Groundwater management.

(1) The California Constitution requires the reasonable and beneficial use of water. Existing law establishes various state water policies, including the policy that the people of the state have a paramount interest in the use of all the water of the state and that the state is required to determine what water of the state, surface and underground, can be converted to public use or be controlled for public protection. This bill would state the policy of the state that groundwater resources be managed responsibly for long-term water supply reliability and multiple economic, social, or environmental benefits for current and future beneficial uses. The bill would state that responsible groundwater management is best achieved locally through the development, implementation, and updating of plans and programs based on the best available science and in consideration of local needs and circumstances. The bill would also state the policy of the state is to encourage conjunctive use of surface water and groundwater and would provide that the Legislature finds and declares that the storage of water underneath the ground is a beneficial use of water. (2) Existing law authorizes local agencies to adopt and implement a groundwater management plan. Existing law requires a groundwater management plan to contain specified components and requires a local agency seeking state funds administered by the Department of Water Resources for groundwater projects or groundwater quality projects to do specified things, including, but not limited to, preparing and implementing a groundwater management plan that includes basin management objectives for the groundwater basin. This bill would prohibit, beginning January 1, 2015, a new groundwater management plan from being adopted or an existing groundwater management plan from being renewed, except for high- or medium-priority basins that are not in a condition of long-term overdraft and low- or very low priority basins. This bill would require, by January 31, 2020, all groundwater basins designated as high- or medium-priority basins by the Department of Water Resources that are in a condition of long-term overdraft to be managed under a groundwater management plan or coordinated groundwater management plans of a groundwater management agency, with specified exceptions. The bill would require a groundwater management plan to be developed and implemented to meet the management goal, established as prescribed, and would require the plan to include prescribed components. The bill would require a groundwater management agency to certify to the department that its plan complies with the requirements of the act no later than January 31, 2020, and every 5 years thereafter. This bill would authorize any local agency, as defined, or combination of local agencies, to elect to be a groundwater management agency and would require, within 30 days of deciding to be or forming a groundwater management agency, the groundwater management agency to inform the department of its decision or formation and its intent to undertake responsible groundwater management. The bill would provide specific authority to a groundwater management agency, including, but not limited to, the ability to require registration of groundwater extraction facilities, to require that a groundwater extraction facility be measured with a water-measuring device or methodology satisfactory to the groundwater management agency, to regulate groundwater pumping, and to impose certain fees. This bill would authorize the department or a groundwater management agency to provide technical assistance to entities that extract or use groundwater to promote water conservation and protect groundwater resources. The bill would require the department to develop advisory best management practices for the responsible management of groundwater through a specified public process. This bill would require a groundwater management agency to submit a groundwater management plan to the department for review. The bill would authorize the department to periodically review groundwater management plans, and by June 1, 2016, would require the department to develop regulations for evaluating groundwater management plans. The bill would authorize a local agency to submit to the department for evaluation an alternative plan that is not a groundwater management plan. The bill would provide that a basin is in compliance with these provisions if a groundwater agency or other local agency submits to the department, no later than January 31, 2020, a copy of a governing final judgment or other judicial order or decree and any report or reports required by the judgment or other judicial order or decree. This bill would authorize a groundwater management agency and the board to conduct inspections only after obtaining an inspection warrant, as specified. Because the willful refusal of an inspection lawfully authorized by an inspection warrant is a misdemeanor, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program by expanding the application of a crime. This bill would authorize the board to designate a basin as a probationary basin, if the board makes a specified determination. The bill would authorize the board to adopt an interim plan for a probationary basin after notice and a public hearing and would require state entities to comply with an interim plan. The bill would specifically authorize the board to rescind all or a portion of an interim plan if the board determines at the request of specified petitioners that a groundwater management plan or plans are adequate to eliminate the condition of long-term overdraft. The bill would provide that the board has authority to rescind or amend an interim plan based on the progress made by a groundwater management agency or in an adjudication action. (3) Existing law requires the legislative body of each county and city to adopt a comprehensive, long-term general plan for the physical development of the county or city with specified elements, including, among others, land use and conservation elements. Existing law requires a city or county, upon the adoption or revision of its general plan, on or after January 1, 1996, to utilize as a source document any urban water management plan submitted to the city or county by a water agency. This bill would require, before the adoption or any substantial amendment of a general plan, the planning agency to review and consider a groundwater management plan, groundwater management court order, judgment, or decree, or an adjudication of water rights. The bill would require the planning agency to refer a proposed action to adopt or substantially amend a general plan to a groundwater management agency that has adopted a groundwater management plan or local agency that otherwise manages groundwater and to a watermaster established by a court order, judgment, decree, or adjudication. Existing law requires a public water system to provide a planning agency with certain information upon receiving notification of a city's or a county's proposed action to adopt or substantially amend a general plan. This bill also would require a public water system to provide a report on the anticipated effect of the proposed action on implementation of a groundwater management plan. The bill would require a groundwater management agency, or a watermaster established by a court order, judgment, decree, or adjudication, to provide the planning agency with certain information as is appropriate and relevant. By imposing new duties on a city or county, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (4) 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. (5) Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.