BILL NUMBER: AB 426 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 23, 2013
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 19, 2013
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Salas
FEBRUARY 15, 2013
An act to add Section 1733 to amend
Section 1740 of the Water Code, relating to water rights
.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 426, as amended, Salas. Water: water transfers:
temporary changes. water right decrees.
Existing law regulates water transfers and, among other things,
allows a permittee or licensee to temporarily change the point of
diversion, place of use, or purpose of use due to a transfer or
exchange of water or water rights if the transfer would only involve
the amount of water that would have been consumptively used or stored
by the permittee or licensee in the absence of the proposed
temporary change, would not injure any legal user of the water, and
would not unreasonably affect fish, wildlife, or other instream
beneficial uses. Under existing law, any water right determined
under a court decree issued after January 1, 1981, is transferable as
specified.
This bill would additionally allow a permittee or licensee to make
a temporary change, as defined, in the point of diversion, place of
use, or purpose of use, up to the amount of a permit or license, in
order to transfer or exchange water or water rights through a water
transfer agreement for a specified term if specific requirements are
met. The bill would require a permittee or licensee to submit a
notice of the transfer or exchange to the board including specific
information. The bill would also require the State Water Resources
Control Board to post the notice on its Internet Web site no later
than 10 days after the date on which the notice was submitted, and to
keep the notice posted on the board's Internet Web site for 30 days.
This bill would eliminate the requirement that a court decree be
issued after January 1, 1981.
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
1740 of the Water Code is amended to read:
1740. Any water right determined under a court decree issued
pursuant to Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 2500) of Part 3
, after January 1, 1981, shall be transferable
pursuant to this chapter and Chapter 10 (commencing with Section
1700). The court having the appropriate jurisdiction over the decreed
rights may enter a supplemental decree modifying any rights involved
upon motion of the board or any party with a vested water right.
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares
the following:
(a) It is the policy of this state to improve the flexibility and
provide greater regional self-reliance of water supplies.
(b) It is the policy of this state to encourage conjunctive use of
surface water and groundwater supplies and to make surface water
available for other beneficial uses.
SEC. 2. Section 1733 is added to the Water
Code, to read:
1733. (a) Notwithstanding any other law, in an above-average
water year in a defined hydrologic region reported by the department,
a permittee or licensee may make a temporary change in the point of
diversion, place of use, or purpose of use, up to the amount of the
permit or license, to transfer or exchange water or water rights
through a water transfer agreement for a specified term if all of the
following requirements are met:
(1) The transfer or exchange facilitates the conjunctive use of
groundwater and surface water supplies within a defined hydrologic
region.
(2) The transferee and transferor are part of an regional
management group of a integrated regional water management plan as
defined in Section 10534.
(3) The integrated regional water management plan under paragraph
(2) includes a conjunctive use component and the transfer or exchange
is implemented consistent with that component.
(4) The transferee agrees to forgo pumping groundwater in an
amount equivalent to the surface water received through the transfer
during the year of the transfer.
(5) The temporary change occurs at a point of diversion where a
water right or entitlement is held by the transferee or transferor.
(6) The transfer or exchange commences no sooner than 15 days
following the submission of the notice under subdivision (b).
(b) (1) The permittee or licensee shall submit a notice of the
transfer or exchange to the board, which includes all of the
following:
(A) The permit or license number.
(B) The amount of water to be transferred or exchanged.
(C) The boundaries of the relevant integrated regional water
management plan.
(D) The name of the transferor.
(E) The name of the transferee.
(2) The board shall post the notice under paragraph (1) on its
Internet Web site no later than 10 days after the date on which the
notice was submitted, and the notice shall remain posted on the board'
s Internet Web site for 30 days.
(c) Upon the completion of the term of an agreement to transfer or
exchange water or water rights, the right to the use of the water
shall revert to the transferor as if the transfer or exchange of
water or water rights had not been undertaken.