Bill > AB1413

This bill amends California's Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) to clarify and strengthen groundwater adjudication procedures. The bill requires groundwater sustainability agencies to review and potentially update their sustainable yield (the amount of groundwater that can be extracted without causing long-term negative impacts) at least every seven years, using the best available science and information, and provide opportunities for public review. It establishes new rules for comprehensive groundwater adjudication actions, including prohibiting courts from establishing a basin's sustainable yield that exceeds the amount determined in a valid groundwater sustainability plan. The bill also requires that any legal challenges to a groundwater sustainability agency's actions must be filed within 90 days and that any actions against such an agency in a basin undergoing adjudication must be consolidated with the comprehensive adjudication. Additionally, the bill ensures that court judgments in groundwater rights cases cannot permit more total pumping than the sustainable yield established in the groundwater sustainability plan, and it provides special provisions for basins with ongoing adjudication proceedings filed before January 1, 2025. The legislation aims to protect sustainable groundwater management, ensure public participation, and prevent adjudication processes from undermining the goals of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act.

Agriculture and Natural Resources, Budget and Finance, Justice

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billStatusClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB1413