SB 630

Bill Subjects

Abstract

(1) Existing law ratified the "Tahoe Regional Planning Compact," a bilateral agreement between the States of Nevada and California to regulate development in the Lake Tahoe basin. The compact established the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency as a separate legal entity, comprised of members from the States of Nevada and California, responsible for implementing a "regional plan," as defined, regulating development in the Lake Tahoe region, as defined. Existing law also creates the California Tahoe Regional Planning Agency as a separate legal entity and as a political subdivision of the State of California, and prescribes the membership, functions, and duties of the agency, as specified. Existing law requires the agency, within 18 months of its formation, to prepare, adopt, and review and maintain a comprehensive long-term general plan for the development of the Tahoe region, referred to as the "regional plan," as prescribed. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations relating to an agreement between the Governors of the States of Nevada and California covering the implementation of the Tahoe Regional Planning Compact that was jointly announced by the governors of these states on May 14, 2013, which is proposed to be codified in specified legislation in Nevada and California. The bill would declare that the State of Nevada has agreed to repeal its 2011 statutory provisions requiring its withdrawal from the Tahoe Regional Planning Compact and proposing a change in the voting structure of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency. Existing law, contained in the bistate Tahoe Regional Planning Compact in the Government Code, requires that within one year after adoption of environmental threshold carrying capacities for the Tahoe region, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency amend its regional plan so that, at a minimum, the plan and all of its elements, as implemented through agency ordinances, rules, and regulations, achieves and maintains the adopted environmental threshold carrying capacities, and requires that the advisory planning commission appointed by the agency and the governing body of the agency continuously review and maintain the regional plan. This bill would revise the compact to require that, in reviewing and maintaining the plan, the planning commission and the governing body also ensure that the regional plan reflects changing economic conditions and the economic effect of regulation on commerce. The bill would further revise the compact to require that, when adopting or amending a regional plan or taking an action or making a decision, the agency act in accordance with the requirements of the compact and its implementing ordinances, rules, and regulations and to place upon a party challenging any element of the regional plan, or an action or decision of the agency, the burden of showing that the regional plan is not in conformance with those requirements. This bill would require the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, until January 1, 2018, to annually prepare and submit to the Department of Finance and the appropriate legislative budget committees a report, in a format established by the department, of the revenues provided to the agency by the States of Nevada and California, including a complete summary and explanation of the expenditure of the revenues received and expended by the agency. (2) Under existing law, the State Lands Commission may administer, sell, lease, or dispose of public lands owned or controlled by this state. Under existing law, with specified exceptions, all rental income received for surface uses upon lands under the jurisdiction of the commission is required to be deposited in the General Fund. This bill would additionally exclude from the requirement for deposit of this rental income in the General Fund the rental income from surface uses for lands at Lake Tahoe. The bill would require this income to be deposited in the Lake Tahoe Science and Lake Improvement Account, which this bill would create in the General Fund. The bill would authorize the moneys in the account to be expended by the Natural Resources Agency, upon appropriation by the Legislature, and would require that information regarding finding activity be annually available on a publicly accessible Internet Web site. The bill would allow the funds in the account to be expended for activities and projects that include, but are not limited to, aquatic invasive species prevention projects, projects to improve public access to sovereign land in Lake Tahoe, and projects to improve near-shore water quality monitoring, as specified. The bill would also authorize the moneys in the account to be expended for the costs associated with establishing and operating a bistate science-based advisory council, and would authorize the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency to enter into a memorandum of agreement with the Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to establish the council. The bill would require the agency, or another agency designated by it, to annually make certain information available regarding any activity funded from the account.