BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                           Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair

                                          SB 846 (Berryhill)
          
          Hearing Date: 05/16/2011        Amended: 05/03/2011
          Consultant: Brendan McCarthy    Policy Vote: 9-0
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          ____
          BILL SUMMARY: SB 846 requires the Department of Water Resources 
          to conduct an assessment of the state's water data system.
          _________________________________________________________________
          ____
                            Fiscal Impact (in thousands)

           Major Provisions         2011-12      2012-13       2013-14     Fund
           
          Assessing data system  $45        $45                   General

          _________________________________________________________________
          ____

          STAFF COMMENTS: 
          
          Under current law, the Department of Water Resources is required 
          to update the California Water Plan every five years. The next 
          update is due at the end of 2013. The 2009 Water Plan discussed 
          the potential to create a Water Planning Information Exchange 
          System that would provide a centralized, comprehensive system 
          for tracking water supply information. The Department has 
          developed a pilot project to study this issue. The pilot project 
          includes very limited data at this time.

          SB 846 requires the Department to include an assessment of the 
          state's water data system in the next update of the Water Plan. 
          The Department is required to identify and evaluate tools that 
          would collect, centralize, standardize, and analyze available 
          water information.

          Due to the Department's existing familiarity with various 
          sources of data relating to water supplies and the work already 
          done through previous Water Plans, staff estimates that the 
          Department will need about one-quarter of a position over the 
          next two years to prepare the formal assessment required under 
          the bill.









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