BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                           Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair

                                          SB 263 (Pavley)
          
          Hearing Date: 05/26/2011        Amended: As introduced
          Consultant: Brendan McCarthy    Policy Vote: NR&W 5-3, EQ 5-1
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          BILL SUMMARY: SB 263 requires the Department of Water Resources 
          to make well log reports available to the public.
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                            Fiscal Impact (in thousands)

           Major Provisions         2011-12      2012-13       2013-14     Fund
           
          Providing information to          Minor costs               
          General
             the public                                               

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          ____

          STAFF COMMENTS: SUSPENSE FILE. AS PROPOSED TO BE AMENDED. 

          Under current law, a person who drills, destroys, deepens, or 
          alters a well is required to file a report with the Department 
          of Water Resources. These reports are referred to as "well logs" 
          and include information on the location of the well, the 
          underlying soils, the depth of water, and other aspects of the 
          well. The Department is prohibited from making well logs 
          available to the public, unless the well owner provides 
          permission.

          SB 263 requires the Department to make all new well logs 
          available to the public beginning on January 1, 2012. In 
          addition, the bill requires the Department to make existing well 
          logs available to the public by July 1, 2013, unless the well 
          owner notifies the Department that he or she wishes the report 
          to remain confidential.

          The Department has more than 700,000 well logs and receives 
          10,000 to 20,000 per year. These reports exist either as hard 
          copies or in a very rudimentary database. In order to comply 
          with the requirement that well owners can request that a well 








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          log be kept confidential, the Department would have to improve 
          its system for tracking well logs, so that the Department can 
          locate well logs relating to individual owners. The Department 
          indicates that the cost to develop a system for tracking well 
          logs and input existing data into that system could be up to 
          $1,000,000.

          The proposed author's amendments would eliminate the requirement 
          that the Department keep well logs confidential upon request.