BILL ANALYSIS Ó Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary Senator Kevin de León, Chair SB 1168 (Pavley) - Groundwater management. Amended: April 23, 2014 Policy Vote: NR&W 7-2 Urgency: No Mandate: No Hearing Date: May 5, 2014 Consultant: Marie Liu This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File. Bill Summary: SB 1168 would provide a very broad outline for the development of sustainable groundwater management plans and makes a number of definitions. Fiscal Impact: Unknown, at least in the mid-hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars annually, from the General Fund for the state's oversight of groundwater management. Background: Existing law allows certain existing local agencies to develop groundwater management plans (Water Code §10750 et seq.), which are commonly referred to as AB 3030 plans. These plans must be developed with public hearings and only if less than half of the landowners in the proposed district do not protest the development of the plan. However, there is no mandatory statewide system of groundwater management. In January, the Governor released the California Water Action Plan which includes a call to improve sustainable groundwater management. Proposed Law: This bill would establish the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act which declares the Legislature's intent to have all groundwater basins and subbasins managed by local entities pursuant to an adopted sustainable groundwater management plan. This bill makes numerous definitions and provides a very approximate outline of requirements for local groundwater management plans and the local agencies which create the plans. This bill also would allow the state to take action to cause a plan to be developed, adopted, and implemented. Related Legislation: AB 1739 (Dickenson) would require the SB 1168 (Pavley) Page 1 development of sustainable a groundwater management plan for each groundwater basin in the state. AB 1739 is currently in Assembly Appropriations. Staff Comments: This bill does not include any detail on the state's oversight responsibilities in local groundwater management planning, including which department would be responsible for these activities. Therefore, costs are unknown. However, staff believes that it is reasonable to assume that the state will need several positions for basic oversight functions, for a minimum annual cost in the mid-hundreds of thousands of dollars, though a more comprehensive program will likely cost millions of dollars.