Bill Text: CA AB1587 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Groundwater.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 3-0)
Status: (Failed) 2016-11-30 - From committee without further action. [AB1587 Detail]
Download: California-2015-AB1587-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 1587 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 14, 2016
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 15, 2016
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY FEBRUARY 24, 2016
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Mathis
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Travis Allen and Harper)
JANUARY 6, 2016
An act to add Article 2.12 (commencing with Section
65899.5) to Chapter 4 of Division 1 of Title 7 of the Government
Code, and to add Sections 1242.1 and Section
79776 to the Water Code, relating to groundwater, and making an
appropriation therefor.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1587, as amended, Mathis. Groundwater.
Under existing law, the right to water or to the use of water is
limited to that amount of water that may be reasonably required for
the beneficial use to be served. Under existing law, the State Water
Resources Control Board administers a water rights program pursuant
to which the board grants permits and licenses to appropriate water.
Existing law declares that the storing of water underground, and
related diversions for that purpose, constitute a beneficial use of
water if the stored water is thereafter applied to the beneficial
purposes for which the appropriation for storage was made.
This bill, during a period for which the Governor has issued a
proclamation of a state of emergency based on drought or flood
conditions, would prohibit the board from requiring a permit to
recharge groundwater if the water may be diverted and used without
injury to a lawful user of water, and the water may be diverted and
used without unreasonable effect on other beneficial uses.
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, during a period for which the Governor has issued a
proclamation of a state of emergency based on drought or flood
conditions, would prohibit a city or county overlying a basin
designated as a high- or medium-priority basin from restricting the
otherwise permissible amount of groundwater that may be extracted
from the basin if groundwater is the only substantial source of water
for the community in which the groundwater is being, or will be,
extracted, unless the state has provided that community with
infrastructure to supply a safe, reliable, and permanent alternative
source of water.
Existing law, the Water Quality, Supply, and Infrastructure
Improvement Act of 2014, approved by the voters as Proposition 1 at
the November 4, 2014, statewide general election, authorizes the
issuance of general obligation bonds in the amount of $7,545,000,000
to finance a water quality, supply, and infrastructure improvement
program. The bond act provides that the sum of $900,000,000 is to be
available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for expenditures
on, and competitive grants and loans for, projects to prevent or
clean up the contamination of groundwater that serves or has served
as a source of drinking water. The bond act authorizes the use of
$100,000,000 of those funds for competitive grants for projects that
develop and implement groundwater planning requirements.
This bill, in implementing the competitive grants for those
projects that develop and implement groundwater planning
requirements, would require special consideration be given to those
projects that would create groundwater recharge basins in areas of
fallow farmland. This bill would appropriate $50,000,000 from the
proceeds of the bond act for the purpose of that competitive grant
program.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: yes. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the
Subsidence Abatement Act of 2016.
SEC. 2. The Legislature finds and declares as follows:
(a) California's vast, natural aquifers were formed by rain and
melted snow that percolated into the soil over thousands of years.
When water is extracted in huge volumes, and there is insufficient
rain to replace it, the earth gradually sinks.
(b) Subsidence has been a recurring problem in the San Joaquin
Valley, the more arid southern half of California's heavily farmed
Central Valley. In one example that became legendary among
groundwater experts, an area near Mendota sank 28 feet between 1925
and 1977. The issue largely abated with the advent of California's
massive manmade plumbing system that showered the valley with an
abundance of surface water from northern California. In recent years,
as the Sierra snowpack has dwindled and fresh water supplies have
diminished, subsidence has returned with a vengeance.
(c) A National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) study
based on satellite imaging showed significant rates of subsidence in
recent times. A spot near Corcoran in the Tulare Basin sank 12 inches
in one recent eight-month period. Researchers found a stretch near
the California Aqueduct, the key highway of the State Water Project,
that sank eight inches in four months last year.
(d) Subsidence is not a problem limited to the San Joaquin Valley.
A spot near Arbuckle in Colusa County sank five inches during the
last half of 2014, according to the NASA report.
(e) The rate of subsidence underscores how quickly underground
aquifers are being drained. A report by the University of California,
Davis, said farmers are pumping an additional six million acre-feet
of groundwater this year as compared to 2011, the year before the
drought started, in order to compensate for shortages in deliveries
of surface water from the State Water Project and the federal Central
Valley Project.
(f) Groundwater acts as a savings account to provide supplies
during drought, but the NASA report shows the consequences of
excessive withdrawals as we head into the fifth year of historic
drought. The Legislature will work together with counties, local
water districts, and affected communities to identify ways to slow
the rate of subsidence and protect vital infrastructure, such as
canals, pumping stations, bridges, and wells.
(g) Experts say subsidence makes it harder to replenish an aquifer
once the rains come because subsidence effectively compacts the
soil, making it harder to store water underground.
SEC. 3. Article 2.12 (commencing with Section
65899.5) is added to Chapter 4 of Division 1 of Title 7 of the
Government Code, to read:
Article 2.12. Community Groundwater Extraction
65899.5. During a period for which the Governor has issued a
proclamation of a state of emergency under the California Emergency
Services Act (Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 8550) of Division 1
of Title 2) based on drought or flood conditions, a city or county
overlying a basin designated as a high- or medium-priority basin
shall not restrict the otherwise permissible amount of groundwater
that may be extracted from the basin, including, but not limited to,
through a conditional use permit, if groundwater is the only
substantial source of water for the community in which the
groundwater is being, or will be, extracted, unless the state has
provided that community with infrastructure to supply a safe,
reliable, and permanent alternative source of water.
SEC. 4. Section 1242.1 is added to the Water
Code, to read:
1242.1. Notwithstanding any other law, during a period for which
the Governor has issued a proclamation of a state of emergency under
the California Emergency Services Act (Chapter 7 (commencing with
Section 8550) of Division 1 of Title 2 of the Government Code) based
on drought or flood conditions, the board shall not require a permit
to recharge groundwater if the following conditions are met:
(a) The water may be diverted and used without injury to a lawful
user of water.
(b) The water may be diverted and used without unreasonable effect
on other beneficial uses.
SEC. 5. SEC. 3. Section 79776 is
added to the Water Code, to read:
79776. In implementing Section 79775, special consideration shall
be given to those projects that would create groundwater recharge
basins in areas of fallow farmland.
SEC. 6. SEC. 4. Fifty million
dollars ($50,000,000) is hereby appropriated from the Water Quality,
Supply, and Infrastructure Improvement Fund of 2014 for the purpose
of Section 79775 of the Water Code.
