Today is the last day for bills to pass in the 2021 legislative session. The Senate and Assembly continue to deliberate on the floor, but two trailer bills with provisions of interest to many special districts have passed both houses and are headed to the Governor's desk:
SB 170, a Budget Bill Jr., and
SB 155, the Public Resources trailer bill.
SB 170
The 2021 budget package set aside funding for major priorities in resources, wildfire prevention, climate, drought, higher education, workforce development, energy and transportation.
SB 170 represents the appropriation of these funds, which were already contained in the overall accounting for the final budget package. Notable provisions include:
• COVID-19 Relief to Special Districts. Updates provisional language for the $100 million COVID-19 fiscal relief funds for independent special districts (item 9210-101-0001). Specifically, there are now two periods of eligibility:
- Revenue loss will be calculated by comparing revenue from all fund sources for fiscal year 2020-21 against revenue from revenue from all fund sources from the 2018-19 fiscal year (base year)
- Unanticipated costs experienced between March 4, 2020 and June 15, 2021 are eligible claims under the program.
• Wildfire Prevention and Forest Health. Appropriates an additional $913 million for wildfire prevention and forest health in budget year 2021-2022. Budget year funding includes $159 million for Forest Health grants, $120 million for Fire Prevention grants, $40 million for the Forest Health Improvement Program for Small Landowners, $181 million for stewardship of state-owned lands, $53 million for various conservancies, $27 million for the forestry corps, $13 million for defensive space inspectors, $20 million for a Prescribed Fire Liability Pilot Program, and $14.3 million for contract counties to hire additional fuels crews. This increases the total appropriation this year, including early action and cap and trade funding, to $1.524 billion.
• Water and Drought Resilience. Allocates an additional $855 million in budget year for water and drought resilience and adopts a three-year $4.649 billion package. This increases budget year spending to $3.269 billion with $880 million for 2022-2023 and $500 million for 2023-2024. Additional funding for this year includes $120 million for the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act program with at least $60 million for the San Joaquin Valley, $115 million for water recycling and groundwater cleanup, $30 million for PFAS cleanup, $50 million for multi benefit land repurposing, $40 million for Salton Sea, and $20 million for border rivers.
• Parks Access. Appropriates an additional $200 million to build and preserve parks around the State. This includes $155 million to develop a new grant program to build parks along urban water ways including partnerships with local agencies and nonprofit organizations.
Climate Resilience Package in the State Budget.SB 155 and
SB 170 contain provisions for the Climate Resilience Package that was funded in the 2021 budget package. The climate package totals nearly $3.7 billion over the next three years with $369 million allocated to 2021-22. Budget year spending includes $115 million for Transformative Climate Communities, $50 million for Urban Greening and Urban Forestry, $31 million to the Wildlife Conservation Board, $60 million to various conservancies, $25 million to the Strategic Growth Council for regional climate resilience planning and adaptation grants.
The chart below provided by the Assembly Floor Report details the investments:
