BILL ANALYSIS Ó
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1317|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 1317
Author: Wolk (D)
Amended: 5/10/16
Vote: 21
SENATE NATURAL RES. & WATER COMMITTEE: 6-2, 4/12/16
AYES: Pavley, Allen, Hertzberg, Jackson, Monning, Wolk
NOES: Stone, Vidak
NO VOTE RECORDED: Hueso
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
SUBJECT: Groundwater extraction permit
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill requires cities and counties overlying a
basin designated as a high- or medium-priority basin to
establish a process for the issuance of a groundwater extraction
permit for the development of a groundwater extraction facility.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
SB 1317
Page 2
1)Specifies that cities and counties have a number of different
responsibilities, including:
a) Land use planning and permitting.
b) Issuing permits for water well construction.
2)Enacts the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). The
two principal bills that enacted SGMA were SB 1168 (Pavley,
Chapter 346, Statutes of 2014) and AB 1738 (Dickinson, Chapter
347, Statutes of 2014), which included the following parallel
legislative findings:
a) Failure to manage groundwater to prevent long-term
overdraft infringes on groundwater rights.
b) Groundwater resources are most effectively managed at
the local or regional level.
c) Groundwater management will not be effective unless
local actions to sustainably manage groundwater basins and
subbasins are taken.
3)Establishes as the Legislature's intent, in enacting SGMA:
"To recognize and preserve the authority of cities and
counties to manage groundwater pursuant to their police
powers."
4)Requires, under SGMA, all groundwater basins designated as
high- or medium-priority basins by the Department of Water
Resources (DWR) that are designated as basins subject to
critical conditions of overdraft to be managed by a
groundwater sustainability agency under a groundwater
sustainability plan or coordinated groundwater sustainability
SB 1317
Page 3
plans by January 31, 2020, and requires all other groundwater
basins designated as high- or medium-priority basins to be
managed under a groundwater sustainability plan or coordinated
groundwater sustainability plans by January 31, 2022, except
as specified.
5)Provides that, among the powers SGMA grants to groundwater
sustainability agencies is:
"To control groundwater extractions by regulating, limiting,
or suspending extractions from individual groundwater wells or
extractions from groundwater wells in the aggregate,
construction of new groundwater wells, enlargement of existing
groundwater wells, or reactivation of abandoned groundwater
wells, or otherwise establishing groundwater extraction
allocations?"
This bill:
1)Requires a city or county overlying a basin designated as a
high- or medium-priority basin to do both of the following:
a) By January 1, 2018, establish a process for the issuance
of a groundwater extraction permit for the development of a
groundwater extraction facility.
The process must require an applicant for a groundwater
extraction permit to demonstrate that extraction of
groundwater from a proposed groundwater extraction facility
will not contribute to or create an undesirable result.
b) Prohibit the issuance of a groundwater extraction permit
for a new groundwater extraction facility in either of the
following:
i) A probationary basin.
SB 1317
Page 4
ii) A basin designated in Bulletin 118 as a basin
subject to critical conditions of overdraft.
c) A groundwater extraction permit for the development of a
groundwater extraction facility shall not be required for
any of the following:
i) A de minimis extractor.
ii) The replacement of an existing groundwater
extraction facility with a new groundwater extraction
facility with the same or a lessor extraction capacity.
Replacement includes the deepening of a groundwater
extraction facility.
iii) A groundwater extraction facility constructed to
provide drinking water to a water system, if it provides
water to a disadvantaged unincorporated community and the
system has received a citation for a violation of primary
drinking water standards within the prior two years.
iv) A groundwater extraction facility necessary for
habitat or wetlands conservation.
v) A groundwater extraction facility necessary for a
renewable energy project such as utility scale solar.
2)Does not require a city or county to establish a new process
for the issuance of a groundwater extraction permit if the
city or county has in effect an ordinance adopted before
January 1, 2017, that imposes conditions on the development of
a new groundwater extraction facility in order to prevent the
new groundwater extraction facility from contributing to or
creating an undesirable result.
SB 1317
Page 5
3)Does not require a city or county overlying a medium- or
high-priority basin to have a process for the issuance of a
groundwater extraction on or after January 31, 2022, or once
the DWR has evaluated a groundwater sustainability plan for
the basin the city or county overlies and determined the plan
to be adequate and likely to achieve the sustainability goal
for the basin, whichever comes first.
4)Does not apply to a basin for which a court or the State Water
Resources Control Board has adjudicated the rights to extract
groundwater.
5)Does not apply within the statutory boundaries of a special
act water district.
6)Makes a number of findings and declarations:
a) Most findings and declarations describe the potential
harm "from the explosive increase in new wells."
b) The findings also include "Preventing undesirable
results in a high- or medium-priority basin pursuant to
this article and in furtherance of Section 113 of the Water
Code is a matter of statewide concern and not a municipal
affair, as that term is used in Section 5 of Article XI of
the California Constitution. Therefore, this act applies to
charter cities."
Background
California has 515 groundwater basins and subbasins that provide
about 40 percent of the state's water supply. Of these 515
basins, 127 have been designated by DWR as high- or
medium-priority basins. These 127 basins account for about 96
percent of the state's groundwater use and are overlain by about
88 percent of the population served by groundwater.
SB 1317
Page 6
Additionally, 21 of these basins have been identified by DWR as
being in a condition of critical overdraft.
Comments
First law of holes. The first law of holes states that "if you
find yourself in a hole, stop digging." Groundwater elevation
charts show, that in at least some of our high- and
medium-priority groundwater basins, there are distinct holes
that continue to grow.
No more rubber stamps? Rural County Representatives of
California and others wrote, commenting on a previous version of
the bill, "A well permit is currently a relatively simple and
low cost process ?" and observe that requiring a conditional use
permit could be a lengthy and costly process. Some would argue
that that is the point - we should no longer just rubberstamp
well permits without some consideration of the potential impact
on the aquifers and other groundwater users.
Consistent with SGMA? One of the overarching themes in SGMA is
that the Legislature established the desired outcomes and
provided local agencies a suite of tools to attain those desired
outcomes, and it was up to local agencies to determine which set
of those tools they were going to use to meet attain the desired
outcomes. This bill proposes that one tool local agencies in
all 127 high- and medium-priority basins must use is requiring a
conditional use for new wells, and a tool that must be used in
all 21 of the critically overdrafted basins is a ban on new
wells for all but de minimis groundwater users.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: Yes
SUPPORT: (Verified5/18/16)
SB 1317
Page 7
Azul
California Climate and Agriculture Network
California League of Conservation Voters
Clean Water Action
Community Alliance with Family Farmers
Community Water Center
Food and Water Watch
Leadership Counsel
Lutheran Office of Public Policy California
Natural Resources Defense Council
Planning and Conservation League
Sierra Club
The Nature Conservancy
Union of Concerned Scientists
Wholly H2O
OPPOSITION: (Verified5/23/16)
Agricultural Council of California
Association of California Water Agencies
California Building Industry Association
California Cattlemen's Association
California Chamber of Commerce
California Citrus Mutual
California Cotton Ginners and Growers Associations
California Dairies, Inc.
California Farm Bureau
California Fresh Fruit Association
California Groundwater Association
California League of Food Processors
California Municipal Utilities Association
California State Association of Counties
City of Roseville
Fresno County
Grower-Shipper Association
Kern County
League of California Cities
Merced County
Nisei Farmers League
Rural County Representatives of California
Sacramento County
SB 1317
Page 8
San Joaquin County
Santa Clara Valley Water District
Valley Ag Water Coalition
Western Agricultural Processors Association
Western Growers
Western Plant Health Association
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: According to the author, "Even with the
passage of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act of 2014,
many of California's groundwater basins are in serious and
immediate danger of overdraft. We have to recognize that there
are urgent problems in some groundwater basins that must be
addressed before SGMA regulations start to take effect in 2020.
Local governments need to take responsibility for their
critically overdrafted basins. In the 21 critically overdrafted
groundwater basins identified by the Department of Water
Resources, measures must be taken at the local level - with
guidance from the State - to restrict further depletion of
groundwater and subsequent land subsidence. Local governments
must actively analyze the condition and sustainability of its
groundwater basins before approving new drilling permits. In
other words, if you have a problem, you stop digging."
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION: The Rural County Representatives of
California (RCRC), the California State Association of Counties
(CSAC), and the League of California Cities (LCC) wrote,
commenting on a previous version of this bill, "RCRC, CSAC and
the LCC believe SB 1317 would get ahead of the GSA/GSP process
and would intervene in the local agency decision-making process
which is a key element and foundation of SGMA. Some of the
specific concerns with SB 1317 include that out of the 127 high
and medium priority basins only 21 have been designated as being
in critical overdraft and the legislation would impose
requirements in areas that do not have a groundwater problem.
Second, for areas that may be experiencing a groundwater
problem, SB 1317 provides a prescriptive solution that may not
be in the local interest or the best approach to address the
issue. SGMA was premised on local control and the "one size fits
all" approach as outlined in SB 1317 would undermine both the
premise and spirit of SGMA."
SB 1317
Page 9
Prepared by:Dennis O'Connor / N.R. & W. / (916) 651-4116
5/23/16 11:37:25
**** END ****