BILL NUMBER: SB 868	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  JUNE 12, 2014

INTRODUCED BY   Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review

                        JANUARY 9, 2014

    An act relating to the Budget Act of 2014.  
An act to add Section 113 to the Water Code, relating to water, and
ma   king an appropriation therefor, to take effect
immediately, bill related to the budget. 


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 868, as amended, Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review.
 Budget Act of 2014.   State water policy:
groundwater resources.  
   The California Constitution requires the reasonable and beneficial
use of water. Existing law establishes various state water policies,
including the policy that the people of the state have a paramount
interest in the use of all the water of the state and that the state
is required to determine what water of the state, surface and
underground, can be converted to public use or controlled for public
protection.  
   This bill would declare that it is the policy of the state that
groundwater resources be managed sustainably.  
   This bill would appropriate $4,500 from the General Fund to the
State Water Resources Control Board for its administrative costs
during the 2014-15 fiscal year.  
   This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a
bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill. 

   This bill would express the intent of the Legislature to enact
statutory changes relating to the Budget Act of 2014. 
   Vote: majority. Appropriation:  no   yes
 . Fiscal committee:  no   yes  .
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   SECTION 1.    The Legislature finds and declares as
follows:  
   (a) The people of the state have a primary interest in the
protection, management, and reasonable beneficial use of the water
resources of the state, both surface and underground, and that the
integrated management of the state's water resources is essential to
meeting its water management goals.  
   (b) Groundwater provides a significant portion of California's
water supply. Groundwater accounts for more than one-third of the
water used by Californians in an average year and more than one-half
of the water used by Californians in a drought year when other
sources are unavailable.  
   (c) Excessive groundwater pumping can cause overdraft, failed
wells, deteriorated water quality, environmental damage, and
irreversible land subsidence that damages infrastructure and
diminishes the capacity of aquifers to store water for the future.
 
   (d) When properly managed, groundwater resources will help protect
communities, farms, and the environment against prolonged dry
periods and climate change, preserving water supplies for existing
and potential beneficial use.  
   (e) Groundwater resources are most effectively managed at the
local or regional level.  
   (f) Some local agencies manage their groundwater sustainably,
either through local management structures or pursuant to an
adjudication of water rights, while others have not done so, leading
to a variety of serious local groundwater problems.  
   (g) Groundwater management will not be effective unless local
actions to sustainably manage groundwater basins are taken. 

   (h) Local and regional agencies need to have the necessary support
and authority to manage groundwater sustainably.  
   (i) In those circumstances where a local groundwater management
agency is not managing its groundwater sustainably, the state needs
to protect the resource until it is determined that a local
groundwater management agency can sustainably manage the groundwater
basin. 
   SEC. 2.    Section 113 is added to the  
Water Code   , to read:  
   113.  (a) It is the policy of the state that groundwater resources
be managed sustainably.
   (b) Sustainable groundwater management means the management of
groundwater to provide for multiple long-term benefits without
resulting in or aggravating conditions that cause significant
economic, social, or environmental impacts such as long-term
overdraft, land subsidence, ecosystem degradation, depletions from
surface water bodies, and water quality degradation, in order to
protect the resource for future generations. Sustainable groundwater
management requires the development, implementation, and updating of
local water budgets, plans, and programs based on the best available
science, monitoring, forecasting, and use of technological resources.

   SEC. 3.    The amount of four thousand five hundred
dollars ($4,500) is hereby appropriated from the General Fund to the
State Water Resources Control Board for its administrative costs
during the 2014-15 fiscal year. 
   SEC. 4.    This act is a bill providing for
appropriations related to the Budget Bill within the meaning of
subdivision (e) of Section 12 of Article IV of the California
Constitution, has been identified as related to the budget in the
Budget Bill, and shall take effect immediately.  
  SECTION 1.    It is the intent of the Legislature
to enact statutory changes relating to the Budget Act of 2014.