Disasters

Disaster Relief Legislation

Disaster Relief Legislation

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SB 5 (Machado-D) Flood management
Requires the Department of Water Resources and the Central Valley Flood Protection Board to prepare and adopt a Central Valley Flood Protection Plan by 2012. Establishes certain flood protection requirements for certain local land-use decisions consistent with the Central Valley Protection Plan.
Chapter 364, Statutes of 2007

SB 38* (Battin-R) Disaster relief: Riverside Fire
Provides disaster assistance and tax relief for losses sustained as a result of the Riverside County wildfires in October 2006.
Chapter 222, Statutes of 2007

SB 41* (Battin-R) Firefighters assistance: Riverside Fire
Enacts the California Fallen Firefighters Assistance Tax Clarification Act of 2006.

Specifically provides that payments made by an exempt organization (Central County United Way in Hemet) on or after 10/26/06 and before 7/1/07 to any family member of a firefighter who died as a result of the October 2006 Esperanza Incident fire in Southern California will be treated as payments made in furtherance of the charitable purpose of that organization.
Chapter 1, Statutes of 2007

SB 111* (Ashburn-R) Seismic safety: property tax
Clarifies the property tax new construction exclusion relative to seismic retrofit to ensure equal treatment for property owners who incorporate seismic safety improvements when they remodel an existing building regardless of the type of building.
(In Assembly Appropriations Committee)

SB 114* (Florez-D) Disaster relief
Provides income tax, corporation tax, homeowners exemption property tax, and state reimbursement of local property tax losses relief as a result of the January 2007 severe freezing condition for the following counties: El Dorado, Fresno, Imperial, Kern, Kings, Madera, Merced, Monterey, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Stanislaus, Tulare, Ventura, and Yuba.
Chapter 223, Statutes of 2007

SB 148* (Hollingsworth-R) Disaster relief: freeze
Provides property tax relief to growers affected by the severe freezing conditions of January 2007.
(In Assembly Appropriations Committee)

SB 149* (Hollingsworth-R) Disaster relief: income tax relief
Authorizes a tax credit in connection with the qualified taxpayer's purchase and receipt of qualified freeze relief products, as defined, from 1/11/07 to 1/19/07.
(In Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee)

SB 166 (Negrete McLeod-D) Emergency preparedness: community colleges
Requires the Chancellors Office of the California Community Colleges, by 1/1/09, to develop emergency preparedness standards and guidelines, as specified, to assist community college districts and campuses in the event of a natural disaster, hazardous conditions, or terrorist activity on or around campus.
Chapter 461, Statutes of 2007

SB 211 (Cox-R) Seismic safety: application filing fees
Expands the circumstances under which an application filing fee for the review by the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) of a proposed hospital building construction or alteration plan may be postponed to include any event, not only a seismic event, that has been declared to be a disaster by the Governor, and extends an existing program under which OSHPD pre-approves hospital equipment anchorages to include anchorages for architectural components.
Chapter 429, Statutes of 2007

SB 296 (Dutton-R) Office of Emergency Services: disaster preparedness
Provides a new funding mechanism for the Office of Emergency Services to implement the Public-Private Partnership for the Emergency Services Program.
Chapter 197, Statutes of 2007

SB 306 (Ducheny-D) Seismic safety: health facilities
Permits a hospital owner to comply with seismic safety deadlines and requirements in current law by replacing all of its buildings subject to seismic retrofit by 1/1/20, rather than retrofitting by 2013 and then replacing them by 2030, if the hospital owner meets specified conditions.
Chapter 649, Statutes of 2007

SB 378 (Steinberg-D) Disaster prevention
Provides statutory direction and places additional requirements on the Department of Water Resources and the State Water Resources Control Board with regard to the implementation and awarding of specified grants made available by the Disaster Preparedness and Flood Prevention Bond Fund Act of 2006 (Proposition 1E).
(In Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee)

SB 424 (Denham-R) Disaster Preparedness and Flood Prevention Bond Act of 2006
States the intent of the Legislature to give fair and balanced consideration, consistent with the Disaster Preparedness and Flood Prevention Bond Act of 2006 (Proposition 1E) and the state's budget process, to all proposed flood management projects, including, but not limited to, the Orestimba Creek Flood Control Project, the Merced Streams Project, and the Lower San Joaquin River Flood Control Project.
(Failed passage in Senate Appropriations Committee)

SB 426 (Kehoe-D) Emergency services: access and functional needs coordination
Requires the Director of the Office of Emergency Services to create the position of Deputy Director for Access and Functional Needs Coordinator. The deputy director will be responsible for ensuring that access and functional needs are included in all state plans related to emergency preparedness, overseeing the training of emergency personnel and coordinating with state and local agencies to ensure that access and functional needs are included in state disaster preparedness documents and training. Expresses the intent of the Legislature that, to the extent permitted by federal law, federal homeland security grant funds be used to implement these provisions.
(In Senate Appropriations Committee)

SB 430 (Machado-D) Earthquake insurance
Creates a new assessment authority for the California Earthquake Authority (CEA) to replace an assessment authority that is sunsetting, clarifies the power of the CEA Board of Directors to impose conditions on insurance companies applying to become participating insurers, and redefines the term "available capital" for purposes of the CEA law.
Chapter 303, Statutes of 2007

SB 548* (Hollingsworth-R) California Emergency Services Act
Reestablishes for a specified period of time the Disaster Response-Emergency Operations Account in the Special Fund for Economic Uncertainties. Specifies that the authority of the Account will expire on 1/1/09.
Chapter 127, Statutes of 2007

SB 728 (Kehoe-D) Federal Fire Management Assistance Grant Program
Provides that a local agency may be reimbursed from the Disaster Assistance Fund for 100% of the nonfederal share of local agency costs for fires occurring in local responsibility areas. Requires that the reimbursement of local agency costs be in accordance with the California Fire Assistance Agreement for costs incurred by the local agency, as specified.
(In Senate Appropriations Committee)

SB 976 (Torlakson-D) San Francisco Bay Area: transportation planning
Repeals the San Francisco Bay Area Water Transit Authority and establishes a new replacement entity, the San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority, to consolidate and operate ferry services in the San Francisco Bay Area and to plan and respond to emergencies or disasters affecting the transportation system in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Chapter 734, Statutes of 2007

SB 1002 (Perata-D) Water quality, flood control, and water storage
Appropriates $610.89 million in bond funding to the Department of Water Resources for a variety of water-related projects, particularly related to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
Vetoed

SCA 4 (Ashburn-R) Seismic safety: property tax: new construction exclusion
Attempts to ensure equal treatment of property owners who incorporate seismic safety improvements when they remodel an existing building, regardless of the type of building, relative to the property tax.
(At Assembly Desk)

SCR 6 (Florez-D) Frost damage
Requests the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to cooperate with the state's public utilities in immediately approving advice letter filings to establish appropriate payment deferral programs for agricultural growers whose crops were destroyed as a result of the cold storms and consequent frost damage that occurred in January 2007. Requests the PUC to authorize recovery for the actual administrative costs, with the exception of interest foregone on deferred amounts, and recovery of uncollected deferred amounts incurred by the state's public utilities as a result of this program.
(On Senate Inactive File)

AB 5 (Wolk-D) Flood management
Changes the name of the Reclamation Board to the Central Valley Flood Protection Board, and clarifies existing law to require the Board to function independently from the Department of Water Resources (DWR) and prohibits DWR from overturning any Board action. Authorizes the Board to participate in multi-objective flood projects, including land acquisition for flood projects outside the boundaries of the Sacramento-San Joaquin drainage district. Requires DWR to prepare, by 12/31/08, a schedule for mapping Central Valley floodplains at risk of flooding. Authorizes DWR and the Board to establish a system for banking environmental mitigation credits for their flood control efforts. Requires DWR to prepare maps of levee flood protection zones, including delineation of areas with depths exceeding three feet, and make those maps available on the Internet.
Chapter 366, Statutes of 2007

AB 38 (Nava-D) Department of Emergency Services and Homeland Security
Consolidates the Office of Emergency Services and the Office of Homeland Security into a new cabinet-level Department of Emergency Services and Homeland Security responsible for overseeing and coordinating emergency preparedness, response, recovery, and homeland security activities, as specified, and which will have access to state summary criminal history information maintained by the Department of Justice and authority to access and maintain intelligence and security procedure information exempt from the California Public Records Act, as specified.
(In Senate Public Safety Committee)

AB 49* (Arambula-D) Disaster assistance
Adds the January 2007 freeze to the list of eligible disasters, thus allowing for 100% state and federal reimbursement for eligible repairs to local agency real property that sustained damage as a result of the freeze. Requires the state to pay 100% of the costs of eligible repairs for damage sustained by local agencies, regardless of federal participation. Authorizes the Director of the Department of Finance, with the approval of the Governor, to transfer money from the Special Fund for Economic Uncertainties to the California Small Business Expansion Fund. Limits transfers from the Fund for Economic Uncertainties to the Small Business Expansion Fund to $5 million per disaster.
(In Assembly Appropriations Committee)

AB 62* (Nava-D) Disaster relief
Adds the wildfires that occurred in Ventura County in 2006, in El Dorado County in June 2007, and in Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties in 2007 to the list of disasters eligible for full state reimbursement of local property tax losses, beneficial homeowners' property tax exemption treatment, and favorable "carryforward" treatment of excess disaster losses.
Chapter 224, Statutes of 2007

AB 70 (Jones-D) Flood liability
Provides that a city or county may be required to contribute its fair and reasonable share of the property damage caused by a flood if the city or county has increased the state's exposure to liability for property damage by unreasonably approving new development in a previously undeveloped area that is protected by a state flood control project. Provides that these provisions are contingent upon enactment of SB 5 (Machado).
Chapter 367, Statutes of 2007

AB 156 (Laird-D) Flood control
Makes changes to flood protection and emergency flood response related to Central Valley flood protection and the management of the system by the Department of Water Resources (DWR), the Reclamation Board, and local agencies. Requires DWR to prepare a schedule for mapping areas that are at risk of flooding in the Sacramento River and San Joaquin River drainage, and the Board will be required to adopt the schedule by 12/31/08. Requires DWR to update, as specified, the schedule annually and present the updated schedule to the Board for adoption on or before December 31. Requires DWR to provide written notice, with specified information, to each landowner whose property is determined to be within a levee flood protection zone. Requires the counties to provide DWR with the list of names and addresses of property owners in a levee flood protection zone within their jurisdictions.
Chapter 368, Statutes of 2007

AB 254 (Gaines-R) Vehicles: total loss salvage vehicles
Includes within the definition of "total loss salvage vehicle" one that has been damaged as the result of a flood to the extent that the owner, leasing company, financial institution, or insurance company that insured or is responsible for repair of the vehicle considers it uneconomical to repair the vehicle and, because of this, the vehicle is not repaired by or for the person who owned the vehicle at the time of the event resulting in damage.
(In Assembly Transportation Committee)

AB 287* (Nava-D) Disaster relief: freeze
Provides certain agricultural employers affected by the January 2007 freeze with a credit equal to 40% of wages paid to employees through 1/1/09. Provides that the credit is available to qualified agricultural employers with operations in a county included in the state of emergency declared by the Governor as a result of the extreme low temperatures and freezing conditions that began on 1/12/07. Provides that the credit is equal to 40% of wages paid to qualified employees, not to exceed $2,400 per employee per year. Specifies that the credit replaces deductions otherwise available for the affected wage payments.
(In Assembly Appropriations Committee)

AB 292 (Blakeslee-R) Nuclear planning assessment
Extends the sunset on the California Emergencies Services Act from 7/1/09 to 7/1/19. Revises funding levels payable from the Nuclear Planning Assessment Special Account commencing in 2009-10. Revises the manner for yearly funding available for the Diablo Canyon, with specified adjustments, and San Onofre nuclear powerplants.
Chapter 492, Statutes of 2007

AB 297* (Maze-R) Freeze disaster of 2007
Grants a limited exemption from property tax for certain vines and trees damaged in the January 2007 freeze as to require specific pruning remediation.
Chapter 225, Statutes of 2007

AB 304 (Huff-R) Disaster plans: health facilities for the elderly
Requires that community care facilities and residential care facilities for the elderly which are licensed or have a special permit for specialized services provide a copy of their disaster and mass casualty plan to the fire department, law enforcement agencies, civil defense, and other disaster authorities in the area in which the facility is located upon request by the entity. Provides that the provision setting forth criminal penalties for violating rules or regulations promulgated under the Community Care Facilities Act does not apply to this bill.
Chapter 18, Statutes of 2007

AB 319 (Nava-D) Emergencies: tsunami hazard preparedness and mitigation
Creates the California Tsunami Hazard Preparedness and Mitigation Steering Committee to guide tsunami hazard preparation activities and requires the Office of Emergency Services to establish a statewide tsunami hazard preparedness and mitigation program to assist local governments in preparing for, responding to, and mitigating the effects of tsunamis.
Vetoed

AB 387 (Duvall-R) Disaster preparedness: design-build: transit contracts
Revises public contracting requirements related to transit district contracts for technology or surveillance projects designed to enhance safety, disaster preparedness, and homeland security.
(In Assembly Business and Professions Committee)

AB 587 (Karnette-D) Antiterrorism: training courses and activities
Appropriates $5 million from the Antiterrorism Fund to develop antiterrorism training courses and to reimburse local fire agencies in the 2007-08, 2008-09, and 2009-10 fiscal years, to the California Fire Fighters Joint Apprenticeship Program to develop antiterrorism training courses, and to reimburse local law enforcement agencies for antiterrorism training activities.
Chapter 392, Statutes of 2007

AB 615 (Torrico-D) Emergency services: limited English proficiency
Requires the Office of Emergency Services to consider the needs of people with limited English proficiency in creating emergency and disaster response plans.
(In Assembly Appropriations Committee)

AB 791 (Jeffries-R) Disasters: governmental reorganization
Creates the California Public Safety Agency to provide a coordinated effort in responding to disasters and emergencies.
(In Assembly Governmental Organization Committee)

AB 880 (Nava-D) State of emergency: immunity
Exempts a private business entity or nonprofit organization that is duly enrolled or registered with the Office of Emergency Services, or a responsible county or city emergency management entity, that voluntarily and without the expectation of compensation provides services or other resources during any state of emergency or formal exercise or training at the express request of the Office of Emergency Services or city emergency management entity from liability for any injury sustained by any person, by reason of the services or resources.
(In Assembly Judiciary Committee)

AB 903 (Houston-R) Emergency services
Allows certain private non-profit disaster relief agencies to be reimbursed by the state for the cost of supplies or other emergency assistance provided during an emergency.
Chapter 400, Statutes of 2007

AB 908 (Adams-R) California Emergency Services Act: Year 2000 Problem
Deletes provisions in the Government Code relating to the Year 2000 Problem.
Chapter 16, Statutes of 2007

AB 1120* (Tran-R) Disaster preparedness products: sales and use tax exemptions
Provides a sales tax exemption for the sale of disaster preparedness products.
(In Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee)

AB 1287 (Jeffries-R) Disasters: absentee voting
Provides that when a county emergency or disaster is declared, elections officials are required to provide notice of satellite locations not later than 48 hours prior to voting at satellite locations.
Chapter 363, Statutes of 2007

AB 1304 (Smyth-R) Seismic retrofit: hospitals
Deems all submissions by the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development to the California Building Standards Commission pertaining to specified hospital seismic safety reporting requirements to be emergency regulations until 1/1/09.
(In Senate Health Committee)

AB 1564* (Nava-D) Emergency services: labor controversies
Extends, from 1/1/08 to 1/1/13, the operation of the Emergency Management Assistance Compact. Prohibits the state from giving or receiving assistance for any condition resulting from a labor controversy.
Chapter 414, Statutes of 2007

AB 1595 (Lieber-D) Disaster mitigation and emergency services
Creates the Terrorism Prevention and Civil Liberties Protection Oversight Committee in the Department of Justice (DOJ) to advise and assist the state in preventing terrorist attacks while protecting civil liberties and human rights. Requires the committee to report annually to the Governor and the Legislature on the progress they have made toward meeting their specified purpose. Requires the Office of Emergency Services to report as part of its 2008 annual report progress on the following goals: (1) ensuring that emergency preparedness exercises sufficiently test the response capabilities of the state's health system; (2) identifying steps that can be taken to increase the pace of allocation of federal homeland security grants; (3) reducing the amount of time necessary for reimbursing local agencies for their homeland security expenditures; and (4) ensuring that the organizational structure for emergency preparedness is streamlined.
(In Assembly Appropriations Committee)

ACR 48 (Blakeslee-R) Fort Tejon earthquake of 1857
Memorializes the 150th anniversary of the Fort Tejon earthquake of 1857, and declares the intent of the Legislature with respect to future actions that directly affect the state's abilities to withstand and respond to major earthquakes generally.
Resolution Chapter 53, Statutes of 2007

AJR 6 (Nava-D) Severe freezing conditions of January 2007
Respectfully memorializes the President of the United States to expeditiously declare as a federal major disaster area the portions of this state affected by severe freezing conditions and consequent frost damage that occurred in January 2007 to allow critical relief to this state's small-business owners, farmers, and workers.
(In Senate Rules Committee)

AJR 7 (Arambula-D) Agriculture: freeze losses
Respectfully requests that the President of the United States and the United States Congress act swiftly in enacting legislation to provide relief and assistance to California workers, producers, and processors who are suffering losses from the January 2007 freeze consistent with the $1.7 billion relief package embodied in S. 524, authored by Senator Barbara Boxer, and H.R. 925, authored by Congressman Devin Nunes, which are supported by a bipartisan group of California's Congressional Delegation.
Resolution Chapter 117, Statutes of 2007

AJR 22 (Lieber-D) Hurricane Katrina: disaster relief
Memorializes each Senator and Representative from this state in the Congress and the President to enact legislation based on the Gulf Coast Civic Works Project, a national effort to create 100,000 jobs for Gulf Coast residents to rebuild their communities.
(In Senate Rules Committee)

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