Baldwin Hills Conservancy: urban watersheds conservancy expansion.

(1) The Baldwin Hills Conservancy Act establishes, until January 1, 2026, in the Natural Resources Agency, the Baldwin Hills Conservancy, created with the purpose, among other purposes, to acquire and manage public lands within the Baldwin Hills area, as defined. This bill would expand the area covered by the conservancy to include the southern Ballona Creek Watershed, as defined, and the Upper Dominguez Channel, as defined. The bill would rename the conservancy the Baldwin Hills and Urban Watersheds Conservancy and make conforming changes. The bill would repeal the January 1, 2026, sunset date, thereby extending the act indefinitely. (2) The act requires the conservancy's governing board to consist of 13 voting members, including one member from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors within whose district the majority of the Baldwin Hills area is located. The act requires 6 of these members to be appointed by the Governor with 4 out of that 6 to be residents of specified areas. This bill would delete the above provisions relating to those members and expand the voting membership of the conservancy's board to consist of 15 voting members by including the mayors of the Cities of Los Angeles and Culver City, an appointee from the South Bay Cities Council of Governments, and a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors representing District 2. The bill would require the Governor to appoint 5 of the voting members, who are nominated by a city council or a neighborhood empowerment group, as provided. The act requires the conservancy's board to also consist of 7 nonvoting members. This bill would expand the nonvoting membership of the conservancy's board to consist of 12 nonvoting members by including the Director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works, among others, as provided. (3) The act requires the conservancy to do certain things, including develop and coordinate an integrated program of resource stewardship so that the entire area is managed for optimum recreational and natural resource values, as provided. This bill would also require the entire area to be managed for optimum climate resilience. The act also requires the conservancy, as part of its duties, to approve conservancy funded projects, enter into a memorandum of understanding with the Department of Parks and Recreation, and approve specified master plans, among other things, as provided. This bill would delete these duties and would instead require the conservancy to carry out projects and activities to further the purposes of the act, study the potential environmental and recreational uses of the Baldwin Hills, southern Ballona Creek Watershed, and Upper Dominguez Channel area, and develop and adopt a proposed watershed and open-space plan for improvements in the conservancy territory, as provided. The bill would require a report on this plan to be provided to the Legislature on or before January 1, 2023. (4) The act requires the conservancy to administer any funds appropriated to it and any revenue generated by public agencies for the Baldwin Hills area and contributed to the conservancy, and authorizes the conservancy to expend those funds for capital improvements, land acquisition, or support of the conservancy's operations. This bill would require the conservancy to additionally administer any funds appropriated to it for these purposes from any future bond act or local initiative measure, as provided. (5) In addition, this bill would establish the Baldwin Hills, Southern Ballona Creek Watershed, and Upper Dominguez Channel Urban Watershed Improvement Program, to be administered by the conservancy, for climate change adaptation improvements, to protect, conserve, and restore the health and resilience of the watersheds and communities of the region, as provided.