BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 1319
Page 1
( Without Reference to File )
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 1319 (Pavley)
As Amended August 29, 2014
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :Vote not relevant
APPROPRIATIONS 11-5
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|Ayes:|Gatto, Bocanegra, | | |
| |Bradford, | | |
| |Ian Calderon, Campos, | | |
| |Gomez, Holden, Pan, | | |
| |Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, | | |
| |Weber | | |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Bigelow, Donnelly, | | |
| |Eggman, Jones, Wagner | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Amends AB 1739 (Dickinson) of the current legislative
session which, together with SB 1168 (Pavley) of the current
legislative session, form the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act
(Act) and related provisions. Specifically, this bill :
1)Prohibits the State Water Resources Control Board (State Water
Board), until January 1, 2025, from using its enforcement
authorities under the Act to designate a basin or subbasin as
probationary due to significant depletions of interconnected
surface waters or require an interim plan to remedy the condition.
This provision delays the similar provision in AB 1739 from 2022
to 2025.
2)Requires the State Water Board to exclude any portion of a basin
or subbasin in compliance with sustainable groundwater management
requirements from probationary status. This provision narrows the
similar provision in AB 1739 to only apply to the portion of the
basin that is out of compliance.
3)Requires the State Water Board to include any element of a
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groundwater sustainability plan (GSP), or the entire plan, in its
interim plan if SWRCB finds it would help meet the sustainability
goal. This provision revises the similar provision in AB 1739 to
allow for the inclusion of local plans when developing interim
plans for basins with probationary status.
4)Provides the enactment of this bill is contingent upon the
enactment of AB 1739 and SB 1168.
5)Makes technical and conforming changes.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee:
1) Increased annual out-year costs of between $1 million and
$2.5 million (special fund) for state interim plans to be
covered by fee revenues. The revisions to AB 1739 provided by
this bill will likely result in lower costs due to delays in
compliance requirements and the ability to only place portions
of basins on probationary status.
2) Absorbable costs for DWR to assist the State Water Board in
developing interim plans. DWR received $22.5 million in the
2014-15 Budget ($2.5 million for Fiscal Year (FY) 14-15 and $5
million each year from FY15-16 through FY18-19 which will fund
Bulletin 118 updates and technical assistance.
COMMENTS : This bill was amended on August 28, 2014 to remove the
prior provisions and insert language that modifies certain
provisions of AB 1739, which is currently pending for concurrence on
the Assembly floor. AB 1739 and SB 1168, together, require
sustainable groundwater management in basins and subbasins that are
determined to be high and medium priority by DWR under criteria set
as part of the statute creating the California Statewide Groundwater
Elevation Monitoring program in 2009, with certain exceptions.
SB 1168 and AB 1739 were developed through an extensive eight-month
stakeholder outreach process facilitated by both a nonprofit
nonpartisan foundation and an association of water agencies and
which included five professionally-facilitated stakeholder meetings
and the participation of both authors' offices as well as the
Administration of Governor Brown. Following those meetings
language was taken from each bill and the Administration's own
proposal and crafted into one integrated statute that was later
divided into the two bills with contingent enactment language in
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each.
SB 1168 and AB 1739 set out a locally-driven sustainable groundwater
management process which requires local agencies, as specified, to
choose how to form their groundwater sustainability agency (GSA)
governance within 2 years of the Act's enactment. Thereafter, the
GSA or GSAs for the basin or subbasin adopt groundwater
sustainability plans within 5 years if the basin or subbasin is in a
critical condition of overdraft and within 7 years for all other
high and medium priority basins. Chapter 11 of the Act, which is
found in AB 1739, concerns the State's enforcement role if those
timelines are not met.
Recent amendments to AB 1739, as contained in this bill, were made
at the request of the Administration regarding the State's role and
do three things:
1)Delay, for 3 years, the State Water Board's authority to intervene
in a basin or subbasin that is not in overdraft, but is causing
significant depletions of interconnected surface waters.
2)Clarify that the State Water Board is required to exclude from
probationary status any portion of a basin or subbasin for which a
groundwater sustainably agency is in compliance with the
sustainability goal.
3)Clarify that the State Water Board is required to include in any
interim plan it might create, those existing GSPs and any elements
of groundwater plans that comply with or aid in complying with the
sustainability goals.
The Administration states that these amendments improve the
groundwater package. The Administration adds that in many basins we
don't have a complete understanding of the surface water and
groundwater interaction and this bill provides additional time for
such basins to fill the knowledge gap. The Administration advises
that while the current language of AB 1739 allows the State Water
Board to exclude "good actors" in a probationary basin from
enforcement action and incorporate their successful GSPs in any
interim plan, this amendment reassures those good actors by
requiring both.
Analysis Prepared by : Tina Cannon Leahy / W., P. & W. / (916)
319-2096 FN: 0005573
SB 1319
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