Bill Text: CA AB2049 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Transfers of water: agricultural use to municipal use.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-06-03 - Reconsideration granted. (Ayes 45. Noes 26. Page 5574.) Read third time, passage refused. (Ayes 35. Noes 33. Page 5590.) [AB2049 Detail]
Download: California-2009-AB2049-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 2049 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 28, 2010
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 19, 2010
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Arambula
FEBRUARY 18, 2010
An act to amend Section 1745.10 add
Article 5 (commencing with Section 1746) to Chapter 10.5
of Part 2 of Division 2 of the Water Code, relating to the
State Water Resources Development System.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2049, as amended, Arambula. State Water Resources
Development System: transfers of water. Transfers of
water: agricultural use to municipal use.
Existing law authorizes the transfer or exchange of certain water
or water rights upon approval by the State Water Resources Control
Board of a petition to transfer the water or water rights.
Under existing law, the Department of Water Resources administers
water supply contracts pursuant to which water suppliers
(contractors) are supplied water from the State Water Resources
Development System (State Water Project), in accordance with the
California Water Resources Development Bond Act and other provisions
of law.
This bill would prohibit the department, with respect to a
contractual entitlement to water from the State Water Project, and
the state board, with respect to any other transfer of water or water
rights, from approving the transfer of surface water or water
rights, or a portion of a contractual entitlement to water from the
State Water Project, from agricultural use to municipal use for a
period of 20 years or more, unless the water user provides to the
department or the state board, as applicable, a written evaluation of
the economic, social, and environmental effects of the transfer upon
the service area from which the water is to be transferred. The bill
would prohibit a water user from replacing specified surface water
that is transferred from agricultural use to municipal use with
groundwater, unless the groundwater basin of the service area from
which the water is to be transferred is monitored in accordance with
specified requirements. The bill would require the department and the
state board to charge specified fees to a water user that is subject
to these provisions.
Existing law authorizes the transfer or exchange of certain water
or water rights upon approval by the State Water Resources Control
Board of a petition to transfer the water or water rights. Existing
law authorizes a water supplier to contract with a state drought
water bank or with another water supplier or user inside or outside
the service area of the water supplier to transfer or store specified
water as part of a transfer, if certain requirements are met. Under
existing law, a water user that transfers surface water pursuant to
that authority is prohibited from replacing that surface water with
groundwater, unless the groundwater use is either (1) consistent with
a specified groundwater management plan or (2) approved by the water
supplier from whose service area the water is to be transferred and
that water supplier, if a groundwater management plan has not been
adopted, determines that the transfer will not create, or contribute
to, conditions of long-term overdraft in the affected groundwater
basin.
This bill would additionally prohibit a water user that transfers
surface water pursuant to a contractual change in an entitlement to
water from the State Water Project from replacing that surface water
with groundwater, unless the groundwater use is consistent with
either of the 2 requirements described above.
The bill would prohibit a water user that contracts for water from
the State Water Project from transferring a portion of that water
from agricultural use to municipal use, unless certain requirements
are met. It would authorize the department to charge a specified fee
to a water user that is subject to that provision.
The bill, with a specified exception, would prohibit a water user
from using groundwater on land previously served by surface water,
if the water user transfers surface water from agricultural use to
municipal use for a period of 10 or more years.
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. Article 5 (commencing with Section
1746) is added to Chapter 10.5 of Part 2 of Division 2 of the
Water Code , to read:
Article 5. Transfers From Agricultural Use to Municipal Use
1746. (a) This article applies only to a transfer of surface
water or water rights, including any portion of a contractual
entitlement to water from the State Water Resources Development
System, from agricultural use to municipal use for a period of 20
years or more.
(b) (1) A transfer described in subdivision (a), except a transfer
of any portion of a contractual entitlement to water from the State
Water Resources Development System, is subject to petition and
approval by the board pursuant to Article 2 (commencing with Section
1735).
(2) A transfer described in subdivision (a) is subject to approval
by the department, if the transfer involves any portion of a
contractual entitlement to water from the State Water Resources
Development System.
1746.5. (a) (1) The board or the department, whichever is
applicable pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 1746, shall not
approve a transfer of surface water or water rights subject to this
article from agricultural use to municipal use, unless the water user
prepares, or contracts for the preparation of, and provides to the
board or the department, as applicable, a written evaluation of the
economic, social, and environmental effects of the transfer upon the
service area from which the water is to be transferred.
(2) The board or the department, as applicable, shall charge a
water user that is subject to this section a reasonable fee to cover
the agency's costs associated with the implementation of this
subdivision, including costs incurred for reviewing the evaluation
described in paragraph (1).
(b) (1) A water user shall not replace transferred surface water
that is subject to this article with groundwater, unless the
groundwater basin of the service area from which the water is to be
transferred is regularly, systematically, and logically monitored in
accordance with Part 2.11 (commencing with Section 10920) of Division
6.
(2) The department shall charge a water user that is subject to
this subdivision a reasonable fee to cover the department's costs
associated with the implementation of this subdivision, including
costs incurred by the department if the department is required to
perform groundwater monitoring functions pursuant to Section 10933.5
for purposes of this subdivision.
SECTION 1. Section 1745.10 of the Water Code is
amended to read:
1745.10. (a) A water user that transfers surface water pursuant
to this article, or pursuant to a contractual change in an
entitlement to water from the State Water Resources Development
System, shall not replace that water with groundwater unless the
groundwater use is either of the following:
(1) Consistent with a groundwater management plan adopted pursuant
to state law for the affected area.
(2) Approved by the water supplier from whose service area the
water is to be transferred and that water supplier, if a groundwater
management plan has not been adopted, determines that the transfer
will not create, or contribute to, conditions of long-term overdraft
in the affected groundwater basin.
(b) (1) A water user that contracts with the department for water
from the State Water Resources Development System shall not transfer
any portion of its contractual entitlement to water from agricultural
use to municipal use, unless both of the following requirements are
met:
(A) The groundwater basin of the service area from which the water
is to be transferred is regularly, systematically, and logically
monitored in accordance with Part 2.11 (commencing with Section
10920) of Division 6.
(B) The department receives a written evaluation of the economic,
social, and environmental effects of the transfer upon the service
area from which the water is to be transferred.
(2) The department shall charge a water user that is subject to
this subdivision a reasonable fee to cover the department's costs
associated with the implementation of this subdivision, including
costs incurred by the department if the department is required to
perform groundwater monitoring functions pursuant to Section 10933.5
for purposes of this subdivision.
(c) A water user that transfers surface water from agricultural
use to municipal use for a period of 10 or more years shall not use
groundwater on the land previously served by that surface water
supply, unless that groundwater use is systematically and
continuously monitored and reported to the department.
