BILL NUMBER: AB 1755 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 5, 2016
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 1, 2016
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Dodd
FEBRUARY 2, 2016
An act to add Part 4.9 (commencing with Section 12400) to Division
6 of the Water Code, relating to water data.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1755, as amended, Dodd. The Open and Transparent Water Data
Act.
Existing law imposes on the Department of Water Resources various
duties with respect to water in the state. Under existing law, the
State Water Resources Control Board administers a water rights
program pursuant to which the state board grants permits and licenses
to appropriate water. Existing law regulates water transfers and
authorizes a permittee or licensee to change the point of diversion,
place of use, or purpose of use due to a transfer or exchange of
water or water rights if certain conditions are met.
This bill would enact the Open and Transparent Water Data Act. The
act would require the department to establish a public benefit
corporation that would create and manage (1) a statewide water
information system to improve the ability of the state to meet the
growing demand for water supply reliability and healthy ecosystems,
that, among things, would integrate existing water data information
from multiple databases and (2) an online water transfer information
clearinghouse for to report on water
transfer information transactions that
would include, among other things, include
a database of historic water transfers and transfers
pending responsible agency approval and with
information on completed water transfers, a public forum to
exchange information on water market issues.
issues, and information to assist proponents with the water transfer
approval processes.
The act would require the department, the state board, and the
Department of Fish and Wildlife to develop protocols for data
sharing, documentation, quality control, public access, and promotion
of open source platforms and decision support tools related to water
data and to submit to the Legislature a report on those protocols.
The act would specify that a recipient of state funds for research or
projects relating to the improvement of water data shall adhere to
those protocols or be ineligible for state funding.
The act would create the Water Information System Administration
Fund. The act would specify that moneys in the fund would be
available, upon appropriation, to the department for the improvement
of water data and for the purposes of the act.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Part 4.9 (commencing with Section 12400) is added to
Division 6 of the Water Code, to read:
PART 4.9. The Open and Transparent Water Data Act
CHAPTER 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS
12400. This part shall be known, and may be cited, as the Open
and Transparent Water Data Act.
12401. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) The recent drought reveals that California needs a real-time,
accessible statewide water information system to help water managers
operate California's water system more effectively and help water
users make informed decisions based on water availability and
allocation.
(b) California has a number of databases containing information on
hydrology, biology, water quality, the physical environment, and
water rights and use. The passage of the Sustainable Groundwater
Management Act (Part 2.74 (commencing with Section 10720)) will
result in more data on groundwater use and availability.
Unfortunately, current water data is often challenging to obtain,
outdated, and not always readily available to water managers and the
public due to its collection by numerous entities and storage in
disparate databases that often rely on tools that do not keep pace
with technological advances.
(c) The need to account for California's water is essential, yet
water managers must make decisions about water resources while
relying on outdated and incomplete information. A greater
understanding of and ability to access existing water data will
support more timely and science-based decisions related to water
planning, water allocations, water transfers, and water use
efficiency that will lead California to a more sustainable water
future.
(d) On October 2, 2015, the Delta Stewardship Council released a
white paper entitled "Enhancing the Vision for Managing California's
Environmental Information." The white paper and the Environmental
Data Summit were a collaborative effort of the Delta Stewardship
Council and its Delta Science Program, the Department of Water
Resources, the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Conservancy, the State
Water Resources Control Board, the Department of Fish and Wildlife,
the San Francisco Estuary Institute, the State and Federal
Contractors Water Agency, and 34 North. The white paper recommended
four necessary actions to achieve the goal of streamlining the
collaboration of huge amounts of environmental data between various
state and federal agencies and identified the need for new policies
for managing California's large amounts of data: development of a
system where data could be accessed from a centralized source,
implementing new methods for clear documentation of existing data,
and developing business models that will better facilitate the
management of data.
(e) The California Water Plan Update 2013, Volume 1, Chapter 6,
entitled "Integrated Data and Analysis: Informed and Transparent
Decision-Making," describes key actions needed to improve water
resources information and analysis for integrated water management
and urges agencies that collect data to work together to prioritize
and align water resources information that is collected by multiple
agencies.
(f) The California Water Action Plan recognizes the need to take
bold action to transfer the state's water management system to face
the challenges of the 21st century. Climate change, population
growth, and vulnerable ecosystems create greater uncertainty in
future water availability. To address these challenges California
needs to do both of the following:
(1) Invest in a 21st century water management system that can
adapt to wide variations in rainfall.
(2) Safeguard and restore California's freshwater ecosystems so
they can withstand variations in climate and competing demands for
water.
(g) Standards for transparent access to data have changed with the
public demanding real-time information on demand. However, the
demand for available data currently outstrips the ability to deliver
information to water managers and the public.
(h) Clear data standards and protocols help to promote
compatibility among datasets, allowing for sharing, aggregation, and
analysis by multiple groups.
(i) Metadata summarizes basic information about data, which can
make finding and working with particular data easier. Clear
documentation of metadata avoids misunderstandings, reduces disputes,
and increases the effectiveness of management decisions.
(j) Water data and research that is gathered using state funds
should be made publicly accessible. State delegation of data
management to contractors should not result in the public losing
access to its own information.
(k) The availability of cheap and open-source tools could help
produce an online water transfer information clearinghouse without
the need to create an expensive new centralized database.
( l ) An effective water market is one of several water
management tools needed to improve the state's water supply
reliability.
12402. Unless the context otherwise requires, the following
definitions govern the construction of this part:
(a) "Clearinghouse" means the online water transfer information
clearinghouse created pursuant to Section 12415.
(b) "Department" means the Department of Water Resources.
(c) "Metadata" means data that describes data.
(d) "NGO" means a nongovernmental organization.
(e) "State board" means the State Water Resources Control Board.
(f) "Water information system" means the statewide water
information system created pursuant to Section 12410.
CHAPTER 2. PUBLIC BENEFIT CORPORATION PARTICIPATION
Article 1. General Provisions
12405. (a) The department shall establish a public benefit
corporation to house, manage, and oversee the statewide water
information system created pursuant to Section 12410 and the online
water transfer information clearinghouse created pursuant to Section
12415.
(b) The public benefit corporation may, notwithstanding any other
law and not subject to otherwise applicable provisions of the
Government Code and Public Contract Code, operate the water
information system and the clearinghouse on its own, through a third
party, or by engaging the services of private consultants,
educational institutions, and NGOs to render professional and
technical assistance with and advice for carrying out creation and
management activities.
(c) To the extent permitted by federal law, the public benefit
corporation may receive gifts, grants, or donations of moneys from
any agency of the federal government, any agency of the state, or any
municipality, county, or other political subdivision thereof, or
from any individual, association, foundation, or corporation for
achieving any of the purposes of this part. These moneys shall be
deposited in the Water Information System Administration Fund created
pursuant to Section 12425.
Article 2. Statewide Water Information System
12410. (a) The public benefit corporation established pursuant to
Section 12405 shall establish a statewide water information system
to improve the ability of the state to meet the growing demand for
water supply reliability and healthy ecosystems. The public benefit
corporation shall create the water information system in
collaboration with state and federal agencies, water data users, and
water experts.
(b) The water information system shall, at a minimum, do all of
the following:
(1) Integrate existing water data information from multiple
autonomous databases managed by federal, state, and local agencies
and academia using consistent and standardized formats.
(2) Integrate, at a minimum, the following datasets:
(A) The department's information on State Water Project reservoir
operations, groundwater use, and groundwater levels through
California Statewide Groundwater Elevation Monitoring (CASGEM), urban
water use, and land use.
(B) The state board's data on water rights, water diversions, and
water quality through California Environmental Data Exchange Network
(CEDEN).
(C) The Department of Fish and Wildlife's information on fish
abundance and distribution.
(D) The United States Geological Survey's streamflow conditions
information through the National Water Information System.
(E) The United States Bureau of Reclamation's federal Central
Valley Project operations information.
(F) The United States Fish and Wildlife Service's, United States
Forest Service's, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Fisheries' fish abundance information.
(3) Incorporate clear and careful documentation of data quality
and data formats through metadata.
(4) Adhere to data protocols developed by state agencies pursuant
to Section 12420.
(5) Be able to receive both spatial and time series data from
various sources.
(6) Enable custom dashboards, visualizations, graphing, and
analysis.
Article 3. Online Water Transfer Information Clearinghouse
12415. (a) The public benefit corporation
established pursuant to Section 12405 shall establish an online water
transfer information clearinghouse for water transfer
information to report on water transactions that
shall include all of the following:
(a)
(1) A database of historic water transfers and
transfers pending responsible agency approval. with
information on completed water transfers.
(b)
(2) A public forum to exchange information on water
market issues.
(c)
(3) Information to assist proponents with
responsible agency approval the water transfer
approval processes.
(b) The public benefit corporation shall not arrange, coordinate,
negotiate, or approve proposed water transfers through the online
water transfer information clearinghouse.
(c) The public benefit corporation shall not publish information
about proposed water transfers, except for information published by
the state board or other government agency, including, but not
limited to, information publicly available on a government agency
Internet Web site.
CHAPTER 3. STATE AGENCY RESPONSIBILITIES
12420. (a) The department, the state board, and the Department of
Fish and Wildlife shall develop an open, transparent process to
develop protocols for data sharing, documentation, quality control,
public access, and promotion of open source platforms and decision
support tools related to water data. The agencies shall develop and
submit to the Legislature, in compliance with Section 9795 of the
Government Code and before the establishment of a statewide water
information system pursuant to Section 12410, a report describing
these processes and protocols.
(b) Grant recipients for research or projects relating to the
improvement of water data that receive state funds shall adhere to
the protocols developed by state agencies pursuant to subdivision (a)
for data sharing, transparency, documentation, and quality control.
(c) A researcher or grant recipient that does not comply with
subdivision (b) is not eligible for state funding until the
researcher or grant recipient complies with those requirements.
CHAPTER 4. WATER INFORMATION SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION FUND
12425. The Water Information System Administration Fund is hereby
created. All moneys in the fund are available, upon appropriation,
to the department for the improvement of water data, including
installing stream gauges and maintaining stream gauge networks, and
for the purposes of this part, including, but not limited to,
maintaining surface water and groundwater monitoring networks,
establishing and operating the public benefit corporation created
pursuant to Section 12405, maintaining and updating the statewide
water information system and online water transfer information
clearinghouse, including the cost to verify data, and modernizing
water information databases.