BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                  AB 2759
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   April 29, 2014

                   ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON WATER, PARKS AND WILDLIFE
                                Anthony Rendon, Chair
                AB 2759 (Committee on Water, Parks and Wildlife) - As  
                             Introduced:  March 24, 2014
           
          SUBJECT :   Interstate waters

           SUMMARY  :   Repeals unconstitutional Water Code provisions  
          related to interstate waters and clarifies, with regard to the  
          Truckee River and the Walker River, that the State Water  
          Resources Control Board (State Water Board) must administer  
          water rights consistent with Federal law.   

           EXISTING LAW  :

          1)Holds in the U.S. Supreme Court's 1982 decision, Sporhase v.  
            Nebraska, that State attempts to regulate interstate waters  
            violate the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution  
            as that power is reserved to the Federal government.

          2)Requires that unconstitutional statutory provisions must  
            either be removed by legislation or the issue must reach an  
            appellate court that then deems it unconstitutional.  

          3)Mandates that the Truckee River water be apportioned  
            consistent with section 205(a) of Public Law 101-618, which  
            was passed by Congress in 1990. 

          4)Mandates that the right to use the water of the Walker River  
            and its tributaries must be consistent with the Federal decree  
            governing that river, as the decree may be amended.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :   Unknown

           COMMENTS :  California has outdated statutory language on the  
          books reserving to California all present and future rights to  
          interstate waters originating in California unless the  
          neighboring State has entered into a reciprocity agreement.   
          These provisions are unconstitutional.  However, California has  
          no automatic way to delete unconstitutional provisions from its  
          codes.  They must either be removed by legislation or the issue  
          must reach an appellate court that then deems it  
          unconstitutional.  This means that a facially unconstitutional  








                                                                  AB 2759
                                                                  Page  2

          provision could still be raised in litigation and the state  
          would have to go through the time and expense of a Superior  
          Court hearing followed by an appellate court hearing in order to  
          clarify.  This bill eliminates that risk.

           REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  :   

           Support 
           
          None on file.

           Opposition 
           
          None on file
           
          Analysis Prepared by  :    Tina Cannon Leahy / W., P. & W. / (916)  
          319-2096