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.