Amended in Senate August 31, 2015

Amended in Senate July 16, 2015

Amended in Senate June 29, 2015

Amended in Assembly May 28, 2015

Amended in Assembly April 23, 2015

Amended in Assembly April 14, 2015

Amended in Assembly March 26, 2015

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 617

Introduced by Assembly Member Perea

February 24, 2015

An act to amend Sections 10540, 10720.5, 10721, 10727.4, begin delete 10727.6, end delete and 10733.4 of, and to add Sections 10726.5 and 10732.2 to, the Water Code, relating to water.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 617, as amended, Perea. Groundwater.

Existing law, the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, requires all groundwater basins designated as high- or medium-priority basins by the Department of Water Resources that are designated as basins subject to critical conditions of overdraft to be managed under a groundwater sustainability plan or coordinated groundwater sustainability plans by January 31, 2020, and requires all other groundwater basins designated as high- or medium-priority basins to be managed under a groundwater sustainability plan or coordinated groundwater sustainability plans by January 31, 2022, except as specified.

This bill would define “in-lieu use” for the purposes of the act and would provide that, where appropriate, measures addressing in-lieu use shall be included in a groundwater sustainability plan.

The act authorizes a groundwater sustainability agency to exercise certain powers in implementing the act, in addition to, and not as a limitation on, any existing authority, if the groundwater sustainability agency adopts and submits to the Department of Water Resources a groundwater sustainability plan or prescribed alternative documentation.

This bill would, in addition to any other authorities granted to a groundwater sustainability agency, authorize a groundwater sustainability agency to enter into written agreements and funding with private parties that assist in or facilitate the implementation of groundwater sustainability plans or elements of a groundwater sustainability plan.

The act, with a specified exception, does not authorize a local agency to impose any requirement on the state or any agency, department, or officer of the state.

This bill, if a groundwater sustainability agency finds that a state entity is not working cooperatively regarding implementation of a groundwater sustainability plan, would permit the groundwater sustainability agency to file notice with the board and require the board to notice proceedings to investigate the finding of the groundwater sustainability agency. This bill would authorize the board to direct the state entity to cooperate in the implementation of the groundwater sustainability plan if the board determines that the failure of the state entity to work cooperatively regarding implementation of a groundwater sustainability plan compromises the ability of the groundwater sustainability agency to implement the plan in a manner that will likely achieve the sustainability goal unless the state entity indicates its authority for not complying with the groundwater sustainability plan.

Existing law, the Integrated Regional Water Management Planning Act, authorizes a regional water management group to prepare and adopt an integrated regional water management plan with specified components relating to water supply and water quality. Existing law authorizes a regional water management group to coordinate its planning activities to address or incorporate all or part of certain actions of its members into its plan, including groundwater management planning.

This bill would specify that groundwater sustainability planning is an action of regional water management group members that may be addressed or incorporated into a regional water management plan.

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 10540 of the Water Code is amended to
read:

10540.  

(a) A regional water management group may prepare
and adopt an integrated regional water management plan in
accordance with this part.

(b) A regional water management group may coordinate its
planning activities to address or incorporate all or part of any of
the following actions of its members into its plan:

(1) Groundwater management planning pursuant to Part 2.75
(commencing with Section 10750), groundwater sustainability
planning pursuant to Part 2.74 (commencing with Section 10720),
or other specific groundwater management authority.

(2) Urban water management planning pursuant to Part 2.6
(commencing with Section 10610).

(3) The preparation of a water supply assessment required
pursuant to Part 2.10 (commencing with Section 10910).

(4) Agricultural water management planning pursuant to Part
2.8 (commencing with Section 10800).

(5) City and county general planning pursuant to Section 65350
of the Government Code.

(6) Stormwater resource planning that is undertaken pursuant
to Part 2.3 (commencing with Section 10560).

(7) Other water resource management planning, including flood
protection, watershed management planning, and multipurpose
program planning.

(c) At a minimum, all plans shall address all of the following:

(1) Protection and improvement of water supply reliability,
including identification of feasible agricultural and urban water
use efficiency strategies.

(2) Identification and consideration of the drinking water quality
of communities within the area of the plan.

(3) Protection and improvement of water quality within the area
of the plan, consistent with the relevant basin plan.

(4) Identification of any significant threats to groundwater
resources from overdrafting.

(5) Protection, restoration, and improvement of stewardship of
aquatic, riparian, and watershed resources within the region.

(6) Protection of groundwater resources from contamination.

(7) Identification and consideration of the water-related needs
of disadvantaged communities in the area within the boundaries
of the plan.

(d) This section does not obligate a local agency to fund the
implementation of any project or program.

SEC. 2.  

Section 10720.5 of the Water Code is amended to read:

10720.5.  

(a) Groundwater management pursuant to this part
shall be consistent with Section 2 of Article X of the California
Constitution. Nothing in this part modifies rights or priorities to
use or store groundwater consistent with Section 2 of Article X of
the California Constitution, except that in basins designated
medium- or high-priority basins by the department, no extraction
of groundwater between January 1, 2015, and the date of adoption
of a groundwater sustainability plan pursuant to this part begin insert or the
approval by the department of an alternative submitted pursuant
to Section 10733.6, whichever is sooner, end insert or any action to regulate
groundwater extractions taken as a means of implementing a
groundwater sustainability plan pursuant to Section 10726.4, may
be used as evidence of, or to establish or defend against, any claim
of prescription.

(b) Nothing in this part, or in any groundwater management
plan adopted pursuant to this part, determines or alters surface
water rights or groundwater rights under common law or any
provision of law that determines or grants surface water rights.

SEC. 3.  

Section 10721 of the Water Code is amended to read:

10721.  

Unless the context otherwise requires, the following
definitions govern the construction of this part:

(a) “Adjudication action” means an action filed in the superior
or federal district court to determine the rights to extract
groundwater from a basin or store water within a basin, including,
but not limited to, actions to quiet title respecting rights to extract
or store groundwater or an action brought to impose a physical
solution on a basin.

(b) “Basin” means a groundwater basin or subbasin identified
and defined in Bulletin 118 or as modified pursuant to Chapter 3
(commencing with Section 10722).

(c) “Bulletin 118” means the department’s report entitled
“California’s Groundwater: Bulletin 118” updated in 2003, as it
may be subsequently updated or revised in accordance with Section
12924.

(d) “Coordination agreement” means a legal agreement adopted
between two or more groundwater sustainability agencies that
provides the basis for coordinating multiple agencies or
groundwater sustainability plans within a basin pursuant to this
part.

(e) “De minimis extractor” means a person who extracts, for
domestic purposes, two acre-feet or less per year.

(f) “Governing body” means the legislative body of a
groundwater sustainability agency.

(g) “Groundwater” means water beneath the surface of the earth
within the zone below the water table in which the soil is
completely saturated with water, but does not include water that
flows in known and definite channels.

(h) “Groundwater extraction facility” means a device or method
for extracting groundwater from within a basin.

(i) “Groundwater recharge” or “recharge” means the
augmentation of groundwater, by natural or artificial means.

(j) “Groundwater sustainability agency” means one or more
local agencies that implement the provisions of this part. For
purposes of imposing fees pursuant to Chapter 8 (commencing
with Section 10730) or taking action to enforce a groundwater
sustainability plan, “groundwater sustainability agency” also means
each local agency comprising the groundwater sustainability
agency if the plan authorizes separate agency action.

(k) “Groundwater sustainability plan” or “plan” means a plan
of a groundwater sustainability agency proposed or adopted
pursuant to this part.

(l) “Groundwater sustainability program” means a coordinated
and ongoing activity undertaken to benefit a basin, pursuant to a
groundwater sustainability plan.

(m) “In-lieu use” means the use of surface water by persons
that could otherwise extract groundwater in order to leave
groundwater in the basin.

(n) “Local agency” means a local public agency that has water
supply, water management, or land use responsibilities within a
groundwater basin.

(o) “Operator” means a person operating a groundwater
extraction facility. The owner of a groundwater extraction facility
shall be conclusively presumed to be the operator unless a
satisfactory showing is made to the governing body of the
groundwater sustainability agency that the groundwater extraction
facility actually is operated by some other person.

(p) “Owner” means a person owning a groundwater extraction
facility or an interest in a groundwater extraction facility other
than a lien to secure the payment of a debt or other obligation.

(q) “Personal information” has the same meaning as defined in
Section 1798.3 of the Civil Code.

(r) “Planning and implementation horizon” means a 50-year
time period over which a groundwater sustainability agency
determines that plans and measures will be implemented in a basin
to ensure that the basin is operated within its sustainable yield.

(s) “Public water system” has the same meaning as defined in
Section 116275 of the Health and Safety Code.

(t) “Recharge area” means the area that supplies water to an
aquifer in a groundwater basin.

(u) “Sustainability goal” means the existence and
implementation of one or more groundwater sustainability plans
that achieve sustainable groundwater management by identifying
and causing the implementation of measures targeted to ensure
that the applicable basin is operated within its sustainable yield.

(v) “Sustainable groundwater management” means the
management and use of groundwater in a manner that can be
maintained during the planning and implementation horizon
without causing undesirable results.

(w) “Sustainable yield” means the maximum quantity of water,
calculated over a base period representative of long-term conditions
in the basin and including any temporary surplus, that can be
withdrawn annually from a groundwater supply without causing
an undesirable result.

(x) “Undesirable result” means one or more of the following
effects caused by groundwater conditions occurring throughout
the basin:

(1) Chronic lowering of groundwater levels indicating a
significant and unreasonable depletion of supply if continued over
the planning and implementation horizon. Overdraft during a period
of drought is not sufficient to establish a chronic lowering of
groundwater levels if extractions and groundwater recharge are
managed as necessary to ensure that reductions in groundwater
levels or storage during a period of drought are offset by increases
in groundwater levels or storage during other periods.

(2) Significant and unreasonable reduction of groundwater
storage.

(3) Significant and unreasonable seawater intrusion.

(4) Significant and unreasonable degraded water quality,
including the migration of contaminant plumes that impair water
supplies.

(5) Significant and unreasonable land subsidence that
substantially interferes with surface land uses.

(6) Depletions of interconnected surface water that have
significant and unreasonable adverse impacts on beneficial uses
of the surface water.

(y) “Water budget” means an accounting of the total
groundwater and surface water entering and leaving a basin
including the changes in the amount of water stored.

(z) “Watermaster” means a watermaster appointed by a court
or pursuant to other law.

(aa) “Water year” means the period from October 1 through the
following September 30, inclusive.

(ab) “Wellhead protection area” means the surface and
subsurface area surrounding a water well or well field that supplies
a public water system through which contaminants are reasonably
likely to migrate toward the water well or well field.

SEC. 4.  

Section 10726.5 is added to the Water Code, to read:

10726.5.  

In addition to any other authority granted to a
groundwater sustainability agency by this part or other law, a
groundwater sustainability agency may enter into written
agreements and funding with a private party to assist in, or facilitate
the implementation of, a groundwater sustainability plan or any
elements of the plan.

SEC. 5.  

Section 10727.4 of the Water Code is amended to read:

10727.4.  

In addition to the requirements of Section 10727.2,
a groundwater sustainability plan shall include, where appropriate
and in collaboration with the appropriate local agencies, all of the
following:

(a) Control of saline water intrusion.

(b) Wellhead protection areas and recharge areas.

(c) Migration of contaminated groundwater.

(d) A well abandonment and well destruction program.

(e) Replenishment of groundwater extractions.

(f) Activities implementing, opportunities for, and removing
impediments to, conjunctive use or underground storage.

(g) Well construction policies.

(h) Measures addressing groundwater contamination cleanup,
groundwater recharge, in-lieu use, diversions to storage,
conservation, water recycling, conveyance, and extraction projects.

(i) Efficient water management practices, as defined in Section
10902, for the delivery of water and water conservation methods
to improve the efficiency of water use.

(j) Efforts to develop relationships with state and federal
regulatory agencies.

(k) Processes to review land use plans and efforts to coordinate
with land use planning agencies to assess activities that potentially
create risks to groundwater quality or quantity.

(l) Impacts on groundwater dependent ecosystems.

begin delete

SEC. 6.  

Section 10727.6 of the Water Code is amended to read:

10727.6.  

Groundwater sustainability agencies intending to
develop and implement multiple groundwater sustainability plans
pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (b) of Section 10727 shall
coordinate with other agencies preparing a groundwater
sustainability plan within the basin to ensure that the plans utilize
consistent data and methodologies for the following assumptions
in developing the plans:

(a) Groundwater elevation data.

(b) Groundwater extraction data.

(c) Surface water supply.

(d) Total water use.

(e) Change in groundwater storage.

(f) Water budget.

(g) Sustainable yield.

end delete

begin delete SEC. 7. end delete
begin insert SEC. 6. end insert   

Section 10732.2 is added to the Water Code, to read:

10732.2.  

If a groundwater sustainability agency finds that a
state entity is not working cooperatively regarding implementation
of a groundwater sustainability plan, the groundwater sustainability
agency may file notice with the board regarding its finding. The
board shall notice proceedings to investigate the finding of the
groundwater sustainability agency. If the board determines that
the failure of the state entity to work cooperatively regarding
implementation of a groundwater sustainability plan compromises
the ability of the groundwater sustainability agency to implement
the plan in a manner that will likely achieve the sustainability goal,
the board may direct the state entity to cooperate in the
implementation of the groundwater sustainability plan unless the
state entity indicates its authority for not complying with a
groundwater sustainability plan in the same manner as subdivision
(f) of Section 10735.8.

begin delete SEC. 8. end delete
begin insert SEC. 7. end insert   

Section 10733.4 of the Water Code is amended to read:

10733.4.  

(a) Upon adoption of a groundwater sustainability
plan, a groundwater sustainability agency shall submit the
groundwater sustainability plan to the department for review
pursuant to this chapter.

(b) If groundwater sustainability agencies develop multiple
groundwater sustainability plans for a basin, the submission
required by subdivision (a) shall not occur until the entire basin is
covered by groundwater sustainability plans. When the entire basin
is covered by groundwater sustainability plans, the groundwater
sustainability agencies shall jointly submit to the department all
of the following:

(1) The groundwater sustainability plans.

(2) An explanation of how the groundwater sustainability plans
implemented together satisfy Sections 10727.2, 10727.4, and
10727.6 for the entire basin.

(3) A copy of the coordination agreement between the
groundwater sustainability agencies to ensure the coordinated
implementation of the groundwater sustainability plans for the
entire basin.

(c) Upon receipt of a groundwater sustainability plan, the
department shall post the plan on the department’s Internet Web
site and provide 60 days for persons to submit comments to the
department about the plan.

(d) The department shall evaluate the groundwater sustainability
plan within two years of its submission by a groundwater
sustainability agency and issue an assessment of the plan. The
assessment may include recommended corrective actions to address
any deficiencies identified by the department.

(e) Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit a
groundwater sustainability agency from implementing a
groundwater sustainability plan prior to evaluation and assessment
of the groundwater sustainability plan by the department.