Bill Text: CA AB923 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Introduced

California Assembly Bill 923

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

Bill Title: Flood plain restoration projects: Central Valley: study.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Engrossed) 2023-09-01 - In committee: Held under submission. [AB923 Detail]

Download: California-2023-AB923-Introduced.html

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 923

Introduced by Assembly Member Bauer-Kahan

February 14, 2023

An act to add Section 9604 to the Water Code, relating to water.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 923, as introduced, Bauer-Kahan. Flood plain restoration projects: Central Valley: study.

Existing law authorizes the Department of Water Resources to make examinations of lands subject to inundation and overflow by flood waters and of the waters causing the inundation or overflow and to make plans and estimates of the cost of works to regulate and control the flood waters.

Existing law, the Central Valley Flood Protection Act of 2008, requires the department to prepare, and the Central Valley Flood Protection Board, a state agency, to adopt, a plan identified as the Central Valley Flood Protection Plan.

This bill would require the department, in coordination with the board, to undertake a study to identify and assess barriers to the implementation of flood plain restoration projects that provide increased flood risk reduction and groundwater recharge benefits. The bill would also require the department and the board to conduct broad stakeholder outreach to inform the study. The bill would require the study to make recommendations to the Legislature on ways to expedite and scale the implementation of flood plain restoration projects that provide flood risk reduction and groundwater recharge benefits. The bill would require the study to be completed by July 1, 2024. This requirement would be inoperative on July 1, 2028.

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

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

SECTION 1.

Section 9604 is added to the Water Code, to read:

9604.

(a) The department, in coordination with the board, shall undertake a study to identify and assess barriers to the implementation of flood plain restoration projects that provide increased flood risk reduction and groundwater recharge benefits.

(b) The department and the board shall conduct broad stakeholder outreach to inform the study. This outreach shall include, but not be limited to, cities, counties, local flood control agencies, nongovernmental organizations, community-based organizations, and academia.

(c) The study shall make recommendations to the Legislature on ways to expedite and scale the implementation of flood plain restoration projects that provide flood risk reduction and groundwater recharge benefits. The study shall be completed by July 1, 2024.

(d) A report to be submitted to the Legislature pursuant to this section shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.

(e) The requirement for submitting a report to the Legislature imposed by subdivision (c) is inoperative on July 1, 2028, pursuant to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code.