BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 359
Page 1
Date of Hearing: March 22, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON WATER, PARKS AND WILDLIFE
Jared Huffman, Chair
AB 359 (Huffman) - As Introduced: February 14, 2011
SUBJECT : Groundwater management plans
SUMMARY : Adds additional notification and mapping requirements
when a local agency is drafting a groundwater management plan.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires a local agency that develops a groundwater management
plan and drafts a resolution to adopt a plan, to provide a
copy of a resolution of intention to the Department of Water
Resources (DWR) within 30 days of the date of adoption.
2)Requires the local agency, upon written request, to provide a
copy of the proposed groundwater management plan to an
interested person and to notify those interested persons at
least 30 days prior to the commencement of the second hearing
to determine whether to adopt the plan.
3)Requires DWR to post on its Internet Web site the information
DWR possesses regarding the local agencies that have
jurisdiction to develop groundwater management plans and maps,
including agencies who have submitted resolutions of intention
to adopt groundwater management plans or agencies that have
opted to assume groundwater basin level monitoring functions.
4)Specifies that the groundwater projects to which these
requirements apply include projects that are part of an
integrated regional water management program or plan.
5)Requires, commencing January 1, 2013, that a groundwater
management plan include a map identifying recharge areas, as
defined, for the groundwater basin and, after adoption of the
groundwater management plan, provide the map to local planning
agencies.
6)Allows a local agency to request state funds to map
groundwater recharge areas if eligible funding is available.
EXISTING LAW :
AB 359
Page 2
1)Encourages local agencies to work cooperatively to manage
groundwater resources within their jurisdictions and, if not
otherwise required by law, to voluntarily adopt groundwater
management plans.
2)Requires a groundwater plan contain components related to
funding, management, and monitoring in order for a local
agency to be eligible for groundwater project funds
administered by DWR.
3)Allows a groundwater plan to voluntarily contain additional
listed components.
4)Requires all of the groundwater basins identified in DWR's
Bulletin 118 to be regularly and systematically monitored and
the information to be readily and widely available.
5)Makes entities managing groundwater, including local agencies
that are monitoring groundwater pursuant to a groundwater
management plan, eligible for state water grants and loans.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : Groundwater is one of California's most important
natural resources and our reliance on it continues to grow.
Periodically, DWR produces a report on California's groundwater
entitled Bulletin 118. In the most recent version of Bulletin
118, produced in 2003, California was not only the single
largest user of groundwater in the nation, extracting 14.5
million acre-feet annually, but that use represented 20% of all
the groundwater extracted in the entire United States. Bulletin
118 estimated that 43% of all Californians obtain their drinking
water from groundwater. Yet, despite California's heavy
reliance on groundwater, basic information for many of the
groundwater basins is lacking.
Groundwater overdraft is defined as the condition of a
groundwater basin or subbasin in which the amount of water
withdrawn by pumping exceeds the amount of water that recharges
the basin over a period of years. By requiring the mapping of
recharge areas, this bill simply provides an informational tool
that is shared by local agencies developing groundwater
management plans and local planning agencies. This bill does
not mandate any specific actions to protect or enhance
groundwater recharge or require land use changes.
AB 359
Page 3
Supporting arguments : Supporters of this bill state it
represents a worthy incremental step towards sound management of
California's groundwater resources and the hydrologic systems
that depend on them for both human and ecosystem needs.
Supporters also point out that it contains improved public
notice requirements that will better enable local community
members to provide input in the groundwater management plan
process.
Opposing arguments : Opponents of this bill assert that this
bill intends that mapped areas "will be rezoned to restrict
their use as recharge areas" and ask whether landowners will be
properly notified and informed of "potential changes in land use
designations" of their property. They also suggest this bill
will eliminate flexibility for water districts and landowners to
negotiate private agreements and that it will foster "expansive"
designations of groundwater recharge areas. Finally, they
criticize the use of the words "substantially contribute" with
reference to those types of areas where recharge should be
mapped.
Opponents appear to confuse groundwater management planning and
local land use planning. This bill contains no intent language
directed at rezones or land use, nor does the section it amends
govern zoning or land use. Groundwater management plans are
drafted by local agencies providing water service. Land use
decisions are governed by the General Plan prepared by the
county or city. Even where these two efforts are by the same
entity, they may be by different departments. It is this very
separation in planning efforts and the need to foster
communication and awareness that this bill is trying to address
by requiring a copy of the recharge area maps be provided to the
local planning agencies. And, quite apart from this bill,
existing planning and land use laws require that if "a proposed
general plan or amendments to a general plan would affect the
permitted use or intensity of uses of real property" a hearing
must be held and notice mailed or delivered at least 10 days in
advance of the hearing. So, this bill cannot change a land use
designation and, in fact, a land use designation cannot be
changed at all without notice.
This bill does not mandate how water districts and private
landowners may negotiate private agreements or suggest that
groundwater recharge areas should be mapped expansively. In
AB 359
Page 4
fact, by requiring that the area which is mapped must
"substantially contribute to the replenishment of the
groundwater basin," the bill limits mapping. Without a modifier
such as "substantially," the resulting language would require
maps to identify all "recharge areas that contribute to the
replenishment of the groundwater basin." That ambiguity could
lead local agencies to feel that they are required to map any
area that contributes to the recharge, even if the contribution
is minimal.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Groundwater Coalition (Co-sponsor)
Groundwater Resources Association (Co-sponsor)
California Coastkeeper Alliance
California Trout
Clean Water Action
Planning and Conservation League
The Nature Conservancy
The Sierra Club
Trout Unlimited
Opposition
California Cattlemen's Association
California Chamber
California Farm Bureau Federation
Western Growers
Analysis Prepared by : Tina Cannon Leahy / W., P. & W. / (916)
319-2096