BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES AND WATER
Senator Fran Pavley, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 2357 Hearing Date: June 28,
2016
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|Author: |Dahle | | |
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|Version: |April 5, 2016 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Dennis O'Connor |
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Subject: Water rights: monitoring and reporting
BACKGROUND AND EXISTING LAW
The FY 2015/16 Resources Trailer Bill (SB 88), among other
things, authorized the State Water Resources Control Board to
adopt regulations requiring measurement and reporting of water
diversion and use by either of the following:
Persons authorized to appropriate water under a permit,
license, registration for small domestic, small irrigation, or
livestock stockpond use, or certification for livestock
stockpond use.
Persons diverting 10 acre-feet of water or more per year.
In January 2016, the State Board adopted such regulations. The
regulations require those who divert more than 10 acre-feet of
water per year to measure their diversions.
PROPOSED LAW
This bill would exempt from the State Board's annual measurement
and reporting regulations water diversion and uses for livestock
stockponds if the diversions are less than year-round.
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT
According to the author, "SB 88, which was enacted in 2015,
implemented new measuring, monitoring and reporting requirements
AB 2357 (Dahle) Page 2
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on any individual or entity diverting surface water of more than
10 acre-feet. Although the statute allows the State Water
Resources Control Board the ability to provide exemptions based
on the cost of compliance, the regulations provide little
flexibility for diverters to comply. It's estimated that the
cost of the monitoring equipment could cost $20,000-$50,000
which for these small diverters is very hard to afford. AB 2357
is a narrowly drafted exemption from the emergency monitoring,
measuring and reporting regulations to help farmers and ranchers
who are already struggling to fully understand and comply with
the new regulations. While it won't take away from the primary
intent of SB 88, AB 2357 will clarify that only stock ponds that
are filled by a year-round diversion to storage are subject to
the regulations and exempts small livestock ponds that are
filled intermittently during rainy months. This will provide
necessary regulatory relief to small family farmers and ranchers
without impeding on the legislature's ability to collect more
accurate data about surface water."
AB 2357 (Dahle) Page 3
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ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION:
The Sierra Club writes, "We oppose AB 2357, which delays
implementation of SB 88, passed last year. SB 88 required more
reporting of diversions to the Water Board, so that they can
better manage water resources during this and future droughts.
Water diversion information is needed now, not in 2018. We urge
your NO vote on AB 2357."
COMMENTS
What Problem Are We Solving? Some livestock stockponds are in
areas where there is no way to physically access the stockponds
in the winter to read a staff gauge or other measuring device.
This would make it difficult to report monthly storage amounts.
However, the regulations provide specific compliance rules only
for storage facilities of over 10 acre-feet.
There is one place in the regulations that suggests that
livestock stockpond storage must be measured monthly. However,
it could also simply be a case of inelegant drafting of that
section or a case of reading more into the regulation than is
really there.
SUGGESTED AMENDMENTS: None
SUPPORT
California Waterfowl Association
California Farm Bureau Federation
California Cattlemen's Association
OPPOSITION
Sierra Club California
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