Water use efficiency: landscape irrigation.

(1) Existing law, the Contractors' State License Law, provides for the licensing by written examination and regulation of contractors by the Contractors' State License Board in the Department of Consumer Affairs. Existing law requires the board to periodically review and, if needed, revise the contents of qualifying examinations to ensure that the examination questions are timely and relevant to the business of contracting. This bill, before revision of the landscaping contractor examination, would require the board to confer with specified entities to determine whether any updates or revisions to the examination are needed to reflect new and emerging landscape irrigation efficiency practices, as specified. (2) Existing law regulates a person who performs certain home inspections for a fee. Under existing law, a home inspection report is a written report prepared for a fee and issued after a home inspection, and clearly describes and identifies the inspected systems, structures, or components of the dwelling, any material defects identified, and any recommendations, as specified. This bill would authorize a home inspection report on a dwelling unit on a parcel containing an in-ground landscape irrigation system to include certain information regarding the operation and observation of the irrigation system. The bill, to the extent funds are available, would require the Department of Water Resources, in consultation with a specified association and the Department of Housing and Community Development, to compile an estimate of the number of properties for which an irrigation system inspection report has been prepared each year, beginning with 2018, for inclusion in an update to the California Water Plan. (3) Existing law requires the Department of Water Resources, in consultation with the California Urban Water Conservation Council, to convene an independent technical panel, consisting of no more than 7 members, as prescribed, to provide information and recommendations to the department and the Legislature on new demand management measures, technologies, and approaches. Existing law requires the panel to report to the Legislature every 5 years, as specified. This bill would require the Director of Water Resources, on or before June 30, 2019, to convene a working group comprised of various representatives, including, but not limited to, the independent technical panel, and would prescribe tasks for the working group relating to water use associated with landscape plants. The bill would require the working group to complete the tasks on or before January 1, 2020, and to provide a written overview of its findings and recommendations, as specified. The bill would require the department, on or before January 1, 2020, and every 3 years thereafter, to consider and propose revisions to a certain publication and its database as the director deems necessary or desirable, as specified.