Bill Text: CA AB3226 | 2019-2020 | Regular Session | Introduced

California Assembly Bill 3226 (Prior Session Legislation)

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

Bill Title: Flood protection: West Sacramento flood risk reduction project: Maintenance Area 4.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2020-08-20 - In committee: Held under submission. [AB3226 Detail]

Download: California-2019-AB3226-Introduced.html

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2019–2020 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 3226

Introduced by Assembly Member McCarty
(Coauthor: Assembly Member Aguiar-Curry)
(Coauthor: Senator Pan)

February 21, 2020

An act to add Section 12670.5 to the Water Code, relating to flood protection.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 3226, as introduced, McCarty. Yolo County: West Sacramento flood risk reduction project: adoption and authorization.

Existing law adopts and authorizes, at an estimated cost to the state of the sum that may be appropriated by the Legislature for state participation upon the recommendation and advice of the Department of Water Resources (department) or the Central Valley Flood Protection Board (board), a project for flood protection on the Sacramento River for the City of West Sacramento substantially in accordance with recommendations in a specified 1992 report by the Chief of Engineers of the United States Army Corps of Engineers and as adopted and authorized by a specific act of the United States Congress in 1992.

This bill would approve and authorize the state, upon an appropriation by the Legislature, to make funds available to plan, engineer, design, and construct a similar, but modified flood control project, as specified, that was adopted and approved by a specific act of the United States Congress in 2016 and is substantially in accordance with a specified 2015 report issued by the Chief of Engineers to further the Central Valley Flood Protection Plan objective to provide a minimum 200-year level of protection to the City of West Sacramento. In the absence of federal funding for the project, the bill would authorize the state or board, upon an appropriation by the Legislature, to provide funding for the project, as specified. The bill would also authorize the department or board, upon an appropriation by the Legislature, to fund other flood projects and improvements to achieve state flood risk reduction objectives for the City of West Sacramento.

Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NO

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

The Legislature hereby finds and declares all of the following:

(a) Flood control on the Yolo Bypass, Sacramento Bypass, and Sacramento River protecting the City of West Sacramento in the County of Yolo, was authorized by the United States Congress as the Sacramento Metro Area Flood Control Project in Section 101(4) of the Water Resources Development Act of 1992 (Public Law 102-580), the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act of 1999 (Public Law 105-245), and is a part of the Sacramento River Flood Control Project, which was authorized by the United States Congress on March 1, 1917, and amended on May 16, 1928, August 26, 1937, August 18, 1941, August 17, 1954, and July 16, 1960.

(b) Changes in federal and state engineering standards led to the West Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency partnering with the United States Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of Water Resources to coordinate efforts on the development of technical documents and a General Reevaluation Report for the West Sacramento Project.

(c) In 2007, property owners in the City of West Sacramento approved a special benefit assessment to fund the local share of the cost of levee improvement projects along the Yolo Bypass and Sacramento River, to meet federal design standards and California 200-year urban levee design criteria and to achieve an urban level of flood protection as defined by the state.

(d) Changes in federal and state engineering standards significantly affected the scope and expected cost of the West Sacramento Project. These changes are reflected in a series of engineering and environmental impact studies prepared by the United States Army Corps of Engineers with the cooperation of the Department of Water Resources, the Central Valley Flood Protection Board, and the West Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency. These studies supported federal authorization of regional improvements to the Sacramento River Flood Control Project, including federal authorizations in the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act (Public Law 114-322), for strengthening the levee system that protects the City of West Sacramento.

(e) A modification to the state authorization is needed to accommodate federally authorized levee improvements along the Yolo Bypass, Sacramento Bypass, and Sacramento River authorized by the United States Congress as part of the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act (Public Law 114-322), that is substantially in accordance with the recommendations of the Chief of Engineers of the United States Army Corps of Engineers in the Report entitled “West Sacramento Project General Reevaluation Report” dated December 2015 and to meet state and local flood risk reduction objectives.

SEC. 2.

Section 12670.5 is added to the Water Code, to read:

12670.5.

(a) The West Sacramento Project for flood risk reduction along the Yolo Bypass, Sacramento Bypass, and Sacramento River adopted and authorized by the United States Congress in the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act (Public Law 114-322), is hereby adopted and approved substantially in accordance with the recommendations of the Chief of Engineers of the United States Army Corps of Engineers in the Report entitled “West Sacramento Project General Reevaluation Report” and dated December 2015, at an estimated cost to the state of the sum that may be appropriated by the Legislature for state participation, upon the recommendation and advice of the department or the board.

(b) In the absence of federal funding, the state or the board, may, upon an appropriation by the Legislature, fund the planning, engineering, design, and construction of the authorized project, in which case the funding shall not exceed the amount that would be the equivalent state share if there was federal project funding.

(c) Notwithstanding state funding for the project contemplated in subdivision (a), the department or the board may, upon an appropriation by the Legislature, also fund improvements required to achieve state flood risk reduction objectives for the City of West Sacramento as defined in the Central Valley Flood Protection Plan adopted by the board.