(a) Consistent with this part, state agencies shall take into account the current and future impacts of climate change when planning, designing, building, operating, maintaining and investing in state infrastructure.
(b) (1) By July 1, 2017, the agency shall establish a Climate-Safe Infrastructure Working Group for the purpose of examining how to integrate scientific data concerning projected climate change impacts into state infrastructure engineering, including oversight, investment, design, and construction.
(2) The working group shall consist of the following:
(A) Professional engineers registered in accordance with Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 6700) of Division 3 of the Business and Professions Code with relevant expertise in state infrastructure design from the Department of Transportation, the Department of Water Resources, the Department of General Services, and other relevant state agencies, as applicable.
(B) Scientists from the University of California, the California State University, and other institutions who have expertise in climate change projections and impacts across California.
(C) Licensed architects with relevant experience in state infrastructure design, as applicable.
(3) The two groups specified in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (2) shall be equitably represented in the membership of the working group, to the extent reasonable and appropriate.
(4) The working group shall work in coordination with other state climate adaptation planning efforts and shall consider and build upon existing information produced by the state, including information from the most recent California Climate Change Assessment conducted pursuant to Executive Order S-3-05, the plan, and the State of California Sea-Level Rise Guidance Document completed pursuant to Executive Order S-13-08, among other resources.
(5) The working group shall work in coordination with other state agencies that advance sustainability in infrastructure, including the council and the Government Operations Agency.
(c) The working group shall consider and investigate, at a minimum, the following issues:
(1) The current informational and institutional barriers to integrating projected climate change impacts into state infrastructure design.
(2) The critical information that engineers responsible for infrastructure design and construction need to address climate change impacts.
(3) How to select an appropriate engineering design for a range of future climate scenarios as related to infrastructure planning and investment.
(d) (1) By July 1, 2018, the working group shall make recommendations to the Legislature that address the issues listed in subdivision (c), including recommendations for all of the following:
(A) Integrating scientific knowledge of projected climate change impacts into state infrastructure design.
(B) Addressing critical information gaps identified by the working group.
(C) A platform or process to facilitate communication between climate scientists and infrastructure engineers.
(2) By July 1, 2018, the recommendations submitted pursuant to paragraph (1) also shall be submitted to the council to inform its review, conducted pursuant to Section 75125, of the five-year infrastructure plan developed pursuant to Article 2 (commencing with Section 13100) of Chapter 2 of Part 3 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
(e) This section shall become inoperative on July 1, 2020, and, as of January 1, 2021, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that becomes operative on or before January 1, 2021, deletes or extends the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.
(Added by Stats. 2016, Ch. 580, Sec. 2. (AB 2800) Effective January 1, 2017.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018