Bill Text: CA SB507 | 2017-2018 | Regular Session | Chaptered

California Senate Bill 507 (Prior Session Legislation)

Bill Title: Tijuana River Valley.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)

Status: (Passed) 2017-10-06 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 542, Statutes of 2017. [SB507 Detail]

Download: California-2017-SB507-Chaptered.html

Senate Bill No. 507

CHAPTER 542

An act to add Section 5907.5 to the Public Resources Code, relating to public resources, making an appropriation therefor, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.

[ Approved by Governor October 06, 2017. Filed with Secretary of State October 06, 2017. ]

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SB 507, Hueso. Tijuana River Valley.

The California Wildlife, Coastal, and Park Land Conservation Act, an initiative bond measure approved by the voters at the June 7, 1988, statewide primary election, provided bond funds for wildlife, coastal, and parkland conservation. The act establishes the California Wildlife, Coastal, and Park Land Conservation Fund of 1988 and requires money in the fund to be available for specified purposes, including for a grant to the County of San Diego to acquire natural lands in the Tijuana River Valley. The act may be amended by a ²/₃ vote of the Legislature if the amendment is consistent with the purposes of the act.

This bill would instead authorize the money granted to the County of San Diego to be available for the development, improvement, rehabilitation, protection, and restoration of natural and park lands in the Tijuana River Valley, for specified studies of the land, as provided, and for the development of a campground, as provided. By changing the purposes of an existing appropriation, this bill would create an appropriation.

The bill would declare that this provision is an amendment to the act and is consistent with the act.

This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Vote: 2/3 Appropriation: YES Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NO

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

SECTION 1.

Section 5907.5 is added to the Public Resources Code, to read:

5907.5.

(a) Pursuant to Section 5922, for the purpose of expending funds appropriated to the department in Item 3790-101-0786 of the Budget Act of 2014, and reappropriated in Item 3790-490 of the Budget Act of 2017, funds shall be available to the County of San Diego for the development, improvement, rehabilitation, protection, and restoration of natural and park lands in the Tijuana River Valley, for the studies described in subdivision (b), and for the development of a campground planned for the Tijuana River Valley, as described in the “Tijuana River Valley Regional Park Public Use Feasibility Study.”

(b) Up to five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) of the moneys appropriated to the department and available to the County of San Diego, described in subdivision (a), shall be used to update or conduct, as the case may be, the following studies:

(1) An update to the Tijuana River Valley Recovery Team’s “Recovery Strategy: Living with the Water,” January 2012 to include issues related to wastewater and runoff.

(2) A study focused on the improvement and protection of natural lands, including the main river channel, in the Tijuana River Valley.

SEC. 2.

Section 1 of this act, which adds Section 5907.5 to the Public Resources Code, is an amendment to the California Wildlife, Coastal, and Park Land Conservation Act (Division 5.8 (commencing with Section 5900) of the Public Resources Code) within the meaning of Section 6 of Proposition 70, adopted by the voters at the June 7, 1988, statewide primary election, and is consistent with the purposes of that act.

SEC. 3.

This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the California Constitution and shall go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are both of the following:

(a) Item 3790-101-0786 of the Budget Act of 2014, as reappropriated in Item 3790-490 of the Budget Act of 2017, appropriated money to the Department of Parks and Recreation from the California Wildlife, Coastal, and Park Land Conservation Fund of 1988 for the purpose of providing funds to the County of San Diego to acquire natural lands in the Tijuana River Valley; however, the funds were only made available for expenditure until June 30, 2018. Due to land constraints in the Tijuana River Valley, new land cannot be acquired with these funds.

(b) In addition, due to the sewage spill into the Tijuana River in February 2017, it is critical to focus on the funding issue now to make improvements to the Tijuana River Valley.