Water Bond

SB 848 (Wolk) – Pending
As proposed to be amended

Proposed amendments to Senator Lois Wolk’s legislative vehicle for a revamped 2014 water bond, SB 848, includes significant revisions to the original bill and is the version that will be heard by the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee on Tuesday, February 11. A mock-up of the proposed amendments has been distributed by the committee to ensure that comments at the hearing can be made relative to the mock-up, rather than the bill as introduced.

The proposed $6.825 billion bond would provide $900 million for clean and safe drinking water programs; $2 billion for water enhancement projects which includes $500 million for stormwater capture; $1.2 billion for Delta sustainability; $1.7 billion for watershed and ecosystem improvement; and $1.025 billion for water storage. The bill as proposed to be amended does not include a continuous appropriation for the water storage funds.

Click here to view the mock-up 

Click here to view the errata sheet to the mock-up:

Emergency Management

AB 1620 (Rodriguez) – Pending
As introduced February 6, 2014

AB 1620, by Assembly Member Freddie Rodriquez, would establish the California Emergency Management and Disaster Preparedness Commission as a statewide executive-level commission to assess and improve the condition of the state’s emergency preparedness, management, and disaster recovery capabilities. This bill would require the commission to, among other things, review and make recommendations on the availability of adequate equipment, fuel, food, water, and other emergency supplies.

The bill awaits referral to a policy committee in the Assembly.

Solid Waste

AB 1594 (Williams) — Request for Comments 
As introduced February 3, 2014

AB 1594, by Assembly Member Das Williams, would allow Cal Recycle to adopt regulations to phase out solid waste diversion credit for the use of green material as alternative daily cover (ADC) or alternative intermediate cover. Under AB 939, the CA Integrated Waste Management Act, local governments are required to divert 50% of waste away from landfills through source reduction, recycling and reuse programs. Currently, local governments receive diversion credit for green waste that is used as ADC. This bill would phase out that credit but still allow for the practice. This bill is sponsored by Californians Against Waste (CAW).

CEQA Guidelines UPDATE

The Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR) began their CEQA Guidelines updatethis past summer, and are in the process of making comprehensive revisions. Updates are required by SB 743 (Steinberg), which was passed last year and included the Sacramento Kings CEQA streamlining measure. SB 743 also calls for replacing Level of Service (LOS) and parking metrics with other criteria aimed at promoting more infill and reducing GHG emissions. These updates must be completed by July 2014. OPR hopes to have the other Guideline Updates done at the same time or shortly thereafter. A preliminary report on traffic metrics has already been released. Comments on the LOS metrics are due February 14th. CSAC is working on comments and will post them to our website once finalized.