BILL NUMBER: AB 359 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Huffman
FEBRUARY 14, 2011
An act to amend Sections 10752, 10753.2, 10753.5, and 10753.7 of
the Water Code, relating to groundwater.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 359, as introduced, Huffman. Groundwater management plans.
(1) Existing law authorizes specified local agencies that provide
water service to adopt and implement a groundwater management plan.
Existing law requires a local agency that elects to develop a
groundwater management plan to hold a hearing prior to adopting a
resolution of intention to draft a plan and, after the plan is
prepared, to hold a 2nd hearing to determine whether to adopt the
plan. Existing law requires the local agency to publish a specified
notice before each of these hearings.
This bill would require the local agency to provide a copy of a
resolution of intention to the Department of Water Resources within
30 days of the date of adoption. The bill would require the local
agency, upon written request, to provide a copy of the proposed
groundwater management plan to an interested person. The bill would
require the local agency to provide each of those interested persons
with a specified notice at least 30 days prior to the commencement of
the 2nd hearing to determine whether to adopt the plan. The bill
would require the department to post on its Internet Web site the
information the department possesses regarding the local agencies
that have jurisdiction to develop groundwater management plans.
(2) Existing law requires a local agency seeking specified state
funds for certain groundwater projects to include in a groundwater
management plan various components, including components relating to
the monitoring and management of groundwater levels within the
groundwater basin.
This bill would specify that the groundwater projects to which
these requirements apply include projects that are part of an
integrated regional water management program or plan. The bill,
commencing January 1, 2013, would additionally require a map
identifying the recharge areas, as defined, for the groundwater basin
to be included in a groundwater management plan for purposes of the
state funding requirements.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 10752 of the Water Code is amended to read:
10752. Unless the context otherwise requires, the following
definitions govern the construction of this part:
(a) "Groundwater" means all water beneath the surface of the earth
within the zone below the water table in which the soil is
completely saturated with water, but does not include water which
flows in known and definite channels.
(b) "Groundwater basin" means any basin or subbasin
identified in the department's Bulletin No. 118, dated September
1975, and any amendments to that bulletin, but does not include a
basin in which the average well yield, excluding domestic wells that
supply water to a single-unit dwelling, is less than 100 gallons per
minute.
(c) "Groundwater extraction facility" means any
a device or method for the extraction of groundwater
within a groundwater basin.
(d) "Groundwater management plan" or "plan" means a document that
describes the activities intended to be included in a groundwater
management program.
(e) "Groundwater management program" or "program" means a
coordinated and ongoing activity undertaken for the benefit of a
groundwater basin, or a portion of a groundwater basin, pursuant to a
groundwater management plan adopted pursuant to this part.
(f) "Groundwater recharge" means the augmentation of groundwater,
by natural or artificial means, with surface water or recycled water.
(g) "Local agency" means any a local
public agency that provides water service to all or a portion of its
service area, and includes a joint powers authority formed by local
public agencies that provide water service.
(h) "Recharge area" means the area that supplies water to an
aquifer in a groundwater basin and includes multiple wellhead
protection areas.
(i) "Watermaster" means a watermaster appointed by a court or
pursuant to other provisions of law.
(j) "Wellhead protection area" means the surface and subsurface
area surrounding a water well or well field that supplies a public
water system through which contaminants are reasonably likely to
migrate toward the water well or well field.
SEC. 2. Section 10753.2 of the Water Code is amended to read:
10753.2. (a) Prior to adopting a resolution of intention to draft
a groundwater management plan, a local agency shall hold a hearing,
after publication of notice pursuant to Section 6066 of the
Government Code, on whether or not to adopt a resolution of intention
to draft a groundwater management plan pursuant to this part for the
purposes of implementing the plan and establishing a groundwater
management program.
(b) At the conclusion of the hearing, the local agency may draft a
resolution of intention to adopt a groundwater management plan
pursuant to this part for the purposes of implementing the plan and
establishing a groundwater management program.
(c) The local agency shall provide to the department a copy of a
resolution of intention adopted pursuant to this section within 30
days of the date of adoption. The local agency shall also provide to
the department contact information for the person in charge of
drafting the groundwater management plan.
SEC. 3. Section 10753.5 of the Water Code is amended to read:
10753.5. (a) After a groundwater management plan is prepared, the
local agency shall hold a second hearing to determine whether to
adopt the plan. Notice of the hearing shall be given pursuant to
Section 6066 of the Government Code. The notice shall include a
summary of the plan and shall state that copies of the plan may be
obtained for the cost of reproduction at the office of the local
agency.
(b) At the second hearing, the local agency shall consider
protests to the adoption of the plan. At any time prior to the
conclusion of the second hearing, any landowner within the local
agency may file a written protest or withdraw a protest previously
filed.
(c) (1) Upon receipt of a written request prior to the
commencement of the second hearing, the local agency shall provide an
interested person with a copy of the proposed groundwater management
plan and maps identifying recharge areas that are prepared pursuant
to this part.
(2) At least 30 days prior to the commencement of the second
hearing, the local agency shall provide notice of the date, time, and
place of the second hearing, either by mail or electronically, to
each interested person who requests information pursuant to paragraph
(1) prior to that date.
(d) The department shall post on its Internet Web site, consistent
with Section 10930, the information the department possesses
regarding the local agencies that have jurisdiction to develop
groundwater management plans and maps pursuant to this part,
including information it has collected pursuant to Sections 10753.2
and 10928.
SEC. 4. Section 10753.7 of the Water Code is amended to read:
10753.7. (a) For the purposes of qualifying as a groundwater
management plan under this section, a plan shall contain the
components that are set forth in this section. In addition to the
requirements of a specific funding program, any
a local agency seeking state funds administered by the
department for the construction of groundwater
projects or groundwater quality projects, including projects
that are part of an integrated regional water management program or
plan, and excluding programs that are funded under Part 2.78
(commencing with Section 10795), shall do all of the following:
(1) Prepare and implement a groundwater management plan that
includes basin management objectives for the groundwater basin that
is subject to the plan. The plan shall include components relating to
the monitoring and management of groundwater levels within the
groundwater basin, groundwater quality degradation, inelastic land
surface subsidence, and changes in surface flow
and surface water quality that directly affect groundwater levels or
quality or are caused by groundwater pumping in the basin, and a
description of how recharge areas identified in the plan
substantially contribute to the replenishment of the groundwater
basin.
(2) For the purposes of carrying out
implementing paragraph (1), the local agency
shall prepare a plan to involve other agencies that enables the local
agency to work cooperatively with other public entities whose
service area or boundary overlies the groundwater basin.
(3) For the purposes of carrying out
implementing paragraph (1), the local agency
shall prepare a map that details the area of the groundwater basin,
as defined in the department's Bulletin No. 118, and the area of the
local agency, that will be subject to the plan, as well as the
boundaries of other local agencies that overlie the basin in which
the agency is developing a groundwater management plan.
(4) (A) Commencing January 1, 2013, for purposes of implementing
paragraph (1), the groundwater management plan shall include a map
identifying the recharge areas for the groundwater basin.
(B) The local agency shall provide the map required pursuant to
subparagraph (A) to the appropriate local planning agencies after
adoption of the groundwater management plan.
(C) For purposes of this paragraph, "map identifying the recharge
areas" means a map that identifies, or maps that identify, the
current recharge areas that substantially contribute to the
replenishment of the groundwater basin.
(4)
(5) The local agency shall adopt monitoring protocols
that are designed to detect changes in groundwater levels,
groundwater quality, inelastic surface subsidence for basins for
which subsidence has been identified as a potential problem, and flow
and quality of surface water that directly affect groundwater levels
or quality or are caused by groundwater pumping in the basin. The
monitoring protocols shall be designed to generate information that
promotes efficient and effective groundwater management.
(5)
(6) Local agencies that are located in areas outside
the groundwater basins delineated on the latest edition of the
department's groundwater basin and subbasin map shall prepare
groundwater management plans incorporating the components in this
subdivision, and shall use geologic and hydrologic principles
appropriate to those areas.
(b) (1) (A) A local agency may receive state funds administered by
the department for the construction of
groundwater projects or for other projects that directly affect
groundwater levels or quality if it prepares and implements,
participates in, or consents to be subject to, a groundwater
management plan, a basinwide management plan, or other integrated
regional water management program or plan that meets, or is in the
process of meeting, the requirements of subdivision (a). A local
agency with an existing groundwater management plan that meets the
requirements of subdivision (a), or a local agency that completes an
upgrade update of its plan to meet the
requirements of subdivision (a) within one year of applying for
funds, shall be given priority consideration for state funds
administered by the department over local agencies that are in the
process of developing a groundwater management plan. The department
shall withhold funds from the project until the upgrade
update of the groundwater management plan is
complete.
(B) Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), a local agency that manages
groundwater under any other provision of existing law that meets the
requirements of subdivision (a), or that completes an
upgrade update of its plan to meet the
requirements of subdivision (a) within one year of applying for
funding, shall be eligible for funding administered by the
department. The department shall withhold funds from a project until
the upgrade update of the groundwater
management plan is complete.
(C) Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), a local agency that conforms
to the requirements of an adjudication of water rights in the
groundwater basin is in compliance with subdivision (a). For purposes
of this section, subparagraph, an
"adjudication" includes an adjudication under Section 2101, an
administrative adjudication, and an adjudication in state or federal
court.
(D) Subparagraphs (A) and (B) do not apply to proposals for
funding under Part 2.78 (commencing with Section 10795), or to funds
authorized or appropriated prior to September 1, 2002.
(E) A local agency may request state funds to map groundwater
recharge areas pursuant to paragraph (4) of subdivision (a) to the
extent that the request for state funds is consistent with
eligibility requirements that are applicable to the use of the
requested funds.
(2) Upon the adoption of a groundwater management plan in
accordance with this part, the local agency shall submit a copy of
the plan to the department, in an electronic format, if practicable,
approved by the department. The department shall make available to
the public copies of the plan received pursuant to this part.