Bill Text: CA AB2962 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Wholesale Regional Water System Security and Reliability Act.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Engrossed) 2024-06-26 - From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (June 26). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. [AB2962 Detail]

Download: California-2023-AB2962-Amended.html

Amended  IN  Assembly  March 21, 2024

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 2962


Introduced by Assembly Member Papan

February 16, 2024


An act to amend Section 1250 73514 of the Water Code, relating to water.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 2962, as amended, Papan. Water appropriations: permits. Wholesale Regional Water System Security and Reliability Act.
Existing law, the Wholesale Regional Water System Security and Reliability Act, requires the City and County of San Francisco to adopt a specified program of capital improvement projects designed to restore and improve the bay area regional water system, as defined. Existing law makes the act inoperative and repeals these provisions on January 1, 2026.
This bill would extend the repeal date of the act to January 1, 2036. By extending the period of time during which certain requirements would apply to regional wholesale water suppliers and the City and County of San Francisco, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the City and County of San Francisco and the regional water system, and that the bill addresses a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and applies to charter cities.
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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

Existing law authorizes the State Water Resources Control Board to administer a water rights program pursuant to which the board grants permits and licenses to appropriate water. Existing law requires the board to consider and act upon all applications for permits to appropriate water.

This bill would make a nonsubstantive change to the latter provision.

Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: NOYES   Local Program: NOYES  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) The City and County of San Francisco operates the Hetch Hetchy Project as a regional water delivery system, supplying water to persons and entities in the City and County of San Francisco and the Counties of Alameda, San Mateo, and Santa Clara.
(b) The Wholesale Regional Water System Security and Reliability Act requires the City and County of San Francisco to adopt a specified program of capital improvement projects designed to restore and improve the bay area regional water system and to submit a report, on or before September 1 of each year, to various entities describing the progress made on the implementation of the capital improvement program during the previous fiscal year.
(c) The Wholesale Regional Water System Security and Reliability Act authorizes the City and County of San Francisco to determine that the completion dates for projects contained in the program should be delayed or that different projects should be constructed. The act requires each city to identify in its progress report any project that is behind schedule and for each project so identified to describe its plan and timeline for making up the delay or adopting a revised implementation schedule.
(d) The Wholesale Regional Water System Security and Reliability Act imposes various other requirements on regional wholesale water suppliers, including a requirement that these suppliers submit an annual report describing the progress made on securing supplemental sources of water to augment existing supplies during dry years.
(e) The Wholesale Regional Water System Security and Reliability Act shall become inoperative on January 1, 2026.
(f) On February 26, 2003, pursuant to the requirements of the Wholesale Regional Water System Security and Reliability Act, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission submitted to the State Department of Health Care Services a report outlining the projects, schedule, and implementation plan for the capital improvement program that included 85 projects which expanded on the subset detailed in the act.
(g) The City and County of San Francisco has not yet concluded its capital improvement projects and, particularly, the regional groundwater storage and recovery project and the Alameda Creek recapture project will not be completed by the end of 2025.
(h) Both the regional groundwater storage and recovery project and the Alameda Creek recapture project are critical to the regional water system’s ability to provide reliable water supply during a drought, specifically in response to the Wholesale Regional Water System Security and Reliability Act’s requirement for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission to submit a report annually on progress made during the previous calendar year on securing supplemental sources of water to augment existing supplies during dry years.
(i) In order to provide continued oversight of the capital improvement projects through completion and to account for any further adjustments to the projects schedule during the next 12 years, this bill would extend the oversight provisions of the Wholesale Regional Water System Security and Reliability Act to January 1, 2036.
(j) The continued reliability of the regional water system is a matter of statewide concern and is not a municipal affair as that term is used in Section 5 of Article XI of the California Constitution. This act shall apply to all cities, including charter cities and a charter city and county, as applicable pursuant to Division 20.5 (commencing with Section 73500) of the Water Code.

SEC. 2.

 Section 73514 of the Water Code is amended to read:

73514.
 This division shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2026, 2036, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2026, 2036, deletes or extends that date.

SEC. 3.

 The Legislature finds and declares that a special statute is necessary and that a general statute cannot be made applicable within the meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California Constitution because of the unique circumstances regarding the operation of the bay area regional water system, as described in Section 1 of this act.

SEC. 4.

 No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because a local agency or school district has the authority to levy service charges, fees, or assessments sufficient to pay for the program or level of service mandated by this act, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code.
SECTION 1.Section 1250 of the Water Code is amended to read:
1250.

The board shall consider and act upon all applications for permits to appropriate water and shall do all things required or proper relating to these applications.

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