BILL NUMBER: AB 426 INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Richman FEBRUARY 14, 2003 An act to add Section 139 to the Water Code, relating to the State Water Project. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 426, as introduced, Richman. State Water Project: solar panels. Under existing law, the Department of Water Resources operates the State Water Project. This bill would require the department to establish a program to authorize private entities to lease space above appropriate conveyance facilities of the State Water Project for the purposes of installing solar panels and generating electricity from those panels. The bill would authorize the department to impose charges, for the purposes of carrying out these provisions, that reflect only the actual costs incurred by the department. 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. The Legislature finds and declares that it is in the interest of the state to conserve resources and to promote projects that further that interest. SEC. 2. Section 139 is added to the Water Code, to read: 139. (a) The department shall establish a program to authorize private entities to lease space above appropriate conveyance facilities of the State Water Project for the purpose of installing solar panels and generating electricity from those panels. (b) For the purposes of carrying out subdivision (a), the department may impose charges that reflect only the actual costs incurred by the department.