AB 453
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 14, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON WATER, PARKS, AND WILDLIFE
Marc Levine, Chair
AB 453 (Bigelow) – As Introduced February 23, 2015
SUBJECT: Sustainable Groundwater Management Act
SUMMARY: Allows an existing groundwater management plan to be amended until a
Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP) is adopted under the Sustainable Groundwater
Management Act (SGMA).
EXISTING LAW:
1) Requires the Department of Water Resources (DWR) to evaluate groundwater basins and
designate them as high, medium, low or very low, according to various factors including, but
not limited to, level of dependence upon the basin by municipal and agricultural users;
2) Requires that local agencies in high- and medium-priority groundwater basins subject to
SGMA form one or more local Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs) by June 30,
2017 in order to develop and implement Groundwater Sustainability Plans (GSPs) to
sustainably manage the groundwater basin or subbasin, as defined.
3) Requires that GSAs in basins with chronic overdraft develop and adopt GSPs for their
groundwater basin or subbasin by January 31, 2020.
4) Requires that GSAs in all other high- and medium-priority groundwater basins subject to
SGMA develop and adopt GSPs by January 31, 2022.
5) Allows a local agency to submit a groundwater management plan developed before SGMA
took effect on January 1, 2015, or a groundwater adjudication that is completed after January
1, 2015, to DWR by January 1, 2017 for a determination as to whether it meets SGMA
objectives and is therefore functionally equivalent under SGMA to a GSP. If so, the local
agency is not required to adopt a new SGMA GSP.
6) After January 1, 2015 prohibits a local agency in a high- or medium-priority basin subject to
SGMA from adopting a new groundwater plan pursuant to any other groundwater planning
statute except SGMA or amending an existing non-SGMA groundwater plan.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS: This bill allows local agencies to amend existing groundwater management
plans, sometimes referred to as "AB 3030 plans" or "SB 1938 plans." Currently, SGMA and its
related statues expressly prohibit a local agency from amending its current groundwater plan if it
is subject to SGMA. Instead, the local agency can submit a pre-existing groundwater
management plan to DWR by January 1, 2017 for a determination as to whether it is functionally
equivalent to SGMA's objectives or it must formulate a SGMA GSP that meets sustainability
goals. There is nothing in SGMA that precludes a local agency from relying upon or
incorporating information from its current groundwater plan in the new GSP.
AB 453
Page 2
Supporting arguments: The author and supporters state this bill is necessary in order to provide
locals with groundwater basin management flexibility in order to deal with current challenges,
such as drought, in the interim before they adopt a SGMA GSP. Other supporters state that local
agencies should be able to impose fees on groundwater extraction and exercise other SGMA
provisions ahead of either developing a GSP or presenting the AB 3030 plan to DWR as an
alternative to a GSP.
Opposing arguments: Opponents state that this bill together with the author's bill AB 454 cause
delays to, and compete for resources from, the implementation of SGMA. Opponents state that
this bill is in direct conflict with the legislation adopted just a few months ago and seem
unproductive and unnecessary given the timeline in which SGMA must be completed.
Opponents state that effective groundwater management is sorely needed in California and this
can best be done through the SGMA process.
Committee Suggestion
As the discussion over this bill illustrates, there are pros and cons to allowing a current nonSGMA plan to be amended. Allowing amendment could provide flexibility during the interim
period while the GSP is under development or it could dilute local agency efforts and divert them
from the GSP preparation. Committee suggests, on a moving-forward basis, that the author work
with stakeholders to develop provisions clarifying how amendment of existing plans will support
GSP development and not undermine it.
Related Legislation
This is one of 14 bills in the Legislature proposing changes to SGMA and its related statutes.
The other bills are: AB 452 (Bigelow) prohibiting the State Water Board from using Water
Rights Fund monies for SGMA enforcement, except funds collected from SGMA enforcement;
AB 454 (Bigelow) adding one year to the deadline to form a GSA or adopt a GSP; AB 455
(Bigelow) requiring the Judicial Council to come up with a 270-day process for completing all
California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) legal challenges to SGMA projects; AB 617
(Perea) adding mutual water companies to GSAs; AB 938 (Salas) making minor technical
changes to SGMA; AB 939 (Salas) changing the time period for providing technical data upon
which a fee is based from 10 days to 20 days before the meeting to adopt the fee; AB 1242
(Gray) prohibiting the State Water Board from setting in-stream flows standards unless the
Board mitigates for the potential local response of increased groundwater use; AB 1243 (Gray)
rebating 50% of all SGMA enforcement penalties back to local governments and water districts
for groundwater recharge projects; AB 1390 (Alejo) creating a streamlined process for
groundwater adjudications and exempting them from SGMA, except minimal reporting
requirements; AB 1531 (Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee) making minor
technical changes to SGMA; SB 13 (Pavley) making noncontroversial technical cleanup changes
to SGMA; SB 226 (Pavley) adding a streamlined groundwater adjudication section to SGMA;
and SB 487 (Nielsen) exempting SGMA projects from CEQA.
AB 453
Page 3
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
Association of California Water Agencies
Rural County Representatives of California
Valley Ag Water Coalition
Opposition
Center for Biological Diversity
Clean Water Action
Community Water Center
Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability
Natural Resources Defense Council
Sierra Club California
Analysis Prepared by: Tina Cannon Leahy / W., P., & W. / (916) 319-2096