BILL NUMBER: AB 359 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 30, 2011
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 27, 2011
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 11, 2011
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Huffman
FEBRUARY 14, 2011
An act to amend Sections 10752, 10753.2,
10753, 10753.2, 10753.4, 10753.5, and 10753.7 of , and to
add Section 10753.11 to, the Water Code, relating to
groundwater.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 359, as amended, 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. Existing law requires a
local agency to prepare a groundwater management plan within 2 years
of the date of the adoption of the resolution of intention.
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 authorize an
interested any person or entity
to request , and require the local agency, upon
written request, to provide, a copy of the proposed groundwater
management plan to that interested person or entity to
be placed on a list established by the local agency for purposes of
receiving notices regarding plan preparation, meeting announcements,
and availability of draft plans, maps, and other relevant documents
. The bill would require the local agency to provide each of
those interested persons and entities and the
department with a specified notice at least 30 days
prior to the commencement of prior to the 2nd
hearing to determine whether to adopt the plan. The bill would
require, if a groundwater management plan is not adopted within 2
years of the date of the adoption of a resolution of intention and
the local agency is operating under a previously adopted groundwater
management plan, that the previously adopted plan remain in effect.
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 and information regarding groundwater management plans
provided by local agencies and specified groundwater monitoring
entities .
(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. The bill would require the local agency
to provide the map of the recharge areas to local planning agencies
and notify organizations representing landowners within the
recharge areas the department and other interested
persons when a map is submitted to those local planning agencies
.
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 that
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 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 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) "Person" has the same meaning as defined in Section 19.
(h)
(i) "Recharge area" means the area that supplies water
to an aquifer in a groundwater basin and includes multiple wellhead
protection areas.
(i)
(j) "Watermaster" means a watermaster appointed by a
court or pursuant to other provisions of law.
(j)
(k) "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 of the Water Code
is amended to read:
10753. (a) Any local agency, whose service area includes a
groundwater basin, or a portion of a groundwater basin, that is not
subject to groundwater management pursuant to other provisions of law
or a court order, judgment, or decree, may, by ordinance, or by
resolution if the local agency is not authorized to act by ordinance,
adopt and implement a groundwater management plan pursuant to this
part within all or a portion of its service area.
(b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), a local public agency, other
than an agency defined in subdivision (g) of Section 10752, that
provides flood control, groundwater management, or groundwater
replenishment, or a local agency formed pursuant to this code for the
principal purpose of providing water service that has not yet
provided that service, may exercise the authority of this part within
a groundwater basin that is located within its boundaries within
areas that are either of the following:
(1) Not served by a local agency.
(2) Served by a local agency whose governing body, by a majority
vote, declines to exercise the authority of this part and enters into
an agreement with the local public agency pursuant to Section
10750.7 or 10750.8.
(c) Except as provided in subdivision (b), this chapter does not
authorize a local agency with authority to manage groundwater
planning within the service area of another local agency.
(d) Except as otherwise provided in this part, the process for
developing and adopting a revised groundwater management plan shall
be the same as the process for developing and adopting a new
groundwater management plan.
SEC. 2. SEC. 3. 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.
(d) The department shall post on its Internet Web site information
it possesses regarding groundwater management plans being prepared
or adopted pursuant to this part, including information provided by
local agencies identified pursuant to this section, and monitoring
entities identified pursuant to Sections 10928 and 10930.
SEC. 4. Section 10753.4 of the Water
Code is amended to read:
10753.4. (a) The local agency shall prepare a groundwater
management plan within two years of the date of the adoption of the
resolution of intention. If
(1) If the plan is not adopted
within two years, the resolution of intention expires, and
no a plan may shall not
be adopted except pursuant to a new resolution of intention
adopted in accordance with this chapter.
(2) If the plan is not adopted within two years, and the local
agency was operating under a previously adopted groundwater
management plan, that previous plan shall remain in effect.
(b) For the purposes of carrying out this part, the local agency
shall make available to the public and the department a
written statement describing the manner in which interested parties
may participate in developing the groundwater management plan. The
local agency may appoint, and consult with, a technical advisory
committee consisting of interested parties for the purposes of
carrying out this part.
(c) The local agency shall establish and maintain a list of
persons interested in receiving notices regarding plan preparation,
meeting announcements, and availability of draft plans, maps, and
other relevant documents. Any person may request, in writing, to be
placed on the list of interested persons.
SEC. 3. SEC. 5. 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. Notice shall also be
provided to the department and to all persons on the list established
and maintained pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 10753.4.
The notice shall include a summary of the plan and shall state that
copies of the plan and any maps that may be prepared pursuant to
this part 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) Any person or entity may request, in writing, a local
agency preparing a groundwater management plan to place that person
or entity on a list of persons interested in receiving notices
regarding plan preparation and copies of draft documents. Upon
receipt of a written request prior to the commencement of the second
hearing, the local agency shall provide any interested person or
entity with a copy of the proposed groundwater management plan and
maps identifying recharge areas that are prepared pursuant to this
part. These documents shall be provided for the cost of reproduction
incurred by the local agency. If a document is requested in
electronic format, the cost of reproduction shall be limited to the
direct cost of producing a copy in electronic format.
(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 and entity that requests information pursuant
to paragraph (1) prior to that date.
(3) The failure to meet the requirements of this subdivision does
not make the adoption of a groundwater management plan invalid.
(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. SEC. 6. 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, a local agency seeking
state funds administered by the department for 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, 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 purposes of 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 purposes of 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) Upon submitting a map pursuant to subparagraph (B), the
local agency shall notify organizations representing
landowners within the recharge areas. At a minimum, the notice shall
be provided to the following organizations: (i) the California Farm
Bureau Federation, (ii) the Western Growers Association, (iii) the
California Cattlemen's Association, and (iv) the California Chamber
of Commerce. local agency shall notify the department
and all persons on the list established and maintained pursuant to
subdivision (c) of Section 10753.4.
(D) 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.
(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.
(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 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 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 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 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 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 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.
SEC. 7. Section 10753.11 is added to the
Water Code , to read:
10753.11. A plan shall not be considered invalid, and the local
agency shall not be required to recirculate the plan for public
comment or to delay implementation of the plan, if the local agency
substantially complies with the public notice provisions of this
chapter.