Amended
IN
Assembly
March 28, 2017
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2017–2018 REGULAR SESSION
Assembly Bill
No. 1273Introduced by Assembly Member Gallagher
February 17, 2017
An act to amend Section 10610 of the Water Code, relating to water management. An act to add and repeal Section 21080.12 of the Public Resources Code, relating to environmental quality.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1273, as amended, Gallagher.
Urban water management plans. California Environmental Quality Act: exemption: levee repairs.
Existing law, the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment, as defined, or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect, unless the project is exempt from the act.
CEQA provides for various exemptions from the requirements of the act.
This bill would, until July 1, 2028, exempt from the requirements of CEQA repairs of critical levees of the State Plan of Flood Control within an existing levee
footprint to meet standards of public health and safety. The bill would require the lead agency to take certain actions regarding the repairs.
Existing law, the Urban Water Management Planning Act, requires every public and private urban water supplier that directly or indirectly provides water for municipal purposes to prepare and adopt an urban water management plan.
This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to that act.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1. Section 21080.12 is added to the Public Resources Code, to read:
21080.12. (a) This division does not apply to the repair of critical levees of the State Plan of Flood Control specified pursuant to Section 8361 of the Water Code within an existing levee footprint to meet standards of public health and safety.
(b) For purposes of undertaking urgent levee repairs, the lead agency shall do all of the following:
(1) Conduct outreach efforts in the vicinity of the project to ensure public awareness of the proposed repair work prior to approval of the project.
(2) To the extent feasible, comply with standard construction practices, including,
but not limited to, any rules, guidelines, or regulations adopted by the applicable air district for construction equipment and for control of particulate matter emissions.
(3) To the extent feasible, use equipment powered by emulsified diesel fuel, electricity, natural gas, or ultralow sulfur diesel as an alternative to conventional diesel-powered construction equipment.
(c) This section shall become inoperative on July 1, 2028, and, as of January 1, 2029, is repealed.
SECTION 1.Section 10610 of the Water Code is amended to read:10610.
This part shall be known, and may be cited, as the “Urban Water Management Planning Act.”