Groundwater: groundwater sustainability agencies: probationary basins.

Existing law, the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, requires all groundwater basins designated as high- or medium-priority basins by the Department of Water Resources that are designated as basins subject to critical conditions of overdraft to be managed under a groundwater sustainability plan or coordinated groundwater sustainability plans by January 31, 2020, and requires all other groundwater basins designated as high- or medium-priority basins to be managed under a groundwater sustainability plan or coordinated groundwater sustainability plans by January 31, 2022, except as specified. The act authorizes the State Water Resources Control Board to designate specified basins as probationary basins if certain conditions are met, including, but not limited to, that the department, in consultation with the board, determines that a groundwater sustainability plan is inadequate or that the groundwater sustainability program is not being implemented in a manner that will likely achieve the sustainability goal. Existing law requires the board, if it designates a basin as a probationary basin pursuant to specified conditions, to identify the specific deficiencies and potential remedies. Existing law authorizes the board to request the department, within 90 days of the designation, to provide technical recommendations to local agencies to remedy the deficiencies and to develop an interim plan for the probationary basin one year after the designation, as specified. This bill would require any groundwater sustainability agency that hires a third-party consulting firm to ensure that the integrity of the science being used to develop a groundwater sustainability plan is protected and the data is not sold. The bill would delete the authorizations for the board to request technical recommendations from the department. The bill would additionally place various requirements on the board in working with a groundwater sustainability agency, including, among other things, requiring the board to provide clear benchmarks and guidance for groundwater sustainability agencies to improve their groundwater management plans. This bill would require the Sustainable Groundwater Management Grant Program to allocate at least $50,000,000 of existing funds for a Critical Facilities Subsidence Mitigation subprogram, to be used for groundwater sustainability agencies that meet certain criteria and for certain purposes.