BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1244
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ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
1244 (Gray)
As Amended January 26, 2016
Majority vote
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|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Water |14-0 |Levine, Bigelow, | |
| | |Dahle, Dodd, Eggman, | |
| | |Beth Gaines, | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | |Cristina Garcia, | |
| | |Gomez, Harper, Lopez, | |
| | |Mathis, Medina, | |
| | |Salas, Williams | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Appropriations |17-0 |Gomez, Bigelow, | |
| | |Bloom, Bonilla, | |
| | |Bonta, Calderon, | |
| | |Chang, Daly, Eggman, | |
| | |Gallagher, Eduardo | |
| | |Garcia, Holden, | |
| | |Jones, Quirk, Wagner, | |
| | |Weber, Wood | |
| | | | |
AB 1244
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| | | | |
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SUMMARY: Requires the State Water Resources Control Board
(SWRCB) to consult with other agencies when adopting general
conditions for small irrigation registrations. Specifically,
this bill:
1)Requires SWRCB to consult with the Department of Food and
Agriculture (CDFA) and the University of California
Cooperative Extension (UC Extension) regarding relevant
agricultural issues.
2)Requires SWRCB to consult with the Department of Fish and
Wildlife (DFW) regarding potential impacts on fish and
wildlife species.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Defines small irrigation use as an irrigation use, heat
control use, or frost protection use, not to exceed diversion
to storage of 20 acre-feet annually or direct diversion of
42,000 gallons per day up to a maximum of 20 acre-feet
annually.
2)Adds small irrigation to the existing uses for which an
applicant may obtain a right to appropriate water by
registering with the SWRCB.
3)Limits the total combined water use covered by registrations
to one registration per 20 irrigated acres, and on all acreage
covered by the registrations including any water use based on
other rights, 100 acre-feet.
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4)Requires the SWRCB to establish general conditions for small
irrigation use to protect instream beneficial uses before the
small irrigation registration process can be used.
5)Makes the SWRCB's duty to establish general conditions subject
to SWRCB having available funds.
6)Allows the SWRCB to adopt general conditions for some methods
of diversion or categories of small irrigation use before
establishing general conditions for others.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, absorbable costs for SWRCB, CDFA, DFW and the UC
Extension.
COMMENTS: This bill requires the SWRCB to consult with the
CDFA, UC Extension, and DFW in developing general water permit
terms for small irrigation registrations.
The small irrigation registration process was created by AB 964
(Huffman), Chapter 579, Statutes of 2011, in response to
resource conflicts that were occurring when sprinklers used to
protect vineyards against frost were creating simultaneous water
demands that, when combined with other water uses, were causing
drops in river flows that could be harmful to salmon and other
fish. The small irrigation use registration process was
developed in order to create an expedited water right for a pond
that stores less than 20 acre-feet annually so that a vineyard
could draw from its pond for frost protection instead of
directly from the stream. However, AB 964 was not limited to
frost protection uses. The SWRCB at that time identified that
one quarter of its currently-pending water rights applications
were for uses of 20 acre-feet per year or less. Therefore,
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creation of a small irrigation registration process was expected
to streamline permitting for some of those small irrigation uses
and help the SWRCB eliminate some of its water right permitting
backlog.
In addition to increased flexibility for irrigators, AB 964
included environmental safeguards. AB 964 required the SWRCB to
develop general conditions that protect in-stream beneficial
uses before the small irrigation registration process may be
used. This requirement is in addition to DFW's ability under
existing law to impose project-specific terms and conditions on
water registrations. AB 964 allowed the SWRCB to develop
general conditions for some areas or uses before others but
mandated that the SWRCB develop general conditions for frost
protection uses in the northern California coastal stream area
by June 30, 2012, unless the SWRCB determined it had
insufficient funds for that purpose.
The author states that this bill will expand small irrigation
use registrations in a manner that ensures protection of senior
water rights and environmental water needs by creating general
permit terms for small irrigation registrations. Other
supporters state this bill would assist the SWRCB in approving
small projects with obvious environmental benefits by working
with others to develop site-specific criteria that could
expedite their approval.
Analysis Prepared by:
Diane Colborn / W., P., & W. / (916) 319-2096
FN:
0002594
AB 1244
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