AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 16, 2023
california legislature—2023–24 regular session
ASSEMBLY BILL No. 1469
Introduced by Assembly Member Kalra
February 17, 2023
An act to amend Section 4 of the Santa Clara Valley Water District Act (Chapter 1405 of the Statutes of 1951), relating to the Santa Clara Valley Water District.
legislative counsel’s digest
AB 1469, as amended, Kalra. Santa Clara Valley Water District.
The Santa Clara Valley Water District Act creates the Santa Clara Valley Water District, and authorizes the district to pro vide for the conservation and management of flood, storm, and rec ycled waters, and other waters, for beneficial uses and to enhance natural resources in connection with carrying out the purposes of the district.
This bill would additionally authorize the district to assist unsheltered people living along streams, in riparian corridors, or otherwise within the district’ s jurisdiction, in consultation with cities and cities, the County of Santa Clara, and the state, as appropriate, to provide solutions or improve outcomes for the unsheltered individuals.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
line 1 SECTION 1. The Le gislature finds and declar es all of the line 2 following:
98 line 1 (a) The number of unhoused people in the County of Santa Clara line 2 has increased by 36 percent in the last five years, rising from 7,394 line 3 in 2017 to 10,028 in 2022, accor ding to the Homeless line 4 Point-in-Time Count and Surve y. In 2022, 77 per cent of the line 5 unhoused population in the county were unsheltered, meaning they line 6 are living in vehicles, in abandoned buildings, on public lands, or line 7 on the street.
line 8 (b) Thousands of the unsheltered people in the County of Santa line 9 Clara live along cr eeks and str eams, in the riparian corridor s, line 10 where 294 miles of creekside lands are owned by the Santa Clara line 11 Valley Water District, an independent special district responsible line 12 for regional water supply, flood risk reduction, and environmental line 13 stewardship of waterways in the county.
line 14 (c) Encampments of unshelter ed people along waterways ar e line 15 both a human and an environmental tragedy, causing deaths and line 16 negative health outcomes for unshelter ed individuals, incr eased line 17 community risks from fires, and flooding due to blocked drainages line 18 and the excavation of banks and levees, as well as the degradation line 19 of water quality from litter and human waste.
line 20 (d) Nutrient loading of str eams from human waste facilitates line 21 algal blooms that de grade natural and constructed habitats for line 22 aquatic species, including feder ally threatened fish species suc h line 23 as steelhead trout.
line 24 (e) The safe operation of water supply and flood risk reduction line 25 infrastructure in the County of Santa Clara requires vehicle access line 26 along pathways favored by encampments and r equires the rapid line 27 release of water from upstream reservoirs, not only during storms, line 28 but often weeks before storms arrive, which may unintentionally line 29 flood encampments, endangering unsheltered people. line 30 (f) Construction of flood risk r eduction and water supply line 31 infrastructure, as well as en vironmental r estoration and line 32 enhancement, requires closing certain areas to the public to protect line 33 life, safety, and the environment.
line 34 (g) As an independent special district, the Santa Clar a Valley line 35 Water District’s actions to addr ess the human and oper ational line 36 challenges posed by encampments and to r educe environmental line 37 impacts are limited by the a gency’s authorities gr anted by the line 38 Santa Clara Valley Water District Act, as well as by the California line 39 Constitution’s restrictions on the use of taxes and fees collected line 40 for water supply and flood protection for other purposes. 98 — 2 — AB 1469
line 1 (h) The Santa Clara Valley Water District Board has long sought line 2 to increase resources that could be available to assist unsheltered line 3 people living along waterways and on other district properties to line 4 provide solutions, housing , or impr oved outcomes for the line 5 unsheltered individuals.
line 6 (i) In 2020, voter s the in County of Santa Clar a appr oved line 7 Measure S, a special tax that pr ovides $500,000 annually to the line 8 water district for cost-shar e agreements with local a gencies for line 9 services related to cleanups of encampment litter and debris on line 10 waterways, in k eeping with the district’ s limited mission. Those line 11 funds are limited and eroded by inflation, and the growing needs line 12 far exceed both the purpose and amount of funding pr ovided by line 13 the special tax.
line 14 (j) In the case of Martin v. City of Boise, 920 F.3d 584, 616 (9th line 15 Cir. 2019), the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit line 16 held that “as long as ther e is no option of sleeping indoor s, the line 17 government cannot criminalize indig ent, homeless people for line 18 sleeping outdoors, on public pr operty, on the false pr emise they line 19 had a c hoice in the matter .” The United States Supr eme Court line 20 declined to review the Ninth Circuit’s decision, leaving it in effect line 21 in the western states co vered by the Ninth Cir cuit, including line 22 California. Martin v. City of Boise has been interpr eted to mean line 23 a de facto requirement to offer shelter before unsheltered people line 24 may be relocated from public lands, and failure to do so may result line 25 in the issuance of a temporary restraining order. line 26 (k) Considering the Santa Clar a Valley Water District’ s line 27 uncommon flood risk reduction responsibilities that are separate line 28 from county government, accounting for its location in one of the line 29 largest urban ar eas in the state , noting the lar ge number s of line 30 unsheltered people living on the public lands in riparian corridors, line 31 and citing e volving case law r equiring the of fer of shelter to line 32 relocate unshelter ed people living on public land, ther e is a line 33 compelling need to expand the purposes of the Santa Clara Valley line 34 Water District to better assist unshelter ed people , to fulfill the line 35 district’s existing mission of compr ehensive water supply , flood line 36 risk r eduction, and en vironmental ste wardship of str eams, by line 37 providing solutions, housing , and impr oved outcomes for line 38 unsheltered people living on public lands and along waterways line 39 within the County of Santa Clara.
98 AB 1469 — 3 —
line 1 SECTION 1.
line 2 SEC. 2. Section 4 of the Santa Clara Valley Water District Act line 3 (Chapter 1405 of the Statutes of 1951), as amended by Section 1 line 4 of Chapter 279 of the Statutes of 2006, is amended to read:
line 5 Sec. 4. (a) The purposes of this act are to authorize the district line 6 to pro vide comprehensive w ater management for all beneficial line 7 uses and flood protection risk within the County of Santa Clara. line 8 (b) It is the intent of the Le gislature that the district w ork line 9 collaboratively with other appropriate entities in the County of line 10 Santa Clara in carrying out the purposes of this act. line 11 (c) The district may take action to do all of the following:
line 12 (1) Reduce the risks to the County of Santa Clara from line 13 floodwater and stormwater of the district, including tidal floodwater line 14 and the floodw ater and stormw ater of streams that ha ve their line 15 sources outside the district, but flow into the district. line 16 (2) Reduce the risks of floodwater or stormwater to the public line 17 highways, life, and property in the district, and the w atercourses line 18 and watersheds of streams flowing within the district. line 19 (3) Provide flood risk reduction and provide for the conservation line 20 and management of stormw ater, recycled water, or other w ater line 21 from any sources within or outside the w atersheds in which the line 22 district is located for beneficial and useful purposes, including line 23 spreading, storing, retaining, and causing the w aters to percolate line 24 into the soil within the district.
line 25 (4) Protect, save, store, recycle, distribute, transfer, exchange, line 26 manage, and conserve in any manner any of the waters. line 27 (5) Increase and prevent the waste or diminution of the w ater line 28 supply in the district.
line 29 (6) Obtain, retain, protect, and rec ycle drainage, stormw ater, line 30 floodwater, or treated wastewater, or other water from any sources, line 31 within or outside the w atersheds in which the district is located line 32 for any beneficial uses within the district.
line 33 (7) Enhance, protect, and restore streams, riparian corridors, line 34 and natural resources in connection with carrying out the purposes line 35 set forth in this section.
line 36 (8) Assist unsheltered people living along streams, in riparian line 37 corridors, or otherwise within the district’ s jurisdiction, in line 38 consultation with cities and cities, the County of Santa Clara, and line 39 the state, as appropriate, to provide solutions or improve outcomes line 40 for the unsheltered individuals.
98 — 4 — AB 1469
line 1 (9) Preserve open space in the County of Santa Clara and support line 2 the county park system in a manner that is consistent with carrying line 3 out the powers granted by this section.
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98 AB 1469 — 5 —