BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 938
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Date of Hearing: April 14, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON WATER, PARKS, AND WILDLIFE
Marc Levine, Chair
AB 938
(Salas) - As Introduced February 26, 2015
SUBJECT: Sustainable Groundwater Management Act
SUMMARY: Clarifies that a statutory section that refers to an
agency in the singular also means agencies in the plural.
Specifically, this bill amends the Sustainable Groundwater
Management Act (SGMA) to specify if the Department of Water
Resources reclassifies a basin such that it becomes subject to
SGMA then not just a local agency overlying a groundwater basin
subject to SGMA would be entitled to additional time to comply
with SGMA but also if there is a combination of local agencies
overlying a groundwater basin they would be entitled to
additional time.
EXISTING LAW:
1)States that the singular number includes the plural and the
plural the singular in the Water Code.
2)Requires the Department of Water Resources (DWR) to evaluate
groundwater basins and designate them as high, medium, low or
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very low, according to various factors including, but not
limited to, level of dependence upon the basin by municipal
and agricultural users;
3)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) that provide for the sustainable management of
the groundwater basin or subbasin, as defined.
4)Requires that GSAs in basins with chronic overdraft develop
and adopt GSPs for their basin or subbasin by January 31,
2020.
5)Requires that GSAs in all other high- and medium-priority
basins subject to SGMA develop and adopt GSPs by January 31,
2022.
6)Delays enforcement for failure to a adopt a GSP in a high- or
medium-priority basins that is in a condition where
groundwater extractions result in significant depletions of
interconnected surface waters until January 31, 2025.
7)Requires that adopted GSPs utilize a 50 year planning horizon
that will achieve sustainability in a basin or subbasin within
20 years and include identified milestones at five year
intervals.
8)Allows that if a low or very low priority basin is
reprioritzed by DWR such that it becomes subject to SGMA, then
local agencies shall have two years from the date of
reprioritization to form a GSA and five years from the date of
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reprioritization to adopt a GSP.
FISCAL EFFECT: None. This bill keyed non-fiscal by the
Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS: This bill would make a minor technical change to
SGMA. The author states this bill is needed because it is
ambiguous as to whether the language stating that local agencies
shall have two years from the date of reprioritization to form a
GSA and five years from the date of reprioritization to adopt a
GSP would also apply to "a combination of agencies."
Supporting arguments. Supporters state that this bill clarifies
that "a combination of local agencies" can also establish a
Groundwater Sustainability Agency.
SGMA-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 453 (Bigelow) allowing groundwater
management plans adopted prior to SGMA to be amended and
extended; 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 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
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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.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
Association of California Water Agencies
Rural County Representatives of California
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by:Tina Cannon Leahy / W., P., & W. / (916)
319-2096
AB 938
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