BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1262|
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 1262
Author: Pavley (D) and Wieckowski (D)
Amended: 6/15/16
Vote: 21
SENATE NATURAL RES. & WATER COMMITTEE: 7-2, 3/29/16
AYES: Pavley, Allen, Hertzberg, Hueso, Jackson, Monning, Wolk
NOES: Stone, Vidak
SENATE GOVERNANCE & FIN. COMMITTEE: 5-2, 4/20/16
AYES: Hertzberg, Beall, Hernandez, Lara, Pavley
NOES: Nguyen, Moorlach
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8
SENATE FLOOR: 22-13, 5/26/16
AYES: Allen, Beall, Block, De León, Glazer, Hall, Hancock,
Hernandez, Hertzberg, Hill, Hueso, Jackson, Leno, Leyva, Liu,
McGuire, Mitchell, Monning, Pan, Pavley, Wieckowski, Wolk
NOES: Anderson, Bates, Berryhill, Cannella, Fuller, Gaines,
Huff, Moorlach, Morrell, Nguyen, Nielsen, Stone, Vidak
NO VOTE RECORDED: Galgiani, Lara, Mendoza, Roth, Runner
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 76-0, 8/18/16 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: Water supply planning
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill revises requirements that new developments
must meet in order to demonstrate that its water supply is
sufficient to include consideration of provisions of the
Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA).
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Assembly Amendments eliminate provisions that excluded
groundwater from probationary basins from being considered as a
source of water supply.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Requires every large-scale development project of 500 new
residential connections or an equivalent size to have a water
supply assessment prepared according to the following:
a) A city or county, at the time that it determines that a
development is subject to the California Environmental
Quality Act (CEQA), must identify any water system that may
supply water for the project.
b) Identify any existing water supply entitlements, water
rights, or water service contracts relevant to the
identified water supply for the proposed project, and
describe the quantities of water received in prior years by
the public water system, or the city or county, through its
water rights or other sources.
c) If the project relies in whole or in part on
groundwater, requires additional information, including a
description of any groundwater basins that will supply the
project; the court or State Water Resources Control Board
(SWRCB) order if the basin is adjudicated; and an analysis
of the sufficiency of the groundwater from the basin or
basins.
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2)Requires that, under CEQA, whenever a city or county
determines that a large-scale project is subject to CEQA, it
must comply with the water supply assessment requirements
triggered by that determination.
3)Requires, under the Subdivision Map Act, cities and counties
to demonstrate that a sufficient water supply is available as
a condition of their approval of a tentative map for a
subdivision with more than 500 dwelling units.
4)Specifies that SGMA, among other provisions, directs the
Department of Water Resources (DWR) to categorize the state's
groundwater basins into high, medium, low, and very low
priorities, based on factors such as the population overlying
the basin, number of wells in the basin, and overlying
irrigated acreage. The DWR must also identify basins subject
to critical overdraft. Under SGMA:
a) Basins designated as high or medium priority must be
managed by a groundwater sustainability agency (GSA).
GSA's must develop a groundwater sustainability plan (GSP)
to ensure that by 2040, the basin is in a sustainable
condition.
b) A GSP must include, among other things, a description of
the consideration given to the applicable county and city
general plans, and a description of the various adopted
water resources-related plans and programs within the
basin, and an assessment of how the GSP may affect those
plans.
This bill:
1)Adds information about the reliance on, and management of,
groundwater supplies in factors considered in determining if
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there are sufficient water supplies for residential
development of more than 500 units.
2)Specifies that a GSP may be included as substantial evidence
in a public water system's written verification of its ability
or inability to provide sufficient water supply as part of the
approval of a residential development of more than 500 units.
3)Includes an identification of water systems that are adjacent
to large-scale projects subject to CEQA that trigger a water
supply assessment.
4)Adds SGMA compliance status to required information in a water
supply assessment for projects that receive water supply from
groundwater.
5)Excludes hauled water from consideration as a source of water
under a water supply assessment.
Background
Show Me the Water. In response to local land use decisions
adversely affecting local water supply agencies, the Legislature
enacted SB 610 (Costa, Chapter 643, Statutes of 2001) and SB 221
(Kuehl, Chapter 643, Statutes of 2001). Often referred to as
the "show-me-the-water" bills, together these two bills formally
linked land use planning with water use planning, and vice
versa. SB 1262 amends those bills.
Comments
Correcting an Oversight. The SGMA legislation in 2014
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introduced necessary changes to the local land use planning
laws, but inadvertently omitted conforming changes to the
"show-me-the-water" legislation. SB 1262 provides the necessary
updates to harmonize new development approvals with the
requirements of SGMA.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: Yes
According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, "Negligible
state fiscal impact. Although a state mandate, costs are not
reimbursable because the Agency has authority to levy fees
sufficient to cover any costs."
SUPPORT: (Verified8/19/16)
Association of California Water Agencies
Clean Water Action
Community Water Center
Desert Water Agency
East Bay Municipal Utility District
Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability
Planning and Conservation League
Sierra Club California
Valley Ag Water Coalition
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/19/16)
None received
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: According to the author, "California
has a number of interconnecting laws that together attempt to
ensure that water supply availability is given proper
consideration when making land use decisions, and vice versa.
Among those laws are 2002's SBs 610 (Costa) and 221 (Kuehl),
also known as the 'show me the water bills.' When we passed the
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Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) in 2014, we
updated some water and land use planning laws to reflect SGMA,
but not the show me the water bills.
"SB 1262 (Pavley and Wieckowski), updates the show me the water
bills to integrate groundwater sustainability agencies and
consideration of groundwater sustainability plans into water
supply and land use planning. In addition, it prohibits the use
of hauled water to comply with show me the water bills."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 76-0, 8/18/16
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Arambula, Atkins, Baker,
Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos,
Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh,
Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Gallagher, Cristina
Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez,
Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Holden, Irwin, Jones,
Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low,
Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin,
Nazarian, O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas,
Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond,
Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Rendon
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bigelow, Beth Gaines, Roger Hernández,
Obernolte
Prepared by:Dennis O'Connor / N.R. & W. / (916) 651-4116
8/19/16 19:37:24
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