Public resources: coastal resources: Coastal Resilience Permitting Working Group., the official text

An act to add Division 20.8 (commencing with Section 30990) to the Public Resources Code, relating to public resources.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

Existing law establishes the Natural Resources Agency and vests the agency with jurisdiction over various public resources. Existing law establishes the California Environmental Protection Agency and sets out its mission for programs, policies, and standards. Under existing law, various state entities, including the California Coastal Commission, the California Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of Fish and Wildlife have responsibilities with respect to coastal permitting and development.
This bill would require the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency, in consultation with the Secretary for Environmental Protection, to convene a Coastal Resilience Permitting Working Group for the purpose of developing a Coastal Resilience Permitting Roadmap for coastal resilience projects proposed in specified areas. The bill would require the Coastal Resilience Permitting Working Group to consist of representatives from federal, state, and local agencies, including, among others, the California Coastal Commission, the California Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of Fish and Wildlife. The bill would, on or before January 1, 2028, require the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency to submit the Coastal Resilience Permitting Roadmap to the Governor and the relevant fiscal and policy committees of the Legislature. The bill would require, on or before April 1, 2027, the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency, in collaboration with the California Coastal Commission, the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, the Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the California Regional Water Quality Boards with jurisdiction over the coast and the San Francisco Bay, to convene a Coastal Resilience Permit Advisory Group to support the deliberations of the Coastal Resilience Permitting Working Group.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.
Division 20.8 (commencing with Section 30990) is added to the Public Resources Code, to read:
20.8.
Coastal Resilience30990.
(a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(1) The Ocean Protection Council’s 2024 State of California Sea Level Rise Guidance includes a projection that by the year 2100, statewide averaged sea levels are expected to rise between 1.6 feet and 3.1 feet under the Intermediate-Low and Intermediate Scenarios.
(2) The Ocean Protection Council’s guidance also notes that higher amounts of up to 6.6 feet or more of sea level rise in very high risk, low-probability cases cannot be ruled out.
(3) In 2023, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission of the San Francisco Bay area, in consultation with the Association of Bay Area Governments and the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, published the Sea Level Rise Adaptation Funding and Investment Framework Final Report with an estimate of one hundred ten billion dollars ($110,000,000,000) to adapt San Francisco Bay communities and critical infrastructure to sea level rise by 2050.
(4) In 2024, the Legislature adopted Division 20.6.9 (commencing with Section 30985) requiring the California Coastal Commission and the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission to publish guidelines for the preparation of sea level rise plans and for local communities to seek review and approval of these plans by 2034 to remain eligible for resilience funding from the state.
(5) Construction activities along the California coast and in the San Francisco Bay in federal waters are regulated by a wide range of state and federal agencies operating under a comprehensive set of state and federal environmental laws.
(6) California promotes the use of natural infrastructure, where feasible, to build coastal resilience, which is described in Section 71154 as using natural ecological systems or processes to reduce vulnerability to climate change-related hazards, or other related climate change effects, while increasing the long-term adaptive capacity of coastal and inland areas by perpetuating or restoring ecosystem services.
(7) The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North-Central California Coastal Sediment Coordination Committee published a 2024 Efficient Permitting Roadmap that provides a description of permitting roles for state and federal agencies and preferred approaches for habitat restoration projects.
(8) Together, these laws and the work of these agencies, provide critical protection for the health of the Pacific Ocean and the San Francisco Bay.
(9) The combination of overlapping federal and state authorities, requirements for project-specific studies, limited regulatory agency staffing, interagency coordination needs, and inconsistency and uncertainty regarding mitigation requirements can result in extended permitting timelines for all projects in or adjacent to federal waters, including coastal resilience projects.
(10) Permitting staff positions at relevant agencies require extensive education and experience regarding complex ecosystems and marine environments, and related expertise such as knowledge of historic and cultural resources.
(11) Numerous reports, including the California Coastal Commission 2021–2025 Workforce Plan, the University of California Berkeley Labor Center’s “Civil Service Vacancies in California: 2022–2023,” the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board’s 2022 Executive Officer’s Report, and the 2025 National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officer’s Workforce Report, document the challenge of recruiting and retaining qualified staff to process complicated permit applications.
(12) The Governor and the Legislature have previously addressed permitting timelines and processes related to rebuilding after natural disasters such as the January 2025 wildfires, and to facilitate timely development and permitting of offshore wind and transmission facilities in the state.
(13) The Assembly Select Committee on Permitting Reform issued a report in 2025 documenting the permitting challenges that most projects face trying to navigate the 7 to 12 agencies that have regulatory jurisdiction over resiliency projects. This report recommended eliminating uncertainty in the application process, enhancing interagency coordination and consistency, and creating distinct permitting pathways for drought resilience and flood risk reduction projects.
(b) Given the myriad of benefits from coastal resilience projects to California communities, the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency shall develop a Coastal Resilience Permitting Roadmap with recommendations for process improvements and legislative reforms that will enable efficient and timely delivery of environmental approvals for these projects, as provided in Section 30991.

30991.
(a) (1) The Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency, in consultation with the Secretary for Environmental Protection, shall convene a Coastal Resilience Permitting Working Group for the purpose of developing a Coastal Resilience Permitting Roadmap for coastal resilience projects proposed along the California coast and in the San Francisco Bay, and in and adjacent to state and federal waters.
(2) The Coastal Resilience Permitting Working Group shall consist of representatives from federal, state, and local agencies, including, but not limited to, representatives from all of the following entities:
(A) The California Coastal Commission.
(B) The California Environmental Protection Agency.
(C) The California Regional Water Quality Control Boards, San Francisco Bay, North Coast, Central Coast, Los Angeles, Santa Ana, and San Diego.
(D) The Department of Fish and Wildlife.
(E) The Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation.
(F) The Natural Resources Agency.
(G) The Ocean Protection Council.
(H) The San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission.
(I) The State Coastal Conservancy.
(J) The State Lands Commission.
(K) The State Office of Historic Preservation.
(L) The State Water Resources Control Board.
(3) Development of the Coastal Resilience Permitting Roadmap shall incorporate, but not delay, progress to advance responsible permitting and development of coastal resilience projects.
(b) (1) On or before January 1, 2028, the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency shall submit the Coastal Resilience Permitting Roadmap to the Governor and the relevant fiscal and policy committees of the Legislature.
(2) The plan submitted to the Legislature pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
(3) Pursuant to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code, this subdivision shall become inoperative on January 1, 2032.
(c) The Coastal Resilience Permitting Roadmap developed pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) shall include, at a minimum, recommendations that address all of the following:
(1) Administrative reforms that can be implemented by state agencies, to the extent feasible, within their existing authority to improve permit issuance timelines, including all of the following:
(A) Improving efficiency in the process for agencies to determine and communicate that permit applications are complete, through the use of tools, such as preapplication consultations, publishing clear permit guidelines, minimizing additional information requests when applicants submit complete applications consistent with permit guidelines, and setting timelines for initial and successive reviews.
(B) Unified applications with a predictable sequence and timeline of permitting information requests and interagency reviews.
(C) Statewide or regional interagency project management teams for multiagency permitting, modeled on the Bay Restoration Regulatory Integration Team.
(D) Methods to standardize compensatory mitigation across agencies, as applicable and feasible, including rewarding the consideration of engineering with nature features to enable projects to self-mitigate, and the consideration of types and thresholds for small amounts of fill that may not require mitigation because they may be beneficial or can be shown to have negligible impacts.
(E) Delegating permit issuance to executive officers or using consent calendars when appropriate and applicable.
(F) Expanded use of regional general permits and programmatic agreements for known categories of coastal resilience projects.
(G) Process improvements that allow for permit approval when the design is being developed or is complete, and for permit approval to be maintained during subsequent nonsubstantive design changes arising from field conditions and in-depth engineering analysis.
(H) Standard measures and methods that can be applied to borings, pile driving and fill placement techniques, and other practices that are known to safeguard marine resources, including the types of conditions under which these measures should be utilized and can be scaled to varying project scope and footprint, taking into consideration variability across the ocean floor topographies.
(I) Recommendations for how to expedite and streamline the permitting of projects included in local sea level rise adaptation plans, as required by the Regional Shoreline Adaptation Plan (BPA 1-24) adopted by the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission and by the Sea Level Rise Policy Guidance adopted by the California Coastal Commission, respectively, as an incentive to complete and implement local plans.
(J) Consideration of project-based permit streamlining.
(2) A state process to align agency mitigation requirements and enable in-lieu fees or advance mitigation through which applicants can contribute funding to eligible restoration or mitigation initiatives, thereby avoiding temporal loss of habitat and associated increased mitigation requirements, and reducing the need for individual applicants to develop and implement project-specific compensatory mitigation projects.
(3) Legislative reforms that have the greatest potential to further accelerate permitting for projects that increase coastal resilience, with a focus on current legislative requirements that result in extensive analysis that could be avoided by application of standardized compensatory mitigation, as feasible and appropriate, advance mitigation, or standard construction practices, as well as identification of regulatory gaps and frictions that could lead to maladaptation over time.
(4) If needed to test alternative approaches, a coastal resilience project pilot program along with any required legislative authorizations to evaluate the effectiveness of recommended reforms and environmental protection methods.
(5) An evaluation of whether consolidated coastal resilience permits similar to those provided in Division 20 (commencing with Section 30000) for offshore wind projects would facilitate timely permits.
(6) A workforce assessment and funding options for regulatory staffing positions and as-needed permitting support contracts to supplement staff, including a specific analysis of recommended pay scales needed to recruit and retain permitting staff that reflect the educational requirements for these positions, the cost of living in areas where these staff live and work, and private sector compensation for similar skills.
(d) To support deliberations of the Coastal Resilience Permitting Working Group, on or before April 1, 2027, the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency, in collaboration with the California Coastal Commission, the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, the Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the California Regional Water Quality Control Boards with jurisdiction over the California coast and San Francisco Bay, shall convene a Coastal Resilience Permit Advisory Group. Coastal Resilience Permit Advisory Group membership shall include, but not be limited to, representatives of each of the following:
(1) The Department of Transportation, the State Coastal Conservancy, and other relevant state agencies that seek permits for projects in coastal areas.
(2) Local governments subject to the requirements of Division 20.6.9 (commencing with Section 30985).
(3) California ports.
(4) Local transportation agencies, special districts, stormwater management agencies, and wastewater treatment agencies.
(5) California Native American tribes that are on the contact list administered and maintained by the Native American Heritage Commission.
(6) Other members of the public, including academics, businesses, home and affordable housing builders, commercial and recreational fishers, environmental organizations, environmental justice organizations, professional associations, and others.
(e) The Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency, in consultation with the California Coastal Commission, the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, the Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the California Regional Water Quality Control Boards with jurisdiction over the California coast and San Francisco Bay, shall conduct a series of public workshops with the Coastal Resilience Permit Advisory Group or subgroups thereof to do all of the following:
(1) Solicit feedback regarding challenges with existing permitting processes, and recommendations and concerns from permittees and other interested parties regarding streamlining proposals.
(2) Review and seek comment on draft reform proposals from the Coastal Resilience Permitting Working Group for potential inclusion in the Coastal Resilience Permitting Roadmap.
(f) When developing infrastructure to address adaptation, where feasible, a project alternative should be developed that uses existing natural features and ecosystem processes, or the restoration of natural features and ecosystem processes, to meet the project’s goals.
(g) For purposes of this section, “coastal resilience project” means a project that maintains, protects, restores, or enables coastal ecosystems, infrastructure, or communities to withstand and adapt to sea level rise and other natural hazards, including those amplified by climate change.