Water supply planning: California Environmental Quality Act: photovoltaic or wind energy generation facility.

Existing law requires a city or county that determines that a project, as defined, 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 these provisions as, among other things, a project that would demand an amount of water equivalent to, or greater than, the amount of water required by a 500 dwelling unit project. For a public water system that has fewer than 5,000 service connections, existing law defines "project" as development that would account for a specified increase in the number of service connections. Existing law, until January 1, 2018, exempts from the definition of "project" a proposed photovoltaic or wind energy generation facility that would demand no more than 75 acre-feet of water annually. This bill would indefinitely exempt from the definition of "project" a proposed photovoltaic or wind energy generation facility that would demand no more than 50 acre-feet of water annually. The bill would thereby extend the 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. 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, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.