The 2009 Legislation to Reshape Delta Governance 2010 Water Law Symposium U.S.F. School of Law, January 2010 Richard M. Frank Executive Director Center for Law, Energy & the Environment School of Law University of California, Berkeley (510)

Impetus for the 2009 Legislation Continued decline of Delta ecosystem Stalling of Cal-Fed program & progress PPIC research findings Delta Vision Task Force findings & recommendations Increased litigation over ESA/water delivery issues Concern over Bay Delta Conservation Plan Sacramentos need for a success story

The 2009 Legislative Process: Not Quick & Not Pretty, but Ultimately Effective

The 5-Bill Package: SB 1 (Simitian/Steinberg)Delta governance SB 2 (Cogdill)Water Bond Act SB 6 (Steinberg/Pavley)Groundwater monitoring SB 7 (Steinberg)Water conservation policy SB 8 (Steinberg)Water rights system reform

SB 1 (Delta Governance Reform) Adoption of (DVTF) policies Creation of new Delta Stewardship Council Revisions to Delta Protection Commission Creation of new Delta Conservancy Creation of new Delta Watermaster Specification of early actions – New Delta Independent Science Board – SWRCB flow criteria for Delta ecosystem – Others

SB 1Delta Stewardship Council Seven-member bodycomposition Adoption of Delta Plan by January 2012 DSC consistency review of local and state covered actions – exemptions Other DSC duties

SB 2 (Delta Water Bond) $11.14 billion General Obligation Bond Act Purposes/objectives Subject to voter approval in 11/2/10 election Independence from other (substantive) bills Key issues: – Concern over level of additional GF indebtedness – Taxpayer support vs. user pays model – Water privatization concern – Christmas tree of various projects/benefits

SB 6 (Groundwater Monitoring) Californias lack of current GW regulation or monitoring Required monitoring & reporting of GW basin elevations (cf. water extraction amounts) Monitoring & reporting by local agencies; DWR default DWRs overall GW collection/reporting duties

SB 7 (Water Conservation) Partially codifies Governors directive of 20% per capita water use reduction by 2020 Urban water districts: 10% reduction by 2015; 20% by 2020 Agricultural sector: adopt efficient water mgmt. practices & water mgmt. plans – No quantitative water use reductions required Sanction for non-compliance: disqualified from eligibility for state water grants/loans

SB 8 (Water Rights Reform) Expands reporting obligations of surface water diverters – eliminates exemption for in-Delta diverters Creates 25 new SWRCB water rights enforcement staff positions Funds $546 million for Delta ecosystem/water supply reliability purposes, from Propositions 1E & 84

Assessing the Delta/Water Legislation- A Panel Discussion Alf Brandt, Assembly Water, Parks & Wildlife Committee Staff Kate Poole, Attorney, Natural Resources Defense Council Tim Quinn, Executive Director, Association of California Water Agencies Mariko Yamada, Member, California State Assembly (D- 8 th District)

Question & Answer Period

For further information: Richard M. Frank Executive Director Center for Law, Energy & the Environment School of Law University of California, Berkeley (510)