Resources: Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Council.

(1) Existing law generally provides that the state, or a county, city, district, or other political subdivision, or any public officer or body acting in its official capacity on behalf of any of those entities, may not be required to pay any fee for the performance of an official service. Existing law exempts from this provision any fee or charge for official services required pursuant to specified provisions of law relating to water use or water quality. This bill would expand the exemption to other provisions relating to water use, including provisions that require the payment of fees to the State Water Resources Control Board (board) for official services relating to statements of water diversion and use. (2) Existing law requires the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency to convene a committee to develop and submit to the Governor and the Legislature, on or before December 31, 2008, recommendations for implementing a specified strategic plan relating to the sustainable management of the Delta. This bill would establish the Delta Stewardship Council as an independent agency of the state. The council would be required to consist of 7 members appointed in a specified manner. The bill would specify the powers of the council. The council would be required to establish a consultation process for the purposes of the act. The bill would require a state or local public agency that proposes to undertake certain proposed actions that will occur within the boundaries of the Delta or the Suisun Marsh to prepare, and submit to the council, a specified written certification of consistency with the Delta Plan, created pursuant to AB 39 of the 2009–10 Regular Session, prior to taking those actions. By imposing these requirements on a local public agency, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would establish an appeal process by which a person may claim that a proposed action is inconsistent with the Delta Plan, as prescribed. The bill would impose requirements on the Department of Water Resources in connection with the preparation of a specified Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) . The BDCP would only be permitted to be incorporated in the Delta Plan if certain requirements are met. The bill would establish the Delta Independent Science Board, whose members would be selected by the council. The bill would require the Delta Independent Science Board to develop a scientific program relating to the management of the Delta. The bill would require the State Water Resources Control Board to establish an effective system of Delta watershed diversion data collection and public reporting by December 31, 2010. The bill would require the board to develop new instream flow criteria for the Delta ecosystem, as specified. The board would be required to submit those determinations to the council. The bill would require the board, in consultation with the council, to appoint a special master for the Delta, referred to as the Delta Watermaster. The bill would grant specified authority to the Delta Watermaster. (3) The California Bay-Delta Authority Act establishes the California Bay-Delta Authority in the Resources Agency. The act requires the authority and the implementing agencies to carry out programs, projects, and activities necessary to implement the Bay-Delta Program, defined to mean those projects, programs, commitments, and other actions that address the goals and objectives of the CALFED Bay-Delta Programmatic Record of Decision, dated August 28, 2000, or as it may be amended. This bill would repeal that act. The bill would impose requirements on the council in connection with the repeal of that act. (4) These provisions would only become operative if SB 229, SB 458, AB 39, and AB 49 of the 2009–10 Regular Session of the Legislature, relating to water use and resource management, are enacted and become effective on or before January 1, 2010.