Amended in Senate June 13, 2016

Amended in Assembly May 11, 2016

Amended in Assembly April 5, 2016

Amended in Assembly March 1, 2016

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 1755

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, by January 1, 2018, to create, operate, and maintain a statewide integrated water data platform that, among begin insert other end insert things, would integrate existing water and ecological data information from multiple databases and provide data on completed water transfers and exchanges.

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 begin delete specify that end delete begin insert require end insert a recipient of state funds for research or projects relating to the improvement of water data begin delete shall end delete begin insert to end insert adhere to those protocols or be ineligible for state funding.

The act would create the Water Data Administration Fund. The act would specify that moneys in the fund would be available, upon appropriation, to the department, the state board, begin delete and end delete begin insert or end insert the Department of Fish and Wildlife for the improvement of water data begin delete and end delete begin insert or end insert for certain other 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 to integrate
existing water and ecological data into an authoritative open-access
platform 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) State and federal leadership, increased awareness by
business, governmental, and nongovernmental organizations
through open and transparent access to data, and improved
technology and availability of open-source platforms create a
unique opportunity that California should seize upon to integrate
and increase access to existing water data.

(c) California is working to increase access to water data
collected by state agencies. The state board is piloting a project to
make water quality datasets available online through an open data
portal. The portal creates an opportunity to foster collaboration
among state agencies, share and integrate existing datasets, improve
state agency operations through data-driven decisionmaking, and
improve transparency and accountability.

(d) State agencies should promote openness and interoperability
of water data. Making information accessible, discoverable, and
usable by the public can foster entrepreneurship, innovation, and
scientific discovery.

(e) 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.

(f) The availability of open-source tools makes it easier to access
and explore water and ecological data and could facilitate the
creation of an online integrated water data platform without the
need to create an expensive new centralized database.

12402.  

Unless the context otherwise requires, the following
definitions govern the construction of this part:

(a) “Department” means the Department of Water Resources.

(b) “Metadata” means data that describes data.

(c) “Platform” means the statewide integrated water data
platform described in Section 12415.

(d) “State board” means the State Water Resources Control
Board.

 

Chapter  2. Statewide Water Data Integration

 

Article 1.  General Provisions

 

12405.  

The department, the state board, and the Department
of Fish and Wildlife shall coordinate and integrate existing water
and ecological data from local, state, and federal agencies. The
purposes for integrating water and ecological data are to provide
adequate information to implement the Sustainable Groundwater
Management Act (Part 2.74 (commencing with Section 10720)),
improve the management of the state’s water resources, and bring
greater transparency to water transfers and the market.

12406.  

(a) The department, the state board, and the Department
of Fish and Wildlife shall 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 integrated water data platform
pursuant to Section 12410, a report describing these protocols.
The report shall be developed in collaboration with relevant federal
agencies and interested stakeholders, including, but not limited to,
technology and open data experts and water data users.

(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.

 

Article 2.  Statewide Integrated Water Data Platform Creation

 

12410.  

(a) The department shall create, operate, and maintain
a statewide integrated water data platform in accordance with
Section 12415 by January 1, 2018.

(b) The department may partner with an existing nonprofit
organization, begin delete or end delete with a new nonprofit organization that the
department creates, organized under paragraph (3) of subsection
(c) of Section 501 of Title 26 of the United States Code, or begin delete may
partner end delete with another state begin delete agency, end delete begin insert agency end insert to create, operate, begin delete and
maintain end delete begin insert or maintain, or any combination thereof, end insert the platform.

(c) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), the department may enter
into an agreement with an existing nonprofit organization, begin delete or end delete with
a new nonprofit organization that the department creates, organized
under paragraph (3) of subsection (c) of Section 501 of Title 26
of the United States Code, begin insert or with another state agency end insert for that
nonprofit organization begin insert or state agency end insert to create, operate, begin delete and
maintain end delete begin insert or maintain, or any combination thereof, end insert the platform.

(d) A nonprofit organization that participates in creating,
operating, or maintaining the platform may receive public funds,
court-ordered mitigation funds, or other funds to assist in carrying
out the responsibilities for integrating and managing existing water
and ecological data as described in Section 12415.

 

Article 3.  Statewide Integrated Water Data Platform Features

 

12415.  

The statewide integrated water data platform created
pursuant to Section 12410 shall, at a minimum, do all of the
following:

(a) Integrate existing water and ecological data information
from multiple autonomous databases managed by federal, state,
and local agencies and academia using consistent and standardized
formats.

(b) Integrate, at a minimum, the following datasets:

(1) 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.

(2) The state board’s data on water rights, water diversions, and
water quality through California Environmental Data Exchange
Network (CEDEN).

(3) The Department of Fish and Wildlife’s information on fish
abundance and distribution.

(4) The United States Geological Survey’s streamflow
conditions information through the National Water Information
System.

(5) The United States Bureau of Reclamation’s federal Central
Valley Project operations information.

(6) The United States Fish and Wildlife Service’s, United States
Forest Service’s, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration Fisheries’ fish abundance information.

(c) Provide data on completed water transfers and exchanges,
including publicly available or voluntarily provided data on the
volume, price, and delivery method, identity of the buyers and
sellers, and the water right associated with the transfer or exchange.

(d) Provide clear and careful documentation of data quality and
data formats through metadata.

(e) Adhere to data protocols developed by state agencies
pursuant to Section 12406.

(f) Be able to receive both spatial and time series data from
various sources.

(g) Enable custom dashboards, visualizations, graphing, and
analysis.

 

Chapter  3. Water Data Administration Fund

 

12420.  

The Water Data Administration Fund is hereby created.
All moneys in the fund are available, upon appropriation, to the
department, the state board, or the Department of Fish and Wildlife
for the improvement of water data, for entering into an agreement
with, or establishing, a nonprofit organization pursuant to Section
12410, or creating, operating, or maintaining the statewide
integrated water data platform described in Section 12415,
including the cost to verify data, and modernizing water
information databases.

12421.  

(a) (1) The department, the state board, or the
Department of Fish and Wildlife may enter into an agreement to
accept funds or services from any person, educational institution,
government entity, corporation or other business entity, or
organization for the maintenance, development, improvement, or
enhancement of a designated agencies’ data, decision support tools,
or information technology projects. Under the direction of the
respective agency, the funds or services received shall supplement,
but not replace, existing resources for the maintenance,
development, improvement, or enhancement of designated agency
data, decision support tools, or information technology systems.
The respective agency and the sponsoring or donating person,
entity, government, or organization shall specify in the agreement
the level of service that is to be performed.

(b) Funds received pursuant to this section shall be deposited
in the Water Data Administration Fund created pursuant to Section
12420.