BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair
SB 1049 (Pavley) - Integrated regional water management plans.
Amended: April 23, 2014 Policy Vote: NR&W 8-1
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: May 5, 2014 Consultant: Marie Liu
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: SB 1049 would expand the possible issues that may
be addressed in an integrated regional water management plan
(IRWMP) and specifies who should be part of a regional water
management group that prepares such a plan.
Fiscal Impact: Cost pressures at least in the millions of
dollars to existing and future bond monies available for IRWMP
development and implementation.
Background: Under the Integrated Water Management Planning Act
of 2002, a regional water management group is authorized, but
not required, to prepare and adopt an IRWMP. The act defines a
"regional water management group" as three or more local
agencies, at least two of which have statutory authority over
water supply or water management, plus those persons who may be
necessary to develop and implement an IRWMP.
The act also lists regional projects or programs that can be
included in an IRWMP, such as a project or program that would
accomplish reduced water demand through efficiency, increased
water supplies for any beneficial use, operational efficiency
and water supply reliability, and improved water quality.
Proposed Law: This bill would expand the list of goals that may
be accomplished in an IRWMP to include projects or programs
that:
Reduce the energy used to acquire, transport, treat, or
distribute water and
Develop and maintain analytic tools to model regional
management strategies to account for climate change, energy
use, and other factors relevant to regional demand and supply
projections.
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This bill would also require that a regional water management
group, to the extent possible, shall include all of the water
suppliers within either the watershed area, the area over a
groundwater basin or subbasin, or a county.
Related Legislation:
AB 1249 (Salas) - would require an IRWMP to include an
explanation of how, or why not, the plan addresses nitrate
contamination for those areas within the boundaries of the
identified as a nitrate high-risk area by the State Water
Resources Control Board. (Currently in Senate Environmental
Quality)
AB 1731 (Perea) - would require at least 10% of the funding in
each IRWM region be used to facilitate and support the
participation of disadvantaged communities IRWM planning and
for projects that address the critical water supply or water
quality needs of those communities. (Currently in Senate
Natural Resources and Water)
AB 1874 (Gonzalez) - would require DWR to develop, by October
1, 2015, a streamlined application process for the funding of
regional projects and programs for regional water management
groups that met specified criteria. (Currently in Assembly
Water, Parks, and Wildlife)
AB 2725 (Brown) - would add urban waterway restoration
projects, as defined, to the list of programs and projects
eligible to be included in an IRWMP. (Currently in Assembly
Water, Parks, and Wildlife)
Staff Comments: The development of an IRWMP is optional, however
the state has encouraged the development and implementation of
IRWMPs by offering grants funded through bonds. Proposition 50,
84, and IE have all included funding for IRWMP development and
implementation, as do most of the water bond proposals under
consideration this session. Much of the state is covered by one
or more IRWMPs.
This bill would add cost pressures on remaining IRWMP bond
monies from Proposition 84 and 1E, as well as any future IRWMP
bond monies, for both planning and implementation. For planning
grants, existing water management groups may seek financial
assistance to revise existing IRWMPs in order to include the
additional objectives created by this bill or to meet the new
geographic requirements. Assistance requests to develop IRWMPs
may also be larger in scope, and therefore more expensive to
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develop. For implementation grants, this bill may increase the
number of eligible programs or projects that may seek financial
assistance. Given that past bonds have offered hundreds of
millions of dollars of assistance for IRWMP planning and
implementation, this bill is likely to add cost pressures at
least in the millions of dollars.