BILL NUMBER: AB 453	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Bigelow

                        FEBRUARY 23, 2015

   An act to amend Section 10750.1 of the Water Code, relating to
groundwater.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 453, as introduced, Bigelow. Groundwater management.
   Existing law, the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, requires
all groundwater basins designated as high- or medium-priority basins
by the Department of Water Resources that are designated as basins
subject to critical conditions of overdraft to be managed under a
groundwater sustainability plan or coordinated groundwater
sustainability plans by January 31, 2020, and requires all other
groundwater basins designated as high- or medium-priority basins to
be managed under a groundwater sustainability plan or coordinated
groundwater sustainability plans by January 31, 2022, except as
specified. Existing law, with certain exceptions, prohibits a local
agency from adopting a new groundwater management plan and requires
an existing groundwater management plan to remain in effect until a
groundwater sustainability plan is adopted.
   This bill would authorize, until a groundwater sustainability plan
is adopted, a local agency to amend an existing groundwater
management plan in furtherance of, and consistent with, the
groundwater management plan's objectives.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


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

  SECTION 1.  Section 10750.1 of the Water Code is amended to read:
   10750.1.  (a) Beginning January 1, 2015, a new plan shall not be
adopted and an existing plan shall not be renewed pursuant to this
part, except as provided in subdivision (b). A plan adopted before
January 1, 2015, shall remain in effect until a groundwater
sustainability plan is adopted pursuant to Part 2.74 (commencing with
Section  10720).   10720), and may be amended
in furtherance of, and consistent with, plan objectives until a
groundwater sustainability plan is adopted. 
   (b) This section does not apply to a low- or very low priority
basin as categorized for the purposes of Part 2.74 (commencing with
Section 10720).
   (c) This section does not apply to a plan submitted as an
alternative pursuant to Section 10733.6, unless the department has
not determined that the alternative satisfies the objectives of Part
2.74 (commencing with Section 10720) on or before January 31, 2020,
or the department later determines that the plan does not satisfy the
objectives of that part.