AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 13, 2024
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 24, 2024
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 19, 2024
SENATE BILL No. 1330
Introduced by Senator Archuleta
(Coauthors: Senators Alvarado-Gil and Newman)
February 16, 2024
An act to amend Sections 1846.5, 10609.20, 10609.22, 10609.24, 10609.26, 10609.30, 10609.32, and 10609.33 of 10609.33 of , to add Section 10609.7 to, and to repeal Sections 10608.36 and 10608.40 of, the Water Code, relating to water.
legislative counsel’s digest
SB 1330, as amended, Archuleta. Urban retail water supplier: water use.
Existing law, the Urban Water Management Planning Act, requires every urban water supplier to pr epare and adopt an urban water management plan, as specified. Existing law r equires an urban wholesale water supplier to include in the urban water mana gement plans an assessment of their pr esent and pr oposed future measures, programs, and policies to help achieve water use reductions. Existing law requires urban water r etail suppliers to report to the department on their progress in meeting their urban water use tar gets as part of their urban water management plans.
This bill would repeal the above-described requirements relating to urban wholesale water suppliers and urban water retail suppliers under an urban water management plan.
96 Existing law requires an urban retail w ater supplier to calculate its urban water use objective no later than January 1, 2024, and by January 1 every year thereafter. year thereafter, and to be composed of the sum of specified data, including a ggregate residential water use. Existing law requires each urban retail w ater supplier’s water use objective to be composed of the sum of specified aggre gate estimates, including efficient outdoor irrigation of landscape areas with dedicated irrigation meters or equi valent technology in connection with w ater used by commercial water users, industrial water users, institutional water users, and large landscape water users (CII). Existing la w requires an urban retail w ater supplier to submit reports to the Department of Water Resources, as provided, by the same dates.
This bill would require the department to, no later than J anuary 1, 2035, conduct necessary studies and in vestigations r egarding the efficiency performance of newly constructed residential landscapes and landscape areas with dedicated irrigation meter s in connection with CII water use, as specified. The bill would r equire the department, if appropriate, to recommend to the State Water Resources Control Board for adoption a revised standard for existing residential landscapes and landscape areas with dedicated irrigation meter s in connection with CII water use r egarding an ongoing performance standar d for those water uses.
This bill would require the department to collect and update data for outdoor residential landscapes and CII landscapes at least once e very 10 years update methodologies and criteria for calculating residential and CII landscape areas and to determine landscape area measurements within each urban retail water supplier’s service area by J anuary 1, 2028, and once every 5 years thereafter, as specified, and post the data on its internet website. The bill would authorize an urban retail w ater supplier to submit reports by January 1 or July 1 whether reporting is submitted on a calendar year or fiscal year basis. The bill would specify that an urban retail water supplier, in its calculations of its urban water use objectives, shall include aggregate indoor and outdoor residential water use. The bill would require, as part of the report to be submitted in 2026, each urban retail w ater supplier to pro vide a narrati ve that describes the w ater demand management measures that the supplier plans to implement to achieve its urban water use objective by January 1, 2030.
Existing law authorizes the State Water Resources Control Board, board, on or after January 1, 2024, to issue informational orders 96 — 2 — SB 1330
pertaining to water production, water use, and water conservation to an urban retail w ater supplier that does not meet its urban w ater use objective. Existing la w authorizes the board, on and after January 1, 2025, to issue a written notice to an urban retail water supplier that does not meet its urban w ater use objecti ve. Existing la w authorizes the board, on and after January 1, 2026, to issue a conservation order to an urban retail w ater supplier that does not meet its urban w ater use objective.
This bill w ould instead e xtend the time by which the board is authorized to issue informational orders to on or after January 1, 2026, issue a written notice to on or after January 1, 2027, and issue a conservation order to on or after January 1, 2028.
Existing law requires the department, in coordination with the board, to submit a report to the Legislature on the progress of urban retail water suppliers towards achieving their urban water use objective on or before January 1, 2028.
The bill w ould instead require the report to be submitted to the Legislature on or before January 1, 2030.
Existing law provides that it is the intent of the Le gislature that the chairperson of the boar d and the dir ector of the department appear before the appr opriate policy committees of both houses of the Legislature on or ar ound J anuary 1, 2026, and r eport on the implementation of the water use efficiency standar ds and water use reporting.
This bill would extend this date to not later than July 1, 2031.
Existing law provides that an urban retail water supplier who violates certain regulations after November 1, 2027, may be liable for specified penalties, as provided.
This bill would instead provide that urban retail water suppliers may be liable for specified penalties for violating those re gulations after November 1, 2029.
Existing law , the Administrative Pr ocedure Act, sets forth the requirements for the adoption, publication, review, and implementation of regulations by state agencies.
This bill would require the board to enact emergency regulation, as specified, in accordance with the provisions of the act.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
96 SB 1330 — 3 —
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
line 1 SECTION 1. Section 1846.5 of the Water Code is amended to line 2 read:
line 3 1846.5. (a) An urban retail water supplier who commits an y line 4 of the violations identified in subdivision (b) may be liable in an line 5 amount not to exceed the following, as applicable:
line 6 (1) If the violation occurs in a critically dry year immediately line 7 preceded by tw o or more consecuti ve belo w normal, dry , or line 8 critically dry years or during a period for which the Governor has line 9 issued a proclamation of a state of emergency under the California line 10 Emergency Services Act (Chapter 7 (commencing with Section line 11 8550) of Division 1 of Title 2 of the Government Code) based on line 12 drought conditions, ten thousand dollars ($10,000) for each day line 13 in which the violation occurs.
line 14 (2) For all violations other than those described in paragraph line 15 (1), one thousand dollars ($1,000) for each day in which the line 16 violation occurs.
line 17 (b) Liability pursuant to this section may be imposed for an y line 18 of the following violations:
line 19 (1) Violation of an order issued under Chapter 9 (commencing line 20 with Section 10609) of Part 2.55 of Division 6. line 21 (2) Violation of a re gulation issued under Chapter 9 line 22 (commencing with Section 10609) of P art 2.55 of Di vision 6, if line 23 the violation occurs after November 1, 2029.
line 24 (c) Civil liability may be imposed by the superior court. The line 25 Attorney General, upon the request of the board, shall petition the line 26 superior court to impose, assess, and recover those sums. line 27 (d) Civil liability may be imposed administratively by the board line 28 pursuant to Section 1055.
line 29 SEC. 2. Section 10608.36 of the Water Code is repealed. line 30 10608.36. Urban wholesale w ater suppliers shall include in line 31 the urban water management plans required pursuant to P art 2.6 line 32 (commencing with Section 10610) an assessment of their present line 33 and proposed future measures, programs, and policies to help line 34 achieve the water use reductions required by this part. line 35 SEC. 3. Section 10608.40 of the Water Code is repealed. line 36 10608.40. Urban w ater retail suppliers shall report to the line 37 department on their progress in meeting their urban w ater use line 38 targets as part of their urban w ater management plans submitted 96 — 4 — SB 1330
line 1 pursuant to Section 10631. The data shall be reported using a line 2 standardized form developed pursuant to Section 10608.52. line 3 SEC. 4. Section 10609.7 is added to the Water Code, to read:
line 4 10609.7. (a) The department shall, no later than J anuary 1, line 5 2035, conduct necessary studies and investigations regarding the line 6 efficiency performance of newly constructed residential landscapes line 7 and landscape areas with dedicated irrigation meters in connection line 8 with CII water use to determine whether these landscapes use the line 9 same amount of water for whic h they were designed, and if the y line 10 use more water, an explanation for these divergences. line 11 (b) The department shall r ecommend a r evised standard for line 12 existing residential landscapes and landscape areas with dedicated line 13 irrigation meters in connection with CII water use, if appropriate, line 14 regarding an ongoing performance standard for existing residential line 15 landscapes and landscape areas with dedicated irrigation meters line 16 in connection with CII water use , for adoption by the boar d in line 17 accordance with this chapter.
line 18 SEC. 2.
line 19 SEC. 5. Section 10609.20 of the Water Code is amended to line 20 read:
line 21 10609.20. (a) Each urban retail water supplier shall calculate line 22 its urban water use objective no later than January 1, 2024, and by line 23 January 1 every year thereafter.
line 24 (b) The calculation shall be based on the urban retail w ater line 25 supplier’s water use conditions for the previous calendar or fiscal line 26 year.
line 27 (c) Each urban water supplier’s urban water use objective shall line 28 be composed of the sum of the following:
line 29 (1) Aggregate estimated efficient indoor residential water use. line 30 (2) Aggregate estimated efficient outdoor residential water use. line 31 (3) Aggregate estimated efficient outdoor irrigation of landscape line 32 areas with dedicated irrigation meters or equivalent technology in line 33 connection with CII water use.
line 34 (4) Aggregate estimated efficient water losses. line 35 (5) Aggregate estimated water use in accordance with variances, line 36 as appropriate.
line 37 (d) (1) An urban retail water supplier that delivers water from line 38 a groundwater basin, reservoir, or other source that is augmented line 39 by potable reuse w ater may adjust its urban w ater use objective line 40 by a bonus incentive calculated pursuant to this subdivision. 96 SB 1330 — 5 —
line 1 (2) The water use objective bonus incentive shall be the volume line 2 of its potable reuse deli vered to residential w ater users and to line 3 landscape areas with dedicated irrig ation meters in connection line 4 with CII water use, on an acre-foot basis.
line 5 (3) The bonus incenti ve pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be line 6 limited in accordance with one of the following:
line 7 (A) The bonus incentive shall not exceed 15 percent of the urban line 8 water supplier’s water use objective for any potable reuse w ater line 9 produced at an existing facility.
line 10 (B) The bonus incentive shall not exceed 10 percent of the urban line 11 water supplier’s water use objective for any potable reuse w ater line 12 produced at any facility that is not an existing facility. line 13 (4) For purposes of this subdi vision, “existing facility” means line 14 a facility that meets all of the following:
line 15 (A) The facility has a certified en vironmental impact report, line 16 mitigated negative declaration, or negative declaration on or before line 17 January 1, 2019.
line 18 (B) The facility begins producing and delivering potable reuse line 19 water on or before January 1, 2022.
line 20 (C) The f acility uses microfiltration and re verse osmosis line 21 technologies to produce the potable reuse water. line 22 (e) (1) The calculation of the urban w ater use objective shall line 23 be made using landscape area and other data pro vided by the line 24 department and pursuant to the standards, guidelines, and line 25 methodologies adopted by the board. The department shall provide line 26 data to the urban w ater supplier at a le vel of detail sufficient to line 27 allow the urban water supplier to verify its accuracy at the parcel line 28 level.
line 29 (2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), an urban retail water supplier line 30 may use alternati ve data in calculating the urban w ater use line 31 objective if the supplier demonstrates to the department that the line 32 alternative data are equivalent, or superior, in quality and accuracy line 33 to the data pro vided by the department. The department may line 34 provide technical assistance to an urban retail w ater supplier in line 35 evaluating whether the alternative data are appropriate for use in line 36 calculating the supplier’s urban water use objective. line 37 (f) The department shall collect and update data for outdoor line 38 residential landscapes and CII landscapes at least once e very 10 line 39 years. The department shall post the data on its internet website. 96 — 6 — SB 1330
line 1 (f) (1) The department shall update methodologies and criteria line 2 for calculating residential and CII landscape areas, if necessary line 3 to accomplish the purposes of this c hapter, and determine line 4 landscape ar ea measur ements within eac h urban r etail water line 5 supplier’s service area to be completed by J anuary 1, 2028, and line 6 once every five years thereafter.
line 7 (2) Landscape ar ea measur ements determined pur suant to line 8 paragraph (1) shall, no later than J anuary 1, 2039, include tr ee line 9 canopy data for purposes of calculating a variance for water use line 10 associated with irrigating tr ees in e xisting r esidential and CII line 11 water use with dedicated irrigation meters.
line 12 (3) The department shall post landscape ar ea measur ement line 13 data on its internet website.
line 14 SEC. 6. Section 10609.22 of the Water Code is amended to line 15 read:
line 16 10609.22. (a) An urban retail water supplier shall calculate its line 17 actual urban w ater use no later than January 1, 2024, and by line 18 January 1 every year thereafter.
line 19 (b) The calculation shall be based on the urban retail w ater line 20 supplier’s water use for the previous calendar or fiscal year. line 21 (c) Each urban w ater supplier’ s urban w ater use shall be line 22 composed of the sum of the following:
line 23 (1) Aggregate indoor residential water use.
line 24 (2) Aggregate outdoor residential water use.
line 25 (2)
line 26 (3) Aggregate outdoor irrig ation of landscape areas with line 27 dedicated irrigation meters in connection with CII water use. line 28 (3)
line 29 (4) Aggregate water losses.
line 30 SEC. 3.
line 31 SEC. 7. Section 10609.24 of the Water Code is amended to line 32 read:
line 33 10609.24. (a) An urban retail w ater supplier shall submit a line 34 report to the department no later than January 1, 2024, and by line 35 January 1 or July 1 e very year thereafter , whether reporting is line 36 submitted on a calendar year or fiscal year basis. e very year line 37 thereafter. The report shall include all of the following:
line 38 (1) The urban water use objective calculated pursuant to Section line 39 10609.20 along with relevant supporting data.
96 SB 1330 — 7 —
line 1 (2) The actual urban w ater use calculated pursuant to Section line 2 10609.22 along with relevant supporting data.
line 3 (3) Documentation of the implementation of the performance line 4 measures for CII water use.
line 5 (4) A description of the progress made to wards meeting the line 6 urban water use objective.
line 7 (5) The validated water loss audit report conducted pursuant to line 8 Section 10608.34.
line 9 (b) The department shall post the reports and information on its line 10 internet website.
line 11 (c) The board may issue an information order or conserv ation line 12 order to, or impose ci vil liability on, an entity or indi vidual for line 13 failure to submit a report required by this section. line 14 (d) As part of the report to be submitted in 2026, each urban line 15 retail water supplier shall pro vide a narrati ve that describes the line 16 water demand management measures that the supplier plans to line 17 implement to achieve its urban water use objective by January 1, line 18 2030.
line 19 SEC. 4.
line 20 SEC. 8. Section 10609.26 of the Water Code is amended to line 21 read:
line 22 10609.26. (a) (1) On and after January 1, 2026, the board may line 23 issue informational orders pertaining to w ater production, water line 24 use, and water conservation to an urban retail water supplier that line 25 does not meet its urban water use objective required by this chapter. line 26 Informational orders are intended to obtain information on supplier line 27 activities, water production, and conserv ation efforts in order to line 28 identify technical assistance needs and assist urban water suppliers line 29 in meeting their urban water use objectives.
line 30 (2) In determining whether to issue an informational order, the line 31 board shall consider the de gree to which the urban retail w ater line 32 supplier is not meeting its urban water use objective, information line 33 provided in the report required by Section 10609.24, and actions line 34 the urban retail water supplier has implemented or will implement line 35 in order to help meet the urban water use objective. line 36 (3) The board shall share information received pursuant to this line 37 subdivision with the department.
line 38 (4) An urban w ater supplier may request technical assistance line 39 from the department. The technical assistance may, to the extent line 40 available, include guidance documents, tools, and data. 96 — 8 — SB 1330
line 1 (b) On and after January 1, 2027, the board may issue a written line 2 notice to an urban retail water supplier that does not meet its urban line 3 water use objecti ve required by this chapter . The written notice line 4 may warn the urban retail water supplier that it is not meeting its line 5 urban water use objecti ve described in Section 10609.20 and is line 6 not making adequate progress in meeting the urban w ater use line 7 objective, and may request that the urban retail w ater supplier line 8 address areas of concern in its ne xt annual report required by line 9 Section 10609.24. In deciding whether to issue a written notice, line 10 the board may consider whether the urban retail water supplier has line 11 received an informational order , the de gree to which the urban line 12 retail water supplier is not meeting its urban w ater use objective, line 13 information provided in the report required by Section 10609.24, line 14 and actions the urban retail water supplier has implemented or will line 15 implement in order to help meet its urban water use objective. line 16 (c) (1) On and after January 1, 2028, the board may issue a line 17 conservation order to an urban retail water supplier that does not line 18 meet its urban w ater use objecti ve. A conserv ation order may line 19 consist of, b ut is not limited to, referral to the department for line 20 technical assistance, requirements for education and outreach, line 21 requirements for local enforcement, and other ef forts to assist line 22 urban retail w ater suppliers in meeting their urban w ater use line 23 objective.
line 24 (2) In issuing a conserv ation order , the board shall identify line 25 specific deficiencies in an urban retail w ater supplier’s progress line 26 towards meeting its urban water use objective, and identify specific line 27 actions to address the deficiencies.
line 28 (3) The board may request that the department provide an urban line 29 retail water supplier with technical assistance to support the urban line 30 retail water supplier’s actions to remedy the deficiencies. line 31 (d) A conservation order issued in accordance with this chapter line 32 may include requiring actions intended to increase w ater-use line 33 efficiency, but shall not curtail or otherwise limit the e xercise of line 34 a water right, nor shall it require the imposition of ci vil liability line 35 pursuant to Section 377.
line 36 SEC. 9. Section 10609.30 of the Water Code is amended to line 37 read:
line 38 10609.30. On or before January 10, 2024, 2029, the Legislative line 39 Analyst shall provide to the appropriate policy committees of both line 40 houses of the Le gislature and the public a report e valuating the 96 SB 1330 — 9 —
line 1 implementation of the w ater use efficienc y standards and w ater line 2 use reporting pursuant to this chapter . The board and the line 3 department shall provide the Legislative Analyst with the available line 4 data to complete this report.
line 5 (a) The report shall describe all of the following:
line 6 (1) The rate at which urban retail w ater users are complying line 7 with the standards, and factors that might facilitate or impede their line 8 compliance.
line 9 (2) The Issues identified regarding the accuracy of the data and line 10 estimates being used to calculate urban water use objectives. line 11 (3) Indications of the economic impacts, if an y, of the line 12 implementation of this chapter on urban water suppliers and urban line 13 water users, including CII water users.
line 14 (4) The frequency of use of the bonus incentive, the volume of line 15 water associated with the bonus incenti ve, value to urban w ater line 16 suppliers of the bonus incentive, and any implications of the use line 17 of the bonus incentive on water use efficiency. line 18 (5) The early indications of ho w implementing this chapter line 19 might impact the efficiency of statewide urban water use. line 20 (6) Recommendations, if an y, for impro ving statewide urban line 21 water use efficiency and the standards and practices described in line 22 this chapter.
line 23 (7) Any other issues the Legislative Analyst deems appropriate. line 24 (b) A report to be submitted pur suant to this section shall be line 25 submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Go vernment line 26 Code.
line 27 SEC. 10. Section 10609.32 of the Water Code is amended to line 28 read:
line 29 10609.32. It is the intent of the Legislature that the chairperson line 30 of the board and the director of the department appear before the line 31 appropriate policy committees of both houses of the Le gislature line 32 on or around January 1, 2026, not later than J uly 1, 2031, and line 33 report on the implementation of the water use efficiency standards line 34 and water use reporting pursuant to this chapter. It is the intent of line 35 the Le gislature that the topics to be co vered include all of the line 36 following:
line 37 (a) The rate at which urban retail water suppliers are complying line 38 with the standards, and factors that might facilitate or impede their line 39 compliance.
line 40 (b) What enforcement actions have been taken, if any. 96 — 10 — SB 1330
line 1 (c) The accurac y of the data and estimates being used to line 2 calculate urban water use objectives.
line 3 (d) Indications of the economic impacts, if an y, of the line 4 implementation of this chapter on urban water suppliers and urban line 5 water users, including CII water users.
line 6 (e) The frequency of use of the bonus incentive, the volume of line 7 water associated with the bonus incenti ve, value to urban w ater line 8 suppliers of the bonus incentive, and any implications of the use line 9 of the bonus incentive on water use efficiency.
line 10 (f) An assessment of how implementing this chapter is affecting line 11 the efficiency of statewide urban water use.
line 12 SEC. 5.
line 13 SEC. 11. Section 10609.33 of the Water Code is amended to line 14 read:
line 15 10609.33. (a) On or before January 1, 2030, the department, line 16 in coordination with the board, shall submit a report to the line 17 Legislature on the progress of urban retail water suppliers towards line 18 achieving their urban w ater use objecti ve pursuant to Section line 19 10609.20.
line 20 (b) (1) The requirement for submitting a report imposed under line 21 subdivision (a) is inoperati ve on January 1, 2034, pursuant to line 22 Section 10231.5 of the Government Code.
line 23 (2) A report to be submitted pursuant to subdi vision (a) shall line 24 be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government line 25 Code.
line 26 SEC. 12. (a) The State Water Resources Control Board shall line 27 adopt, by emer gency r egulation, amendments to Chapter 3.5 line 28 (commencing with Section 980) of Division 3 of Title 23 of the line 29 California Code of Re gulations, as may be r equired pursuant to line 30 Senate Bill 1330 of the 2023–24 Regular Session. line 31 (b) The emergency regulations adopted pursuant to this section line 32 shall be adopted by the State Water Resources Control Board in line 33 accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 3.5 line 34 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title line 35 2 of the Government Code). The adoption of these regulations is line 36 an emer gency and shall be consider ed by the Office of line 37 Administrative Law as necessary for the immediate pr eservation line 38 of the public peace , health, safety , and g eneral welfar e. line 39 Notwithstanding Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) line 40 of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Go vernment Code, any 96 SB 1330 — 11 —
line 1 emergency r egulations adopted by the State Water Resour ces line 2 Control Board pursuant to this section shall be filed with, but not line 3 be repealed by, the Office of Administrative Law and shall remain line 4 in effect until revised by the State Water Resources Control Board.
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96 — 12 — SB 1330