California Assembly Bill AB49 Amended / Bill

 BILL NUMBER: AB 49AMENDED BILL TEXT AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 9, 2009 AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 29, 2009 AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 18, 2009 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 1, 2009 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 13, 2009 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Members Feuer and Huffman DECEMBER 1, 2008  An act to add Part 2.55 (commencing with Section 10608) to, to amend and repeal Section 10631.5 of, and to repeal and add Part 2.8 (commencing with Section 10800) of, Division 6 of the Water Code,   An act  relating to water. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 49, as amended, Feuer. Water  conservation: agricultural water management planning.   conservation.   Existing law requires the Department of Water Resources to undertake or administer various programs related to water conservation.   This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to establish a 20% water efficiency requirement for the year 2020 for agricultural and urban water users.   (1) Existing law requires the Department of Water Resources to convene an independent technical panel to provide information to the department and the Legislature on new demand management measures, technologies, and approaches. "Demand management measures" means those water conservation measures, programs, and incentives that prevent the waste of water and promote the reasonable and efficient use and reuse of available supplies.   This bill would require the state to achieve a 20% reduction in urban per capita water use in California by December 31, 2020. The state would be required to make incremental progress towards this goal by reducing per capita water use by at least 10% on or before December 31, 2015. The bill would require each urban retail water supplier to develop an urban water use target and interim urban water use targets by December 31, 2010, in accordance with specified requirements. The bill would require agricultural water suppliers to implement efficient water management practices and would impose related reporting requirements on agricultural water suppliers. The bill would require the department, in consultation with other state agencies, to develop a single standardized water use reporting form. The bill, with certain exceptions, would condition eligibility for certain water management grants or loans to urban water suppliers, beginning July 1, 2016, and agricultural water suppliers, beginning July 1, 2013, on the implementation of water conservation requirements established by the bill. The bill would repeal on July 1, 2016, an existing requirement that conditions eligibility for certain water management grants or loan to an urban water supplier on the implementation of certain water demand management measures.   (2) Existing law, until January 1, 1993, and thereafter only as specified, requires certain agricultural water suppliers to prepare and adopt water management plans.   This bill would substantially revise existing law relating to agricultural water management planning to require agricultural water suppliers to prepare and adopt agricultural water management plans with specified components on or before December 31, 2012, and updated on or before December 31, 2015, and on or before December 31 every 5 years thereafter. An agricultural water supplier that becomes an agricultural water supplier after December 31, 2012, would be required to prepare and adopt an agricultural water management plan within one year after becoming an agricultural water supplier. The agricultural water supplier would be required to notify each city or county within which the supplier provides water supplies with regard to the preparation or review of the plan. The bill would require the agricultural water supplier to submit copies of the plan to the department and other specified entities. The bill would provide that an agricultural water supplier is ineligible to receive specified state funds if the supplier does not prepare, adopt, and submit the plan in accordance with the requirements established by the bill.  Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee:  yes   no  . State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:  SECTION 1.   It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to establish a 20-percent water efficiency requirement for the year 2020 for agricultural and urban water users.  All matter omitted in this version of the bill appears in the bill as amended in Senate, June 29, 2009 (JR11)