BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- | | | SENATE COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES AND WATER | | Senator Fran Pavley, Chair | | 2013-2014 Regular Session | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- BILL NO: AB 2759 HEARING DATE: June 10, 2014 AUTHOR: Committee on Water, Parks and WildlifeURGENCY: No VERSION: March 24, 2014 CONSULTANT: Dennis O'Connor DUAL REFERRAL: Judiciary FISCAL: Yes SUBJECT: Interstate water rights. BACKGROUND AND EXISTING LAW California water law includes provisions governing appropriation of waters that flow out of and into California. One provision holds that the entire flow of water in any natural stream which carries water from the State of California into any other state is subject to use in the State of California. Moreover, the rights to those waters shall be prior and superior to any rights to the waters of such streams held under the laws of any other state. Another set of statutes provides that California will recognize water rights held by a neighboring State if that State recognizes water rights held in California. However, those statutes specifically exclude the Walker River from that reciprocity. In 1982, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Sporhase v. Nebraska, found as unconstitutional Nebraska statutes which were similar to those California statutes described above. Specifically, the Court found that the reciprocity requirement of the Nebraska statute violates the Commerce Clause as imposing an impermissible burden on interstate commerce; that is, the reciprocity provision operates as an explicit barrier to commerce between Nebraska and its adjoining States. PROPOSED LAW This bill would repeal the unconstitutional provisions of Civil Code Section 1410a and Water Code Section 1230. It would replace Water Code Section 1230 with language clarifying that were there is an interstate compact, Supreme Court decree, or other interstate allocation, water right administration should 1 be consistent with that allocation. The bill amends Water Code Section 1231 to make it applicable to the Walker River basin, and includes technical amendments consolidating Water code Section 1231 and 1232 into a single section. ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: None ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION: None COMMENTS: None SUGGESTED AMENDMENTS: None SUPPORT: None Received OPPOSITION: None Received 2