DARING TO GET IT RIGHT: LEGISLATURE SAYS 'NO' TO DANGEROUS LAST MINUTE WATER POLICY PROPOSAL 

Late last Friday night, the California legislative leadership, after a heavy push, chose to withhold a package of half-completed bills that would have fundamentally rewritten California's water future and requested that Governor Schwarzenegger order a special session to allow more time to continue negotiations.

The Planning and Conservation League, along with many other environmental and environmental justice organizations, water districts, and newspapers, had been urging the Legislature to take the time to draft a sound water policy reform package. However, lawmakers had pledged to take action by the close of session and appeared determined on doing so.

In early September, Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg convened a bi-cameral conference committee to resolve a host of thorny water policy issues. After several hearings, the committee issued a conference report containing five policy bills focused on issues ranging from management of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to water conservation.

On the last day of session, modified versions of the five bills were dumped into a new bill, SB 68 (Steinberg). A companion measure also emerged that included $12 billion containing continuous appropriations for new dams. 

At around seven o'clock that evening, the Assembly Water, Parks, and Wildlife Committee convened to hear SB 68 for the first time. PCL spoke out in opposition to the bill, citing its insufficient environmental protections for the Delta and the environmentally-destructive water infrastructure projects that were certain to come along in the companion bill. We weren't the only ones. In fact, the line of speakers in opposition to the bill ran out of the hearing room. The speakers expressed a wide array of concerns, including the effects of the bill on existing water law, Delta communities, and the state's economy.

Facing such stiff opposition, hours later the leadership wisely chose to not bring up the bill on the floor for a full vote. 

A special session, though not yet official, is highly anticipated. We expect key legislators and staff to return to the Capitol to continue negotiations within the next two weeks.

Lawmakers now have the opportunity to create a package of policies that provide real solutions to the ecological crisis in the Delta and offer environmental benefits for the rest of the state. We hope they dare to get it right.

'MUSHROOM BILL' FOR LA STADIUM SQUASHED, LIKELY TO RESURFACE

This year was another bumper crop for "mushroom bills," measures that pop up in the dark of night at the end of the legislative session in an attempt to avoid public scrutiny. Fortunately, a dedicated group of environmental organizations, including PCL, were able to defeat one of the worst - an attempt to exempt a proposed football stadium in the Los Angeles region from review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). But we're not out of the woods yet.

 Billionaire Ed Roski Jr., owner of Majestic Reality, decided he wanted to build a 75,000 seat professional football stadium in the City of Industry. Instead of completing a comprehensive Environmental Impact Report (EIR), the city simply dusted off an old EIR for a different development proposed at the same site and added a supplemental review for the stadium. The City of Walnut and local citizen groups challenged the City of Industry's approval, noting that a new EIR would be required to understand the potential environmental impacts of the new football stadium. The parties subsequently agreed to a March 2010 court date to hear the case.

Then last week, with just a few days left before the Legislature was set to leave for the year, Assemblymember Hall introduced AB x3 81 to exempt the stadium proposal from any past or future CEQA challenges, essentially throwing out the pending case before it could be heard on the merits.

The bill was whipped through the Assembly Arts and Entertainment Committee, which has no jurisdiction over CEQA, and won overwhelming support on the Assembly floor with 54 votes.

However, on the last day of session, as more and more information surfaced about the project, its potential impacts, and the merits of the lawsuits, the Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg directed both sides to sit down and negotiate a settlement, instead of forcing the Legislature to play judge and jury for a CEQA case.

Senator Steinberg made clear that, absent good faith negotiations, the senate would revisit the bill. Because the measure was introduced as a special session bill, it's not subject to same deadlines and can be voted on over the interim recess before the next legislative session begins in January.

The state Legislature has never intervened in a CEQA case pending before the courts, and for good reason. It's an attack on the separation of powers inherent in our state constitution and deprives ordinary Californians of their day in court.

Stay tuned for more!  

WHIMPERS AND BANGS: OTHER HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE END OF THE LEGISLATIVE YEAR  

The end of the 2009 legislative year will not likely go down as either one of the most productive times, nor the best for California's environment, given that the biggest movement centered on a series of CEQA exemption bills that were pushed at the last minute. Furthermore, some of the most progressive bills either did not make it to Governor Schwarzenegger's desk for his signature or, if they did, have been targeted for a veto.  

Let's start with the good news first.

The legislature passed these key measures and sent them to the Governor's desk:

AB 1364 (Evans) - Provides statutory authority to state agencies to amend contracts and grant agreements affected by the bond freeze in a way that preserves the integrity of the project without undue burden on the state or stakeholders. This bill is co-sponsored by PCL, California Council of Land Trusts, and the California State Parks Foundation.

SB 14 (Simitian) and AB 64 (Krekorian) - These bills increase the amount of electricity generated from renewable energy resources per year, so that the amount equals at least 33% of total retail sales of electricity in California per year by 2020.

AB 666 (Jones) - Requires the legislative body of a county to make 3 findings before approving a tentative or a parcel map for an area located in a state responsibility area or a very high fire hazard severity zone: 1) the subdivision is consistent with any applicable regulations adopted by the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, 2) structural fire protection and suppression services will be available, and 3) ingress and egress for the subdivision meets road regulations standards for fire equipment access.

AB 1404 (De León) - Limits the use of compliance offsets to no more than 10% of the emission reductions expected to be achieved through AB 32 market mechanisms. This bill requires the California Air Resources Board to prioritize the use of offsets that provide air quality benefits to communities already suffering from disproportionate levels of air pollution. The bill also prohibits offsets from the Kyoto Protocol's international Clean Development Mechanism to be used for compliance with California global warming regulations.

AB 1242 (Ruskin) - Establishes a right to water for basic human needs as a policy of the state of California. By doing so, and requiring that state agencies comply, AB 1242 ensures that future regulations, grant programs, and agency practices are designed to move California forward toward a day when its citizens can safely drink a glass of water from their tap without fear of sickness.

SB 679 (Wolk) - Reinforces the statewide significance of our state park system by requiring that lands used as state parks cannot be used for non-park purposes without the provision of substitute lands of equal environmental, recreational, and fair market value.

AB 920 (Huffman) - Allows owners of solar and wind renewable energy systems to receive compensation from their electric utility for any excess power generated at their home on an annual basis.

AB 1079 (V. Manuel Pérez) - Directs the California Environmental Protection Agency to work with other state agencies to implement the New River Public Health Improvement Project. This project will address sewage treatment needs, prevent pollution, reduce public health threats, and assist in environmental restoration.

AB 890 (J. Pérez) - Requires the water agencies that service Maywood to conduct a study on the sources of manganese polluting the water supply and to develop a plan to reduce the manganese to no more than the average level of manganese present in the potable water delivered in a 20 square mile radius of Maywood. AB 890 further requires the water agencies to identify funding sources to fund the work of removing the manganese.

SB 505 (Kehoe) - Directs local government, when updating its general plan's housing element, to also revise the safety element for state responsibility areas (SRAs) and very high hazard severity zones (HHSZs). Revisions will take into account the Governor's Office of Planning and Research (OPR)'s "Fire Hazard Planning" document, which this bill requires OPR to update. This will ensure consideration of historical data in the area on wildfires, and identification of construction design/methods, including fire resistive construction materials and fuels management methods, to minimize damage if new development is located in a SRA or HHSZ.

SB 716 (Wolk) - Authorizes the use of transportation funds for specified farmworker vanpool purposes in rural counties (counties with a population of 500,000 or less) and helps ensure that transit funds aren't redirected for road projects in urban centers like Fresno, Modesto, and Ventura.

Now for some bad news.

These bills will spend the interim in the Senate awaiting action until next year:

AB 499 (Hill) (On the Senate Floor) - Makes clarifying amendments to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to ensure that all parties with a direct interest in a case brought pursuant to CEQA are aware of the pending litigation and parties with no direct link to the case are not unnecessarily dragged into a lawsuit. This bill is sponsored by PCL.

AB 1405 (De León) (On the Senate Floor) - Establishes the Community Benefits Fund, and requires a minimum of 30% of revenues generated pursuant to AB 32, to be deposited into that fund. The moneys in the fund would be used in the most impacted and disadvantaged communities in California to accelerate greenhouse gas emission reductions or mitigate direct health impacts of climate change in those communities.

AB 560 (Skinner) (Held in the Senate Business, Professions, and Economic Development Committee) - Raises the cap on net metered systems to 5% of the aggregate customer peak demand, thereby allowing more small-scale renewable energy generators to receive credits for their generations.

This measure did not receive enough votes to move but can be considered again next year:

SB 797 (Pavley) (On the Assembly Floor) - Protects children's health by limiting the amount of the toxic chemical and synthetic estrogen bisphenol A (BPA) in baby bottles, sippy cups, infant formula cans, and baby food jars. The measure ensures that any replacement chemical is not a carcinogen or a reproductive toxin.