BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 935| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- THIRD READING Bill No: AB 935 Author: Salas (D), et al. Amended: 7/16/15 in Senate Vote: 21 SENATE NATURAL RES. & WATER COMMITTEE: 9-0, 7/14/15 AYES: Pavley, Stone, Allen, Hertzberg, Hueso, Jackson, Monning, Vidak, Wolk SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 8/27/15 AYES: Lara, Bates, Beall, Hill, Leyva, Mendoza, Nielsen ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 80-0, 6/3/15 - See last page for vote SUBJECT: Water projects SOURCE: Author DIGEST: This bill requires the Department of Water Resources (DWR) to fund the Reverse Flow Pump-Back Facilities on the Friant-Kern Canal and the San Joaquin River Recapture at Patterson Irrigation District Conveyed Through Delta-Mendota Canal to San Luis Reservoir, upon appropriation of the Legislature. ANALYSIS: Existing law establishes in the Natural Resources Agency the Department of Water Resources (DWR), which manages and undertakes planning with regard to water resources in the state. AB 935 Page 2 This bill requires the DWR, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to fund two projects: 1)The Reverse Flow Pump-back Facilities on the Friant-Kern Canal Restoration Project, and 2)The San Joaquin River Recapture at Patterson Irrigation District. Background In September 2006, the US Department of Interior and Commerce, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Friant Water Users Authority entered into a settlement that ended an 18-year lawsuit to provide sufficient fish habitat in the San Joaquin River below Friant Dam near Fresno. The settlement resulted in the San Joaquin River Restoration Program (SJRRP) which has two goals and objectives: (1) a restored river with continuous flows to the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and naturally reproducing populations of Chinook salmon; and (2) a river management program to minimize water supply impacts to San Joaquin River water users. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) initiated an investment strategy in support of the SJRRP water management goal. The purpose was to identify projects that, in conjunction with other activities, could cost-effectively reduce or avoid water supply impacts to the Friant Division long-term contractors. USBR, in collaboration with the Friant Contractors, identified, screened, developed, evaluated, and ranked over 500 project concepts to form a list of approximately 60 projects. Of these, 21 projects were further evaluated as ready-to-implement priority projects. The results were presented in a March 2015 report titled Water Management Goal Investment Strategy: Final Report. Among other things, the Final Report presented a list of priority projects evaluated at an appraisal level that support the water management goal of the SJRRP. The two projects that AB 935 Page 3 would be funded through this bill are among the 21 projects evaluated in the Final Report. Reverse Flow Pump-Back Facilities on the Friant-Kern Canal. The Friant-Kern Canal is Federal Central Valley Project (CVP) canal that conveys water from Friant Dam on the San Joaquin River near Fresno, southward to various Friant Contractors along the east side of the San Joaquin Valley, terminating at the Kern River near Bakersfield. Currently, the Friant-Kern Canal has limited pump-back operational capacity, which is used occasionally to deliver north the water from the Cross Valley Canal or water extracted from water banks on the Kern River fan. This project would install permanent pump-back facilities with higher capacities along the southern portion of the Friant-Kern Canal. The project would allow water that was released for restoration flows on the San Joaquin River that was then recaptured downstream to be conveyed via the Cross Valley Canal to be pumped back up the Friant-Kern Canal to a number of Friant Contractors. The Final Report ranked this project 4th of 21, with an estimated cost of $7.6 million, and, including planning and environmental review, a little over 2 years to complete the project. San Joaquin River Recapture at Patterson Irrigation District Conveyed Through Delta-Mendota Canal to San Luis Reservoir. Patterson Irrigation District (ID) is located just downstream from the San Joaquin River and Merced River confluence. Patterson ID has senior San Joaquin River water rights, and it is the first district downstream of the SJRRP Restoration Area capable of recapturing restoration flows. With this project, USBR and Friant Contractors propose to 1) assist Patterson ID modernize and expand the capacity of its cross district conveyance facilities and 2) to facilitate water conveyance or exchange agreements between Friant Contractors and Patterson ID so that recaptured restoration flows can be stored via the Delta-Mendota Canal in San Luis Reservoir for future direct delivery and/or exchange to benefit Friant Contractors. This project provides a method to recapture restoration flows before it enters the Delta. AB 935 Page 4 The Final Report ranked this project 12th of 21, with an estimated cost of $53.6 million, and, including planning and environmental review, a little over 4 years to complete the project. FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.:YesLocal: No According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, cost pressure of $61.2 million to the General Fund for DWR to fund the specified projects. Appropriations Committee staff further commented: "This bill would require DWR to provide up to 100% of the funding of the two specified projects for a total of $61.2 million. As this bill does not actually make an appropriation, these costs are technically cost pressures. This bill does not specify a funding source and it is unclear whether there are bond monies available for these projects. DWR is on pace to awarding all of its remaining Proposition 84 funds by the end of this year and Proposition 1 included a provision stating that the Legislature cannot appropriate Proposition 1 funds for a specified project. In the absence of a fund source being specified, staff assumes the cost would be borne by the General Fund. "Staff notes that while the state has made a commitment to helping restore the San Joaquin River itself, the state was not a party to the settlement. Thus the projects are solely the responsibility of the federal government." SUPPORT: (Verified8/28/15) AB 935 Page 5 California Citrus Mutual Delano-Earlimart Irrigation District Desert Water Agency Kern-Tulare Water District South Valley Water Association Tulare County Farm Bureau OPPOSITION: (Verified8/28/15) City of Clovis City of Fresno City of Reedley City of Selma Consolidated Irrigation District Fresno Irrigation District Kaweah Delta Water Conservation District Kings River Conservation District Kings River Water Association Raisin City Water District ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: According to the author, "We need to develop and improve conveyance facilities in order to optimize inter-regional water supplies, facilitate the movement of water from the east side to the west side, and make additional water available to be distributed to places of need." ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION: A coalition of irrigation districts and other water suppliers "are concerned with the 'shall fund' directive to the California Department of Water Resources (DWR), particularly as valley water agencies are forced to compete for limited funding for projects developed through regional integrated water management planning. AB 935 must be amended to clarify that funds appropriated from voter-approved General Obligation bonds may not be used to support these projects unless they are awarded under the competitive processes administered by DWR." ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 80-0, 6/3/15 AB 935 Page 6 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Perea, Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Atkins Prepared by:Dennis O'Connor / N.R. & W. / (916) 651-4116 8/30/15 19:13:07 **** END ****