BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1739
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Date of Hearing: May 14, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 1739 (Dickinson) - As Amended: April 22, 2014
Policy Committee: Water, Parks and
Wildlife Vote: 9-5
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: Yes
SUMMARY
This bill requires sustainable groundwater management plans in
all groundwater subbasins the Department of Water Resources
(DWR) determines to be at medium or high risk for significant
economic, social and environmental impacts due to unsustainable
and chronic groundwater extractions. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires a groundwater management agency to adopt a
sustainable groundwater management plan on or before January
1, 2020 as specified and update the plan every five years.
2)Requires the plan to be submitted to DWR for technical review,
evaluation and approval.
3)Prohibits groundwater extraction in a basin unless there is a
sustainable groundwater management plan by an unspecified
date, or the date the plan is adopted, whichever is earlier.
4)Requires a city or county to reference any adopted sustainable
groundwater management plan as a source document when adopting
or revising its general plan.
5)Authorizes local agency formation commissions (LAFCOs) to
provide special technical assistance on an expedited timeline
if there is no local or regional groundwater management agency
in a groundwater basin, as defined.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Increased costs to DWR in the range of $250,000 to $313,000 to
provide technical assistance and approve groundwater plans
AB 1739
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every five years. This bill likely will require between 100
and 125 plans to be developed. The cost of review and
approval is estimated to be about $2,500 per plan.
This bill specifies that any costs are eligible for funding
under the Local Groundwater Assistance Fund. However, there
is currently no balance in this fund.
2)Unknown, potentially significant, reimbursable local
government costs.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose. According to the author, in many areas, including
parts of the San Joaquin Valley, the overdraft of groundwater
has become a serious problem. While a number of groundwater
basins and subbasins are under local and regional management,
others are not.
This bill seeks to improve local and regional groundwater
management efforts to achieve sustainable groundwater levels,
especially in high and medium risk overdraft basins and
subbasins.
2)Background. Grroundwater is either a subterranean stream
flowing through a known and definite channel or percolating
groundwater. Groundwater that is a subterranean stream is
subject to the same State Water Resources Control Board
(SWRCB) water right permitting requirements as surface water.
There is no statewide permitting requirement for percolating
groundwater, which is the majority of groundwater in the
state.
The Department of Water Resources (DWR) is required to
prioritize groundwater basins based on multiple factors
including, but not limited to, the level of population and
irrigated acreage relying on the groundwater basin as a
primary source of water and the current impacts on the
groundwater basin from overdraft, subsidence, saline intrusion
and other water quality degradation.
The groundwater basins identified in DWR's Groundwater Report,
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Bulletin 118, are required to be regularly and systematically
monitored locally and the information to be readily and widely
available. DWR is required to perform the groundwater
elevation monitoring function if no local entity will do so
but then bars the county and other entities eligible to
monitor that basin from receiving state water grants or loans.
3)Governor's Draft Framework. On March 7, 2014 the Governor's
Office released a draft framework soliciting input on actions
that can be taken to assure local groundwater managers have
the tools and authority to sustainably manage groundwater.
The draft framework advises that in developing ideas it may be
helpful to consider whether local agencies need enhanced local
agency authority, and how the state should structure state
backstop authority when local action has not occurred or has
been insufficient.
Analysis Prepared by : Jennifer Galehouse / APPR. / (916)
319-2081