AB 452: Water Rights Fund: groundwater regulation.

This bill would establish the Groundwater Regulation Subaccount in the Water Rights Fund and would provide that moneys in the subaccount are available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the State Water Resources Control Board for the purpose of board enforcement of the provisions of the act.

Existing law authorizes the board to issue a cease and desist order in response to a violation or threatened violation of any decision or order of the board under the act or any extraction restriction, limitation, order, or regulation adopted or issued by the board under the act. Under existing law, a person who violates a cease and desist order of the board may be civilly liable, as prescribed.

Existing law establishes groundwater reporting requirements for a person extracting groundwater in an area within a basin that is not within the management area of a groundwater sustainability agency or that is a probationary basin. Existing law requires each report of groundwater extraction to be accompanied by a specified fee. Existing law subjects a person to civil liability if that person fails to file, as required, a report of groundwater extraction, tampers with a required measuring device, or makes a material misstatement in connection with the filing of a report of groundwater extraction. Existing law provides that the making of any willful misstatement in connection with these groundwater reporting requirements is a misdemeanor punishable as prescribed.