BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 964
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CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 964 (Huffman)
As Amended August 18, 2011
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: | |(May 19, 2011) |SENATE: |30-0 |(August 22, |
| | | | | |2011) |
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(vote not relevant)
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|COMMITTEE VOTE: |12-0 |(August 30, 2011) |RECOMMENDATION: |concur |
|(W., P. & W.) | | | | |
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Original Committee Reference: L. GOV.
SUMMARY : Provides a streamlined mechanism for small irrigation
uses, as defined, to obtain a water right from the State Water
Resources Control Board (SWRCB) by expanding the existing water
right registration process to include those uses.
The Senate amendments delete the Assembly version of this bill and
instead:
1)Define small irrigation use as an irrigation use, heat control
use, or frost protection use, not to exceed diversion to storage
of 20 acre-feet annually or direct diversion of 42,000 gallons
per day up to a maximum of 20 acre-feet annually.
2)Add small irrigation to the existing uses for which an applicant
may obtain a right to appropriate water by registering with the
SWRCB.
3)Limit the total combined water use covered by registrations to
one registration per 20 irrigated acres and, on all acreage
covered by the registrations including any water use based on
other rights, 100 acre-feet.
4)Require the SWRCB to establish general conditions for small
irrigation use to protect instream beneficial uses before the
small irrigation registration process can be used.
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5)Make the SWRCB's duty to establish general conditions subject to
SWRCB having available funds.
6)Allow the SWRCB to adopt general conditions for some methods of
diversion or categories of small irrigation use before
establishing general conditions for others.
7)Require, by June 30, 2012, that the SWRCB establish general
conditions for small irrigation uses for facilities used for
frost protection in the area of northern California Coastal
Streams, as defined, unless the SWRCB finds it has insufficient
funds to do so.
8)Make several conforming changes and technical corrections.
EXISTING LAW allows any person to obtain a right to appropriate
water for a small domestic or livestock stockpond uses, as defined,
by registering the use with the SWRCB and then putting the water to
reasonable and beneficial use, subject to certain conditions.
These conditions include:
1)There is water available for appropriation.
2)The proposed source of water is not a stream that the SWRCB has
declared to be fully appropriated. The source may be a stream
that the SWRCB has declared conditionally fully appropriated if
the registration is consistent with those conditions.
3)The proposed source of water is not a stream segment for which
the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) has established proposed
streamflow requirements.
4)The use may not exceed direct diversion of 4,500 gallons per day
or diversion by storage of 10 acre-feet per year.
5)The number of registrations in effect at any time do not exceed:
a) One registration for small domestic use.
b) One per 50 acres for livestock stockpond use.
6)Each person with a registration of water use is required to pay
an annual fee according to a fee schedule established by the
SWRCB and registrations of water use are required to be renewed
every five years.
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7)The SWRCB has established general conditions for all
appropriations for water for small domestic or livestock
stockpond use that include:
a) The appropriation is subject to prior rights;
b) All conditions lawfully required by DFG are conditions
upon the appropriations;
c) Diversion works shall be constructed and water applied
to beneficial use with due diligence; and,
d) Registration shall be renewed and water use reported
pursuant to law and to the rules of the SWRCB.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill addressed sanitary sewer
overflows from aged, cracked and leaking sewer laterals, which are
the pipes that connect buildings to the public sewer main. This
bill encouraged public agencies to adopt 10-year plans to eliminate
their sanitary sewer overflows and to administer low-cost loans to
aid property owners in replacing laterals.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
1)Upfront costs of about $130,000 per year to the SWRCB for two
years to develop general conditions for small irrigation use
registrations and then about $130,000 per year to process
registrations, offset by annual reduced costs because individuals
can use the small irrigation use registration process rather than
a more complicated water rights application. Savings to the
SWRCB estimated at $65,000 annually.
2)Onetime costs to DFG of about $35,000 to participate in the
development of the general conditions and additional unknown
minor cost increases to conduct environmental reviews of proposed
diversions for small irrigation use.
COMMENTS : This bill would provide vineyard owners and others with
the ability to obtain a water right in the form of a small
irrigation use registration. According to the author, budding
grape vines and certain other crops may be severely damaged by
spring frosts. Sprinklers can be used to protect vineyards against
frost but since the threat can affect all vineyards in a particular
area at the same time this can lead to a high simultaneous water
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demand. Those uses combined with other water uses may cause drops
in river flows that are harmful to salmon and other fish. If a
vineyard has an off-stream pond of an adequate size, it can draw
from its pond for frost protection instead of directly from the
stream thus reducing instantaneous demand that can negatively
affect fish and other aquatic resources. The small irrigation use
registration process could be used to obtain an expedited water
right for a pond that stores less than 20 acre-feet annually.
However, this bill is not limited to frost protection uses. The
SWRCB identified that one quarter of its currently-pending water
rights applications are for uses of 20 acre-feet per year or less.
Therefore, this bill is expected to streamline permitting for some
of those small irrigation uses and help the SWRCB eliminate some of
its water right permitting backlog.
This bill includes environmental safeguards. In addition to DFG's
ability under existing law to impose project-specific terms and
conditions on water registrations, this bill requires the SWRCB to
develop general conditions that protect in-stream beneficial uses
before the small irrigation registration process may be used. This
bill allows the SWRCB to develop general conditions for some areas
or uses before others but mandates that the SWRCB develop general
conditions for frost protection uses in the northern California
coastal stream area by June 30, 2012, unless the SWRCB determines
it has insufficient funds for that purpose.
This bill specifies small irrigation registrations are subject to
the same fees as small domestic registrations and stockpond
registrations and makes a technical correction in describing SWRCB
appropriations. In response to a request for clarification, the
author submitted a letter to the Assembly Journal stating that the
technical correction regarding SWRCB appropriations creates no new
SWRCB fee authority.
This bill was substantially amended in the Senate to delete the
Assembly-approved provisions addressing septic sewer overflows and
insert language creating a new type of water right for small
irrigation uses, as defined, via registration with the SWRCB.
This bill has no known opposition.
Analysis Prepared by : Tina Cannon Leahy / W., P. & W. / (916)
319-2096
AB 964
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FN: 0002373