66700. This title shall be known and may be cited as the San
Francisco Bay Restoration Authority Act.
66700.5. The Legislature hereby finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) The nine counties surrounding the San Francisco Bay constitute
a region with unique natural resource and outdoor recreational
needs. The San Francisco Bay is the region's greatest natural
resource and its central feature and contributes greatly to
California's economic health and vitality. The bay is a hub of an
interconnected open-space system of watersheds, natural habitats,
scenic areas, agricultural lands, and regional trails.
(b) As the largest estuary on the West Coast of the United States,
the San Francisco Bay is home to hundreds of fish and wildlife
species and provides many outdoor recreational opportunities. The San
Francisco Bay is home to 105 threatened species and 23 endangered
species of wildlife. The San Francisco Bay and its tidal and seasonal
wetlands and other natural shoreline habitats are a significant part
of the state's coastal resources and a healthy bay is necessary to
support the state's human and wildlife populations.
(c) The Legislature has declared, in the California Ocean
Protection Act, that California's coastal and ocean resources are
critical to the state's environmental and economic security and
integral to the state's quality of life.
(d) A healthy San Francisco Bay is essential to a healthy ocean
ecosystem. Forty percent of the land in the state drains to the San
Francisco Bay. Pollution from cars, homes, and neighborhoods around
the bay, as well as from communities as far away as Fresno, Redding,
and Sacramento, drains into creeks, streams, and rivers that flow to
the bay before entering the Pacific Ocean.
(e) The San Francisco Bay is an estuary that is a critical nursery
for many ocean species, and the bay's wetlands, which are sheltered
from high winds, big waves, and fast-moving water, provide plentiful
food and protection from ocean predators. The bay's fertile mixing
zone of fresh and salty water also generates the ocean's food chain
base.
(f) The restoration, preservation, and maintenance of vital
wetlands and San Francisco Bay habitat, improvement of bay water
quality, provision of public access to the bay shoreline, and
enhancement of shoreline recreational amenities for the growing
population of the San Francisco Bay Area are immediate state and
regional priorities that are necessary to address continuing serious
threats posed by pollution and sprawl and to improve the region's
quality of life.
(g) Wetland restoration in the San Francisco Bay is necessary to
address the growing danger that global warming and rises in sea level
pose to the economic well-being, public health, natural resources,
and environment of California. Tidal wetlands can both assist with
tidal and fluvial flood management and adapt to rises in sea level by
accreting additional sediment and rising in elevation. Leading
scientists from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the
United States government have found that the restoration of lost
wetlands represents an immediate and large opportunity for enhancing
terrestrial carbon sequestration.
(h) The importance of protecting and restoring the San Francisco
Bay's tidal wetlands and other natural habitat was underscored by the
2007 Cosco Busan oil spill, and the critical importance of
restoration projects and the long-term health of the bay are
well-documented in regional plans and reports, including the San
Francisco Estuary Project's Comprehensive Conservation and Management
Plan, the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission'
s San Francisco Bay Plan, the Baylands Ecosystem Habitat Goals
Report, the San Francisco Bay Joint Venture's "Restoring the Estuary"
Implementation Strategy, the Resources Agency report, "California's
Ocean Economy," and the Save The Bay's "Greening the Bay" report.
(i) The protection and restoration of the San Francisco Bay
require efficient and effective use of public funds, leveraging of
local funds with state and federal resources, and investment of
significant resources over a sustained period for habitat restoration
on shoreline parcels, parks, and recreational facilities, and public
access to natural areas.
(j) The protection and restoration of the San Francisco Bay and
the enhancement of its shoreline confer special benefits on property
proximate to the bay. Properties proximate to the bay receive special
benefits from the contribution of a healthy and vibrant bay to the
region's economy and quality of life, including improved access to
the bay's shoreline, enhanced recreational amenities in the area, and
protection from flooding.
(k) The San Francisco Bay Area needs to develop regional
mechanisms to generate and allocate additional resources to address
threats to the San Francisco Bay and to secure opportunities for the
improvement of the bay and its shoreline, natural areas, and
recreational facilities.
(l) It is in the public interest to create the San Francisco Bay
Restoration Authority as a regional entity to generate and allocate
resources for the protection and enhancement of tidal wetlands and
other wildlife habitat in and surrounding the San Francisco Bay.
66700. This title shall be known and may be cited as the San
Francisco Bay Restoration Authority Act.
66700.5. The Legislature hereby finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) The nine counties surrounding the San Francisco Bay constitute
a region with unique natural resource and outdoor recreational
needs. The San Francisco Bay is the region's greatest natural
resource and its central feature and contributes greatly to
California's economic health and vitality. The bay is a hub of an
interconnected open-space system of watersheds, natural habitats,
scenic areas, agricultural lands, and regional trails.
(b) As the largest estuary on the West Coast of the United States,
the San Francisco Bay is home to hundreds of fish and wildlife
species and provides many outdoor recreational opportunities. The San
Francisco Bay is home to 105 threatened species and 23 endangered
species of wildlife. The San Francisco Bay and its tidal and seasonal
wetlands and other natural shoreline habitats are a significant part
of the state's coastal resources and a healthy bay is necessary to
support the state's human and wildlife populations.
(c) The Legislature has declared, in the California Ocean
Protection Act, that California's coastal and ocean resources are
critical to the state's environmental and economic security and
integral to the state's quality of life.
(d) A healthy San Francisco Bay is essential to a healthy ocean
ecosystem. Forty percent of the land in the state drains to the San
Francisco Bay. Pollution from cars, homes, and neighborhoods around
the bay, as well as from communities as far away as Fresno, Redding,
and Sacramento, drains into creeks, streams, and rivers that flow to
the bay before entering the Pacific Ocean.
(e) The San Francisco Bay is an estuary that is a critical nursery
for many ocean species, and the bay's wetlands, which are sheltered
from high winds, big waves, and fast-moving water, provide plentiful
food and protection from ocean predators. The bay's fertile mixing
zone of fresh and salty water also generates the ocean's food chain
base.
(f) The restoration, preservation, and maintenance of vital
wetlands and San Francisco Bay habitat, improvement of bay water
quality, provision of public access to the bay shoreline, and
enhancement of shoreline recreational amenities for the growing
population of the San Francisco Bay Area are immediate state and
regional priorities that are necessary to address continuing serious
threats posed by pollution and sprawl and to improve the region's
quality of life.
(g) Wetland restoration in the San Francisco Bay is necessary to
address the growing danger that global warming and rises in sea level
pose to the economic well-being, public health, natural resources,
and environment of California. Tidal wetlands can both assist with
tidal and fluvial flood management and adapt to rises in sea level by
accreting additional sediment and rising in elevation. Leading
scientists from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the
United States government have found that the restoration of lost
wetlands represents an immediate and large opportunity for enhancing
terrestrial carbon sequestration.
(h) The importance of protecting and restoring the San Francisco
Bay's tidal wetlands and other natural habitat was underscored by the
2007 Cosco Busan oil spill, and the critical importance of
restoration projects and the long-term health of the bay are
well-documented in regional plans and reports, including the San
Francisco Estuary Project's Comprehensive Conservation and Management
Plan, the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission'
s San Francisco Bay Plan, the Baylands Ecosystem Habitat Goals
Report, the San Francisco Bay Joint Venture's "Restoring the Estuary"
Implementation Strategy, the Resources Agency report, "California's
Ocean Economy," and the Save The Bay's "Greening the Bay" report.
(i) The protection and restoration of the San Francisco Bay
require efficient and effective use of public funds, leveraging of
local funds with state and federal resources, and investment of
significant resources over a sustained period for habitat restoration
on shoreline parcels, parks, and recreational facilities, and public
access to natural areas.
(j) The protection and restoration of the San Francisco Bay and
the enhancement of its shoreline confer special benefits on property
proximate to the bay. Properties proximate to the bay receive special
benefits from the contribution of a healthy and vibrant bay to the
region's economy and quality of life, including improved access to
the bay's shoreline, enhanced recreational amenities in the area, and
protection from flooding.
(k) The San Francisco Bay Area needs to develop regional
mechanisms to generate and allocate additional resources to address
threats to the San Francisco Bay and to secure opportunities for the
improvement of the bay and its shoreline, natural areas, and
recreational facilities.
(l) It is in the public interest to create the San Francisco Bay
Restoration Authority as a regional entity to generate and allocate
resources for the protection and enhancement of tidal wetlands and
other wildlife habitat in and surrounding the San Francisco Bay.
66700. This title shall be known and may be cited as the San
Francisco Bay Restoration Authority Act.
66700.5. The Legislature hereby finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) The nine counties surrounding the San Francisco Bay constitute
a region with unique natural resource and outdoor recreational
needs. The San Francisco Bay is the region's greatest natural
resource and its central feature and contributes greatly to
California's economic health and vitality. The bay is a hub of an
interconnected open-space system of watersheds, natural habitats,
scenic areas, agricultural lands, and regional trails.
(b) As the largest estuary on the West Coast of the United States,
the San Francisco Bay is home to hundreds of fish and wildlife
species and provides many outdoor recreational opportunities. The San
Francisco Bay is home to 105 threatened species and 23 endangered
species of wildlife. The San Francisco Bay and its tidal and seasonal
wetlands and other natural shoreline habitats are a significant part
of the state's coastal resources and a healthy bay is necessary to
support the state's human and wildlife populations.
(c) The Legislature has declared, in the California Ocean
Protection Act, that California's coastal and ocean resources are
critical to the state's environmental and economic security and
integral to the state's quality of life.
(d) A healthy San Francisco Bay is essential to a healthy ocean
ecosystem. Forty percent of the land in the state drains to the San
Francisco Bay. Pollution from cars, homes, and neighborhoods around
the bay, as well as from communities as far away as Fresno, Redding,
and Sacramento, drains into creeks, streams, and rivers that flow to
the bay before entering the Pacific Ocean.
(e) The San Francisco Bay is an estuary that is a critical nursery
for many ocean species, and the bay's wetlands, which are sheltered
from high winds, big waves, and fast-moving water, provide plentiful
food and protection from ocean predators. The bay's fertile mixing
zone of fresh and salty water also generates the ocean's food chain
base.
(f) The restoration, preservation, and maintenance of vital
wetlands and San Francisco Bay habitat, improvement of bay water
quality, provision of public access to the bay shoreline, and
enhancement of shoreline recreational amenities for the growing
population of the San Francisco Bay Area are immediate state and
regional priorities that are necessary to address continuing serious
threats posed by pollution and sprawl and to improve the region's
quality of life.
(g) Wetland restoration in the San Francisco Bay is necessary to
address the growing danger that global warming and rises in sea level
pose to the economic well-being, public health, natural resources,
and environment of California. Tidal wetlands can both assist with
tidal and fluvial flood management and adapt to rises in sea level by
accreting additional sediment and rising in elevation. Leading
scientists from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the
United States government have found that the restoration of lost
wetlands represents an immediate and large opportunity for enhancing
terrestrial carbon sequestration.
(h) The importance of protecting and restoring the San Francisco
Bay's tidal wetlands and other natural habitat was underscored by the
2007 Cosco Busan oil spill, and the critical importance of
restoration projects and the long-term health of the bay are
well-documented in regional plans and reports, including the San
Francisco Estuary Project's Comprehensive Conservation and Management
Plan, the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission'
s San Francisco Bay Plan, the Baylands Ecosystem Habitat Goals
Report, the San Francisco Bay Joint Venture's "Restoring the Estuary"
Implementation Strategy, the Resources Agency report, "California's
Ocean Economy," and the Save The Bay's "Greening the Bay" report.
(i) The protection and restoration of the San Francisco Bay
require efficient and effective use of public funds, leveraging of
local funds with state and federal resources, and investment of
significant resources over a sustained period for habitat restoration
on shoreline parcels, parks, and recreational facilities, and public
access to natural areas.
(j) The protection and restoration of the San Francisco Bay and
the enhancement of its shoreline confer special benefits on property
proximate to the bay. Properties proximate to the bay receive special
benefits from the contribution of a healthy and vibrant bay to the
region's economy and quality of life, including improved access to
the bay's shoreline, enhanced recreational amenities in the area, and
protection from flooding.
(k) The San Francisco Bay Area needs to develop regional
mechanisms to generate and allocate additional resources to address
threats to the San Francisco Bay and to secure opportunities for the
improvement of the bay and its shoreline, natural areas, and
recreational facilities.
(l) It is in the public interest to create the San Francisco Bay
Restoration Authority as a regional entity to generate and allocate
resources for the protection and enhancement of tidal wetlands and
other wildlife habitat in and surrounding the San Francisco Bay.
