The commission shall make a continuing review of all the matters referred to in Section 66603 and Section 66651.

In making the review, the commission shall cooperate to the fullest extent possible with the Association of Bay Area Governments; and shall, to the fullest extent possible, coordinate its planning with planning by local agencies, which shall retain the responsibility for local land use planning. To avoid duplication of work, the commission shall make maximum use of data and information available from the planning programs of the State Office of Planning and Research, the Association of Bay Area Governments, the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board, the cities and counties in the San Francisco Bay area, and other public and private planning agencies.

Pursuant to this title, the commission may provide by regulation, adopted after public hearing, for the issuance of permits by the executive director, without compliance with the above procedure, in cases of emergency, or for minor repairs to existing installations or minor improvements made anywhere within the area of jurisdiction of the commission including, without limitation, the installation of piers and pilings and maintenance dredging of navigation channels. The commission may also adopt after public hearing such additional regulations as it deems reasonable and necessary to enable it to carry out its functions efficiently and equitably, including regulations classifying the particular water-oriented uses referred to in Section 66602 and 66605.

Nothing in this title shall apply to any project where necessary local governmental approval and a Department of the Army Corps of Engineers permit have been obtained to allow commencement of the diking or filling process, and where such diking or filling process has commenced prior to the effective date of this title, nor to the continuation of dredging under existing Department of the Army Corps of Engineers permits.

Within any portion or portions of the shoreline band that are located outside the boundaries of water-oriented priority land uses, as fixed and established pursuant to Section 66611, the commission may deny an application for a permit for a proposed project only on the grounds that the project fails to provide maximum feasible public access, consistent with the proposed project, to the bay and its shoreline. When considering whether a project provides maximum feasible public access in areas of sensitive habitat, including tidal marshlands and mudflats, the commission shall, after consultation with the Department of Fish and Game, and using the best available scientific evidence, determine whether the access is compatible with wildlife protection in the bay.

The commission may:

The Legislature finds and declares that because the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission must rely on the expertise provided by volunteer members of advisory boards to make decisions which relate to the public safety, members of the advisory boards should be entitled to the same immunity from liability provided commission members and other public employees.

Members of the advisory bodies appointed pursuant to Sections 66633 and 66636 while performing duties required by this title or by the commission shall be entitled to the same rights and immunities granted public employees by Article 3 (commencing with Section 820) of Chapter 1 of Part 2 of Division 3.6 of Title 1. Those rights and immunities are deemed to have attached and shall attach as of the date of appointment of a member to the advisory body. This provision shall apply to members appointed to the Engineering Criteria Review Board (14 Cal. Adm. Code 10298), the Design Review Board (14 Cal. Adm. Code 10295), and any other advisory bodies created pursuant to Sections 66633 and 66636.

The commission shall, in addition to any funds which the Legislature may appropriate for planning activities of the commission, take whatever steps are necessary to attempt to obtain money available of such planning activities from any federal, state, or local sources.

The commission shall appoint an executive director who shall have charge of administering the affairs of the commission, subject to the direction and policies of the commission. The executive director shall, subject to approval of the commission, appoint such employees as may be necessary in order to carry out the functions of the commission.

Within a reasonable time, but not to exceed one year from the date of the first meeting of the commission, the chairman of the commission, in collaboration with and with the concurrence of the commission, shall appoint a citizens’ advisory committee to assist and advise the commission in carrying out its functions. The advisory committee shall consist of not more than 20 members.

At least one member of the advisory committee shall be a representative of a public agency having jurisdiction over harbor facilities, and another shall represent a public agency having jurisdiction over airport facilities. The advisory committee shall also include representatives of conservation and recreation organizations, and at least one biologist, one sociologist, one geologist, one architect, one landscape architect, one representative of an industrial development board or commission, and one owner of privately held lands within the San Francisco Bay as defined in Section 66610.

The commission shall create and implement all of the following by the end of the 2020–21 fiscal year:

No person shall be subject to both civil liability imposed under Section 66641.6 and civil liability imposed by the superior court under Section 66641.5 for the same act or failure to act.

The commission may hold any hearings and conduct any investigations in any part of the state necessary to carry out the powers vested in it, and for such purposes shall have the same power to conduct investigations and hearings as those conferred upon the heads of state departments by Article 2 (commencing with Section 11180) of Chapter 2 of Division 3 of Title 2.

Upon authorization of the commission, any member of the commission or its designated representative may conduct a hearing or investigation of the commission. Any final action of the commission shall only be taken by a majority of all the members of the commission, at a meeting duly called and held.

All hearings held by the commission or by any designated representative of the commission shall be open and public.

Notwithstanding any other provision of this title, except subdivisions (b) and (c) of Section 66645, and notwithstanding any provision of Division 19 (commencing with Section 29000) of the Public Resources Code, new or expanded thermal electric generating plants may be constructed within the Suisun Marsh, as defined in Section 29101 of the Public Resources Code, or the area of jurisdiction of the commission, if the proposed site has been determined, pursuant to the provisions of Section 25516.1 of the Public Resources Code, by the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to have greater relative merit than available alternative sites and related facilities for an applicant’s service area which have been determined to be acceptable pursuant to the provisions of Section 25516 of the Public Resources Code.

The Legislature finds that the State Water Resources Control Board and the California Regional Water Quality Control Board for the San Francisco Bay Region have the responsibility for establishing the beneficial uses of the waters of San Francisco Bay and setting water quality objectives to protect these uses, and have the primary responsibility for coordination, control, and enforcement of water quality in San Francisco Bay. The policies, decisions, advice, and authority of these boards should be the primary basis for the commission to carry out its water quality responsibilities in San Francisco Bay.

The San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, in coordination with local governments, regional councils of government, and other agencies and interested parties, may develop regional strategies, as needed, for addressing the impacts of, and adapting to, the effects of sea level rise and other impacts of global climate change on the San Francisco Bay and affected shoreline areas. These regional strategies may include, but are not limited to, the following:

executive director, when appropriated by the Legislature, for the purposes of removing fill, resource enhancement,

enforcement, and performing any other remedial cleanup or abatement actions within the commission’s jurisdiction, including for funding of technology, services, programs, and personnel that directly support these purposes.

Fees collected by the commission pursuant to conditions imposed on permit applicants to mitigate the adverse impacts of permitted development, and any funds paid into the Bay Fill Clean-up and Abatement Fund established by Section 66647, may be transferred to the subaccount of the San Francisco Bay Area Conservancy Program Account established under subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) of Section 31164 of the Public Resources Code or to a substantially similar account in a coastal trust fund, or its equivalent if enacted into law, with the concurrence of the State Coastal Conservancy, to be expended by the conservancy pursuant to its authority under Division 21 (commencing with Section 31000) of the Public Resources Code to carry out the mitigation required under the commission’s permit, or for the purposes set forth in subdivision (b) of Section 66647, as determined by the commission.