AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 23, 2025
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 30, 2025
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 21, 2025
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 10, 2025
california legislature—2025–26 regular session
ASSEMBLY BILL No. 996
Introduced by Assembly Member Pellerin
February 20, 2025
An act to amend Section 30985 of, and to add Sections 30527 and Section 30985.7 to, the Public Resources Code, relating to coastal resources.
legislative counsel’s digest
AB 996, as amended, Pellerin. Public Resources: California Coastal Act of 1976: California Coastal Planning Fund: sea level rise plans.
Existing law, the California Coastal Act of 1976, provides for the protection of California’s coast and requires any person wishing to perform or undertake any development in the coastal zone, as defined, to obtain a coastal development permit, except as specified. The act requires the issuance of a coastal development permit if the proposed development is in conformity with the certified local coastal program.
The act provides for the certification of local coastal programs by the California Coastal Commission.
The bill would establish the California Coastal Planning Fund in the State Treasury to help local governments adequately plan for the protection of coastal resources and public accessibility to the coastline.
The bill would, upon appropriation by the Legislature, make moneys
95 in the fund available to the commission for various state and local costs relating to local coastal program development and sea level rise plans and to administer the fund, as provided. The bill would authorize the commission to expend moneys in the fund to assist specified eligible recipients, including, among others, the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, and to take specified action to administer the fund. The bill would authorize the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission to set appropriate requirements as a condition of funding for moneys provided to it from the fund.
The bill would make findings and declarations related to a gift of public funds.
Existing law requires local governments lying in whole or in part within the coastal zone or within the jurisdiction of the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission to, on or before January 1, 2034, develop a sea level rise plan with specified required content as part of a local coastal program that is subject to approval by the California Coastal Commission or the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission.
This bill would authorize the applicable commission, when approving a local coastal plan or an amendment to a local coastal plan, to deem existing sea level rise information or plans prepared by a local government to satisfy the content requirements for a sea level rise plan.
The bill would provide that local governments are encouraged to, encouraged, on or before January 1, 2029, to consult with the commission, California Coastal Commission, in a voluntary early consultation, regarding sea level rise plans in the preparation of a local coastal program or an amendment to a local coastal program.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
line 1 SECTION 1. Section 30527 is added to the Public Resources line 2 Code, immediately following Section 30526, to read:
line 3 30527. (a) The California Coastal Planning Fund is hereby line 4 established in the State Treasury to help local governments line 5 adequately plan for the protection of coastal resources and public line 6 accessibility to the coastline. Upon appropriation by the line 7 Legislature, moneys deposited into the fund shall be available to line 8 the commission to fund the following:
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line 1 (1) Costs for local governments to prepare, adopt, and revise line 2 local coastal programs, consistent with this division. line 3 (2) Costs for local governments to prepare, adopt, and revise line 4 sea level rise plans, consistent with Division 20.6.9 (commencing line 5 with Section 30985).
line 6 (3) Costs for commission staff to review local coastal programs line 7 and for the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development line 8 Commission staff to review sea level rise plans, consistent with line 9 Division 20.6.9 (commencing with Section 30985). Those costs line 10 shall not exceed 20 percent of the annual deposits into the fund. line 11 (b) Consistent with subdivision (a), the commission shall expend line 12 moneys in the fund for grants, loans, contracts, or services to assist line 13 eligible recipients.
line 14 (c) (1) Eligible recipients of funding pursuant to this section line 15 shall be local agencies, including cities and counties, the line 16 commission, and the San Francisco Bay Conservation and line 17 Development Commission.
line 18 (2) To be eligible for funding pursuant to this section, grants, line 19 loans, contracts, or services provided to a local government shall line 20 have a clear and definite purpose associated with the planning line 21 efforts required to provide public benefits related to coastal line 22 resource protection and public accessibility of the California coast. line 23 (d) The commission may undertake any of the following actions line 24 to administer the fund:
line 25 (1) Provide for the deposit of any of the following moneys into line 26 the fund:
line 27 (A) Federal contributions.
line 28 (B) Voluntary contributions, gifts, grants, or bequests. line 29 (C) Financial participation by a public agency in an activity line 30 authorized for funding from the fund.
line 31 (2) Enter into agreements for contributions to the fund from the line 32 federal government, local or state agencies, private corporations, line 33 and nonprofit organizations.
line 34 (3) Direct portions of the fund to a subset of eligible applicants line 35 as required or appropriate based on funding source. line 36 (4) Take additional action as may be appropriate for adequate line 37 administration and operation of the fund.
line 38 (5) Set appropriate requirements as a condition of funding. This line 39 paragraph does not apply to funding provided to the San Francisco 95 — 3 — AB 996
line 1 Bay Conservation and Development Commission pursuant to line 2 paragraph (1) of subdivision (c).
line 3 (e) The San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development line 4 Commission may set appropriate requirements, consistent with line 5 this section, as a condition of funding provided pursuant to line 6 paragraph (1) of subdivision (c).
line 7 (f) Actions to administer the fund, and implement or interpret line 8 this section, are not subject to the Administrative Procedure Act line 9 (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of line 10 Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code).
line 11 (g) This section does not expand any obligation of the state to line 12 provide resources for the provisions of this article or to require the line 13 expenditure of additional resources beyond the amount of moneys line 14 deposited into the fund.
line 15 SEC. 2.
line 16 SECTION 1. Section 30985 of the Public Resources Code is line 17 amended to read:
line 18 30985. (a) A local government lying, in whole or in part, line 19 within the coastal zone or within the jurisdiction of the San line 20 Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission shall line 21 develop a sea level rise plan as part of either of the following, as line 22 applicable:
line 23 (1) A local coastal program that is subject to approval by the line 24 California Coastal Commission consistent with the guidelines line 25 established pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 30985.2. line 26 (2) A subregional San Francisco Bay shoreline resiliency plan line 27 that is subject to approval by the San Francisco Bay Conservation line 28 and Development Commission consistent with the guidelines line 29 established pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 30985.2. line 30 (b) The sea level rise plan required pursuant to subdivision (a) line 31 shall include, at a minimum, all of the following:
line 32 (1) The use of the best available science.
line 33 (2) A vulnerability assessment that includes efforts to ensure line 34 equity for at-risk communities.
line 35 (3) Sea level rise adaptation strategies and recommended line 36 projects.
line 37 (4) Identification of lead planning and implementation agencies. line 38 (5) A timeline for updates, as needed, based on conditions and line 39 projections and as determined by the local government in line 40 agreement with the California Coastal Commission or the San 95 AB 996 — 4 —
line 1 Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, as line 2 applicable.
line 3 (c) A timeline for sea level rise plan updates, as required line 4 pursuant to paragraph (5) of subdivision (b), shall include economic line 5 impact analyses of, at a minimum, costs to critical public line 6 infrastructure and recommended approaches for implementing the line 7 sea level rise adaptation strategies and recommended projects line 8 pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (b).
line 9 (d) All local governments subject to the requirements of line 10 subdivision (a) shall comply with this section by January 1, 2034. line 11 (e) For purposes of this section, “critical public infrastructure” line 12 includes, but is not limited to, transit, roads, airports, ports, water line 13 storage, and conveyance, wastewater treatment facilities, landfills, line 14 powerplants, and railroads.
line 15 (f) The California Coastal Commission or the San Francisco line 16 Bay Conservation and Development Commission may deem line 17 existing sea level rise information or sea level rise plans prepared line 18 by a local government to satisfy one or all of the requirements of line 19 subdivisions (b) and (c).
line 20 SEC. 3.
line 21 SEC. 2. Section 30985.7 is added to the Public Resources Code, line 22 to read:
line 23 30985.7. (a) A local government is encouraged to consult with line 24 the California Coastal Commission, on or before January 1, 2029, line 25 in preparation of a local coastal program or an amendment to a line 26 local coastal program pursuant to this division to ensure that, upon line 27 formal submission of the local coastal program or an amendment line 28 to the local coastal program to the California Coastal Commission, line 29 the materials are sufficient for a thorough and complete review. line 30 (b) A local government’s participation in an early consultation line 31 pursuant to this section is voluntary. An early consultation is line 32 intended to help a local government to timely meet the line 33 requirements of this division. Participation in an early consultation line 34 at any time shall not prevent a local government from submitting line 35 a sea level rise plan as required by this division. line 36 (c) If a local government seeks to engage in an early consultation line 37 at any time with the California Coastal Commission, the following line 38 shall occur:
line 39 (1) A local government shall initiate the early consultation by line 40 notifying California Coastal Commission staff in writing that the 95 — 5 — AB 996
line 1 local government seeks to engage in a consultation. After providing line 2 this notification, the local government shall provide the California line 3 Coastal Commission a summary report on the status of its efforts line 4 to develop a sea level rise plan pursuant to Section 30985, including line 5 any draft components as outlined in subdivisions (b) and (c) of line 6 Section 30985, and may provide a draft local coastal program or line 7 an amendment to a local coastal program that is intended to satisfy line 8 the requirement of paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section line 9 30985.
line 10 (2) An early consultation may include a singular meeting or line 11 regular meetings. The meeting schedule shall be mutually agreed line 12 upon by the local government and the California Coastal line 13 Commission.
line 14 (3) California Coastal Commission staff shall offer written line 15 recommendations to a local government about what may preclude line 16 certification of a local coastal program or an amendment to a local line 17 coastal program, including, but not limited to, information about line 18 what satisfies the requirements of subdivisions (b) and (c) of line 19 Section 30985.
line 20 (4) California Coastal Commission staff shall provide line 21 recommendations in a reasonable timeframe that is mutually agreed line 22 upon by both the local government and the commission. line 23 SEC. 4. The Legislature finds and declares that the addition of line 24 Section 30527 to the Public Resources Code serves the public line 25 purpose of protecting coastal resources and public accessibility to line 26 the coastline and does not constitute a gift of public funds within line 27 the meaning of Section 6 of Article XVI of the California line 28 Constitution.
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