BILL NUMBER: AB 1760	CHAPTERED  05/16/02

	CHAPTER  41
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE  MAY 16, 2002
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR  MAY 15, 2002
	PASSED THE SENATE  MAY 8, 2002
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY  APRIL 4, 2002

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member John Campbell

                        JANUARY 8, 2002

   An act to amend Section 31.5 of the Orange County Water District
Act (Chapter 924 of the Statutes of 1933), relating to water.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1760, John Campbell.  Orange County Water District.
   The Orange County Water District Act provides for basin equity
assessments and production requirements and limitations on persons
and operators within the district and requires each person or
operator not excluded, to file a basin equity assessment report on or
before the 30th day of September of each year, setting forth the
total amounts of water produced from groundwater within the district
and from supplemental sources during the preceding water year.  If
the person or operator fails to file a basin equity assessment report
on or before that date the district must assess a penalty charge
against that person or operator.
   This bill would, instead, mandate the assessment of the penalty if
the person or operator fails to file a basin equity assessment
report on or before the 30th day of November of each year.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  Section 31.5 of the Orange County Water District Act
(Chapter 924 of the Statutes of 1933) is amended to read:
  Sec. 31.5.  (a) Basin equity assessments and production
requirements and limitations on persons and operators within the
district are declared to be in furtherance of district activities in
the protection of water supplies for users within the district which
are necessary for the public health, welfare, and safety of the
people of this state.  The basin equity assessments and the
production requirements and limitations provided for in this act may
be imposed upon, and applied to, all persons and producers within the
district for the benefit of all who rely directly or indirectly upon
the groundwater supplies of the district.
   (b) The basin equity assessments imposed pursuant to this act
against all persons and operators within the district may be uniform
or nonuniform in amount, as determined by the board of directors of
the district, in order to effectuate the goals and purposes of the
district.  The proceeds of the basin equity assessments imposed and
collected shall be used to equalize the cost of water to all persons
and operators within the district and to acquire water to replenish
the groundwater supplies of the district.
   (c) As used in this act:
   (1) "Supplemental sources" means sources of water outside the
watershed of the Santa Ana River, excepting that portion of that
watershed on and along Santiago Creek upstream of the downstream toe
of the slope of the Villa Park Flood Control Dam, such as, but not
limited to, water produced from the Metropolitan Water District of
Southern California.
   (2) "Basin production percentage" means the ratio that all water
to be produced from groundwater supplies within the district bears to
all water to be produced by persons and operators within the
district from supplemental sources and from groundwater within the
district during the ensuing water year.
   (d) The district shall annually order an engineer employed by the
district to prepare an investigation and report.  The investigation
and report shall set forth all of the following information, together
with other information requested by the district, relating to the
preceding water year:
   (1) Amount of water produced by persons and operators from
groundwater within the district.
   (2) Amount of water produced by persons and operators from
supplemental sources.
   (3) Amount of water produced by persons and operators from all
other sources.
   (4) Condition of groundwater supplies within the district.
   (5) Information as to the probable availability of water from
supplemental sources during the next succeeding fiscal year.
   (6) The cost of producing water from groundwater within the
district, including any replenishment assessment of the district.
   (7) The cost of water produced within the district from
supplemental sources.
   (e) (1) On the second Wednesday in February of each year, the
engineering investigation and report shall be delivered to the
secretary of the district.
   (2) The secretary shall publish, pursuant to Section 6061 of the
Government Code, a notice of the receipt of the report and of the
public hearing to be held on the date of a meeting of the board of
directors in March, in a newspaper of general circulation printed and
published within the district, at least 10 days prior to the date at
which the public hearing regarding water supplies within the
district is to be held.
   (3) The notice, among any other information that the district may
provide, shall include an invitation to all persons or operators
within the district to call at the offices of the district to examine
the engineering investigation and report.
   (4) The board of directors shall hold on the date of a meeting of
the board in March of each year, a public hearing at which a person
or operator within the district, or any person interested in the
amounts and source from which all persons and operators produce their
total supply of water, as well as the estimated difference in the
cost of water produced from groundwater within the district or
supplemental sources, may appear and be heard, in person or by
representative.
   (f) (1) On the date of a meeting of the board of directors in
April of each year, the board of directors shall hold a public
hearing to determine the need and desirability of imposing basin
equity assessments and the amounts thereof, the need for establishing
production requirements and limitations, and the extent of those
requirements and limitations as to each person or operator within the
district for the ensuing water year.
   (2) In computing and fixing the amount of any basin equity
assessment for any person or operator within the district, the board
may allow a percentage for delinquencies, not to exceed 10 percent,
as determined by the board.
   (3) Notice of the proposed hearing shall be published in the
district pursuant to Section 6061 of the Government Code at least 10
days prior to the date set for the hearing.
   (4) The notice shall set forth all of the following:
   (A) That a report regarding water supplies within the district has
been prepared.
   (B) The date, time, and place of the proposed hearing.
   (C) A statement that the board will consider at the hearing the
need and desirability of imposing basin equity assessments and the
amounts of those assessments, as well as establishing production
requirements and limitations, on persons and operators within the
district for the ensuing water year and surcharges in connection with
those requirements and limitations.
   (D) An invitation to all persons and operators to appear at the
public hearing and be heard in regard to any of the foregoing
matters.
   (g) (1) At the hearing, the board shall hear, take, and receive
all competent evidence presented regarding the need for basin equity
assessments, production requirements and limitations in general, and
specifically, the extent of those requirements or limitations as to
each person or operator within the district, the amount of the basin
equity assessment which shall be imposed upon each person and
operator for all purposes other than irrigation at uniform or
nonuniform rates and may be imposed upon each person and operator for
irrigation purposes at uniform or nonuniform rates for the ensuing
water year, and the amount of surcharges for production in excess of
the basin production limitations.
   (2) After the hearing, the board may, by a resolution adopted by a
vote of not less than eight members of the board, find and determine
for the ensuing water year all of the following:
   (A) The estimated total amount of water to be produced by all
persons and operators within the district from the groundwater within
the district and the estimated amount to be produced by persons and
operators from supplemental sources.
   (B) The basin production percentage.
   (C) That a basin equity assessment and production requirement and
limitation from groundwater within the district are necessary for the
protection of the water supply of the district.
   (D) The surcharge, in an amount to be determined in the discretion
of the board, for production in excess of the production
limitations.
   (E) The amount of the basin equity assessment to be imposed upon
each person and operator in a dollar amount per acre-foot of water
produced from the groundwater supply for all purposes other than
irrigation, which need not be uniform as to each person or operator
within the district, and that the amount is reasonable.
   (F) The amount of the basin equity assessment to be imposed upon
each person and operator in a dollar amount per acre-foot of water
produced from the groundwater supply for irrigation purposes, which
need not be uniform as to each person or operator within the
district, and that the amount is reasonable.
   (G) Production requirements or limitations and the surcharge for
production in excess of the basin production limitations on persons
and operators within the district that will apply during the ensuing
water year.  The requirements and limitations shall be on the amount
of groundwater produced by those persons and operators expressed in a
percentage of overall water produced or obtained by those persons or
operators from groundwater within the district and from supplemental
sources.
   (H) That during the ensuing water year, upon the district giving
published notice pursuant to Section 6061 of the Government Code in a
newspaper of general circulation printed and published within the
district at least 10 days prior to such a hearing, a subsequent
public hearing may be held to modify the basin production percentage,
any basin equity assessment, any production requirement or
limitation, or the surcharge for production in excess of the
production limitation established by the district.  A modification,
if any, shall be effective on the date established by the board and
the district.  The district shall give notice of the modification 10
days prior to the effective date of the modification pursuant to
subdivision (e).
   (h) (1) The board may exclude all persons and operators who
produced 25 acre-feet or less of water from groundwater within the
district during the ensuing water year from the imposition of the
basin equity assessment and the production requirements and
limitations.
   (2) All findings and determinations made by the board pursuant to
this section are final, conclusive, and binding upon all persons and
parties.
   (i) (1) The district shall thereafter, and in any event prior to
July 1 in each year, give notice to each person or operator within
the district.  The notice shall include all of the following
information:
   (A) The amount of the basin equity assessment imposed upon that
person or operator per acre-foot of water produced for purposes other
than irrigation and the amount of the basin equity assessment
imposed upon that person or operator per acre-foot of water produced
for irrigation purposes.
   (B) The basin production percentage.
   (C) The production requirement or limitation upon the person or
operator.
   (D) The amount of surcharge imposed for production in excess of
the basin production limitations.
   (2) The notice required by this subdivision and the notice of any
subsequent modifications may be sent by postcard or by other
first-class mail with postage prepaid by the district.
   (j) (1) Each person or operator within the district not excluded
from the imposition of a basin equity assessment and the production
requirements and limitations, shall file with the district, on or
before the 30th day of September of each year, a basin equity
assessment report in the form prescribed by the district setting
forth the total amounts of water produced from groundwater within the
district and from supplemental sources during the preceding water
year by the person or operator.  The statement shall be verified by a
written declaration under penalty of perjury.
   (2) If the person or operator has been required by the district to
produce, or has in fact produced, more water from groundwater within
the district than the equivalent of the basin production percentage
determined by the district, that person or operator shall pay to the
district, on or before September 30, an amount determined by the
number of acre-feet of water which the person or operator has
produced from groundwater within the district in excess of the
acre-foot equivalent of the basin production percentage multiplied by
the basin equity assessment rate applicable to that person or
operator, plus the amount of surcharge due for production in excess
of the production limitations.
   (3) (A) If a person or operator, pursuant to the requirement of
the district, has produced from groundwater within the district less
than of the equivalent of the basin production percentage, the
district shall pay the person or operator, on or before the 30th day
of November, from the basin equity assessment fund, an amount
determined by the number of acre-feet by which the production of the
person or operator from groundwater as required by the district is
less than the acre-foot equivalent of the basin production percentage
multiplied by the basin equity assessment rate applicable to that
person or operator.
   (B) If the production of the person or operator from groundwater
is more than the production required by the district and less than
the equivalent of the basin equity production percentage, then the
district shall pay the person or operator an amount determined by the
number of acre-feet by which the actual production of the person or
operator from groundwater is less than the acre-foot equivalent of
the basin production percentage multiplied by the basin equity
assessment applicable to that person or operator.
   (k) If any person or operator fails to pay, when due, the
applicable basin equity assessment or surcharge due for production in
excess of the production limitations, the district shall charge
interest on the delinquent amount at the rate of 1 percent each month
or fraction thereof for which the amount remains delinquent.  Should
any person or operator within the district fail to file a basin
equity assessment report on or before the 30th day of November of any
year, the district shall, in addition to charging interest, assess a
penalty charge against that person or operator in the amount of 10
percent of the amount found by the district to be due.
   (l) (1) The district may require other reports from persons and
operators as necessary and desirable in the application of the basin
equity assessment procedures.
   (2) Upon good cause shown, an amendment to any report required
under this section may be filed, or a correction of any report may be
made, within six months after the date the report was filed with the
district.