Drought Tolerant Landscaping

AB 1164 (Gatto) – Request Comments
As Amended July 1, 2015 

AB 1164, by Assembly Member Mike Gatto, would prohibit cities and counties from enacting or enforcing ordinances or regulations that prohibit the installation of synthetic grass or artificial turf on residential property. The bill would continuously appropriate $300,000,000 from the General Fund to the Department of Water Resources to provide matching funds to specified cities, counties and water agencies to provide incentives to residents to replace water inefficient landscaping with drought tolerant landscaping. AB 1164 is scheduled to be heard before the Senate Governance and Finance Committee on Wednesday, July 8. Please contact CSAC staff if your county has concerns with this measure.

Hunting and Fishing

AB 665 (Frazier) – Watch
As Amended June 29, 2015

AB 665, by Assembly Member Jim Frazier, would provide that the state fully occupies the field of the taking and possession of fish and game, and preempts any local ordinance or regulation relating to the taking or possession of fish and game. This measure passed out of the Senate Natural Resources and Wildlife Committee on Tuesday, June 23 and is awaiting a hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Solid Waste

AB 901 (Gordon) – Support
As Proposed to be amended

AB 901, by Assembly Member Rich Gordon, would make changes to the reporting framework for solid waste and recycling facilities, providing local governments with access to hauler information from disposal facilities as well as giving the Department of Resources, Recycling and Recovery (Cal Recycle) enforcement mechanisms and greater access to information. This bill has been negotiated between local government interests, Cal Recycle and the waste hauling sector. Compromise amendments will be in print soon, but they respect confidentially issues, while providing local governments and the Department the information they need as well as enforcement mechanisms in the case that information is not provided as required. This bill will be heard in the Senate Environmental Quality Committee on July 15, 2015. 

AB 876 (McCarty) – Oppose
As Amended June 1, 2015

AB 876, by Assembly Member McCarty, was heard this week in the Senate Environmental Quality Committee. The bill in print would require counties and regional agencies to complete a duplicative planning processing for dealing with organic waste management. Specifically, AB 876 would require local jurisdictions to include an estimate of the total organics generated and total organics management capacity that will be needed over a 15-year period in their annual waste reports. CSAC recommended in committee that the Assembly Member consider the existing planning process through the requirements in last year’s AB 1826, the Organics Management Act as well as a shorter timeframe as counties are just beginning to implementing local organics management programs. CSAC will continue to work with the author to develop a planning process that respects the work that is being done at the local level while looking to the future and the necessary planning to deal with this portion of our waste stream. 

Storm Water Strategic Initiative Proposal

The State Water Resources Control Board Storm Water Program is holding a stakeholder WebEx and providing an opportunity for public comment on their Storm Water Strategic Initiative Proposal to Develop a Storm Water Program Workplan and Implementation Strategy. The WebEx is scheduled for Tuesday, July 7, 2015 at 2:00 p.m. Written comments are due by 12:00 noon on Friday July 24, 2015.

Information on regarding the Storm Water Strategic Initiative program, the WebEx and the comment submittal process are available at: http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/stormwater/strategy_initiative.shtml.