BILL NUMBER: AB 935 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 16, 2015
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 23, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 26, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Salas
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Atkins, Bigelow, Gray, Olsen, Perea,
and Rendon)
(Coauthors: Senators Berryhill, Cannella, Fuller, Galgiani, and
Vidak)
FEBRUARY 26, 2015
An act to add Section 10547.5 140 to
the Water Code, relating to integrated regional water
management plans. water.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 935, as amended, Salas. Integrated Regional Water
Management Plans: conveyance projects: grants and expenditures.
Water projects.
Existing law establishes in the Natural Resources Agency the
Department of Water Resources, which manages and undertakes planning
with regard to water resources in the state.
This bill would require, upon appropriation by the Legislature,
the department to provide funding for certain projects.
Existing law, the Integrated Regional Water Management Planning
Act, authorizes a regional water management group to prepare and
adopt an integrated regional water management plan with specified
components relating to water supply and water quality. Existing law
authorizes the Department of Water Resources to award grants to
eligible projects consistent with an adopted integrated regional
water management plan.
This bill would require the department to provide grants and
expenditures, consistent with an integrated regional water management
plan, for the planning, design, and construction of local and
regional conveyance projects that support regional and interregional
connectivity and water management and provide certain benefits. The
bill would require a regional management group that is awarded a
grant pursuant to these provisions to provide a cost share of not
less than 50% of the total project costs from nonstate resources and
would authorize the department to waive or reduce this requirement
for projects that directly benefit a disadvantaged community or an
economically distressed area. The bill would authorize the department
to adopt regulations to implement these provisions. The bill would
require the department, pursuant these provisions, to provide grant
funding for certain projects, as specified.
This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to
the necessity of a special statute for the specified projects.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 140 is added to the
Water Code , to read:
140. Upon appropriation by the Legislature, the department shall
provide funding for the following projects:
(a) A project that substantially conforms to the project
description for the Reverse Flow Pump-back Facilities on the
Friant-Kern Canal Restoration Project set forth by the draft
investment strategy released by the San Joaquin River Restoration
Program in December 2014.
(b) A project that substantially conforms to the project
description for the San Joaquin River Recapture at Patterson
Irrigation District Conveyed through Delta-Mendota Canal to San Luis
Reservoir Project set forth by the draft investment strategy released
by the San Joaquin River Restoration Program in December 2014.
SECTION 1. Section 10547.5 is added to the
Water Code, to read:
10547.5. (a) The department shall provide grants and
expenditures, consistent with an adopted integrated regional water
management plan, for the planning, design, and construction of local
and regional conveyance projects that do both of the following:
(1) Support regional and interregional connectivity and water
management.
(2) Provide one or more of the following benefits:
(A) Improved regional or interregional water supply and water
supply reliability.
(B) Mitigation of conditions of groundwater overdraft, saline
water intrusion, water quality degradation, or subsidence.
(C) Adaption to the impacts of hydrologic changes.
(D) Improved water security from drought, natural disasters, or
other events that could interrupt imported water supplies.
(E) Provision of safe drinking water for disadvantaged communities
and economically distressed areas.
(b) A regional water management group that is awarded a grant
pursuant to subdivision (a) shall provide a cost share of not less
than 50 percent of the total project costs from nonstate resources.
The department may waive or reduce this cost share requirement for
projects that directly benefit a disadvantaged community or an
economically distressed area.
(c) The department may adopt regulations to implement the
provisions of this section in accordance with Chapter 3.5 (commencing
with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the
Government Code.
SEC. 2. (a) Pursuant to Section 10547.5 of the
Water Code, the Department of Water Resources, using moneys
appropriated to the department for these purposes, shall provide
grant funding for the following projects:
(1) A project that substantially conforms to the project
description for the Reverse Flow Pump-back Facilities on the
Friant-Kern Canal Restoration Project set forth by the draft
investment strategy released by the San Joaquin River Restoration
Program in December 2014.
(2) A project that substantially conforms to the project
description for the San Joaquin River Recapture at Patterson
Irrigation District Conveyed through Delta-Mendota Canal to San Luis
Reservoir Project set forth by the draft investment strategy released
by the San Joaquin River Restoration Program in December 2014.
(b) Moneys provided pursuant to this section shall, in combination
with moneys provided pursuant to the 50-percent cost share
requirement of subdivision (b) of Section 10547.5 of the Water Code,
fund the entirety of the projects described in subdivision (a).
SEC. 3. The Legislature finds and declares that
a special law is necessary and that a general law cannot be made
applicable within the meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the
California Constitution because of California's four-year drought
that has wreaked havoc on communities, businesses, and agriculture on
the eastern side of the San Joaquin Valley. The interconnector
projects described in this act will allow water to be better managed,
providing relief to the eastern San Joaquin Valley and other areas
of the state.