SENATE RULES COMMITTEE
Office of Senate Floor Analyses
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AB 142
THIRD READING
Bill No:
Author:
Amended:
Vote:
AB 142
Bigelow (R)
9/1/15 in Senate
21
SENATE NATURAL RES. & WATER COMMITTEE: 9-0, 7/14/15
AYES: Pavley, Stone, Allen, Hertzberg, Hueso, Jackson, Monning, Vidak, Wolk
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 5-0, 8/27/15
AYES: Lara, Beall, Hill, Leyva, Mendoza
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bates, Nielsen
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 71-3, 6/1/15 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: Wild and scenic rivers: Mokelumne River
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill requires the secretary of the Natural Resources Agency
(secretary) to study and report on the suitability of designating the Mokelumne
River, its tributaries, or portions thereof, under the California Wild and Scenic
Rivers Act.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law, the California Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (Act):
1) Declares that it is the policy of the state that certain rivers that possess
extraordinary scenic, recreational, fishery, or wildlife values be preserved in
their "free-flowing" state, together with their immediate environments, for the
benefit and enjoyment of the people of the state.
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2) Declares that such use of these rivers is the highest and most beneficial use, and
is a reasonable and beneficial use of water.
3) Defines "free-flowing" as existing or flowing without artificial impoundment,
diversion, or other modification of the river. (The presence of low dams,
diversion works, and other minor structures does not automatically bar a river's
inclusion within the wild and scenic rivers system (system).
4) Requires that those rivers or segments of rivers included in the system be
classified as one of the following:
a) Wild rivers, which are those rivers or segments of rivers that are free of
impoundments and generally inaccessible except by trail, with watersheds or
shorelines essentially primitive and waters unpolluted;
b) Scenic rivers, which are those rivers or segments of rivers that are free of
impoundments, with shorelines or watersheds still largely primitive and
shorelines largely undeveloped, but accessible in places by roads; or
c) Recreational rivers, which are those rivers or segments of rivers that are
readily accessible by road or railroad, may have some development along
their shorelines, and may have undergone some impoundment or diversion
in the past.
5) Designates several California rivers and segments thereof as components of the
system.
6) Requires the California Natural Rivers Agency (NRA) to be responsible for
coordinating the activities of state agencies whose activities affect the rivers in
the system with those of other state, local, and federal agencies with jurisdiction
over matters that may affect the rivers.
7) Requires the NRA to study and submit to the Governor and Legislature reports
on the suitability or nonsuitability for addition to the system when the
Legislature designates potential additions to the system. The reports shall
include the following:
a) Recommendations and proposals with respect to the designation of a river or
segment;
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b) Maps and illustrations to show the area included within the report;
c) Characteristics which do or do not make the area a worthy addition to the
system;
d) Status of land ownership and use; and
e) Potential uses which will be enhanced, foreclosed, or curtailed if included in
the system.
This bill:
1) Requires a study by the NRA that analyzes the suitability or non-suitability of
the designation of the Mokelumne River, its tributaries, or portions thereof as
additions to the system. The costs of the study will be divided between the state
and the Upper Mokelumne River Watershed Authority. The local share may be
from appropriated funds or a contribution of services.
2) Requires the study to include:
a) A suitability analysis that includes the potential effects on the ability of
public agencies and utilities within the watershed to feasible and projected
future water requirements through the development of new water supplies
from the Mokelumne River;
b) Any effects of climate change on river values and water supply;
c) Specified feasibility studies of the Mokelumne Watershed Interregional
Sustainability Evaluation Final Report.
d) Instances in which the secretary of the NRA allowed a water diversion to be
constructed on a river segment listed in the system;
e) Instances in which the State Water Resources Control Board approved an
application to appropriate water from a river segment that is a part of the
system and what restrictions, if any, were placed on the appropriation of
water as a result of that river segment’s inclusion in the system.
f) Maps and illustrations to show the area included within the report;
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g) Characteristics which do or do not make the area a worthy addition to the
system;
h) Status of land ownership and use; and
i) Potential uses which will be enhanced, foreclosed, or curtailed if included in
the system.
3) Requires the NRA’s clear recommendation on whether the designated portion
of the Mokelumne River or any segment of that portion is suited or not to be
added to the system in a report due on or before December 31, 2017.
4) Establishes interim protections for the Mokelumne until December 31, 2021, or
until the study is completed (whichever occurs first) and implementation of any
recommendation to add segments to the system that prohibit dams, reservoirs,
or other water impoundment facilities from construction unless the secretary
determines that the facility is needed to supply domestic water to the residents
of the county or counties through which the river and segment flows and the
secretary also determines that the facility will not adversely affect the freeflowing condition and natural character of the river. This provision exempts the
Amador Water Agency’s water rights application (5647X03) that is pending
before the State Water Resources Control Board.
5) Defines the reach of the Mokelumne that may be added to the system as from
one-half mile downstream of the Salt Springs 97-066 Dam to the upper extend
of the Pardee Reservoir at the elevation of not less than 580 feet above mean
sea level.
6) Extends existing law prohibiting state agencies from cooperating with new
dams on rivers in the system to the stretch of the Mokelumne that is subject to
the study.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No
Fiscal Com.:
Yes
Local: Yes
According to Senate Appropriations Committee, one-time costs of up to $125,000
to the General Fund for the Natural Resources Agency to complete the required
study
SUPPORT: (Verified 8/28/15)
Amador City
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Amador County Board of Supervisors
Amador County Business Council
Amador County Republican Central Committee
Amador Water Agency
American Whitewater
Association of California Water Agencies
CA Wildlife Foundation/CA Oaks
Calaveras Amador Mokelumne River Authority
Calaveras Community Action Project
Calaveras County Board Of Supervisors
Calaveras County Republican Party
Calaveras County Taxpayers Association
Calaveras County Water District
Calaveras Public Utility District
California League of Conservation Voters
California Outdoors
California Sportfishing Protection Alliance
California Water Impact Network
Center for Sierra Nevada Conservation
Central Sierra Mining
City of Ione
City of Jackson
City of Plymouth
City of Sutter Creek
Clean Water Action
East Bay Municipal Utility District
El Dorado Irrigation District
Environmental Water Caucus
First Mace Water Association
Foothill Conservancy
Friends of the River
Jackson Valley Irrigation District
Mountain Counties Water Resources Association
My Valley Springs
Natural heritage Institute
North Coast Rivers Alliance
Northern California Council of the International Federation of Fly Fishers
O.A.R.S. Companies, Inc.
Pine Grove CSD
Planning and Conservation League
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Rabb Park CSD
Sierra Business Council
South Yuba River Citizens League
Terre Rouge & Easton Wines
One individual
OPPOSITION: (Verified 8/28/15)
Calaveras County Republican Party
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: The goal of the author and many of the
supporters is to ensure that a study is completed before designation of the
Mokelumne is considered in legislation. Last year, Senator Hancock carried SB
1199 which would have achieved such a designation without a study. That bill was
held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION: The Calaveras County Republican Party
objects to a study in advance of a proposal to designate the river as wild and
scenic, and it also objects to any cost-sharing with local agencies.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 71-3, 6/1/15
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough,
Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley,
Cooper, Dababneh, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo
Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gordon, Gray, Hadley, Harper, Roger
Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Linder, Lopez,
Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin,
Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Perea, Quirk, Rendon,
Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Santiago, Steinorth, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner,
Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Atkins
NOES: Grove, Levine, Mark Stone
NO VOTE RECORDED: Travis Allen, Dahle, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Gonzalez,
Salas
Prepared by: William Craven / N.R. & W. / (916) 651-4116
9/1/15 20:25:21
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