BILL NUMBER: AB 1874 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 23, 2014
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 26, 2014
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Gonzalez
FEBRUARY 19, 2014
An act to add Sections 10534.5 and 10536.5 to, and to add Chapter
7 (commencing with Section 10551) to Part 2.2 of Division 6 of, the
Water Code, relating to water.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1874, as amended, Gonzalez. Integrated regional water
management plans: funding.
Existing law, the Integrated Regional Water Management Planning
Act of 2002, authorizes a regional water management group to prepare
and adopt an integrated regional water management plan with specified
components relating to water supply and water quality. Existing law
authorizes the Department of Water Resources to award grants to
eligible projects consistent with an adopted integrated regional
water management plan.
This bill would require the department to develop a streamlined
application process for certain regional water management groups. The
bill would require, in order to receive integrated regional water
management grant funds through this streamlined
application process, the specified regional water management group to
file with the department a streamlined application form that
includes information relating to projects to be funded by integrated
regional water management grant funds. The bill would require the
department, upon appropriation of integrated regional water
management funds, to award integrated regional water management grant
funds for approved applications, proportionately consistent with any
applicable statutory formula and that covers more than one
planning region, with a required written agreement between the
planning regions in the regional water management group . The
bill would require the recipient regional water management group,
within 90 days, to provide the department with a list of integrated
regional water management projects to be funded by the integrated
regional water management grant funds, including a description,
budget, and schedule schedule, and the
entities that will receive funding for each project, and would
require the department, within 60 days of receiving the project
information, to distribute the funding to the regional water
management group. The bill would require a regional water management
group to quarterly report expenditures and activities for each
project to the department and would require the department, at least
once every 2 years, to audit each funding area and regional water
management group that receives integrated regional water management
grant funds from the department.
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 10534.5 is added to the Water Code, to read:
10534.5. "Funding area" means a hydrologic region, as identified
by the California Water Plan, as updated.
SEC. 2. Section 10536.5 is added to the Water Code, to read:
10536.5. "Planning region" means an integrated regional water
management region, as identified by the California Water
Plan, as updated accepted by the department .
SEC. 3. Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 10551) is added to Part
2.2 of Division 6 of the Water Code, to read:
CHAPTER 7. STREAMLINED APPLICATIONS
10551. A streamlined application process, as specified under this
chapter, for the funding of integrated regional water management
plans shall be available to the following regional water management
groups:
(a) A regional water management group that represents a funding
area that is made up of a single planning region.
(b) If a funding area covers more than one planning region, a
regional water management group that represents all planning regions
within the funding area, if those regions have reached a written
agreement concerning the proportional allocation of integrated
regional water management grant funds to the individual
planning regions within the funding area.
10552. To receive integrated regional water management grant
funds through the streamlined application process, a regional
water management group described in Section 10551 shall complete, and
file with the department, a streamlined application form. The
streamlined application form shall be developed by the department and
shall require a regional water management group to do all of the
following:
(a) Identify the member of the regional water management group
submitting an application on behalf of the region.
(a)
(b) Specify the amount of funding that the regional
water management group is requesting. In instances where the funding
area covers more than one planning region, the combined total of all
the applications from within the funding area shall be consistent
with the written agreement described in subdivision (b) of Section
10551.
(b)
(c) Describe the types of projects to be funded by the
integrated regional water management grant funds and demonstrate how
the projects will provide multiple benefits.
(c)
(d) Demonstrate how the projects comply with applicable
statutory requirements governing the award of integrated regional
water management grant funds.
(e) Demonstrate how the projects will comply with the criteria
established in the adopted integrated regional water management plan
for the planning region.
(d)
(f) If more than one planning region is within the
funding area, provide documentation showing that all planning regions
within the funding area have reached a written agreement concerning
the allocation of integrated regional water management grant
funds within the funding area.
(e) Identify the recipient public agency that will receive the
integrated regional water management grant funds.
10553. If the department approves a streamlined application
pursuant to Section 10552 of a regional water management group
described in Section 10551, the department, upon appropriation of
integrated regional water management funds to the department, shall
award integrated regional water management grant funds,
proportionately consistent with any applicable statutory
formula written agreement described in subdivision (b)
of Section 10551 and any applicable statutory formula , to the
regional water management group.
10554. (a) Within 90 days of an integrated regional water
management grant award pursuant to this chapter, the regional water
management group shall provide the department with a list of projects
to be funded by the integrated regional water management grant
funds. The list shall specify how the projects are consistent
with the adopted integrated regional water management plan and shall
include all of the following information:
(1) Descriptive information concerning each project identified.
(2) The names of the entities that will receive the funding for
each project.
(2)
(3) The budget of each project.
(3) Anticipated
(4) The anticipated schedule for
each project.
(b) Within 60 days of receiving the project information pursuant
to subdivision (a), the department shall distribute the funding to
the regional water management group.
10555. The regional water management group shall report
expenditures and activities for each project to the department
quarterly, in a format to be determined by the department.
10556. The department, at least once every two years, or more
frequently at its own discretion, shall audit expenditures, invoices,
and reimbursements for each funding area and regional water
management group that receives integrated regional water management
grant funds from the department.