BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                  AB 1152
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   May 11, 2011

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                   AB 1152 (Chesbro) - As Amended:  April 28, 2011 

          Policy Committee:                              Water, Parks and 
          Wildlife     Vote:                            13-0

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program: 
          No     Reimbursable:              No

           SUMMARY  

          This bill allows a groundwater monitoring entity, if given 
          approval by the Department of Water Resources (DWR), to use 
          alternative monitoring techniques, such as aerial photographs 
          and remote sensing data, if certain conditions exist that make 
          use of monitoring wells irrelevant or impracticable.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          Minor, absorbable costs to DWR to receive and review reports 
          submitted by groundwater monitoring entities that attempt to 
          substantiate the entities' claims that well monitoring is 
          irrelevant or impracticable.

           COMMENTS  

           1)Rationale.   The author intends this bill to provide 
            alternative monitoring techniques for use principally by large 
            rural counties that include unused water basins or basins 
            under lands not in the counties' jurisdictions.

           2)Background.   SB 6 (Steinberg, Chapter 1, Statutes of 2009, 
            Seventh Extraordinary Session) was part of the water package 
            and requires that, on or before January 1, 2012, the 
            elevations in all groundwater basins and subbasins be 
            regularly and systematically monitored locally and the 
            resulting groundwater information made readily and widely 
            available.  Under SB 6, if DWR is required to perform the 
            monitoring functions in place of a county or other local 
            entity that could conduct the monitoring, then that county or 
            local entity becomes ineligible for water grants or loans 








                                                                  AB 1152
                                                                  Page  2

            administered by the state.  

            SB 6 did not mention alternative groundwater monitoring 
            techniques.  It is not clear if DWR would view use of such 
            techniques in place of well monitoring as satisfying the 
            requirements of SB 6.

           3)Support.   This bill is supported by the California Groundwater 
            Coalition (sponsor), the Regional Council of Rural Counties, 
            and others.

           4)There is no registered opposition to this bill.  

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Jay Dickenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081