BILL NUMBER: SB 263	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Pavley

                        FEBRUARY 10, 2011

   An act to amend Section 13752 of the Water Code, relating to
water.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 263, as introduced, Pavley. Wells: reports: public
availability.
   Existing law requires a person who digs, bores, or drills a water
well, cathodic protection well, or a monitoring well, or abandons or
destroys a well, or deepens or reperforates a well, to file a report
of completion with the Department of Water Resources. Existing law
prohibits those reports from being made available to the public,
except under certain circumstances.
   This bill would instead make a report relating to a well
constructed, altered, abandoned, or destroyed on or after January 1,
2012, available to the public. The bill, commencing July 1, 2013,
would also make available to the public reports relating to a well
constructed, altered, abandoned, or destroyed before January 1, 2012,
unless the department receives notification by the well owner that
the well owner desires to keep the report confidential.
   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 13752 of the Water Code is amended to read:
   13752.   Reports   (a)    
(1)     Except as otherwise provided in paragraph
(2), a report  made in accordance with paragraph (1) of
subdivision (b) of Section 13751  for well construction,
alteration, abandonment, or destruction completed before January 1,
2012,  shall not be made available for inspection by the public,
but shall be made available to governmental agencies for use in
making studies, or to any person who obtains a written authorization
from the owner of the well. However, a report associated with a well
located within two miles of an area affected or potentially affected
by a known unauthorized release of a contaminant shall be made
available  pursuant to this paragraph  to any person
performing an environmental cleanup study associated with the
unauthorized release, if the study is conducted under the order of a
regulatory agency. A report released  pursuant to this paragraph
 to a person conducting an environmental cleanup study shall not
be used for any purpose other than for the purpose of conducting the
study. 
   (2) Commencing July 1, 2013, the department shall make available
to the public a report described in paragraph (1), unless the
department receives notification by the well owner that the well
owner desires to keep the report confidential.  
   (b) Commencing January 1, 2012, the department shall make
available to the public a report made in accordance with paragraph
(1) of subdivision (b) of Section 13751 for well construction,
alteration, abandonment, or destruction completed on or after January
1, 2012.