Sept. 11, 2015
Groundwater Adjudication Bills Sent to Governor’s Desk ACWA Moved to Neutral Position after Final Round of Amendments
Legislation aimed at improving the groundwater basin adjudication process won final approval in the Assembly and Senate this week and is now on the governor’s desk.
The bills, AB 1390 (Alejo) and SB 226 (Pavley), were amended in August to be contingent on the enactment of each other, meaning that both bills had to be enacted in order to take effect. AB 1390 establishes new provisions in the Code of Civil Procedure to streamline groundwater adjudications applicable to any basin. SB 226 adds additional policies and procedures for courts to apply in basins subject to the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act of 2014 (SGMA) to ensure consistency with SGMA objectives.
ACWA and attorneys for many ACWA member agencies had been involved in developing language for AB 1390 since last year’s work on SGMA. In his signing message on the SGMA legislation last year, Gov. Jerry Brown expressed the Administration’s commitment to address the adjudication process to provide an avenue through which a groundwater sustainability agency could move forward with plans that required a reduction in pumping.
ACWA had a support-if-amended position on AB 1390 through most of the legislative session. Staff actively worked with the bill’s sponsor, the California Farm Bureau Federation, and secured many amendments to address concerns identified by ACWA members. After the author and the Farm Bureau made it clear they would not take further amendments that would have allowed ACWA to move to full support, ACWA retained its support-if-amended position and effectively became neutral on the bill.
On SB 226, ACWA adopted an oppose-unless-amended position on Aug. 28 due to concerns that some language represented an inappropriate expansion of the state’s authority to intervene in litigation brought in any court to determine water rights. ACWA immediately sought to replace that language with negotiated language more narrowly referencing the state’s authority to intervene in a comprehensive adjudication. The author accepted language that ACWA believed addressed the issue. After consulting with the working group of ACWA member attorneys, ACWA made the decision to move to a neutral position on SB 226 due the acceptance of amendments.
Though some issues remain with both bills, ACWA believes the two bills are workable and establish a process that is better than current law.
ACWA thanks its members for their work on critical groundwater legislation over the past two years.
