Amended  IN  Assembly  June 22, 2023
Amended  IN  Senate  April 27, 2023
Amended  IN  Senate  April 12, 2023
Amended  IN  Senate  March 29, 2023

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill
No. 651

Introduced by Senator Grove
(Coauthors: Senators Niello Niello, Ochoa Bogh, and Seyarto)
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Alanis, Dixon, Rodriguez, and Ta)

February 16, 2023

An act to add Section 21168.6.11 to the Public Resources Code, and to add Section 114 to the Water Code, relating to water. environmental quality.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


SB 651, as amended, Grove. Water storage and recharge: California Environmental Quality Act. Act: groundwater recharge projects: Judicial Council rules of court.

Existing law establishes in the Natural Resources Agency the State Water Resources Control Board and the regional water quality control boards. Existing law requires the state board to formulate and adopt state policy for water quality control. Existing law requires each regional board to coordinate with the state board and other regional boards, as well as other state agencies with responsibility for water quality, with respect to water quality control matters.

This bill would make it the policy of this state that, to help advance groundwater recharge projects, and to demonstrate the feasibility of projects that can use available high water flows to recharge local groundwater while minimizing flood risks, the state board and the regional water quality control boards prioritize water right permits, water quality certifications, waste discharge requirements, and conditional waivers of waste discharge requirements to accelerate approvals for projects that enhance the ability of a local or state agency to capture high precipitation events for local storage or recharge, consistent with water right priorities and protections for fish and wildlife.

The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires, among other things, a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of an environmental impact report on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA establishes a procedure by which a person may seek judicial review of the decision of the lead agency made pursuant to CEQA.
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, plan, except as specified.
This bill would require the Judicial Council to adopt a rule of court to establish procedures requiring actions or proceedings brought to attack, review, set aside, void, or annul the certification of an environmental impact report, or the granting of any project approvals, for specified projects that are approved to implement groundwater recharge projects, as described, except as provided, that implement a groundwater sustainability plan or an interim groundwater sustainability plan, as described, that would require the actions or proceedings, including any appeals, to be resolved within 270 days of the filing of the certified record of proceedings with the court. The bill would also include a related statement of legislative intent.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

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


SECTION 1.

 Section 21168.6.11 is added to the Public Resources Code, to read:

21168.6.11.
 (a) (1) For purposes of this section, “project” means a groundwater recharge project that is approved to implement implements a groundwater sustainability plan that the department determines is in compliance with the requirements of Sections 10727.2 and 10727.4 of the Water Code or to implement an interim groundwater sustainability plan adopted pursuant to Section 10735.6 of the Water Code.
(2) For purposes of this section, a “project” does not include a project where any water is diverted or applied to any of the following:
(A) Any barn, ponds, or lands, to which manure or waste from an animal facility that generates waste from the feeding and housing of animals for more than 45 days per year in a confined area that is not vegetated are applied.
(B) Any agricultural field that has been identified as an outlier, either by an agricultural coalition charged with implementation of the Irrigated Lands Regulatory Program or by the appropriate regional water board, with respect to nitrogen application.
(C) Any agricultural field where pesticide or fertilizer application has occurred in the prior 30 days or in the period prohibited by applicable law, whichever is longer.
(D) Any area that could cause damage to critical levees, infrastructure, wastewater and drinking water systems, drinking water wells or drinking water supplies, or exacerbate the threat of flood and other health and safety concerns.
(E) Any area that has not been in active irrigated agricultural cultivation within the past three years, including grazing lands, annual grasslands, and natural habitats. This limitation does not apply to facilities already constructed for the purpose of groundwater recharge or managed wetlands.
(b) The Judicial Council shall adopt a rule of court to establish procedures that require actions or proceedings brought to attack, review, set aside, void, or annul the certification of an environmental impact report for a project or the granting of any project approvals that require the actions or proceedings, including any potential appeals to the court of appeal or the Supreme Court, to be resolved, to the extent feasible, within 270 days of the filing of the certified record of proceedings with the court.

SEC. 2.Section 114 is added to the Water Code, to read:
114.

It is the policy of this state that, to help advance groundwater recharge projects, and to demonstrate the feasibility of projects that can use available high water flows to recharge local groundwater while minimizing flood risks, the board and the regional water quality control boards shall prioritize water right permits, water quality certifications, waste discharge requirements, and conditional waivers of waste discharge requirements to accelerate approvals for projects that enhance the ability of a local or state agency to capture high precipitation events for local storage or recharge, consistent with water right priorities and protections for fish and wildlife.

SEC. 2.

 It is the intent of the Legislature to help advance groundwater recharge projects, and to demonstrate the feasibility of projects that can use available high water flows to recharge local groundwater while minimizing flood risks. It is the further intent of the Legislature to encourage the board and the regional water quality control boards to prioritize water right permits, water quality certifications, waste discharge requirements, and conditional waivers of waste discharge requirements to accelerate approvals for projects that enhance the ability of a local or state agency to capture high precipitation events for local storage or recharge, consistent with water right priorities and protections for fish and wildlife.