BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2483
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REPLACE - 06/02/2010 Technical change (Member name)
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 2483 (Coto)
As Amended May 19, 2010
Majority vote
LOCAL GOVERNMENT 6-3 WATER, PARKS & WILDLIFE 9-3
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|Ayes:|Caballero, Arambula, |Ayes:|Huffman, Arambula, |
| |Bradford, Davis, Solorio, | |Blumenfield, Caballero, |
| |Torlakson | |Ruskin, Bonnie Lowenthal, |
| | | |Salas, Yamada, Fong |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Smyth, Knight, Logue |Nays:|Bill Berryhill, Tom |
| | | |Berryhill, Fletcher |
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APPROPRIATIONS 12-5
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|Ayes:|Fuentes, Ammiano, |
| |Bradford, |
| |Charles Calderon, Coto, |
| |Davis, |
| |Monning, Ruskin, Skinner, |
| |Solorio, |
| |Torlakson, Torrico |
| | |
|-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Conway, Harkey, Miller, |
| |Nielsen, Norby |
| | |
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SUMMARY : Revises and recasts the Santa Clara Valley Water
District (District) Act. Specifically, this bill :
1)Repeals the current uncodified District Act (Act).
2)Revises and codifies the Act in an updated format.
3)Adds legislative findings and declarations regarding the need
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for an integrated approach to flood protection and water
supply.
4)Adds legislative findings that nothing in this Act shall be
construed to do any of the following:
a) Provide the District with regulatory authority that
conflicts with authority already exerted by the State
Department of Public Health, the State Water Resources
Control Board, the California regional water quality
control boards, or the Public Utilities Commission to
require water conservation measures;
b) Provide the District with jurisdiction over water
conservation measures that conflict with measures that have
been imposed by cities in Santa Clara County, the County of
Santa Clara, or water retailers; or,
c) Provide the District with unilateral authority to impose
measures on other agencies to mitigate climate change or
increase the production of renewable or alternative energy.
5)Provides that it is the intent of the Legislature that the
District lead, assist, and oversee water conservation efforts
and regulate only in the absence of other effective efforts,
or as necessary to ensure continued delivery of water under
the District's state and federal contracts.
6)States that it is the intent of the Legislature that this Act
should not conflict with any provisions of the California
Constitution, or impact existing water rights.
7)Adds succession language.
8)Adds the following definitions:
a) "Abandoned well" means any well that has not been used
for one year or more, unless the owner demonstrates
intention for future use of the well as prescribed;
b) "Conjunctive management" means the coordination and
planned management of all available water resources to
optimize the availability, reliability, and quality of
water supplies;
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c) "Groundwater basin" means any basin identified in the
Department of Water Resources Bulletin No. 118;
d) "Groundwater overdraft" means the condition of a
groundwater basin when the amount withdrawn by pumping
exceeds total recharge including both natural and
intentional recharge;
e) "Inactive well" or "standby well" means a well not
routinely operating, but capable of being made operable
with a minimum effort;
f) "In-lieu recharge" means accomplishing increased storage
of groundwater by providing other water to users who rely
on groundwater as a primary supply, in order to accomplish
groundwater storage through the direct use of that other
water in lieu of pumping groundwater.
g) "Integrated water management" means a holistic approach
to flood, water resources, and environmental activities;
h) "Mutual water company" means any private corporation or
association organized for the purposes of delivering water
to its stockholders and members at cost;
i) "Nonagricultural water" means water used for any
beneficial use other than agricultural use, including
municipal, industrial, landscape irrigation, and domestic
use;
j) "Recycled water" means wastewater that is suitable for
beneficial use as a result of treatment;
aa) "Stewardship" means the careful and responsible
management of the environment and natural resources for the
current and future benefit of the greater community; and,
bb) "Watershed" means a regional or area bounded
peripherally by a divide and draining immediately to a
particular watercourse or body of water.
9)Authorizes the District, in addition to its current
responsibilities, to do any of the following:
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a) Protect against land subsidence;
b) Plan for and adapt to climate change in a cost efficient
manner; and,
c) Encourage the integration of energy and water policies.
10)Provides the District, in addition to its current powers, the
power to cooperate with, enter into, and to do any acts
necessary for the proper performance of any agreement with the
state, the United States, any state, city, county, district of
any kind, public or private corporation, association, firm, or
individual, for the ownership, joint acquisition, leasing,
disposition, use, management, construction, installation,
extension, maintenance, repair, or operation of any rights,
works, or other property of a kind that might lawfully be
acquired or owned by the District, or for the lawful
performance of any power or purpose of the District.
11)Provides the District with the power to construct, manage,
and maintain all District flood protection facilities,
including levees, modified channels, bypasses, culverts,
floodwalls, detention basins, diversion structures, all
appurtenances and other structures, as well as to utilize
nonstructural methods, for the purpose of containing or
conveying flood waters.
12)Provides that District with the power to enact regulations to
protect against the diminution of the water supplies of the
District for the benefit of its inhabitants, including
reasonable regulation of existing and proposed wells against
acts destructive of the watershed and of exportation of water
from the District, or from a zone, or between District charge
zones.
13)Provides the District with the following additional powers
with regard to protection of water quality:
a) To conduct investigations of the quality of surface
water or groundwater within the District to determine if
water is being degraded, contaminated, or polluted;
b) To expend funds to provide replacement water supply for
contaminated water, to perform any cleanup, containment,
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abatement, prevention, remedial work, public notification,
or educational public outreach which, in the determination
of the District Board of Directors (Board), is required
under regulatory authority of any state or federal agency
or by the magnitude of the endeavor, or the urgent need for
prompt action to prevent, abate, or contain any threatened
or existing contamination of or pollution to the surface
water or groundwater of the district;
c) To hold the contaminator or polluter liable for costs
if, the District provides a replacement water supply or
causes contamination or pollution to be cleaned up or
contained, the effects abated, or other necessary remedial
action is taken to address actual or threatened
contamination or pollution; and,
d) To prevent land surface subsidence, where credible,
fact-based scientific evidence demonstrates that water
quality is in danger of being adversely affected.
14)Specifies that the District may impose groundwater management
charges to cover the costs of groundwater management
activities, including conjunctive use, for the production of
water from the groundwater supplies within a zone of the
District that benefits from recharge of imported water, or
from the extraction of groundwater from all water extraction
facilities within the District.
15) States that the District does not have the power to
supersede the land use planning authority of a city, county,
or any other entity to which land use planning authority has
been delegated.
16)Requires the District to have a member of a public water
utility that operates within the District be a member of an
advisory board established by the District, so long as such
representation is allowed under applicable conflict of
interest laws.
17)Requires the District to follow a prescribed process when
adopting, amending, or repealing an ordinance, which shall
include the following:
a) The ordinance shall be drafted in plain language;
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b) The agenda item proposing consideration of adoption or
modification of an ordinance shall include the following:
i) A statement of the necessity for action;
ii) Identification of each technical, theoretical, or
empirical study on which the board relied;
iii) Facts, evidence, or other information relative to
the anticipated economic impact of the action; and,
iv) Efforts made to avoid duplication of other entities'
jurisdiction.
c) The ordinance modifications shall be based upon
credible, fact-based science or engineering information
concerning the need for, and consequences of, District
action; and,
d) The agenda item and all supporting information shall be
posted on the Districts website.
18)Establishes an administrative appeal process through which a
person aggrieved by a decision of the District may appeal that
decision to the chief executive officer, and if necessary,
ultimately the Board.
19)Provides the Board with the discretion to uniformly authorize
partial or full payments of fees associated with candidate
ballot statements in order to encourage greater participation
in the political process.
20)Removes the current caps on interest rates and indebtedness
that the District currently has.
21)Specifies that groundwater management within the boundaries
of the District is the prerogative of the District and a
primary purpose for which the District was established and is
empowered.
22)Requires the District to conjunctively manage its groundwater
and surface water resources to optimize water supply
reliability for the benefit of the county as a whole and to
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protect infrastructure from subsidence.
23)Authorizes the District, in order to improve groundwater
supplies, to do all of the following:
a) Require conservation practices and measures;
b) Impose a rate structure to promote water conservation,
such as tiered rates; and,
c) Regulate ground water extractions to the extent
necessary to prevent groundwater overdraft and minimize the
risk of land subsidence.
24)Specifies that a water retailer or other entity that has
adopted and is implementing an urban water management plan or
an equivalent conservation plan, is not subject to additional
water conservation requirements imposed by the District,
unless those additional requirements are a precondition for
the continued delivery of imported water to the District as
established by state or federal law.
25)States that the District must comply with Article XIII D of
the California Constitution when proposing to impose or
increase property related groundwater management charges;
including providing a notice and protest process.
26)Specifies that a previously approved charge remains in effect
until reduced or increased.
27)Specifies that the District may impose a different
groundwater management rate for water to be used for
agricultural purposes.
28)Expands the District's authority on what groundwater
management charges can be used for to include the following
activities:
a) Managing water supplies for the current and future
benefit of the District, including demand management
activities and watershed stewardship activities related to
the preservation and improvement of the quality of
groundwater supplies in the zone where the charge is
levied; and,
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b) Actions and programs to conserve, store, extract,
inject, recharge, recycle, protect, treat, transfer,
exchange, or distribute water for the current and future
benefit of the District.
29)Requires that if the District has adopted an ordinance
authorizing rate structures to promote conservation, including
tiered rates, and determines, based on credible, fact-based,
scientific, or engineering evidence, that the evidence
supports imposing the water conservation rate structure, the
rate be established consistent with the rationale and method
established in the ordinance.
30)States that it is the intent of the District to ensure that
the public is informed about proposed capital projects and
their funding sources, that broad environmental considerations
are included at the earliest possible phase of planning, and
that adequate opportunities are afforded the public to
participate in the decision making process.
31)Establishes a public process for reviewing engineering
reports for capital projects.
32)States that the provisions of this measure are severable.
33)Declares that a special law for the District is necessary
because of the unique and special surface water, groundwater,
and floodwater problems in the area included in the District.
EXISTING LAW establishes the District and specifies its powers
and purposes relating to water supply and flood management.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee:
1)State costs are minor and absorbable. Any local enforcement
costs related to provisions of the bill making a violation of
newly authorized district ordinances a misdemeanor are not
reimbursable.
2)Costs to the district would be covered by fees charged to
members. Mandated costs not reimbursable because the district
is requesting the measure.
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COMMENTS : According to the sponsor, Santa Clara Valley Water
District, Santa Clara County is faced with water resource
challenges brought on by population growth, periodic drought,
regulatory restrictions, environmental considerations, aging
infrastructure, and changing laws. A revised District Act which
emphasizes an integrated comprehensive water resources
management approach will enable the District to more efficiently
and adaptively manage through these challenges.
Increasing pressures on the Bay-Delta system, the source of half
of Santa Clara County's water supplies, make it imperative that
the District have the clear authority to proactively promote
water conservation and protect the quality and quantity of local
groundwater supplies to ensure reliability of the local water
supply.
According to the author's office, "while the revisions in
authority contained in this bill will position the District to
better implement new state policy direction regarding
conservation and management of increasingly scarce water
resources, it also presents an opportunity to update an
ambiguous document that has been pieced together in a sometimes
disjointed fashion over the course of the last six decades."
This bill includes a comprehensive rewrite of the Act that will
transform it into an organized, cohesive, comprehensive
articulation of the authority exercised by the District to
provide integrated management of water supply, watershed
stewardship, groundwater management, and flood protection.
Groundwater management charges: Article XIII D, section 6
subdivision (c), of the California Constitution, provides,
"Except for fees or charges for sewer, water, and refuse
collection services, no property related fee or charge shall be
imposed or increased unless and until that fee or charge is
submitted and approved by a majority vote of the property owners
of the property subject to the fee or charge or, at the option
of the agency, by a two-thirds vote of the electorate residing
in the affected area." However, all property related fees and
charges, including those exempt from the election requirement,
are subject to the notice, hearing, and majority protest
procedures of article XIII D, Section 6(a), as well as the
substantive requirements of Section 6(b). Before the Courts
right now are the questions of: What is the scope of the
exemption from the voter approval requirement in Article XIII D
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Section 6(c) as it pertains to water? And, do groundwater
pumping charges fall within the exemption from the voter
approval requirement in article XIII D, Section 6 subdivision
(c)? The District itself has been a party to litigation on this
very issue. The District is now in the process of appealing the
lower Court's decision on this matter. The Legislature may wish
to consider if it is prudent for it to step in and specify the
groundwater management charge process for the District when the
Courts are still in the middle of deciding the constitutional
issue in a multitude of cases before them?
The bill contains provisions requiring the District to follow a
prescribed set of requirements in order to adopt or amend an
ordinance. These requirements are highly prescribed and any
change in them would require the District to come to the
Legislature for that change. The Legislature may wish to have
the District instead adopt regulations at the local level
prescribing how ordinances can be adopted or amended, which
ensures that any changes that need to be made can happen at the
local level instead of requiring legislation.
Support arguments: Supporters, including the Association of
California Water Agencies (ACWA), state that this bill would add
accountability and transparency by providing clearer noticing to
the public and greater opportunity for public input, as well as
making the groundwater charge setting process more transparent.
ACWA also believes that the bill would strengthen the District's
ability to manage local water resources by providing stronger,
more proactive conservation tools.
According to the District, "The new language is intended to be
clear and unambiguous to encourage transparency and
accountability to the public. A better structured Act will
also, by context, clarify the scope and intent of the language
and will help to avoid misunderstandings as to District
authority."
Opposition arguments: Opposition, including the California
Water Association (CWA), states that the bill provides the
District with overly broad and unnecessary authority that would
have adverse impact on retail water purveyors in Santa Clara
County. CWA believes that this bill would greatly expand the
District's authority over operators of water production
facilities.
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Opposition, including the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association,
also argues that it is premature for the District to establish
one methodology for handling increases in groundwater management
charges when the Courts are currently debating which provisions
of Proposition 218 apply to groundwater management charges.
Analysis Prepared by : Katie Kolitsos / L. GOV. / (916)
319-3958 FN:
0004474