state undertake the restoration of the Salton Sea ecosystem and the permanent protection of the wildlife dependent on that ecosystem, and that restoration be based on the preferred alternative developed as a result of a restoration study and alternative selection process.

The Salton Sea Restoration Act was enacted to maintain the agricultural, environmental, and recreational values and facilitates the following objectives:

• Restoration of long-term stable aquatic and shoreline habitat for the diversity of fish and wildlife that depend on the Salton Sea.
• Elimination of air quality impacts from the restoration projects.
• Protection of water quality.
• Protection of fish and wildlife dependent on the sea.
• Implementation of conservation measures necessary to protect the fish and wildlife species dependent on the Salton Sea, including adaptive management measurements. These conservation measures are limited to the Salton Sea and lower Colorado River ecosystems, including the Colorado River Delta.

1. Salton Sea Management Plan. In 2017, the Legislature enacted SB 615 (Hueso), Chapter 859, Statutes of 2017, to require NRA to develop a 10-year plan to implement a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between NRA and the DOI. The purpose of that MOU was to ensure that long-term coordination between the federal and state governments be a priority and laid out a number of objectives including acknowledgement that a mid-term goal on restoration projects is critical and a common target to reasonably work toward. In furtherance of the objectives in the MOU, the DOI agreed to, among other things, pursue $30 million of funding in support of the SSMP.

The Secretary of NRA and the directors of DWR and DFW – together, the SSMP team—are responsible for implementing the SSMP’s 10-Year Plan to improve conditions by constructing 30,000 acres of habitat and dust suppression projects around the Sea. At least 50% of the acres will be created as habitat for fish and wildlife dependent on the Salton Sea ecosystem and the remainder will be projects to suppress dust. The 10-year Plan must be consistent with the requirements of the Salton Sea Restoration Act.

The SSMP team released its 10-Year Plan in 2017 and updated it in 2018 to guide the State’s projects at the Salton Sea over the next decade (2018-2028). The 10-Year Plan identifies projects to be implemented on areas of lakebed that have been, or will be, exposed at the Salton Sea by 2028.

As a second phase to the 10-year Plan projects, the SSMP prepared the draft LRP to comply with SWRCB’s Revised Order WR 2002-0013 (Order) and is considered the long-term pathway for the Salton Sea beyond the next decade. It includes work to evaluate the feasibility of water importation as a strategy for restoration of the Salton Sea. Condition 26 of the Order specifically requires NRA to issue a long-term plan that:

• Protects or improves air quality to reduce public health consequences.
• Protects or improves water quality to provide opportunities for beneficial uses and reduce environmental consequences.
• Restores long-term stable aquatic and shoreline habitat to historic levels and diversity of fish and wildlife that depend on the Salton Sea.

A total of $730 million has been authorized for restoration activities from state, federal, and local sources. Of that, $280 was dedicated to implement the 10-year plan.

The SSMP team acknowledges that close collaboration with local governments, including Imperial County, Riverside County, Imperial Irrigation District, Imperial County Air Pollution Control District, and the Salton Sea Authority has proven essential to implementing recent projects. 

1. Salton Sea Authority. Created in 1993, the Salton Sea Authority is a Joint Powers Authority (JPA) responsible for working in consultation and cooperation with the state to oversee the comprehensive restoration of the Salton Sea.

The Salton Sea Authority is directed by board-adopted policy to assert a leadership role to ensure local priorities are recognized. In 2012, the Authority requested the Legislature to empower the Authority to develop an updated vision for a revitalized Sea, and to also develop a strategy to pay for the revitalization in cooperation with the state, as prescribed by law.

In 2013, the Legislature enacted AB 71 (M. Perez), Chapter 402, Statutes of 2013, to require the Secretary of NRA to coordinate with the Authority to lead Salton Sea restoration efforts.

AB 71 addressed the void created by the elimination of the Salton Sea Restoration Council, a state appointed body that never held a single meeting. The state partnership with the Authority authorized by SB 71 has been instrumental in creating significant momentum behind the strategy of integration.

Creation of a new state conservancy could confuse leadership on current and future project plans and implementation. Explicit inclusion of the SSMP team and Salton Sea Authority on the Conservancy’s board would maintain that coordination and could facilitate a smooth transition to Conservancy leadership.

1. Growing economic demand in the Salton Sea. Salton Sea known geothermal resources area is believed to have the highest concentration of lithium contained in geothermal brines in the world. The California Energy Commission estimates the sea might produce 600,000 metric tons of lithium carbonate per year. This is relevant because the state has lofty goals to phase out combustion engine cars and exclusively sell electric vehicles by 2035, which need lithium for their vehicular batteries. The environmental impacts of this could be highly consequential for the Salton Sea as it will increase demand for water. The LRP acknowledges that, “Given the lack of design detail in site specific locations, it’s difficult to predict how specific concepts will need to be altered to accommodate for future lithium work.”
2. Salton Sea Conservancy. This bill would establish the Conservancy to support implementation of the 10-Year Plan and the LRP.

The Legislature has long recognized, and invested in, the need for greater support for the Salton Sea, and has found and declared, “in cooperation with local governments, nonprofit organizations, private businesses, and the public, the State of California can help protect wildlife habitats and endangered species, improve water and air quality, and enhance recreational opportunities in the region.” (FGC 2940 (d))

The NRA is statutorily required to be the lead agency to implement all Salton Sea restoration projects (FGC 2932.3) and the Salton Sea Authority is statutorily required to coordinate with Resources on restoration projects (FGC 2942).

However, FGC 2932.3 also says “The Resources Agency shall remain the lead agency for implementation, in partnership with one or more of its departments, unless and until legislation is enacted on or after January 1, 2009, establishing a new governance structure for restoration of the Salton Sea.”

The creation of a Salton Sea Conservancy could fulfill that declaration and provide full focus and attention to the region’s environmental preservation, restoration needs, and impacts of growing economic development.

The bill should be amended, though, to clarify the role of the Conservancy to prevent obfuscation over who is the lead on current and future projects. Further, the bill presents an opportunity to assign responsibility for ongoing maintenance and operations (O&M), for which there currently is no designated responsible party.

In addition to the Conservancy’s operational role, the bill could require the Conservancy to support implementation of the Imperial Streams Salton Sea and Tributaries Feasibility Study, and any future restoration plans.

1. Governing board. The bill requires the Conservancy to be governed by a board of directors, including eight appointees and five ex officio, nonvoting members.

Numerous agencies at all levels of government are involved in responding to conditions at the Salton Sea, all of which should have a seat at the table of the Conservancy’s governing board.

The makeup of the governing board could integrate the Conservancy into the existing framework of restoration activity leads by establishing the Secretary of NRA as the chairperson of the board, and the president of the Salton Sea Authority as the vice chairperson of the board. Further, the local agencies party to the QSA and associated with the Salton Sea Authority should be included, such as Riverside County, Imperial County, the Coachella Valley Water District, and the Imperial Irrigation District. The Torres-Martinez Band of Desert Cahuilla Indians as a land owner should also be included.

1. Funding. The bill established the Salton Sea Conservancy Fund to finance the Conservancy, upon appropriation of the Legislature. The Conservancy would be authorized to pursue and accept funds from various sources, including federal, state, and local funds or grants, gifts, donations, bequests, devises, subventions, grants, rents, royalties, or other assistance and funds from public and private sources.

President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act is providing $250 million to restore the Salton Sea.  This funding will complement the $583 million in state funding committed to date to Salton Sea restoration.

1. Committee amendments. The Committee may wish to consider the following amendments:
   1. Expand on the Conservancy’s role to:
      1. Support implementation of restoration projects in consultation with the SSA and oversee all O&M;
      2. Support and promote projects that benefit the surrounding communities and complement the restoration projects; and,
      3. Coordinate with all levels of government responsible for mitigation the QSA and other Salton Sea mitigation efforts.
   2. Restructure the board with 13 voting member and 7 ex-officio members;
      1. Requires Secretary of NRA and President of the Salton Sea Authority to be the Chair and Vice Chair of the governing board, respectively.
   3. Reinstate the requirement for a strategic plan;
   4. Provide that nothing in the bill will alter or limit commitments under the SSMP, LPR, QSA, or State Water Board order; and,
   5. Revise and add definitions.

REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:

Support

Alianza Coachella Valley
Audubon California
City of Calexico
City of El Centro
Kounkuey Design Initiative INC.
Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability
Pacific Institute
Sierra Club California

Opposition

Cabazon Band of Cahuilla Indians
Coachella Valley Conservation Commission
Coachella Valley Water District
Riverside County Supervisor Perez

Salton Sea Authority (oppose unless amended)

Analysis Prepared by: Paige Brokaw / NAT. RES. /

 THIRD READING  

Bill No: SB 583

Author: Padilla (D), et al.

Amended: 5/23/23

Vote: 21

SENATE NATURAL RES. & WATER COMMITTEE: 10-0, 4/18/23

AYES: Min, Seyarto, Allen, Becker, Dahle, Eggman, Gonzalez, Grove, Laird, Limón

NO VOTE RECORDED: Hurtado

SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 5/18/23

AYES: Portantino, Jones, Ashby, Bradford, Seyarto, Wahab, Wiener

SUBJECT: Salton Sea Conservancy

SOURCE: Author

DIGEST:

This bill establishes the Salton Sea Conservancy to support implementation of the Salton Sea Management Program Phase I: 10-Year Plan and the Long-Range Plan prepared by the state’s Salton Sea Management Program.

ANALYSIS:

Existing law:

1. Establishes the Salton Sea Restoration Act. Fish and Game Code (FGC) §§2930 et seq.
2. Provides that it is the intent of the Legislature that the State of California undertake the restoration of the Salton Sea ecosystem and the permanent protection of the wildlife dependent on that ecosystem. FGC §2931(a).
3. Provides that restoration of the Salton Sea shall provide for the maximum feasible attainment of the following objectives:
   1. Restoration of long-term stable aquatic and shoreline habitat for the historic levels and diversity of fish and wildlife that depend on the Salton Sea.
   2. Elimination of air quality impacts from the restoration projects.
   3. Protection of water quality. FGC §2931(c).
4. Defines, for the purpose of the Salton Sea restoration plan, the Salton Sea ecosystem to include the Salton Sea, the agricultural lands surrounding the Salton Sea, and the tributaries and drains within the Imperial and Coachella Valleys that deliver water to the Salton Sea. FGC §2931(d).
5. Designates the Secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA), in consultation and coordination with the Salton Sea Authority, as the lead of Salton Sea restoration efforts. FGC §2942(a).
6. Authorizes the Salton Sea Authority, among other authorities, to review existing long-term plans for restoration of the Salton Sea and recommend to the CNRA Secretary changes to existing restoration plans, as specified. FGC §2942(b)(1)(E).

This bill establishes the Salton Sea Conservancy to support implementation of the Salton Sea Management Program Phase I: 10-Year Plan and the Long-Range Plan prepared by the state’s Salton Sea Management Program. Specifically, this bill:

1. Establishes the Salton Sea Conservancy Act.
2. Establishes the Salton Sea Conservancy in CNRA to support implementation of the Salton Sea Management Program Phase I: 10-Year Plan and the Long-Range Plan.
3. Limits the jurisdiction of the Salton Sea Conservancy to the Salton Sea region, defined to mean the geographic boundaries of the Salton Sea ecosystem, as specified.
4. Provides that the Salton Sea Conservancy shall be governed by a board of directors consisting of eight voting members, appointed as follows, to serve four-year terms:
   1. Three public members, one each appointed by the Governor, Assembly Speaker, and Senate Rules Committee, who are not elected officials and who reside within the conservancy’s territory. The Governor’s appointee is subject to confirmation by the Senate.
   2. Five members appointed from local governments surrounding the Salton Sea, area tribes, local environmental justice organizations, and others.
5. Provides that the board shall also consist of five ex officio, nonvoting members, designated as follows:
   1. The Director of Finance, or the director’s designee.
   2. The Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency, or the secretary’s designee.
   3. The Director of Fish and Wildlife, or the director’s designee.
   4. The Director of Water Resources, or the director’s designee.
   5. One representative of the United States Bureau of Land Management, designated by the United States Secretary of the Interior.
6. Establishes rules for the governing board, including, among others, to require:
   1. The voting members to annually elect a chairperson and vice chairperson of the board, and other officers, as necessary.
   2. The board to appoint an executive officer of the conservancy.
   3. The board to conduct business in accordance with the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act.
7. Directs the Salton Sea Conservancy to carry out programs, projects, and activities to further the conservancy’s purposes. This may include:
   1. Expending funds and awarding grants and loans to develop and implement programs and projects, as specified.
   2. Engaging community members and stakeholders, as specified.
   3. Coordinating, collaborating, and partnering with federal, tribal, state, regional, and local jurisdictions and stakeholders to develop and implement programs and projects.
   4. Identifying and working to resolve any barriers or impediments to progress, including capacity or organizational deficiencies.
8. Establishes the powers, duties, and limitations of the Salton Sea Conservancy, including, among others, to:
   1. Establish the Salton Sea Conservancy Fund.
   2. Authorize the conservancy to engage in partnerships with specified entities, provide grants and loans to specified entities, and enter into agreements with specified entities, the latter for the construction, management, or maintenance of facilities authorized by the conservancy.
   3. Authorize the conservancy to acquire from willing sellers or transferors interests in real property and improve, lease, or transfer interests in real property, as specified.
   4. Prohibit the conservancy from exercising the power of eminent domain.
   5. Authorize the conservancy to accept and manage endowments, and expend funds and award grants and loans to develop projects and programs, as specified.
   6. Authorize the conservancy to provide and make available technical information, expertise, and other nonfinancial assistance to specified entities to support program and project development and implementation.
   7. Require the conservancy to annually, beginning on or before January 1, 2025, prepare and submit a report to the Governor and Legislature on its implementation of the Salton Sea Management Program Phase I: 10-Year Plan and the Long-Range Plan, as specified.
9. Defines terms, including:
   1. “Long-Range Plan” means the plan prepared by the Salton Sea Management Program to comply with State Water Resources Control Board Order (revised) WR 2017-01342002-0013. The plan must be consistent with the requirements of the order and the Salton Sea Restoration Act, as specified.
   2. “Region” or “Salton Sea region” means the geographic boundaries of the Salton Sea ecosystem, as specified.
   3. “Salton Sea Management Program Phase I: 10-Year Plan” means the plan for action over the 10-year period from 2018 to 2028. The plan’s goal is to improve conditions around the Salton Sea by constructing projects that create habitat and reduce dust from exposed lakebed on 30,000 acres.

Background

The Salton Sea. The Salton Sea is California’s largest lake, located 235 feet below sea level in Riverside and Imperial Counties. Today’s Salton Sea was formed in 1905 when massive flooding caused the Colorado River to break through an irrigation canal and flow uncontrolled into the Salton Basin. After the breach was fixed, the Salton Sea has been primarily sustained by agricultural drain water.

Many species depend on the Salton Sea ecosystem: it is home to many species of fish and is a critical stop on the Pacific Flyway for migrating birds, including several threatened and endangered species. The Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1930 to preserve wintering habitat for waterfowl and other migratory birds. The southern end of the Salton Sea may be the richest source of geothermal energy in the United States and possibly the world.

The federal government owns most of the land under the Salton Sea. The Imperial Irrigation District also owns a significant amount of land under the Salton Sea and the Coachella Valley Water District has a very small amount of acreage. In the north, approximately 11,000 acres are owned by the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians and held in trust by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. There are a few private holdings.

The Quantification Settlement Agreement. In 2003, the state, Imperial Irrigation District, Coachella Valley Water District, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, and multiple additional parties entered into a series of agreements to address longstanding issues regarding usage of Colorado River water. These agreements are collectively known as the Quantification Settlement Agreement (QSA), the main purpose of which is to reduce California’s use of Colorado River water to 4.4 million acre-feet per year.

The QSA includes an agreement to transfer water that was historically used to irrigate farm fields near the Salton Sea to two Southern California water districts. This has resulted in reduced flows into the Salton Sea, causing the water level to recede. It has also led to increased salinity and concentrated nutrients from farm runoff, both of which create inhospitable conditions for fish and wildlife. Receding water levels have also created public health risks for nearby residents due to air pollution from dust particles released from the previously submerged lakebed.

The role of state agencies. AB 71 (V. Manuel Perez, Chapter 402, Statutes of 2013) articulated the state’s goals and established a state framework for Salton Sea restoration. The goals include permanently protecting fish and wildlife that are dependent on the Salton Sea ecosystem, restoring the long-term stable aquatic and shoreline habitat for fish and wildlife that depend on the Salton Sea, mitigating air quality impacts, and protecting water quality, among others.

AB 71 designated the CNRA Secretary as the state’s lead for Salton Sea restoration. The bill provided that the CNRA Secretary and the Legislature shall maintain full authority and responsibility for any state obligation under the QSA and that both shall have final approval for any proposed restoration plan. AB 71 also authorized CDFW and the Department of Water Resources (DWR) to undertake certain restoration efforts.

Governor Brown launched the Salton Sea Management Program (SSMP) in 2018 to coordinate Salton Sea restoration efforts. CNRA, CDFW, and DWR implement the SSMP while the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) monitors and assesses progress on the implementation of the SSMP. In 2018, the SSMP released the “Phase I: Ten-Year Plan” to guide state projects at the Salton Sea and to address potential public health and environmental effects over the next decade. The SSMP is also working to establish a long-term pathway for the Salton Sea beyond the next decade, including work to evaluate the feasibility of water importation as a strategy for restoration of the Salton Sea. To this effect, the program released a draft long-range plan for public comment in December 2022.

The role of the Salton Sea Authority. The Salton Sea Authority is a joint powers authority comprised of Imperial and Riverside Counties, the Imperial Irrigation District, the Coachella Valley Water District, and the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indian Tribe. According to its website, this authority seeks to protect human health, and revitalize the environment and economy of the Salton Sea. AB 71 required the CNRA Secretary to consult and coordinate with the authority on restoration. AB 71 also directed the CNRA Secretary to seek input from the authority on certain components of Salton Sea restoration, including public access and recreational components, habitat mosaics and location, and opportunities for economic development.

Comments

The state’s 10 conservancies have a strong track record of bringing multiple jurisdictions and diverse stakeholder groups together to develop and implement collaborative, community supported, consensus-based projects. Given their limited, geographical focus, they can bring sustained attention and resources, when funded, to difficult, intractable regional problems, like those found in the Salton Sea. A conservancy offers one, often very effective, way for the state to more easily target funding to a specific region and, once it gets a program up and running, can rapidly deploy state funding to ready-go-projects. Further, conservancies can play an effective role in resolving land use conflicts among local entities, private landowners, the state, and other stakeholders.

The coalition of supporters note that “the proposed conservancy could consolidate state operations under one roof to help expedite the construction of new habitat and dust suppression projects at the Salton Sea to better address the needs of local communities. Creating a Salton Sea Conservancy is especially timely as the state shifts from planning to building projects and will help coordinate operations with local agencies.”

The coalition further notes that “California conservancies offer many benefits. They complement state regulatory efforts on issues of statewide significance, they can deliver programs tailored to local and regional needs instead of moving funds through state-level departments, and they allow for greater coordination and partnership between local, state, and federal agencies, the Salton Sea Authority, tribes, and non-profit organizations. Establishing a Salton Sea Conservancy would enable the state to achieve the goals enumerated in [FGC] §2940 et seq. with more significant local input and transparency.”

FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: No

According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:

• Unknown ongoing costs, likely in the hundreds of thousands of dollars annually (General Fund or Salton Sea Conservancy Fund) to establish and administer the new Salton Sea Conservancy and its programs.
• Unknown, likely significant ongoing cost pressure, possibly in the tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars (General Fund, special funds, or bond funds) to provide funding for Salton Sea Conservancy projects and programs.

SUPPORT: (Verified 5/22/23)

Alianza Coachella Valley

Audubon California

City of Brawley

Kounkuey Design Initiative, Inc.

Leadership Counsel for Justice & Accountability

Pacific Institute

Sierra Club California

Water Foundation

One individual

OPPOSITION: (Verified 5/22/23)

Coachella Valley Water District

Salton Sea Action Committee

Salton Sea Authority

Supervisor V. Manuel Perez, County of Riverside

Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians

ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: According to the author, “The Salton Sea is a burgeoning environmental catastrophe that threatens not only the immediate communities surrounding that inland sea, but the entire Southland. Located in a historically underserved community, residents are experiencing nosebleeds, bronchitis, and asthma due to the evaporating sea exposing the lakebed containing toxic elements. The Salton Sea Conservancy is a critical step to expediting the construction of new habitat and dust suppression projects for the local communities and wildlife. The conservancy will help unite all of the efforts and get them working together to address this exploding health threat.”

According to the City of Brawley, which is located less than 12 miles away from the Salton Sea, “By creating a Salton Sea Conservancy, California can expedite the construction of new habitat and dust suppression projects while centering the needs of local communities.”

ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION: According to the Salton Sea Authority, “After numerous starts and stops the State has undergone since codifying the Quantification Settlement Agreement in 2003, we are naturally concerned that this proposal is just the latest reorganization ‘solution’ to the State’s historic inability to meet its legal obligations.” Further, the Authority writes, “under your proposed legislation, the Conservancy would take over implementation of both the Salton Sea Management Plan (SSMP) and the Long-Range Plan… We have serious questions and indeed grave concerns about shifting primary responsibility for this massive undertaking, the dozens of staff it employees, and the hundreds of millions of dollars that the program has been entrusted, into a new to be created entity without the experience, expertise or capabilities these agencies bring to this effort… [We] strongly believe that shifting those responsibilities at this critical juncture would be both reckless and adversely consequential.”

Prepared by: Catherine Baxter / N.R. & W. / (916) 651-4116

5/23/23 13:28:25

**** END ****

SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

Senator Anthony Portantino, Chair

2023 - 2024 Regular Session

SB 583 (Padilla) - Salton Sea Conservancy

Bill Summary:

This bill would create the Salton Sea Conservancy within the California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA).

*********** ANALYSIS ADDENDUM – SUSPENSE FILE ***********

The following information is revised to reflect amendments

adopted by the committee on May 18, 2023

Fiscal Impact:

• Unknown ongoing costs, likely in the hundreds of thousands of dollars annually (General Fund or Salton Sea Conservancy Fund) to establish and administer the new Salton Sea Conservancy and its programs.
• Unknown, likely significant ongoing cost pressure, possibly in the tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars (General Fund, special funds, or bond funds) to provide funding for Salton Sea Conservancy projects and programs.

Committee Amendments:

These amendments would integrate the Salton Sea conservancy into the existing Salton Sea Management Plan framework, designate board members and assign board duties, and refine the conservancy’s purpose and activities. Specifically, these amendments would:

• Redefine the conservancy’s territory so as to avoid substantial overlap with the Coachella Valley Mountains Conservancy by limiting it to the Salton Sea ecosystem as defined in the Salton Sea Restoration Act.
• Integrate the conservancy into the Salton Sea Management Program (made up of CNRA, DFW, and DWR), under within CNRA The SSMP would continue to create the state’s Salton Sea policies, priorities, and plans. The conservancy would then support implementation of the SSMP Phase I: 10-Year Plan and the Long-Range Plan. For the conservancy, this would include granting funding to implement projects, developing community support, coordinating project implementation across jurisdictions, and identifying and working to resolve any barriers or impediments to progress.
• Specify members of the conservancy’s governing board as well as board member terms and rules.
• Make other changes.

-- END --

SENATE COMMITTEE ON

Senator Anthony Portantino, Chair

2023 - 2024 Regular Session

SB 583 (Padilla) - Salton Sea Conservancy

Bill Summary:

This bill would create the Salton Sea Conservancy within the California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA).

Fiscal Impact:

• Unknown ongoing costs, likely in the hundreds of thousands of dollars annually (General Fund or Salton Sea Conservancy Fund) to establish and administer the new Salton Sea Conservancy and its programs.
• Unknown, likely significant ongoing cost pressure, possibly in the tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars (General Fund, special funds, or bond funds) to provide funding for Salton Sea Conservancy projects and programs.

Background:

State conservancies. Existing law establishes ten state conservancies, all under CNRA, with governing boards ranging in size from seven to 20 voting members. The purposes of these conservancies are listed below, however, they are generally established to protect, conserve, restore, and enhance natural resources and provide public access and outdoor recreation opportunities.

Existing law authorizes each conservancy to acquire interests in real property, however, only four conservancies may acquire property via eminent domain through the State Public Works Board (specifically: the California Tahoe Conservancy, the Coachella Valley Mountains Conservancy, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, and the State Coastal Conservancy). Only the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Conservancy may create and manage endowments.

The state’s ten conservancies, listed in the order established, are:

1. California Tahoe Conservancy, composed of seven voting members, to protect the natural environment; to acquire, restore, and manage property; and to preserve the scenic beauty and recreational opportunities of the Tahoe region. Chapter 1064, Statutes of 1973.
2. State Coastal Conservancy, composed of seven members, to preserve agricultural lands; address the resource and recreational goals of the San Francisco Bay area and the Santa Ana River region; restore coastal habitat; improve and protect coastal and marine water quality and habitats; enhance coastal resources; restore urban waterfronts; and provide public access to the coastline, among other efforts, in the coastal areas. Chapter 1441, Statutes of 1976.
3. Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, composed of nine voting members, to implement the park, recreation, conservation, and open-space provisions of the Santa Monica Mountains Comprehensive Plan in the Santa Monica Mountains Zone and to provide a recreational trail corridor following the Rim of the Valley Trail. Chapter 1087, Statutes of 1979.
4. Coachella Valley Mountains Conservancy, composed of 20 voting members, to acquire and hold, in perpetual open space, mountainous lands surrounding the Coachella Valley and natural community conservation lands within the Coachella Valley, and to provide for the protection of wildlife resources on, and the public’s enjoyment of, and the enhancement of their recreational and educational experiences on, those lands in a manner consistent with the protection of the lands and the resource values, as specified. Chapter 977, Statutes of 1990.
5. San Joaquin River Conservancy, composed of 16 voting members, to acquire and manage public lands within the San Joaquin River Parkway, as specified. Chapter 1012, Statutes of 1992.
6. San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy, composed of 15 voting members, to acquire, manage and preserve public lands within specified watersheds and Santa Catalina Island, to acquire open-space lands, to provide low-impact recreational and educational uses, water conservation, watershed improvement, wildlife and habitat restoration and protection, and watershed improvement within the territory, as specified. Chapter 789, Statutes of 1999.
7. Baldwin Hills and Urban Watersheds Conservancy, composed of 15 voting members, to acquire and manage public lands within specified areas; provide recreation, open space, wildlife habitat restoration and protection, and lands for educational uses within specified areas; and acquire lands for open space within specified areas, as specified. Chapter 428, Statutes of 2000.
8. San Diego River Conservancy, composed of 16 voting members, to acquire and manage public lands within the San Diego River area, and to provide recreational opportunities, open space, wildlife habitat and species restoration and protection, wetland protection and restoration, protection of historical and cultural resources, and protection, maintenance, and improvements of the quality of the waters in the San Diego River and its watershed, as specified. Chapter 574, Statutes of 2002.
9. Sierra Nevada Conservancy, composed of 13 voting members, to increase opportunities for tourism and recreation; protect, conserve, and restore the Sierra Nevada region’s resources; reduce the risk of natural disasters; protect and improve water quality; assist the regional economy; and enhance public use and enjoyment of lands owned by the public. Chapter 726, Statutes of 2004.
10. Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Conservancy, composed of 11 voting members, to work in collaboration and cooperation with local governments and interested parties and to act as the primary state agency to implement ecosystem restoration in the Delta. Chapter 5, Statutes of 2009, 7^th Extraordinary Session.

Wildlife Conservation Board. Existing law also establishes the Wildlife Conservation Board (WCB) in the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) to provide a single and coordinated program for the acquisition of lands and facilities suitable for recreational purposes, and adaptable for conservation, propagation, and utilization of the fish and game resources of the state. Fish and Game Code (FGC) §1301.

The state’s 10 conservancies collaborate with the WCB to provide conservation and restoration programs and funding for the entire state. Conservancies are typically limited to providing programs and funding within their boundaries, although WCB often collaborates with the conservancies to fund projects within their territories. WCB also offers funding and programs to areas not covered by a state conservancy.

The Salton Sea. The Salton Sea is California’s largest lake, located 235 feet below sea level in Riverside and Imperial Counties near the California‐Mexico border. The Salton Sea watershed is part of the Colorado River basin, and encompasses roughly 8,000 square miles. Over the past millennia, the meandering Colorado River periodically filled the Salton Basin, creating ancestral freshwater lakes that eventually evaporated. Today’s Salton Sea was formed in 1905 when massive flooding caused the Colorado River to break through an irrigation canal and flow uncontrolled into the Salton Basin for 18 months. After the breach in the irrigation canal was fixed, the Salton Sea has been primarily sustained by agricultural drain water, approximately 80 percent of which flows from the farming-heavy Imperial Valley to the south.

Many species depend on the Salton Sea ecosystem: it is home to many species of fish and is a critical stop on the Pacific Flyway for migrating birds, including several threatened and endangered species. The Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1930 to preserve wintering habitat for waterfowl and other migratory birds. The southern end of the Salton Sea may be the richest source of geothermal energy in the United States and possibly the world.

The federal government through the Bureaus of Reclamation and Land Management owns most of the land under the Salton Sea. The Imperial Irrigation District also owns a significant amount of land under the Salton Sea and the Coachella Valley Water District has a very small amount of acreage. In the north, approximately 11,000 acres are owned by the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians and held in trust by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. There are a few private holdings.

The Quantification Settlement Agreement and resulting impacts. In 2003, the state, Imperial Irrigation District, Coachella Valley Water District, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, and multiple additional parties entered into a series of agreements to address longstanding issues regarding usage of Colorado River water. These agreements are collectively known as the Quantification Settlement Agreement (QSA), the main purpose of which is to reduce California’s use of Colorado River water to 4.4 million acre-feet per year.

As part of the strategy, the QSA includes an agreement to transfer water that was historically used to irrigate farm fields near the Salton Sea to two Southern California water districts. This has resulted in reduced flows into the Salton Sea, causing the water level to recede. It has also led to increased salinity and concentrated nutrients from farm runoff, both of which create inhospitable conditions for fish and wildlife. The Salton Sea is currently more than twice as salty as the ocean, and nutrient pollution has caused an overgrowth of algae, which are depleting oxygen levels.

Further, receding water levels create public health risks for nearby residents due to air pollution from dust particles released from the previously submerged lakebed. With no natural outlet, decades of agricultural and wastewater accumulation are embedded in the Salton Sea’s now-exposed soils. As the Salton Sea continues to shrink, more of this particulate matter, which contains dangerous pollutants, will be released into the air, including several contaminants like arsenic, selenium, and legacy pesticides such as dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE).

The role of state agencies. AB 71 (V. Manuel Perez, Chapter 402, Statutes of 2013) articulated the state’s goals and established a state framework for Salton Sea restoration. The goals include permanently protecting fish and wildlife that are dependent on the Salton Sea ecosystem, restoring the long-term stable aquatic and shoreline habitat for fish and wildlife that depend on the Salton Sea, mitigating air quality impacts, and protecting water quality, among others.

AB 71 requires the CNRA Secretary to lead Salton Sea restoration efforts. The bill provides that the CNRA Secretary and the Legislature shall maintain full authority and responsibility for any state obligation under the QSA and that both shall have final approval for any proposed restoration plan. AB 71 also authorizes CDFW and the Department of Water Resources (DWR) to undertake certain restoration efforts.

Governor Brown launched the Salton Sea Management Program (SSMP) in 2018 to coordinate Salton Sea restoration efforts. CNRA, CDFW, and DWR implement the SSMP while the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) monitors and assesses progress on the implementation of the SSMP. SWRCB also hosts an annual public workshop to provide updates and an opportunity for public input.

In 2018, the SSMP released the “Phase I: Ten-Year Plan” to guide state projects at the Salton Sea and to address potential public health and environmental effects over the next decade. The plan seeks to improve conditions by constructing 30,000 acres of habitat and dust suppression projects around the Salton Sea. The SSMP is also working to establish a long-term pathway for the Salton Sea beyond the next decade, including work to evaluate the feasibility of water importation as a strategy for restoration of the Salton Sea. To this effect, the program released a draft long-range plan for public comment in December 2022.

The role of the Salton Sea Authority. The Salton Sea Authority is a joint powers authority comprised of Imperial and Riverside Counties, the Imperial Irrigation District, the Coachella Valley Water District, and the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indian Tribe. According to its website, this authority seeks to protect human health, and revitalize the environment and economy of the Salton Sea.

AB 71 granted the Salton Sea Authority a role in Salton Sea restoration efforts. Specifically, AB 71 requires the CNRA Secretary, in the Secretary’s role as the state’s lead restoration agency for the Salton Sea, to consult and coordinate with the Salton Sea Authority. AB 71 also directs the CNRA Secretary to seek input from the Salton Sea Authority on certain components of Salton Sea restoration, including public access and recreational components, habitat mosaics and location, and opportunities for economic development.

In addition, AB 71 authorized the Salton Sea Authority to lead a feasibility study with specified requirements, including to (1) analyze all feasible funding sources for restoration program components and activities and (2) review and recommend changes to existing long-term plans for restoration of the Salton Sea. The authority released this study, entitled “Salton Sea Funding and Feasibility Action Plan” in May 2016. This plan seeks to inform the state’s comprehensive SSMP.

Proposition 68 made $30 million available to the Salton Sea Authority for capital outlay projects that provide air quality and habitat benefits and that implement CNRA’s SSMP.

Colorado River woes. Since 2000, the Colorado River basin has been experiencing a historic, extended drought that has impacted regional water supply and other resources, such as hydropower, recreation, and ecological goods and services. Even with a recent wet winter, Lakes Powell and Mead, the nation’s largest reservoirs that capture and store water from the Colorado River, are in poor shape and federal officials expect a return to dry conditions. In response to the river’s long-term decline, the Biden administration called on the seven states of the Colorado River basin to cut water consumption by two to four million acre-feet — up to a third of the river’s annual average flow — to protect power generation and avoid dire outcomes for the river’s water supply. While negotiations have not produced a unified agreement among the seven states, California offered to leave 400,000 acre-feet annually in the river from 2023 – 2026, representing about nine percent of its allocation.

Without other mitigation, reductions in water use would be expected to reduce inflows to the Salton Sea and result in additional acres of exposed lakebed. However, in December 2022, CNRA, the federal government, Imperial Irrigation District, and Coachella Valley Water District committed to accelerating dust suppression and aquatic habitat projects in the Salton Sea. This commitment is contingent on $250 million federal funding.

Proposed Law:

This bill would create the Salton Sea Conservancy within CNRA to undertake various activities related to the Salton Sea Region. Specifically, this bill would:

1. Establish a new division, to be known and cited as the Salton Sea Conservancy Act.
2. Define terms, including
   1. “Conservancy” means the Salton Sea Conservancy.
   2. “Fund” means the Salton Sea Conservancy Fund.
   3. “Long-Range Plan” means the plan prepared by the Salton Sea Management Program to comply with State Water Resources Control Board Order (revised) WR 2017-01342002-0013. The plan must be consistent with the requirements of the order and the Salton Sea Restoration Act, as specified.
   4. “Region” or “Salton Sea region” means the geographic boundaries of the Salton Sea basin, defined as the U.S. Geologic Survey Hydrologic Unit 18100200.
   5. “Salton Sea Management Program Phase I: 10-Year Plan” means the plan for action over the 10-year period from 2018 to 2028. The plan’s goal is to improve conditions around the Salton Sea by constructing projects that create habitat and reduce dust from exposed lakebed on 30,000 acres.
3. Create the Salton Sea Conservancy as a state agency within CNRA to undertake various activities related to the Salton Sea region.
4. Establish the functions of the Salton Sea Conservancy, including, but not limited to, all of the following:
   1. Protect, restore, and enhance fish and wildlife habitat, including restoring long-term stable aquatic and shoreline habitat to historic levels and diversity of fish and wildlife that depend on the Salton Sea. When implementing this function, require the conservancy to:
      1. Undertake efforts to enhance public use and enjoyment of public lands.
      2. Focus its efforts and activities on restoration of the Salton Sea.
   2. Provide for resilience to climate change.
   3. Protect and/or improve air quality, public health and well-being, and water quality, as specified.
   4. Provide increased opportunities for access to natural resources for the community, tourism, and recreation.
   5. Provide grants for acquisition, easements, restoration, scientific research, monitoring, environmental education, and capital improvements, as specified.
   6. Undertake efforts to enhance public use and enjoyment of public lands.
   7. Assist the regional economy through the operation of the conservancy’s programs.
   8. Ensure that the conservancy’s efforts are consistent with state and regional clean energy goals.
   9. Implement the Salton Sea Management Program Phase I: 10-Year Plan and the Long-Range Plan, as specified.
   10. Engage community members across diverse interests, collaborate with local governments and agencies, and coordinate and cooperate with state and federal agencies, as specified.
5. Require the conservancy to be governed by a board of directors of voting members representing relevant state and federal agencies, local governments surrounding the Salton Sea, area tribes, local environmental justice organizations, and others appointed by the Governor, the Senate Committee on Rules, and the Speaker of the Assembly.
6. Establish rules and authorities for the conservancy’s governing board, including for selecting the chairperson and vice chairperson, establishing a quorum, hiring an executive officer, and requiring the governing board to conduct business in accordance with the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act.
7. Establish the powers, duties, and limitations of the conservancy, including, among others, to:
   1. Authorize the conservancy to acquire from willing sellers interests in real property and improve, lease, or transfer interests in real property, as specified.
   2. Prohibit the conservancy from exercising the power of eminent domain.
   3. Authorize the conservancy to create and manage endowments.
   4. Require the governing board to prepare and adopt a strategic plan to achieve the goals of the conservancy. The plan must describe its interaction with local, regional, state, and federal land use, recreation, water management, and air quality and habitat conservation and protection efforts within and adjacent to the Salton Sea Region.
   5. Establish the Salton Sea Conservancy Fund and provide that money in the fund are available, upon appropriation, only for the purposes of the Salton Sea Conservancy Act.

Related Legislation:

AB 1567 (Garcia, 2023) would enact a new bond act, which, if approved by the voters, would authorize over $15 billion for the bond’s purposes, including $240 million for capital outlay projects that provide air quality, public health, and habitat benefits to the Salton Sea and surrounding communities, including $30 million for the Salton Sea Authority.

SB 125 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review, Chapter 63, Statutes of 2022) creates the Lithium Subaccount within the Salton Sea Restoration Fund, and continuously appropriates moneys in the subaccount to CNRA for restoration projects and grants for projects at or around the Salton Sea and those communities impacted by the Salton Sea’s restoration and development.

SB 482 (Hueso, 2021) would have required the CNRA Secretary to work with local stakeholders to develop a long-term strategy for the Salton Sea. This bill was not heard in the first policy committee.

SB 1365 (Hueso, 2018) would have established an Office of Salton Sea Restoration in DWR under a Director of Salton Sea Restoration appointed by the Governor to implement the SSMP, among other purposes. This bill was held in the Assembly.

SB 615 (Hueso, Chapter 859, Statutes of 2017) recognizes the essential role of SWRCB in the exercise of its original jurisdiction with regard to the restoration of the Salton Sea. Further recognizes that timely implementation of a 10-year plan for a smaller but sustainable Salton Sea is best served and effectuated through SWRCB’s continuing jurisdiction over this evolving subject matter and its attendant restoration efforts.

AB 1095 (E. Garcia, Chapter 722, Statutes of 2015) directed CNRA, on or before March 31, 2016, to submit to the Legislature a list of shovel-ready Salton Sea restoration projects, including information regarding project costs and project completion timelines.

AB 148 (V. Manuel Pérez, Chapter 124, Statutes of 2014) made clarifying and technical changes to AB 71, including that the Salton Sea Authority may lead a feasibility study in coordination and under contract with the CNRA Secretary.

AB 71 (V. Manuel Perez, Chapter 402, Statutes of 2013) articulated the state’s goals and established a state framework for Salton Sea restoration. Designated the CNRA Secretary as the state’s lead for Salton Sea restoration efforts.

SB 277 (Ducheny, Chapter 611, Statutes of 2003) provides for the restoration of the Salton Sea ecosystem and the permanent protection of the wildlife dependent on that ecosystem.

Staff Comments:

Without additional detail on the proposed conservancy board’s membership and specifics around expected Conservancy activities, it is hard to estimate actual costs. However, the AB 1716 (2016) analysis provides a good starting point: Chapter 375, Statutes of 2016 (Assembly Bill 1716) was a more recent attempt to establish a new state conservancy. The initial Assembly Floor Analysis (5/31/16) of the Lower American River Conservancy estimated costs of approximately $250,000 to 350,000 per year. A subsequent Senate Appropriations Analysis (8/8/16) cited costs of approximately $300,000 per year (as well as cost pressures to existing grant programs) after the bill had been amended to instead establish this as a program within the Wildlife Conservation Board. CNRA notes that, with inflation, the cost of a new Salton Sea Conservancy could be double (approximately $500,000 to 600,000 per year) even before administrative services costs (likely contracted with DGS), depending on ultimate staffing needs. For context, CNRA’s smallest conservancy, the San Joaquin River Conservancy, has a baseline budget of just over $1 million per year.

Staff note it is possible that some efforts that would be required by this bill could be duplicative of existing programs within CNRA, CDFW, and DWR that collectively make up the Salton Sea Management Program.

Staff also note any costs for this new conservancy would need to come from the General Fund and/or the proposed Salton Sea Conservancy Fund, as CNRA’s existing special funds cannot absorb the cost of another new entity. However, without a dedicated revenue source, the Conservancy Fund is unlikely to maintain a sufficient balance to fund ongoing operational costs.

-- END --

SENATE COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES AND WATER

Senator Dave Min, Chair

2023 - 2024 Regular

Bill No: SB 583 Hearing Date: April 18, 2023

Subject: Salton Sea Conservancy

BACKGROUND AND EXISTING LAW

State conservancies. Existing law establishes ten state conservancies, all under the California Natural Resource Agency (CNRA), with governing boards ranging in size from seven to 20 voting members. The purposes of these conservancies are listed below, however, they are generally established to protect, conserve, restore, and enhance natural resources and provide public access and outdoor recreation opportunities.

Existing law authorizes each conservancy to acquire interests in real property, however, only four conservancies may acquire property via eminent domain through the State Public Works Board (specifically: the California Tahoe Conservancy, the Coachella Valley Mountains Conservancy, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, and the State Coastal Conservancy). Only the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Conservancy may create and manage endowments.

The state’s ten conservancies, listed in the order established, are:

1. California Tahoe Conservancy, composed of seven voting members, to protect the natural environment; to acquire, restore, and manage property; and to preserve the scenic beauty and recreational opportunities of the Tahoe region. Chapter 1064, Statutes of 1973.
2. State Coastal Conservancy, composed of seven members, to preserve agricultural lands; address the resource and recreational goals of the San Francisco Bay area and the Santa Ana River region; restore coastal habitat; improve and protect coastal and marine water quality and habitats; enhance coastal resources; restore urban waterfronts; and provide public access to the coastline, among other efforts, in the coastal areas. Chapter 1441, Statutes of 1976.
3. Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, composed of nine voting members, to implement the park, recreation, conservation, and open-space provisions of the Santa Monica Mountains Comprehensive Plan in the Santa Monica Mountains Zone and to provide a recreational trail corridor following the Rim of the Valley Trail. Chapter 1087, Statutes of 1979.
4. Coachella Valley Mountains Conservancy, composed of 20 voting members, to acquire and hold, in perpetual open space, mountainous lands surrounding the Coachella Valley and natural community conservation lands within the Coachella Valley, and to provide for the protection of wildlife resources on, and the public’s enjoyment of, and the enhancement of their recreational and educational experiences on, those lands in a manner consistent with the protection of the lands and the resource values, as specified. Chapter 977, Statutes of 1990.
5. San Joaquin River Conservancy, composed of 16 voting members, to acquire and manage public lands within the San Joaquin River Parkway, as specified. Chapter 1012, Statutes of 1992.
6. San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy, composed of 15 voting members, to acquire, manage and preserve public lands within specified watersheds and Santa Catalina Island, to acquire open-space lands, to provide low-impact recreational and educational uses, water conservation, watershed improvement, wildlife and habitat restoration and protection, and watershed improvement within the territory, as specified. Chapter 789, Statutes of 1999.
7. Baldwin Hills and Urban Watersheds Conservancy, composed of 15 voting members, to acquire and manage public lands within specified areas; provide recreation, open space, wildlife habitat restoration and protection, and lands for educational uses within specified areas; and acquire lands for open space within specified areas, as specified. Chapter 428, Statutes of 2000.
8. San Diego River Conservancy, composed of 16 voting members, to acquire and manage public lands within the San Diego River area, and to provide recreational opportunities, open space, wildlife habitat and species restoration and protection, wetland protection and restoration, protection of historical and cultural resources, and protection, maintenance, and improvements of the quality of the waters in the San Diego River and its watershed, as specified. Chapter 574, Statutes of 2002.
9. Sierra Nevada Conservancy, composed of 13 voting members, to increase opportunities for tourism and recreation; protect, conserve, and restore the Sierra Nevada region’s resources; reduce the risk of natural disasters; protect and improve water quality; assist the regional economy; and enhance public use and enjoyment of lands owned by the public. Chapter 726, Statutes of 2004.
10. Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Conservancy, composed of 11 voting members, to work in collaboration and cooperation with local governments and interested parties and to act as the primary state agency to implement ecosystem restoration in the Delta. Chapter 5, Statutes of 2009, 7^th Extraordinary Session.

Wildlife Conservation Board. Existing law also establishes the Wildlife Conservation Board (WCB) in the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) to provide a single and coordinated program for the acquisition of lands and facilities suitable for recreational purposes, and adaptable for conservation, propagation, and utilization of the fish and game resources of the state. Fish and Game Code (FGC) §1301.

The state’s 10 conservancies collaborate with the WCB to provide conservation and restoration programs and funding for the entire state. Conservancies are typically limited to providing programs and funding within their boundaries, although WCB often collaborates with the conservancies to fund projects within their territories. WCB also offers funding and programs to areas not covered by a state conservancy.

The Salton Sea. The Salton Sea is California’s largest lake, located 235 feet below sea level in Riverside and Imperial Counties near the California‐Mexico border. The Salton Sea watershed is part of the Colorado River basin, and encompasses roughly 8,000 square miles. Over the past millennia, the meandering Colorado River periodically filled the Salton Basin, creating ancestral freshwater lakes that eventually evaporated. Today’s Salton Sea was formed in 1905 when massive flooding caused the Colorado River to break through an irrigation canal and flow uncontrolled into the Salton Basin for 18 months. After the breach in the irrigation canal was fixed, the Salton Sea has been primarily sustained by agricultural drain water, approximately 80 percent of which flows from the farming-heavy Imperial Valley to the south.

Many species depend on the Salton Sea ecosystem: it is home to many species of fish and is a critical stop on the Pacific Flyway for migrating birds, including several threatened and endangered species. The Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1930 to preserve wintering habitat for waterfowl and other migratory birds. The southern end of the Salton Sea may be the richest source of geothermal energy in the United States and possibly the world.

The federal government through the Bureaus of Reclamation and Land Management owns most of the land under the Salton Sea. The Imperial Irrigation District also owns a significant amount of land under the Salton Sea and the Coachella Valley Water District has a very small amount of acreage. In the north, approximately 11,000 acres are owned by the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians and held in trust by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. There are a few private holdings.

The Quantification Settlement Agreement and resulting impacts. In 2003, the state, Imperial Irrigation District, Coachella Valley Water District, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, and multiple additional parties entered into a series of agreements to address longstanding issues regarding usage of Colorado River water. These agreements are collectively known as the Quantification Settlement Agreement (QSA), the main purpose of which is to reduce California’s use of Colorado River water to 4.4 million acre-feet per year.

As part of the strategy, the QSA includes an agreement to transfer water that was historically used to irrigate farm fields near the Salton Sea to two Southern California water districts. This has resulted in reduced flows into the Salton Sea, causing the water level to recede. It has also led to increased salinity and concentrated nutrients from farm runoff, both of which create inhospitable conditions for fish and wildlife. The Salton Sea is currently more than twice as salty as the ocean, and nutrient pollution has caused an overgrowth of algae, which are depleting oxygen levels.

Further, receding water levels create public health risks for nearby residents due to air pollution from dust particles released from the previously submerged lakebed. With no natural outlet, decades of agricultural and wastewater accumulation are embedded in the Salton Sea’s now-exposed soils. As the Salton Sea continues to shrink, more of this particulate matter, which contains dangerous pollutants, will be released into the air, including several contaminants like arsenic, selenium, and legacy pesticides such as dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE).

The role of state agencies. AB 71 (V. Manuel Perez, Chapter 402, Statutes of 2013) articulated the state’s goals and established a state framework for Salton Sea restoration. The goals include permanently protecting fish and wildlife that are dependent on the Salton Sea ecosystem, restoring the long-term stable aquatic and shoreline habitat for fish and wildlife that depend on the Salton Sea, mitigating air quality impacts, and protecting water quality, among others.

AB 71 requires the CNRA Secretary to lead Salton Sea restoration efforts. The bill provides that the CNRA Secretary and the Legislature shall maintain full authority and responsibility for any state obligation under the QSA and that both shall have final approval for any proposed restoration plan. AB 71 also authorizes CDFW and the Department of Water Resources (DWR) to undertake certain restoration efforts.

Governor Brown launched the Salton Sea Management Program (SSMP) in 2018 to coordinate Salton Sea restoration efforts. CNRA, CDFW, and DWR implement the SSMP while the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) monitors and assesses progress on the implementation of the SSMP. SWRCB also hosts an annual public workshop to provide updates and an opportunity for public input.

In 2018, the SSMP released the “Phase I: Ten-Year Plan” to guide state projects at the Salton Sea and to address potential public health and environmental effects over the next decade. The plan seeks to improve conditions by constructing 30,000 acres of habitat and dust suppression projects around the Salton Sea. The SSMP is also working to establish a long-term pathway for the Salton Sea beyond the next decade, including work to evaluate the feasibility of water importation as a strategy for restoration of the Salton Sea. To this effect, the program released a draft long-range plan for public comment in December 2022.

The role of the Salton Sea Authority. The Salton Sea Authority is a joint powers authority comprised of Imperial and Riverside Counties, the Imperial Irrigation District, the Coachella Valley Water District, and the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indian Tribe. According to its website, this authority seeks to protect human health, and revitalize the environment and economy of the Salton Sea.

AB 71 granted the Salton Sea Authority a role in Salton Sea restoration efforts. Specifically, AB 71 requires the CNRA Secretary, in the Secretary’s role as the state’s lead restoration agency for the Salton Sea, to consult and coordinate with the Salton Sea Authority. AB 71 also directs the CNRA Secretary to seek input from the Salton Sea Authority on certain components of Salton Sea restoration, including public access and recreational components, habitat mosaics and location, and opportunities for economic development.

In addition, AB 71 authorized the Salton Sea Authority to lead a feasibility study with specified requirements, including to (1) analyze all feasible funding sources for restoration program components and activities and (2) review and recommend changes to existing long-term plans for restoration of the Salton Sea. The authority released this study, entitled “Salton Sea Funding and Feasibility Action Plan” in May 2016. This plan seeks to inform the state’s comprehensive SSMP.

Proposition 68 made $30 million available to the Salton Sea Authority for capital outlay projects that provide air quality and habitat benefits and that implement CNRA’s SSMP.

Colorado River woes. Since 2000, the Colorado River basin has been experiencing a historic, extended drought that has impacted regional water supply and other resources, such as hydropower, recreation, and ecological goods and services. Even with a recent wet winter, Lakes Powell and Mead, the nation’s largest reservoirs that capture and store water from the Colorado River, are in poor shape and federal officials expect a return to dry conditions. In response to the river’s long-term decline, the Biden administration called on the seven states of the Colorado River basin to cut water consumption by two to four million acre-feet — up to a third of the river’s annual average flow — to protect power generation and avoid dire outcomes for the river’s water supply. While negotiations have not produced a unified agreement among the seven states, California offered to leave 400,000 acre-feet annually in the river from 2023 – 2026, representing about nine percent of its allocation.

Without other mitigation, reductions in water use would be expected to reduce inflows to the Salton Sea and result in additional acres of exposed lakebed. However, in December 2022, CNRA, the federal government, Imperial Irrigation District, and Coachella Valley Water District committed to accelerating dust suppression and aquatic habitat projects in the Salton Sea. This commitment is contingent on $250 million federal funding.

PROPOSED LAW

This bill would create the Salton Sea Conservancy within CNRA to undertake various activities related to the Salton Sea Region. Specifically, this bill would:

1. Establish a new division, to be known and cited as the Salton Sea Conservancy Act.
2. Define terms, including
   1. “Conservancy” means the Salton Sea Conservancy.
   2. “Fund” means the Salton Sea Conservancy Fund.
   3. “Long-Range Plan” means the plan prepared by the Salton Sea Management Program to comply with State Water Resources Control Board Order (revised) WR 2017-01342002-0013. The plan must be consistent with the requirements of the order and the Salton Sea Restoration Act, as specified.
   4. “Region” or “Salton Sea region” means the geographic boundaries of the Salton Sea basin, defined as the U.S. Geologic Survey Hydrologic Unit 18100200.
   5. “Salton Sea Management Program Phase I: 10-Year Plan” means the plan for action over the 10-year period from 2018 to 2028. The plan’s goal is to improve conditions around the Salton Sea by constructing projects that create habitat and reduce dust from exposed lakebed on 30,000 acres.
3. Create the Salton Sea Conservancy as a state agency within CNRA to undertake various activities related to the Salton Sea region.
4. Establish the functions of the Salton Sea Conservancy, including, but not limited to, all of the following:
   1. Protect, restore, and enhance fish and wildlife habitat, including restoring long-term stable aquatic and shoreline habitat to historic levels and diversity of fish and wildlife that depend on the Salton Sea. When implementing this function, require the conservancy to:
      1. Undertake efforts to enhance public use and enjoyment of public lands.
      2. Focus its efforts and activities on restoration of the Salton Sea.
   2. Provide for resilience to climate change.
   3. Protect and/or improve air quality, public health and well-being, and water quality, as specified.
   4. Provide increased opportunities for access to natural resources for the community, tourism, and recreation.
   5. Provide grants for acquisition, easements, restoration, scientific research, monitoring, environmental education, and capital improvements, as specified.
   6. Undertake efforts to enhance public use and enjoyment of public lands.
   7. Assist the regional economy through the operation of the conservancy’s programs.
   8. Ensure that the conservancy’s efforts are consistent with state and regional clean energy goals.
   9. Implement the Salton Sea Management Program Phase I: 10-Year Plan and the Long-Range Plan, as specified.
   10. Engage community members across diverse interests, collaborate with local governments and agencies, and coordinate and cooperate with state and federal agencies, as specified.
5. Require the conservancy to be governed by a board of directors of voting members representing relevant state and federal agencies, local governments surrounding the Salton Sea, area tribes, local environmental justice organizations, and others appointed by the Governor, the Senate Committee on Rules, and the Speaker of the Assembly.
6. Establish rules and authorities for the conservancy’s governing board, including for selecting the chairperson and vice chairperson, establishing a quorum, hiring an executive officer, and requiring the governing board to conduct business in accordance with the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act.
7. Establish the powers, duties, and limitations of the conservancy, including, among others, to:
   1. Authorize the conservancy to acquire from willing sellers interests in real property and improve, lease, or transfer interests in real property, as specified.
   2. Prohibit the conservancy from exercising the power of eminent domain.
   3. Authorize the conservancy to create and manage endowments.
   4. Require the governing board to prepare and adopt a strategic plan to achieve the goals of the conservancy. The plan must describe its interaction with local, regional, state, and federal land use, recreation, water management, and air quality and habitat conservation and protection efforts within and adjacent to the Salton Sea Region.
   5. Establish the Salton Sea Conservancy Fund and provide that money in the fund are available, upon appropriation, only for the purposes of the Salton Sea Conservancy Act.

ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT

According to the author, “The Salton Sea is a burgeoning environmental catastrophe that threatens not only the immediate communities surrounding that inland sea, but the entire Southland. Located in a historically underserved community, residents are experiencing nosebleeds, bronchitis, and asthma due to the evaporating sea exposing the lakebed containing toxic elements. The Salton Sea Conservancy is a critical step to expediting the construction of new habitat and dust suppression projects for the local communities and wildlife. The conservancy will help unite all of the efforts and get them working together to address this exploding health threat.”

According to a coalition letter that includes Audubon California and Sierra Club California, “Our organizations support the concept of a Salton Sea Conservancy. SB 583 provides a good starting point in the critical discussions needed to finalize legislation to create a Salton Sea Conservancy.”

ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION

None received.

COMMENTS

The need for the bill. As noted by the author, “The Salton Sea is a burgeoning environmental catastrophe.” Without any action, the larger region could eventually become uninhabitable. While the Newsom Administration recently has made important progress on the Salton Sea by moving from planning to some initial project implementation, fundamental challenges still remain. This includes coordinating projects across jurisdictions, providing necessary access, permitting and environmental reviews, and securing funding to implement projects. Further, expected cuts to California’s Colorado River allotment would further exacerbate the Salton Sea’s long-term decline, necessitating an increase in the pace and scale of mitigation and restoration efforts.

Why a conservancy? The state’s ten conservancies have a strong track record of bringing multiple jurisdictions and diverse stakeholder groups together to develop and implement collaborative, community supported, consensus-based projects. Given their limited, geographical focus, they can bring sustained attention and resources, when funded, to difficult, intractable regional problems, like those found in the Salton Sea. A conservancy offers one, often very effective, way for the state to more easily target funding to a specific region and, once it gets a program up and running, can rapidly deploy state funding to ready-go-projects. Further, conservancies can play an effective role in resolving land use conflicts among local entities, private landowners, the state, and other stakeholders.

The coalition of supporters who wrote in support of the bill articulate the benefits of a Salton Sea Conservancy well, noting that “the proposed conservancy could consolidate state operations under one roof to help expedite the construction of new habitat and dust suppression projects at the Salton Sea to better address the needs of local communities. Creating a Salton Sea Conservancy is especially timely as the state shifts from planning to building projects and will help coordinate operations with local agencies.”

The coalition further notes that “California conservancies offer many benefits. They complement state regulatory efforts on issues of statewide significance, they can deliver programs tailored to local and regional needs instead of moving funds through state-level departments, and they allow for greater coordination and partnership between local, state, and federal agencies, the Salton Sea Authority, tribes, and non-profit organizations. Establishing a Salton Sea Conservancy would enable the state to achieve the goals enumerated in [FGC] §2940 et seq. with more significant local input and transparency.”

The conservancy’s proposed territory. The bill would define the geographic boundaries of the Salton Sea Conservancy to mean the Salton Sea basin, defined as the U.S. Geologic Survey’s Hydrologic Unit 18100200. The map below, from the U.S. Geological Survey’s website, shows the extent of this region.

Proposed territory – U.S. Geologic Survey Hydrologic Unit 18100200

This boundary would overlap extensively with the Coachella Valley Mountains Conservancy on the northwestern end in Riverside County. The map below shows the Coachella Valley Mountains Conservancy’s territory, identified via the green line. It overlaps partly with the Salton Sea, itself, and the Riverside County components.

Coachella Valley Mountains Conservancy territory

Conservancies typically do not overlap jurisdiction, with limited exceptions with the State Coastal Conservancy overlapping with certain conservancies and some overlap between the San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy and the Baldwin Hills and Urban Watersheds Conservancy. It can be problematic to have two conservancies with overlapping jurisdictions. This could lead to confusion and projects that are at cross-purposes. Should the bill move forward, the Committee may wish to ask the author to work with the administration to find a solution that eliminates the overlap.

What about the Salton Sea Authority? As a joint powers authority composed of local governments, water districts, and the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indian Tribe, the Salton Sea Authority is similar in composition, concept, and purpose to the proposed Salton Sea Conservancy. The latter would have a broader membership, including state and federal agencies, as well as local environmental justice organizations. The Salton Sea Authority’s mission is to protect human health, and revitalize the environment and economy of the Salton Sea, which broadly mirrors the conservancy’s proposed functions. Through AB 71, the Legislature has recognized the value of the Salton Sea Authority to Salton Sea restoration efforts and has granted it specific roles in these efforts.

The funding sources of the two entities differ. The Salton Sea Authority has authority, from its member agencies, to impose local assessments, and existing law grants the authority the power to form an infrastructure financing district to fund the construction of, and purchasing electrical power for, projects for the reclamation and environmental restoration of the Salton Sea. The Salton Sea Conservancy would be limited to State funding appropriations.

This bill would direct the Salton Sea Conservancy to collaborate with local governments and agencies, including the Salton Sea Authority, as part of its effort to carry out its duties. Otherwise, the bill does not explicitly call out the Salton Sea Authority. Given the historic and current role of the Salton Sea Authority and its similarities to the proposed conservancy, the Committee may wish to ask the author how the proposed conservancy would differ from the Salton Sea Authority and what additional value it would add beyond what the authority already provides.

How would the Salton Sea Conservancy fit within the state’s existing framework for the Salton Sea? Existing law vests the CNRA Secretary with the lead role in the state’s Salton Sea restoration efforts. The Secretary and Legislative have full authority and responsibility for any state obligation under the QSA and final approval for any proposed restoration plan. The SSMP provides a framework for the CNRA Secretary to coordinate the efforts of other state agencies, including CDFW and DWR. Further, the SWRCB provides oversight of SSMP implementation and opportunities for public input.

This bill would place the proposed conservancy under CNRA and direct the proposed conservancy, as necessary or appropriate, to coordinate its efforts with other state agencies, in cooperation with the CNRA Secretary. Further, the bill would direct the proposed conservancy to implement the SSMP’s Phase I: 10-Year Plan and the Long-Range Plan, the latter of which is still in draft form.

Should the bill move forward, the Committee may wish to ask the author to commit to continuing to working with Committee staff to further integrate the proposed conservancy into the state’s existing framework for the Salton Sea to ensure the conservancy improves and enhances existing efforts and avoids duplicate or adding a counterproductive layer of bureaucracy to existing efforts.

This bill is a work in progress. This bill offers a new approach to help address long-standing and emerging issues in the Salton Sea. In addition to the issues raised above, the Committee may wish to ask the author to commit to continuing to work with Committee staff to consider and address the following items in order to achieve the author’s goals as the bill moves forward:

• Adding codified findings and declarations to the bill to articulate the need for, the goals of, and the purpose of the conservancy. This is a common practice in the authorizing statutes of the state’s ten conservancies and helps to provide direction to the conservancy board and staff when interpreting the Legislature’s intent for the conservancy.
• Clearly establishing the conservancy’s purpose in proposed Public Resources Code §33812. That section states the purpose of the Salton Sea Conservancy as “[undertaking] various activities related to the Salton Sea region.” It is a fair point that the bill articulates the conservancy’s functions. But an overarching purpose statement is merited in the creation of a new state agency, especially as it relates to how the conservancy will carry out its functions, what its larger goals are, and how it will differ from and add to other frameworks within the Salton Sea.
• Specifying the membership of the governing board. The bill provides general direction here, stating “the conservancy shall be governed by a board of directors of voting members representing relevant state and federal agencies, local governments surrounding the Salton Sea, area tribes, local environmental justice organizations, and others appointed by the Governor, the Senate Committee on Rules, and the Speaker of the Assembly.” The exact membership should be clearly articulated, including voting members and, if desired, nonvoting members. This membership should reflect the goals and purpose of the conservancy to ensure the right entities are at the table.

It is worth noting that the Legislature generally has maintained a policy with the state’s conservancies that the majority of members on a governing board come from state appointments and/or state agencies. This ensures that the state will have sufficient control and oversight of these state agencies to protect state interests.

• Adding a sunset and a reporting requirement. The conservancy should report back to the Legislature prior to the sunset date on the conservancy’s activities, spending, projects, progress, achievements, and challenges encountered to make the conservancy accountable to the public and the state and to enable the Legislature to review the conservancy’s value and efforts in the region.

Should the bill move forward, the Committee reserves the right to bring the bill back before the Committee if it finds that the issues in this analysis have not been adequately addressed or if substantial changes are made worthy of review.

Related legislation.

AB 1567 (Garcia, 2023) would enact a new bond act, which, if approved by the voters, would authorize over $15 billion for the bond’s purposes, including $240 million for capital outlay projects that provide air quality, public health, and habitat benefits to the Salton Sea and surrounding communities, including $30 million for the Salton Sea Authority. This bill is pending in the Assembly Water, Parks, and Wildlife Committee.

Prior legislation.

SB 125 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review, Chapter 63, Statutes of 2022) creates the Lithium Subaccount within the Salton Sea Restoration Fund, and continuously appropriates moneys in the subaccount to CNRA for restoration projects and grants for projects at or around the Salton Sea and those communities impacted by the Salton Sea’s restoration and development.

SB 482 (Hueso, 2021) would have required the CNRA Secretary to work with local stakeholders to develop a long-term strategy for the Salton Sea. This bill was not heard in the first policy committee.

SB 1365 (Hueso, 2018) would have established an Office of Salton Sea Restoration in DWR under a Director of Salton Sea Restoration appointed by the Governor to implement the SSMP, among other purposes. This bill was held in the Assembly.

SB 615 (Hueso, Chapter 859, Statutes of 2017) recognizes the essential role of SWRCB in the exercise of its original jurisdiction with regard to the restoration of the Salton Sea. Further recognizes that timely implementation of a 10-year plan for a smaller but sustainable Salton Sea is best served and effectuated through SWRCB’s continuing jurisdiction over this evolving subject matter and its attendant restoration efforts.

AB 1095 (E. Garcia, Chapter 722, Statutes of 2015) directed CNRA, on or before March 31, 2016, to submit to the Legislature a list of shovel-ready Salton Sea restoration projects, including information regarding project costs and project completion timelines.

AB 148 (V. Manuel Pérez, Chapter 124, Statutes of 2014) made clarifying and technical changes to AB 71, including that the Salton Sea Authority may lead a feasibility study in coordination and under contract with the CNRA Secretary.

AB 71 (V. Manuel Perez, Chapter 402, Statutes of 2013) articulated the state’s goals and established a state framework for Salton Sea restoration. Designated the CNRA Secretary as the state’s lead for Salton Sea restoration efforts.

SB 277 (Ducheny, Chapter 611, Statutes of 2003) provides for the restoration of the Salton Sea ecosystem and the permanent protection of the wildlife dependent on that ecosystem.

SUPPORT

Alianza Coachella Valley

Audubon California

Kounkuey Design Initiative, Inc.

Leadership Counsel for Justice & Accountability

Pacific Institute

Sierra Club California

One individual

OPPOSITION

None Received

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