BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1262| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- UNFINISHED BUSINESS Bill No: SB 1262 Author: Pavley (D) and Wieckowski (D) Amended: 6/15/16 Vote: 21 SENATE NATURAL RES. & WATER COMMITTEE: 7-2, 3/29/16 AYES: Pavley, Allen, Hertzberg, Hueso, Jackson, Monning, Wolk NOES: Stone, Vidak SENATE GOVERNANCE & FIN. COMMITTEE: 5-2, 4/20/16 AYES: Hertzberg, Beall, Hernandez, Lara, Pavley NOES: Nguyen, Moorlach SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8 SENATE FLOOR: 22-13, 5/26/16 AYES: Allen, Beall, Block, De León, Glazer, Hall, Hancock, Hernandez, Hertzberg, Hill, Hueso, Jackson, Leno, Leyva, Liu, McGuire, Mitchell, Monning, Pan, Pavley, Wieckowski, Wolk NOES: Anderson, Bates, Berryhill, Cannella, Fuller, Gaines, Huff, Moorlach, Morrell, Nguyen, Nielsen, Stone, Vidak NO VOTE RECORDED: Galgiani, Lara, Mendoza, Roth, Runner ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 76-0, 8/18/16 - See last page for vote SUBJECT: Water supply planning SOURCE: Author DIGEST: This bill revises requirements that new developments must meet in order to demonstrate that its water supply is sufficient to include consideration of provisions of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). SB 1262 Page 2 Assembly Amendments eliminate provisions that excluded groundwater from probationary basins from being considered as a source of water supply. ANALYSIS: Existing law: 1)Requires every large-scale development project of 500 new residential connections or an equivalent size to have a water supply assessment prepared according to the following: a) A city or county, at the time that it determines that a development is subject to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), must identify any water system that may supply water for the project. b) Identify any existing water supply entitlements, water rights, or water service contracts relevant to the identified water supply for the proposed project, and describe the quantities of water received in prior years by the public water system, or the city or county, through its water rights or other sources. c) If the project relies in whole or in part on groundwater, requires additional information, including a description of any groundwater basins that will supply the project; the court or State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) order if the basin is adjudicated; and an analysis of the sufficiency of the groundwater from the basin or basins. SB 1262 Page 3 2)Requires that, under CEQA, whenever a city or county determines that a large-scale project is subject to CEQA, it must comply with the water supply assessment requirements triggered by that determination. 3)Requires, under the Subdivision Map Act, cities and counties to demonstrate that a sufficient water supply is available as a condition of their approval of a tentative map for a subdivision with more than 500 dwelling units. 4)Specifies that SGMA, among other provisions, directs the Department of Water Resources (DWR) to categorize the state's groundwater basins into high, medium, low, and very low priorities, based on factors such as the population overlying the basin, number of wells in the basin, and overlying irrigated acreage. The DWR must also identify basins subject to critical overdraft. Under SGMA: a) Basins designated as high or medium priority must be managed by a groundwater sustainability agency (GSA). GSA's must develop a groundwater sustainability plan (GSP) to ensure that by 2040, the basin is in a sustainable condition. b) A GSP must include, among other things, a description of the consideration given to the applicable county and city general plans, and a description of the various adopted water resources-related plans and programs within the basin, and an assessment of how the GSP may affect those plans. This bill: 1)Adds information about the reliance on, and management of, groundwater supplies in factors considered in determining if SB 1262 Page 4 there are sufficient water supplies for residential development of more than 500 units. 2)Specifies that a GSP may be included as substantial evidence in a public water system's written verification of its ability or inability to provide sufficient water supply as part of the approval of a residential development of more than 500 units. 3)Includes an identification of water systems that are adjacent to large-scale projects subject to CEQA that trigger a water supply assessment. 4)Adds SGMA compliance status to required information in a water supply assessment for projects that receive water supply from groundwater. 5)Excludes hauled water from consideration as a source of water under a water supply assessment. Background Show Me the Water. In response to local land use decisions adversely affecting local water supply agencies, the Legislature enacted SB 610 (Costa, Chapter 643, Statutes of 2001) and SB 221 (Kuehl, Chapter 643, Statutes of 2001). Often referred to as the "show-me-the-water" bills, together these two bills formally linked land use planning with water use planning, and vice versa. SB 1262 amends those bills. Comments Correcting an Oversight. The SGMA legislation in 2014 SB 1262 Page 5 introduced necessary changes to the local land use planning laws, but inadvertently omitted conforming changes to the "show-me-the-water" legislation. SB 1262 provides the necessary updates to harmonize new development approvals with the requirements of SGMA. FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.:YesLocal: Yes According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, "Negligible state fiscal impact. Although a state mandate, costs are not reimbursable because the Agency has authority to levy fees sufficient to cover any costs." SUPPORT: (Verified8/19/16) Association of California Water Agencies Clean Water Action Community Water Center Desert Water Agency East Bay Municipal Utility District Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability Planning and Conservation League Sierra Club California Valley Ag Water Coalition OPPOSITION: (Verified8/19/16) None received ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: According to the author, "California has a number of interconnecting laws that together attempt to ensure that water supply availability is given proper consideration when making land use decisions, and vice versa. Among those laws are 2002's SBs 610 (Costa) and 221 (Kuehl), also known as the 'show me the water bills.' When we passed the SB 1262 Page 6 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) in 2014, we updated some water and land use planning laws to reflect SGMA, but not the show me the water bills. "SB 1262 (Pavley and Wieckowski), updates the show me the water bills to integrate groundwater sustainability agencies and consideration of groundwater sustainability plans into water supply and land use planning. In addition, it prohibits the use of hauled water to comply with show me the water bills." ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 76-0, 8/18/16 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Arambula, Atkins, Baker, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Rendon NO VOTE RECORDED: Bigelow, Beth Gaines, Roger Hernández, Obernolte Prepared by:Dennis O'Connor / N.R. & W. / (916) 651-4116 8/19/16 19:37:24 **** END **** SB 1262 Page 7