California Sea Level Rise Mitigation Act

California has a number of formal acts in statute. Public Resources Code Division 20.6.5 provides the California Sea Level Rise Mitigation and Adaptation Act of 2021, which is contained in Sections 30970 to 30973. Division 20.6.5 was added in 2021 by Chapter 236. Section 30970 names the Act.

Section 30971 provides five legislative findings and declarations, including that the impacts of sea level rise on the state will be significant and pervasive, and could occur as soon as within the next decade. Also, the impacts of sea level rise are both environmental and economic, including losses to publicly owned infrastructure, such as airports, rail lines, streets and highways, pipelines, waste water treatment plants, schools, hospitals, and other facilities.

In addition, it is urgent that the state enact new statutes to plan for, anticipate, and respond to sea level rise. Finally, the purpose of this division is to establish new planning, assessment, funding, and mitigation tools for California to address and respond to sea level rise.

Section 30972 creates within the Ocean Protection Council the California Sea Level Rise State and Regional Support Collaborative. The Council is required to coordinate with the other state planning and coastal management agencies, including, but not limited to, the Office of Planning and Research, the Strategic Growth Council, the State Lands Commission, the California Coastal Commission, the State Coastal Conservancy, and the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, to administer the grants and on the kind of information and support it provides local, regional, and other state agencies consistent with their statutory authority.

In addition, the collaborative is required to provide state and regional information to the public and support to local, regional, and other state agencies for the identification, assessment, planning, and, where feasible, the mitigation of the adverse environmental, social, and economic effects of sea level rise within the coastal zone and the area under the jurisdiction of the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission.

Section 30973 provides that, upon appropriation by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act, the collaborative cannot expend more than $100 million annually from appropriate bond funds and other sources for the purposes of making grants to local and regional governments to update local and regional land use plans to take into account sea level rise, and for directly related investments to implement those plans.

Finally, priority must be given to those local and regional governments that have agreed most effectively and urgently to plan for and implement actions to address sea level rise.