AB 70: Flood protection liability

When homes in Yuba County were damaged by a 1986 flood, a state court found that the state was liable for the damage because even though the levee that broke was built by Yuba County, it subsequently became part of a state flood control project. That far-reaching decision heightened the importance of making sound decisions about where to locate housing. AB 70 (Jones) makes a local government jointly liable, with the state, for property damage from a flood if it unreasonably allows new development in a previously undeveloped area that is protected by a state flood control project.