BILL NUMBER: AB 1390	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Members Alejo and Perea
   (Principal coauthors: Assembly Members Bigelow, Gray, Olsen, and
Salas)
   (Principal coauthors: Senators Cannella and Vidak)
   (Coauthors: Assembly Members Cooley, Cooper, Eggman, Frazier,
Ridley-Thomas, and Wilk)
   (Coauthors: Senators Fuller, Galgiani, and Nielsen)

                        FEBRUARY 27, 2015

   An act relating to groundwater.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1390, as introduced, Alejo. Groundwater: adjudication.
   Under existing law, the right to water or to the use of water is
limited to that amount of water that may be reasonably required for
the beneficial use to be served. Existing law declares that the
storing of water underground, and related diversions for that
purpose, constitute a beneficial use of water if the stored water is
thereafter applied to the beneficial purposes for which the
appropriation for storage was made.
   Existing law authorizes the State Water Resources Control Board,
under certain circumstances, to grant a petition signed by one or
more claimants to water of any stream system, as defined, requesting
the determination of the rights of the various claimants to the water
of that stream system. Existing law authorizes the board, upon the
granting of that petition, to determine all rights to water of the
stream system, whether based on appropriation, riparian right, or
other basis of right.
   This bill would declare the intent of the Legislature to enact
legislation that would, among other things, develop procedures to
provide a more streamlined and expeditious groundwater adjudication
process by which courts may conduct comprehensive determinations of
all rights to groundwater in a basin, while fully respecting
established principles of water rights law and providing participants
appropriate due process.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (a) Diverse economic, environmental, and social interests are
implicated by sustainable groundwater management.
   (b) Previous groundwater adjudication actions have taken more than
a decade before issuance of a final judgment by the court in an
adjudication action.
   (c) In light of the scope and complexities of groundwater
adjudication actions, the state's welfare will be promoted by the
development of specially tailored legal procedures to efficiently
process groundwater adjudication actions.
  SEC. 2.  It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation
that would do all of the following:
   (a) Develop procedures to provide a more streamlined and
expeditious groundwater adjudication process, while at the same time
fully respecting established principles of water rights law and
providing participants appropriate due process.
   (b) Establish procedures by which courts may conduct comprehensive
determinations of all rights to groundwater in a basin.
   (c) Encourage early resolution of groundwater rights disputes.
   (d) Substantially reduce the time and expense of groundwater
adjudications, while ensuring fair procedures to protect all parties'
rights to groundwater.
   (e) Ensure the judicial process is not used to delay or thwart the
goal of managing groundwater in a sustainable manner.
   (f) Reduce the burdens placed on the judiciary under the current
adjudication process.