BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 453
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Date of Hearing: April 14, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON WATER, PARKS, AND WILDLIFE
Marc Levine, Chair
AB 453
(Bigelow) - As Introduced February 23, 2015
SUBJECT: Sustainable Groundwater Management Act
SUMMARY: Allows an existing groundwater management plan to be
amended until a Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP) is adopted
under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA).
EXISTING LAW:
1)Requires the Department of Water Resources (DWR) to evaluate
groundwater basins and designate them as high, medium, low or
very low, according to various factors including, but not
limited to, level of dependence upon the basin by municipal
and agricultural users;
2)Requires that local agencies in high- and medium-priority
groundwater basins subject to SGMA form one or more local
Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs) by June 30, 2017 in
order to develop and implement Groundwater Sustainability
Plans (GSPs) to sustainably manage the groundwater basin or
subbasin, as defined.
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3)Requires that GSAs in basins with chronic overdraft develop
and adopt GSPs for their groundwater basin or subbasin by
January 31, 2020.
4)Requires that GSAs in all other high- and medium-priority
groundwater basins subject to SGMA develop and adopt GSPs by
January 31, 2022.
5)Allows a local agency to submit a groundwater management plan
developed before SGMA took effect on January 1, 2015, or a
groundwater adjudication that is completed after January 1,
2015, to DWR by January 1, 2017 for a determination as to
whether it meets SGMA objectives and is therefore functionally
equivalent under SGMA to a GSP. If so, the local agency is
not required to adopt a new SGMA GSP.
6)After January 1, 2015 prohibits a local agency in a high- or
medium-priority basin subject to SGMA from adopting a new
groundwater plan pursuant to any other groundwater planning
statute except SGMA or amending an existing non-SGMA
groundwater plan.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS: This bill allows local agencies to amend existing
groundwater management plans, sometimes referred to as "AB 3030
plans" or "SB 1938 plans." Currently, SGMA and its related
statues expressly prohibit a local agency from amending its
current groundwater plan if it is subject to SGMA. Instead, the
local agency can submit a pre-existing groundwater management
plan to DWR by January 1, 2017 for a determination as to whether
it is functionally equivalent to SGMA's objectives or it must
formulate a SGMA GSP that meets sustainability goals. There is
nothing in SGMA that precludes a local agency from relying upon
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or incorporating information from its current groundwater plan
in the new GSP.
Supporting arguments: The author and supporters state this bill
is necessary in order to provide locals with groundwater basin
management flexibility in order to deal with current challenges,
such as drought, in the interim before they adopt a SGMA GSP.
Other supporters state that local agencies should be able to
impose fees on groundwater extraction and exercise other SGMA
provisions ahead of either developing a GSP or presenting the AB
3030 plan to DWR as an alternative to a GSP.
Opposing arguments: Opponents state that this bill together
with the author's bill AB 454 cause delays to, and compete for
resources from, the implementation of SGMA. Opponents state
that this bill is in direct conflict with the legislation
adopted just a few months ago and seem unproductive and
unnecessary given the timeline in which SGMA must be completed.
Opponents state that effective groundwater management is sorely
needed in California and this can best be done through the SGMA
process.
Committee Suggestion
As the discussion over this bill illustrates, there are pros and
cons to allowing a current non-SGMA plan to be amended.
Allowing amendment could provide flexibility during the interim
period while the GSP is under development or it could dilute
local agency efforts and divert them from the GSP preparation.
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Committee suggests, on a moving-forward basis, that the author
work with stakeholders to develop provisions clarifying how
amendment of existing plans will support GSP development and not
undermine it.
Related Legislation
This is one of 14 bills in the Legislature proposing changes to
SGMA and its related statutes. The other bills are: AB 452
(Bigelow) prohibiting the State Water Board from using Water
Rights Fund monies for SGMA enforcement, except funds collected
from SGMA enforcement; AB 454 (Bigelow) adding one year to the
deadline to form a GSA or adopt a GSP; AB 455 (Bigelow)
requiring the Judicial Council to come up with a 270-day process
for completing all California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)
legal challenges to SGMA projects; AB 617 (Perea) adding mutual
water companies to GSAs; AB 938 (Salas) making minor technical
changes to SGMA; AB 939 (Salas) changing the time period for
providing technical data upon which a fee is based from 10 days
to 20 days before the meeting to adopt the fee; AB 1242 (Gray)
prohibiting the State Water Board from setting in-stream flows
standards unless the Board mitigates for the potential local
response of increased groundwater use; AB 1243 (Gray) rebating
50% of all SGMA enforcement penalties back to local governments
and water districts for groundwater recharge projects; AB 1390
(Alejo) creating a streamlined process for groundwater
adjudications and exempting them from SGMA, except minimal
reporting requirements; AB 1531 (Environmental Safety and Toxic
Materials Committee) making minor technical changes to SGMA; SB
13 (Pavley) making noncontroversial technical cleanup changes to
SGMA; SB 226 (Pavley) adding a streamlined groundwater
adjudication section to SGMA; and SB 487 (Nielsen) exempting
SGMA projects from CEQA.
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REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
Association of California Water Agencies
Rural County Representatives of California
Valley Ag Water Coalition
Opposition
Center for Biological Diversity
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Clean Water Action
Community Water Center
Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability
Natural Resources Defense Council
Sierra Club California
Analysis Prepared by:Tina Cannon Leahy / W., P., & W. / (916)
319-2096