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SJR 17
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No:
Author:
Amended:
Vote:
SJR 17
Corbett (D), et al.
4/25/12
21
SENATE NAT. RESOURCES & WATER COMMITTEE: 5-1, 3/27/12
AYES: Pavley, Kehoe, Padilla, Simitian, Wolk
NOES: Fuller
NO VOTE RECORDED: La Malfa, Cannella, Evans
SENATE FLOOR: 28-9, 3/29/12
AYES: Alquist, Berryhill, Calderon, Cannella, Corbett, Correa, De León,
DeSaulnier, Emmerson, Hancock, Harman, Hernandez, Kehoe, Leno,
Lieu, Liu, Lowenthal, Negrete McLeod, Padilla, Pavley, Price, Rubio,
Simitian, Steinberg, Vargas, Wolk, Wright, Yee
NOES: Anderson, Dutton, Fuller, Gaines, Huff, La Malfa, Strickland,
Walters, Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Blakeslee, Evans, Runner
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: Read and adopted, 6/28/12
SUBJECT:
Coastal resources: San Francisco Bay
SOURCE:
The Bay Institute
DIGEST: This resolution declares the Legislature’s endorsement of S. 97
(Feinstein) and House Resolution 3034 (Speier), and urges the United States
Congress to enact the San Francisco Restoration Act at the earliest possible
time.
Assembly Amendments add co-authors and are clarifying.
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ANALYSIS:
Resolution findings:
1. San Francisco Bay is the largest estuary on the west coast of the United
States.
2. San Francisco Bay is an ecologically rich and productive estuary, but its
ecological values have declined significantly as a result of physical
alteration and pollution over the past 160 years.
3. San Francisco Bay is the hub of commercial activity and is home to the
third largest commercial port on the west coast of the United States, has
three international airports, and is vital to the economic vitality of
California and of the United States.
4. Nearly $100 billion (in year 2000 dollars) worth of property along
California’s coast, measured as the replacement value of buildings and
contents, is at risk of flooding from a 100-year event with a 1.4 meter
sea-level rise if no adaptation actions are taken. An overwhelming twothirds of that property is concentrated on San Francisco Bay.
5. Building or strengthening levees and seawalls simply to protect existing
high‐value development along the San Francisco Bay shoreline was
estimated to require an immediate capital investment of approximately
$1 billion (in year 1990 dollars) and requires an additional $100 million
per year in ongoing maintenance.
6. Restoration of San Francisco Bay wetlands can dramatically improve the
effectiveness of flood management efforts in San Francisco Bay by
performing the functions of man-made structures in key locations.
7. Restoration of San Francisco Bay wetlands can dramatically reduce the
costs of providing flood protection for the developed shoreline by
supplanting the need for man-made structures in key locations.
8. California Senator Dianne Feinstein has introduced S. 97 and California
Congresswoman Jackie Speier has introduced H.R. 3034, the San
Francisco Bay Restoration Act, to provide federal matching funds to
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accelerate the restoration of San Francisco Bay’s wetlands for, among
others, the purpose of adapting to ongoing sea level rise.
Background
The San Francisco Bay Restoration Act (SFBRA) has been introduced both
in S.97 (Feinstein) and H.R. 3034 (Speier), and is currently under
consideration in the U.S. Congress. The San Francisco Bay Restoration Act
amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (Clean Water Act) to
establish a San Francisco Bay Restoration Grant Program.
Under this program, an annual list would be compiled by the administrator
of the EPA that would prioritize activities, projects, and studies to be funded
that would advance the goals stated in the San Francisco Estuary
Partnership’s Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan. The San
Francisco Estuary Partnership (SFEP), the state of California, and affected
stakeholders would be consulted during development of the priority list.
Federal grant funding for activities, projects or studies under the program
will not exceed 75 percent of the total cost of the activity, project or study.
The current versions of the two bills provide federal funding of either
$5,000,000 (Senate version) or $20,000,000 (House version) for each fiscal
year 2012-2016.
The SFEP (formerly The San Francisco Estuary Project) was established by
Congress in 1987 and is one of the original national estuary programs
designated by the EPA following the creation of Section 320: The National
Estuary Program (NEP). The goal of the SFEP is to “restore and maintain
the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Estuary” through the
development and implementation of a Comprehensive Conservation and
Management Plan (CCMP).
The San Francisco Estuary CCMP is a collaboratively produced, consensusbased agreement about what should be done to protect and restore the
estuary. The initial CCMP was completed by the SFEP in 1993 and was
most recently updated in 2007. The CCMP outlines nine program areas with
specific goals and actions for each program area. These program areas
include:
 Aquatic Resources
 Wildlife
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Wetlands Management
Water Use
Pollution Prevention and reduction
Dredging and Waterway Modification
Land Use and Watershed Management
Public Involvement and Education
Research and Monitoring
This resolution declares the Legislature’s endorsement of S. 97 and H.R.
3034, and urges the United States Congress to enact the San Francisco
Restoration Act at the earliest possible time.
FISCAL EFFECT: Fiscal Com.: No
SUPPORT: (Verified 6/28/12)
The Bay Institute (source)
Marin Audubon Society
PRBO Conservation Science
San Francisco Estuary Partnership
Save the Bay
The San Francisco Bay Joint Venture
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: The Bay Institute states that “the greatest
threat to low-lying development around the Bay over the next 50 years will
be from storms as sea level rises.” The natural marshes that once existed in
the Bay were such effective barriers against the erosive forces of wind and
wave that early settlers mistook them for islands. Employing the concept of
nature’s “horizontal levee,” over 100,000 acres of the Bay’s historic tidal
marshes would serve as an offshore barrier against rising tides. The San
Francisco Bay Restoration Act would provide the needed funding to help
implement such actions in the CCMP as enabling the Bay’s marsh
restoration project to be completed quickly so that the horizontal levee can
start to perform its critical role in flood protection over the coming decades.
The other supporters of this resolution cite the importance of the San
Francisco Bay to fish and wildlife and the disparity in federal funding
between San Francisco Bay and other watershed programs.
CTW:do 6/28/12 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION:
SEE ABOVE
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