BILL ANALYSIS �
------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 359|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|1020 N Street, Suite 524 | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
------------------------------------------------------------
THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 359
Author: Huffman (D)
Amended: 6/30/11 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE NATURAL RES. AND WATER COMMITTEE : 5-2, 6/28/11
AYES: Pavley, Kehoe, Padilla, Simitian, Wolk
NOES: La Malfa, Fuller
NO VOTE RECORDED: Cannella, Evans
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 6-3, 8/25/11
AYES: Kehoe, Alquist, Lieu, Pavley, Price, Steinberg
NOES: Walters, Emmerson, Runner
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 74-1, 6/1/11 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Groundwater management plans
SOURCE : California Groundwater Coalition
Groundwater Resources Association
DIGEST : This bill places additional requirements on
local water agencies that opt to develop groundwater
management plans, and requires the Department of Water
Resources to make related information available on the
internet.
ANALYSIS : Existing law:
1. Encourages local agencies to work cooperatively to
CONTINUED
AB 359
Page
2
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 Department of Water Resources
(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.
This bill:
1. Requires groundwater management plans to include a map
that specifies areas for groundwater recharge. A local
agency would be required to provide the map of
groundwater recharge areas to local planning agencies,
once the groundwater management plan was adopted.
2. Requires local agencies that are preparing groundwater
management plans to make certain information about the
proposed plan available to the public.
3. Requires the DWR to post information on its Web site
regarding a groundwater management plans.
4. Allows local agencies to request state
funds for the mapping of groundwater recharge areas, to
the extent that such a request is consistent with
existing eligibility requirements for those funds.
5. Provides that local agencies may request state funds for
mapping groundwater recharge areas.
Background
Groundwater is one of California's most important natural
CONTINUED
AB 359
Page
3
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 percent of all the groundwater
extracted in the entire United States. Bulletin 118
estimated that 43 percent 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.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 Fund
Publishing information Minor and absorbableGeneral
Cost pressure on bond Unknown cost pressures,
potentially Bond*
funds in the millions
* Proposition 84
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/23/11)
California Groundwater Coalition (co-source)
CONTINUED
AB 359
Page
4
Groundwater Resources Association (co-source)
Association of California Water Agencies
California Coastkeeper Alliance
California Trout
Central Basin Municipal Water District
Clean Water Action
Community Alliance with Family Farmers
Community Water Center
East Bay Municipal Utility District
Inland Empire Utilities Agency
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California
Natural Resources Defense Council
Northern California Water Association
Planning and Conservation League
Sierra Club California
The Nature Conservancy
Three Valleys Municipal Water District
Trout Unlimited
Water Replenishment District of Southern California
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The author's office quotes the
DWR's " California Groundwater ," Bulletin 118, issued in
2003:
"Groundwater recharge areas, and the human activities
that can render them unusable, are an example of the need
to coordinate land use activities to protect both
groundwater quality and quantity. Protection of recharge
areas, whether natural or man-made, is necessary if the
quantity and quality of groundwater in the aquifer are to
be maintained."
According to the author, "There is currently no requirement
for local agencies to identify and map groundwater recharge
areas. Without this information the ability to effectively
manage a groundwater basin is seriously limited. AB 359
promotes the management and protection of the state's
groundwater supplies by requiring, as a condition of
receiving a state grant or loan, local water agencies to
map the recharge areas that substantially contribute to the
replenishment of the groundwater basin, and submit this
information to local planning agencies,"
CONTINUED
AB 359
Page
5
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 74-1, 6/1/11
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall,
Bill Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford,
Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos,
Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Davis, Dickinson,
Donnelly, Eng, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani,
Beth Gaines, Galgiani, Gatto, Gordon, Grove, Hagman,
Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Roger Hern�ndez, Hill, Huber,
Hueso, Huffman, Jones, Knight, Lara, Logue, Bonnie
Lowenthal, Ma, Mansoor, Mendoza, Miller, Mitchell,
Monning, Morrell, Nestande, Norby, Olsen, Pan, Perea,
Portantino, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Swanson,
Torres, Valadao, Wagner, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada,
John A. P�rez
NOES: Nielsen
NO VOTE RECORDED: Garrick, Gorell, Halderman, Jeffries, V.
Manuel P�rez
CTW:kc 8/26/11 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
**** END ****
CONTINUED