SACRAMENTO – Assemblymember John Laird today introduced AB 156, a bill which would direct the State Department of Water Resources to make myriad changes to Central Valley levee emergency preparedness and emergency response programs and planning.  The bill makes significant improvements to management of a levee system inspired by a major flood in 1907 that inundated approximately 300,000 acres in the Sacramento Valley.

“As we move through another winter storm season without major improvements to our vital levee system, the pressure to work collaboratively in the legislature, as well as with the governor and local governments, grows,” said Assemblymember Laird, chair of the Assembly Budget Committee.  “This bill takes a significant step toward improving safety and encouraging shared responsibility.”

AB 156 would direct the Department of Water Resources to prepare reports on the levees, obtain information from local levee districts, establish mitigation banks, provide annual warning notices to landowners, map flood-prone areas, and to undertake maintenance work on levees that is not being properly done by local districts. 

The bill would also require urban areas that receive state funds for levee upgrades to prepare levee safety plans that would include levee patrols, evacuation plans and dewatering plans in case the area experiences a flood.

For more on the 1907 flood:   www.wrh.noaa.gov/pqr/paststorms/california10.php#March%201907%20and%20January%201909%20Floods

Previous Laird Levee Legislation

In 2005 Mr. Laird authored AB 1200, a bill that required the state Department of Water Resources and the state Department of Fish and Game to evaluate the impacts of a failure of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta levee system and rate the options for addressing the risk of levee failure.  The bill was sponsored by the Silicon Valley Leadership Group and the Sierra Club.  The bill was signed into law by Governor Schwarzenegger.

In 2006 Mr. Laird authored AB 2348, a bill to that authorizes the state to share half of the local costs of the Pajaro River levee improvement project.  The Pajaro River forms the boundary between Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties.  More than 50,000 people live behind the Pajaro River levees, which currently provide 8-year flood protection.  The bill was signed into law by Governor Schwarzenegger.

Also in 2006, Mr. Laird authored AB 1665 and AB 2500, bills that focused on maintenance and emergency preparedness.