Existing law establishes the Central Valley Flood Protection Board and authorizes the board to engage in various flood control activities along the Sacramento River, the San Joaquin River, their tributaries, and related areas. Existing law requires every plan of reclamation, flood control, drainage, improvement, dredging, or work, that includes or contemplates the construction, enlargement, revetment, or alteration of any levee, embankment, canal, or other excavation in the bed of or along or near the banks of the Sacramento or San Joaquin Rivers or any of their tributaries or connected therewith, upon any land adjacent thereto, within any of the overflow basins thereof, or upon any land susceptible to overflow therefrom, to be approved by the board before construction is commenced. Existing law prohibits a levee along a river or bypass at any of those specified places, or any levee forming part of any adopted flood control plan, from being cut or altered without permission of the board. Existing law makes a violation of the latter provisions a misdemeanor.

This bill would instead prohibit a person from concealing, defacing, destroying, modifying, cutting, altering, or physically or visually obstructing any levee along a river or bypass at any of those specified places, any levee forming part of any flood control plan, or any other facility of the State Plan of Flood Control, including, but not limited to, any and all associated rights of way, without permission of the board. By expanding the behavior that would be punishable as a misdemeanor, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would authorize the board or its designee, or a local agency that maintains the levee or facility, to inspect and remove move any physical or visual obstructions placed or alterations made on any of the above-specified levees or facilities, including, but not limited to, any and all associated rights of way. The bill would authorize a peace officer, as defined, to enforce those provisions punishable by a misdemeanor in any place in the state to which the peace officer’s authority extends.

This bill would declare, among other things, that facilities of the State Plan of Flood Control are critical public infrastructure necessary for the protection of life, property, and the economy.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.