AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 17, 2023

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

96

CHAPTER 80

Statutes of 2023

[ Approved by Governor July 21, 2023. Filed with Secretary of State July 21, 2023. ]

Introduced by Assembly Member Boerner

(Coauthors: Assembly Members Petrie-Norris, Ward, and Weber)

December 13, 2022

An act to amend Section 92685 of the Education Code, relating to coastal resources.

Vote: majority   Appropriation: no   Fiscal committee: yes   Local program: no

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

Existing law requires the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to conduct research on coastal cliff landslides and erosion in the County of San Diego, to be completed by January 1, 2025. Existing law requires the institution to conduct real-time measurements of land deformation to identify and analyze conditions that precede catastrophic bluff failure on 2 specified sites as a condition of receiving funds. Existing law requires the institution to provide a report to the Legislature with recommendations for developing a coastal cliff landslide and erosion early warning system based on available research no later than March 15, 2025.

This bill would require those real-time measurements, and identification and analysis of those conditions, for a 3rd specified site as a condition of receiving that funding, and would extend the deadline for the research to be completed to January 1, 2026. The bill would also extend the deadline for the institution to provide the report and recommendations to the Legislature to March 30, 2026.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

Section 92685 of the Education Code is amended to read:

92685.

(a) Upon appropriation by the Legislature, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, shall conduct research on coastal cliff landslides and erosion in the County of San Diego. As a condition of receiving funds pursuant to this section, the research conducted pursuant to this section shall involve both of the following:

(1) Developing a bluff failure database using historical records combined with analysis of recent and future coastal survey data. This database shall be used to establish landslide size frequency statistics, quantify failure rates, and identify erosion hot spots.

(2) Conducting real-time measurements of land deformation, to identify and analyze conditions that precede catastrophic bluff failure, on the following sites:

(A) Beacons Beach in the City of Encinitas.

(B) The City of Del Mar.

(C) San Elijo State Beach in the Cardiff area of the City of Encinitas.

(b) (1) The research described in subdivision (a) shall be completed no later than January 1, 2026. No later than March 30, 2026, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography shall, as a condition of receiving funds pursuant to this section, provide a report to the Legislature with recommendations for developing a coastal cliff landslide and erosion early warning system based on available research.

(2) A report submitted pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.

(3) The requirement for submitting a report imposed under paragraph (1) is inoperative on March 30, 2030, pursuant to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code.

(c) The Regents of the University of California and its employees, acting in good faith, shall not be civilly liable for any harm resulting from measurements, predictions, or warnings regarding bluff failure, cliff landslides, or erosion contained in the report or from the research described in subdivision (a) or related to the recommendations described in subdivision (b). This subdivision does not absolve the Regents of the University of California and its employees from liability under existing law for damages as a result of acts or omissions constituting gross negligence or willful or wanton misconduct.

(d) The limitation of liability in subdivision (c) applies only to the Regents of the University of California and its employees. It does not apply to any other state or local agency.