Bill Text: CA AB1755 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: The Open and Transparent Water Data Act.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2016-09-23 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 506, Statutes of 2016. [AB1755 Detail]
Download: California-2015-AB1755-Chaptered.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 1755 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 506
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 23, 2016
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 23, 2016
PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 22, 2016
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 25, 2016
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 1, 2016
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 13, 2016
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 11, 2016
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 5, 2016
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 1, 2016
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Dodd
FEBRUARY 2, 2016
An act to add Part 4.9 (commencing with Section 12400) to Division
6 of the Water Code, relating to water data.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1755, Dodd. The Open and Transparent Water Data Act.
Existing law imposes on the Department of Water Resources various
duties with respect to water in the state. Under existing law, the
State Water Resources Control Board administers a water rights
program pursuant to which the state board grants permits and licenses
to appropriate water. Existing law regulates water transfers and
authorizes a permittee or licensee to change the point of diversion,
place of use, or purpose of use due to a transfer or exchange of
water or water rights if certain conditions are met.
This bill would enact the Open and Transparent Water Data Act. The
act would require the department, in consultation with the
California Water Quality Monitoring Council, the state board, and the
Department of Fish and Wildlife, in accordance with a specified
schedule, to create, operate, and maintain a statewide integrated
water data platform that, among other things, would integrate
existing water and ecological data information from multiple
databases and provide data on completed water transfers and
exchanges.
The act would require the department, in consultation with the
California Water Quality Monitoring Council, the state board, and the
Department of Fish and Wildlife, to develop protocols for data
sharing, documentation, quality control, public access, and promotion
of open-source platforms and decision support tools related to water
data and to submit to the Legislature a report on those protocols.
The act would require a recipient of state funds through a grant or
contract for research or a project relating to the improvement of
water or ecological data to adhere to those protocols or be
ineligible for state funding.
The act would create the Water Data Administration Fund. The act
would specify that moneys in the fund would be available, upon
appropriation, to the department, the state board, or the Department
of Fish and Wildlife for the collection, management, and improvement
of water and ecological data for the purposes of the act.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Part 4.9 (commencing with Section 12400) is added to
Division 6 of the Water Code, to read:
PART 4.9. The Open and Transparent Water Data Act
CHAPTER 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS
12400. This part shall be known, and may be cited, as the Open
and Transparent Water Data Act.
12401. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) The recent drought reveals that California needs to integrate
existing water and ecological data into an authoritative open-access
platform to help water managers operate California's water system
more effectively and help water users make informed decisions based
on water availability and allocation.
(b) State and federal leadership, increased awareness by business,
governmental, and nongovernmental organizations through open and
transparent access to data, and improved technology and availability
of open-source platforms create a unique opportunity that California
should seize upon to integrate and increase access to existing water
data.
(c) California is working to increase access to water data
collected by state agencies. The state board is piloting a project to
make water quality datasets available online through an open data
portal. The portal creates an opportunity to foster collaboration
among state agencies, share and integrate existing datasets, improve
state agency operations through data-driven decisionmaking, and
improve transparency and accountability.
(d) State agencies should promote openness and interoperability of
water data. Making information accessible, discoverable, and usable
by the public can foster entrepreneurship, innovation, and scientific
discovery.
(e) Water data and information technology tools and applications
developed and gathered using state funds should be made publicly
accessible. State delegation of data management to contractors should
not result in the public losing access to its own information.
(f) The availability of open-source tools makes it easier to
access and explore water and ecological data and could facilitate the
creation of an online integrated water data platform without the
need to create an expensive new centralized database.
12402. Unless the context otherwise requires, the following
definitions govern the construction of this part:
(a) "Department" means the Department of Water Resources.
(b) "Metadata" means data that describes data.
(c) "Platform" means the statewide integrated water data platform
described in Section 12415.
(d) "State board" means the State Water Resources Control Board.
CHAPTER 2. STATEWIDE WATER DATA INTEGRATION
Article 1. General Provisions
12405. The department, the state board, and the Department of
Fish and Wildlife shall coordinate and integrate existing water and
ecological data from local, state, and federal agencies. The purposes
for integrating water and ecological data include, but are not
limited to, providing adequate information to implement the
Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (Part 2.74 (commencing with
Section 10720)), improving the management of the state's water
resources, and bringing greater transparency to water transfers and
the market.
12406. (a) The department, in consultation with the California
Water Quality Monitoring Council, the state board, and the Department
of Fish and Wildlife, shall develop protocols for data sharing,
documentation, quality control, public access, and promotion of
open-source platforms and decision support tools related to water
data. The department shall develop and submit to the Legislature, in
compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code and by January 1,
2018, a report describing these protocols. The report shall be
developed in collaboration with the California Water Quality
Monitoring Council, the state board, the Department of Fish and
Wildlife, relevant federal agencies, and interested stakeholders,
including, but not limited to, technology and open data experts and
water data users.
(b) Recipients of state funds through grants or contracts for
research or projects relating to the improvement of water or
ecological data shall, as a condition of the receipt of a grant or
contract, adhere to the protocols developed pursuant to subdivision
(a) for data sharing, transparency, documentation, and quality
control.
(c) A grant or contract recipient that does not comply with
subdivision (b) is not eligible for state funding until the grant or
contract recipient complies with those requirements.
Article 2. Statewide Integrated Water Data Platform Creation
12410. (a) The department, in consultation with the California
Water Quality Monitoring Council, the state board, and the Department
of Fish and Wildlife, shall create, operate, and maintain a
statewide integrated water data platform in accordance with Section
12415 and the following schedule:
(1) By January 1, 2018, the department shall do both of the
following:
(A) Make public the protocols developed pursuant to Section 12406.
(B) Publish a strategic plan for data management to guide the
implementation of this part.
(2) By April 1, 2018, the department shall release any request for
proposals necessary for the development of a statewide integrated
water data platform.
(3) (A) By September 1, 2019, the department shall make available
existing water and ecological data held by state agencies on the
platform.
(B) The department shall quarterly add the information described
in subparagraph (A) not available as of September 1, 2019, that
becomes available at a later date.
(4) (A) By August 1, 2020, the department shall make available on
the platform available water and ecological data related to
California water supply and management that is held by the following
agencies:
(i) The United States Bureau of Reclamation.
(ii) The United States Fish and Wildlife Service.
(iii) The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
(iv) The United States Geological Survey.
(v) The United States Forest Service.
(B) The department shall quarterly add the information described
in subparagraph (A) not available as of August 1, 2020, that becomes
available at a later date.
(5) By August 1, 2020, the department shall make available on the
platform any other existing information listed in Section 12415.
(b) The department may partner with an existing nonprofit
organization, with a new nonprofit organization that the department
creates, organized under paragraph (3) of subsection (c) of Section
501 of Title 26 of the United States Code, or with another state
agency to create, operate, or maintain, or any combination thereof,
the platform.
(c) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), the department may enter into
an agreement with an existing nonprofit organization, with a new
nonprofit organization that the department creates, organized under
paragraph (3) of subsection (c) of Section 501 of Title 26 of the
United States Code, or with another state agency for that nonprofit
organization or state agency to create, operate, or maintain, or any
combination thereof, the platform.
(d) The Department of Technology is deemed to have delegated to
the department any authority over the implementation of this part
granted to it pursuant to Section 11546 of the Government Code.
(e) Nothing in subdivision (a) shall prevent a state agency from
disseminating, managing, or publishing data separately from the
platform.
Article 3. Statewide Integrated Water Data Platform Features
12415. The statewide integrated water data platform created
pursuant to Section 12410 shall, at a minimum, do all of the
following:
(a) Integrate existing water and ecological data information from
multiple autonomous databases managed by federal, state, and local
agencies and academia using consistent and standardized formats.
(b) Integrate the following datasets, as available:
(1) The department's information on State Water Project reservoir
operations, groundwater use, groundwater levels, urban water use, and
land use.
(2) The state board's data on water rights, water diversions, and
water quality through California Environmental Data Exchange Network
(CEDEN).
(3) The Department of Fish and Wildlife's information on fish
abundance and distribution.
(4) The United States Geological Survey's streamflow conditions
information through the National Water Information System.
(5) The United States Bureau of Reclamation's federal Central
Valley Project operations information.
(6) The United States Fish and Wildlife Service's, United States
Forest Service's, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Fisheries' fish abundance information.
(c) Provide data on completed water transfers and exchanges,
including publicly available or voluntarily provided data on the
volume, price, and delivery method, identity of the buyers and
sellers, and the water right associated with the transfer or
exchange.
(d) Provide documentation of data quality and data formats through
metadata.
(e) Adhere to data protocols developed by state agencies pursuant
to Section 12406.
(f) Be able to receive both spatial and time series data from
various sources.
CHAPTER 3. WATER DATA ADMINISTRATION FUND
12420. (a) The Water Data Administration Fund is hereby created.
All moneys in the fund are available, upon appropriation, to the
department, the state board, or the Department of Fish and Wildlife
for the collection, management, and improvement of water and
ecological data for the purposes of this part.
(b) The Department of Finance shall develop a standardized
agreement to allow for the voluntary donation to the fund by any
person, educational institution, government entity, corporation or
other business entity, or organization.
