BILL NUMBER: SB 1146	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Pavley
   (Coauthor: Assembly Member Solorio)

                        FEBRUARY 21, 2012

   An act to amend Section 13752 of the Water Code, relating to
water.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 1146, as introduced, Pavley. Wells: reports: public
availability.
   Existing law requires a person who digs, bores, or drills a water
well, cathodic protection well, or a monitoring well, or abandons or
destroys a well, or deepens or reperforates a well, to file a report
of completion with the Department of Water Resources. Existing law
prohibits those reports from being made available to the public,
except under certain circumstances.
   This bill would instead require the department to make the reports
available to the public. The bill would require the department to
provide specified disclaimers when providing the reports to the
public. The bill would also allow the department to charge a
reasonable fee to recover the cost of reproducing the report and for
compliance with the Information Practices Act of 1977.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 13752 of the Water Code is amended to read:
   13752.   Reports made   (a)   
 The department shall make available to the public a report 
in accordance with paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) of Section 13751
 shall not be made available for inspection by the public,
but shall be made available to governmental agencies for use in
making studies, or to any person who obtains a written authorization
from the owner of the well. However, a report associated with a well
located within two miles of an area affected or potentially affected
by a known unauthorized release of a contaminant shall be made
available to any person performing an environmental cleanup study
associated with the unauthorized release, if the study is conducted
under the order of a regulatory agency. A report released to a person
conducting an environmental cleanup study shall not be used for any
purpose other than for the purpose of conducting the study 
. 
   (b) When providing a report to the public pursuant to subdivision
(a), the department shall also provide a statement that includes all
of the following:  
   (1) The information provided in a report varies in accuracy,
scale, origin, and completeness.
   (2) The information is provided without warranty of the
suitability of the information for any particular purpose.
   (3) Use of the information in the report may require professional
interpretation or judgment.
   (4) Any use of the information provided in a report is at the user'
s own risk.  
   (c) The department may charge a reasonable fee to recover the cost
of reproducing the report and for compliance with the Information
Practices Act of 1977 (Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 1798) of
Title 1.8 of Part 4 of Division 3 of the Civil Code).