Water supply planning: renewable energy plants.

(1) Existing law requires a city or county that determines a project is subject to the California Environmental Quality Act to identify any public water system that may supply water for the project and to request those public water systems to prepare a specified water supply assessment. If no public water system is identified, the city or county is required to prepare the water supply assessment. Existing law defines "project" for purposes of the above provisions as, among other things, a proposed industrial, manufacturing, or processing plant, or industrial park planned to house more than 1,000 persons, occupying more than 40 acres of land, or having more than 650,000 square feet of floor area. This bill, until January 1, 2017, would revise the definition of "project" to exclude a proposed photovoltaic or wind energy generation facility, approved on or after the effective date of the bill, that would demand no more than 75 acre-feet of water annually. The bill, by revising the definition of "project," would impose new duties on local agencies with respect to determining whether a project is subject to the water supply assessment requirements, thereby imposing a state-mandated local program. (2) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. (3) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.