BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 1152 Page 1 Date of Hearing: May 11, 2011 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Felipe Fuentes, Chair AB 1152 (Chesbro) - As Amended: April 28, 2011 Policy Committee: Water, Parks and Wildlife Vote: 13-0 Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: No Reimbursable: No SUMMARY This bill allows a groundwater monitoring entity, if given approval by the Department of Water Resources (DWR), to use alternative monitoring techniques, such as aerial photographs and remote sensing data, if certain conditions exist that make use of monitoring wells irrelevant or impracticable. FISCAL EFFECT Minor, absorbable costs to DWR to receive and review reports submitted by groundwater monitoring entities that attempt to substantiate the entities' claims that well monitoring is irrelevant or impracticable. COMMENTS 1)Rationale. The author intends this bill to provide alternative monitoring techniques for use principally by large rural counties that include unused water basins or basins under lands not in the counties' jurisdictions. 2)Background. SB 6 (Steinberg, Chapter 1, Statutes of 2009, Seventh Extraordinary Session) was part of the water package and requires that, on or before January 1, 2012, the elevations in all groundwater basins and subbasins be regularly and systematically monitored locally and the resulting groundwater information made readily and widely available. Under SB 6, if DWR is required to perform the monitoring functions in place of a county or other local entity that could conduct the monitoring, then that county or local entity becomes ineligible for water grants or loans AB 1152 Page 2 administered by the state. SB 6 did not mention alternative groundwater monitoring techniques. It is not clear if DWR would view use of such techniques in place of well monitoring as satisfying the requirements of SB 6. 3)Support. This bill is supported by the California Groundwater Coalition (sponsor), the Regional Council of Rural Counties, and others. 4)There is no registered opposition to this bill. Analysis Prepared by : Jay Dickenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081