BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1408
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 28, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Kevin De Leon, Chair
AB 1408 (Krekorian) - As Amended: April 30, 2009
Policy Committee: Local GovVote:5-2
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill provides alternative measures by which a local agency
may determine a large residential development has sufficient
water supply. Specifically, this bill:
1)Establishes the "Water Demand Mitigation Fund" from which a
local agency finances water conservation measures.
2)Allows a water supplier and a developer of a residential
development of 500 or more units to agree to demonstrate
sufficient water supply through implementation of water
conservation measures financed from the Water Demand
Mitigation Fund.
3)Requires a developer entering into such an agreement with a
water supplier to make payments to the Water Demand Mitigation
Fund in an amount necessary to offset at least 100% of the
projected water demand associated with the development.
4)Requires a water supplier that bases its assessment of a large
residential development's projected water demand on the
development's use of optional water conservation measures-such
as water efficient appliances and irrigation controllers-to
include retention of such conservation measures in the
covenants, conditions and restrictions (CC&R's) or
equivalently enforceable documents to ensure retention by
future homeowners.
5)Requires a water supplier, if calculated water savings to do
not equal or exceed the measured water demand in the
subdivision, to include actions to achieve the necessary
savings in its urban water management plan.
AB 1408
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FISCAL EFFECT
Negligible costs, if any, to the Department of Water Resources.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale. The author contends the bill provides an optional
arrangement between developers and water suppliers-payment
into a water conservation mitigation fund managed by the water
supplier-that may enable a residential development in a water
constrained area that might not occur otherwise. The author
further contends this bill allows developers of large
residential projects to get credit for implementing
conservation measures beyond those measures required by law,
thereby encouraging them to undertake such measures. The
author further argues that this bill will ensure lasting gains
from these measures through the use of legally enforceable
mechanism, such as CC&Rs.
2)Background. Existing law prohibits approval of a subdivision
of property of more than 500 dwelling units, except as
specified, unless the local government or the designated
advisory agency provides written verification from the
applicable public water system that a sufficient water supply
will be available prior to completion of the project. The law
also requires a water supplier to assess future water supply
whenever a city or county determines that a project, as
defined, is subject to the California Environmental Quality
Act (CEQA). Urban water suppliers must prepare Urban Water
Management Plans.
3)Supporters , including the sponsors of this bill-East Bay
Municipal Utilities District and the Planning and Conservation
League-argue that the state needs to decouple population
growth from increasing water use. Those organizations contend
that this bill will enhance water supply reliability while
facilitating the development of sustainable communities.
There is no registered opposition to this bill.
4)Related Legislation.
a) AB 300 (Caballero) also seeks to encourage water
conservation by developers of housing projects by allowing
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a homebuilder to receive credit for voluntary water demand
management measures that it incorporates into large
residential developments, and to pay a fee to reduce
projected water demand of their project. The bill passed
Natural Resources 7-0 and is pending action before this
committee.
b) SB 610 (Costa, Chapter 643, Statutes of 2001) requires a
water supplier for a property that requires local
government to perform a review under the California
Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to assess future water
supply sufficiency, upon the city or county's request.
c) SB 221 (Kuehl, Chapter 642, Statutes of 2001) prohibits
a local government from approving a development agreement
that includes a subdivision of more than 500 units unless
the developer can verifiably demonstrate that the
subdivision has 20-year water supplies.
Analysis Prepared by : Jay Dickenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081