The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a) California has 1,264 miles of coastline, and, if small bays and inlets are included, it has up to 3,000 miles of coastline located on the western seaboard of the United States, all of which is prone to the severe and pervasive effects of sea level rise.

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(b) According to the “State of California Sea-Level Rise Guidance Document” issued by the Natural Resources Agency and the Ocean Protection Council, the impacts of sea level rise on the state will be significant and pervasive, and could occur as soon as within the next decade.

(c) (1) As with most impacts from climate change, the impacts of sea level rise are both environmental and economic, including losses to publicly owned infrastructure, such as airports, rail lines, streets and highways, pipelines, waste water treatment plants, schools, hospitals, and other facilities.

(2) For example, the catastrophic inundation, flooding, and property damage from a small rise in sea level, combined with a 1-in-10 likelihood of a Pacific storm, could amount to tens of billions of dollars in uninsured losses of structures and properties.

(3) A 2015 assessment by the Risky Business Project, led by former United States Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson and other business leaders, found that between eight billion dollars ($8,000,000,000) and ten billion dollars ($10,000,000,000) of existing property in the state is likely to be underwater by the year 2050 if current trends continue.

(4) According to the 2015 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report, The National Significance of California’s Coastal Economy, “California’s 19 coastal counties generated $662 billion in wages and $1.7 trillion in GDP in 2012” and “California’s ocean-related activities represent a substantial portion of the U.S. ocean economy as a whole-13 percent of the establishments, 14 percent of the employment and wages, and 12 percent of the GDP in 2012,” all of which would be adversely affected by sea level rise.

(5) Recent reports in periodicals, such as the Los Angeles Times, state succinctly that “Destruction from sea level rise in California could exceed worst wildfires and earthquakes.”

(d) For the economy, the natural environment, and the people of California, it is urgent that the state enact new statutes to plan for, anticipate, and respond to sea level rise.

(e) The purpose of this division is to establish new planning, assessment, funding, and mitigation tools for California to address and respond to sea level rise.

(Added by Stats. 2021, Ch. 236, Sec. 5. (SB 1) Effective January 1, 2022.)