BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
900 (De Leon)
Hearing Date: 08/17/2009 Amended: 08/17/2009
Consultant: Brendan McCarthy Policy Vote: NR&W 8-1
AB 900 (De Leon)
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BILL SUMMARY: This bill revises the existing requirements
mandating that certain diverters of surface waters report their
diversions to the State Water Board. In particular, this bill
requires diversions in the Delta to be reported to the State
Water Board.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 Fund
Adopting emergency $65 General
regulations
Processing water diversion $470
$470General
statements
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STAFF COMMENTS: This bill meets the criteria for referral to the
Suspense file.
Under current law, persons who divert surface waters in the
state are required to file a statement of diversion and use with
the State Water Resources Control Board. There are several
exemptions from this requirement in statute, under which persons
who divert from a spring located on their property, persons
covered by an existing application to divert water, and persons
located in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, are not
required to file statements. Current law also requires permit
and license holders to report annual water use as a condition of
the permit or license.
Under current law, beginning in 2012, statements of diversion
are required to include information on monthly diversion rates,
with the exception of diversions with a capacity of less than 50
cubic feet per second and diversions using siphons in the tidal
zone of the Delta.
This bill revises the list of water diversions that are exempt
from reporting requirements. Under the bill, reportable
AB 900 (De Leon)
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diversions include:
diversions from a spring that does not flow off a
property if the diversion is more than 25 acre-feet per
year;
diversions covered by an application on file with the
Water Board;
diversions from the Delta with a capacity of 10 gallons
per minute or more.
In addition, the bill revises the rules regarding the monthly
reporting of diversion amounts by eliminating the exemption for
diversions in the Delta.
The bill authorizes the State Water Board to impose civil
penalties if diverters fail to file required statements, tamper
with a monitoring device, or make material misstatements in
connection with the filing of a statement of diversion and use.
The bill authorizes the State Water Board and the Department of
Water Resources to adopt emergency regulations to allow for
electronic reporting of specified water use information.
The State Water Board indicates that there are a very
significant number of diversions in the Delta that are not
currently reported to the Board. The Board indicates that there
will be significant workload associated with processing the
initial diversion statements from those diversions. The Water
Board does not charge a fee for filing a statement of diversion
and use and this bill does not impose such a fee. The Water
Rights Division of the State Water Board is funded from the
Water Rights Fund and the General Fund. Because filers of
statements of diversion do not contribute to the Water Rights
Fund, it may not be legally appropriate to use those funds to
pay for the costs of implementing this bill.