BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó






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          |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE            |                        AB 935|
          |Office of Senate Floor Analyses   |                              |
          |(916) 651-1520    Fax: (916)      |                              |
          |327-4478                          |                              |
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                                   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.









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          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  







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          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.







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          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)







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          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







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          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


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