HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-23-19 PRL&L Committee PacketOTAY WATER DISTRICT
PUBLIC RELATIONS, LEGAL & LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE MEETING
and
SPECIAL MEETING OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
2554 SWEETWATER SPRINGS BOULEVARD
SPRING VALLEY, CALIFORNIA
Board Room
WEDNESDAY
January 23, 2019
12:00 P.M.
This is a District Committee meeting. This meeting is being posted as a special meeting
in order to comply with the Brown Act (Government Code Section §54954.2) in the event that
a quorum of the Board is present. Items will be deliberated, however, no formal board actions
will be taken at this meeting. The committee makes recommendations
to the full board for its consideration and formal action.
AGENDA
1. ROLL CALL
2. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION – OPPORTUNITY FOR MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC TO
SPEAK TO THE BOARD ON ANY SUBJECT MATTER WITHIN THE BOARD'S
JURISDICTION BUT NOT AN ITEM ON TODAY'S AGENDA
DISCUSSION ITEMS
3. ADOPT THE 2019 OTAY WATER DISTRICT LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM GUIDE-
LINES AND PRIORITIES (OTERO) [5 minutes]
4. ADJOURNMENT
BOARD MEMBERS ATTENDING:
Mark Robak, Chair
Hector Gastelum
2
All items appearing on this agenda, whether or not expressly listed for action, may be de-
liberated and may be subject to action by the Board.
The Agenda, and any attachments containing written information, are available at the Dis-
trict’s website at www.otaywater.gov. Written changes to any items to be considered at
the open meeting, or to any attachments, will be posted on the District’s website. Copies
of the Agenda and all attachments are also available through the District Secretary by con-
tacting her at (619) 670-2280.
If you have any disability that would require accommodation in order to enable you to par-
ticipate in this meeting, please call the District Secretary at 670-2280 at least 24 hours pri-
or to the meeting.
Certification of Posting
I certify that on January 18, 2019 I posted a copy of the foregoing agenda near the
regular meeting place of the Board of Directors of Otay Water District, said time being at
least 24 hours in advance of the meeting of the Board of Directors (Government Code
Section §54954.2).
Executed at Spring Valley, California on January 18, 2019.
/s/ Susan Cruz, District Secretary
STAFF REPORT
TYPE MEETING: Regular Board Meeting MEETING DATE: February 6, 2019
SUBMITTED BY: Tenille M. Otero
PROJECT: Various DIV. NO. All
APPROVED BY:
Mark Watton, General Manager
SUBJECT: 2019 Legislative Program Guidelines and Priorities
GENERAL MANAGER’S RECOMMENDATION: That the Board of Directors adopt the 2019 Otay Water District Legislative Program Guidelines and Priorities. COMMITTEE ACTION:
See Attachment A. PURPOSE:
To provide direction to staff and the Otay Water District’s legislative advocates in the formulation of the District’s response to legislative initiatives on issues affecting the District during the 2019 legislative session. To present to the Board of Directors the 2019 Legislative Program Priorities, which staff and legislative advocates will proactively monitor and/or take action on during the 2019 legislative session and throughout the year.
ANALYSIS:
Otay Water District maintains a set of legislative policy guidelines to direct staff and its legislative advocates on issues important to the District. The legislative guidelines are updated annually with the proposed updates presented to the District’s Board of Directors for review, comment, and adoption. The attached 2019 Legislative
Program represents policy guidelines on legislation for the Board’s consideration.
Each legislative session, representatives to the California Legislature sponsor 2,000 or more bills or significant resolutions. While many bills fail to make it out of their house of origin, many
others go on to be signed by the governor and become law. These new laws can fundamentally affect special districts. The same is true with each session of the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.
The 2019 Legislative Program establishes guidelines and policy direction that can be used by staff when monitoring legislative
activity to facilitate actions that can be taken quickly in response to proposed bills. The guidelines provide a useful framework for staff when evaluating the potential impact of state or federal legislation on the District. This is particularly helpful when a timely response is necessary to address a last minute amendment to
legislation and should calls or letters of support or opposition be needed.
Legislation that does not meet the guidelines as set forth or that has potentially complicated or varied implications, will not be acted upon by staff or District’s legislative advocates, and will instead
be presented to the Board directly for guidance in advance of any position being taken.
The San Diego County Water Authority has its own set of legislative guidelines that is a comprehensive program at a wholesale and regional level. District staff has evaluated and selected policies
and issues from the Water Authority’s guidelines that may have a direct impact on the District. These policies and issues have been incorporated into the District’s guidelines. Although the District is a retail agency and is focused on its local service area, if there are issues or polices contained in the Water Authority’s Legislative
Policy Guidelines that could benefit or impact the District, the General Manager, District staff, and the District’s legislative
advocates may act on those issues respectively.
The 2019 Legislative Guidelines presents staff’s initial recommendations for the Board’s review, and seeks the Board’s
feedback for any additional modifications. Staff will then incorporate the Board’s recommendations into the final document.
In general, the guidelines look to protect the District’s interest in a reliable, diverse, safe, and affordable water supply. Moreover, they seek to maintain local control over special district actions to
protect the Board’s discretion and ratepayers’ interests, and maintain the ability to effectively and efficiently manage District
operations. In addition they express the District’s ongoing support for water-use efficiency, recycled water, seawater desalination, capital improvement project development, organization-wide safety and
security, binational cooperation, and funding, including the equitable distribution of water bond proceeds. These guidelines also
demonstrate the District’s strong and collaborative support and efforts to advocate against a “one-size-fits-all” approach by any legislation or regulation.
In addition, staff is presenting the District’s anticipated “top 10” legislative issues and priorities for the year (Attachment D). This
list highlights specific legislation or issues that District staff and/or the Water Authority is currently monitoring and/or may take or has already taken a position on.
Unfortunately, it is too early in the legislative session to know the specifics on the bills as the deadline for bill introduction is Feb.
22, 2019. Typically, lobbyists and legislative staff wait until the last couple of days leading up to the deadline, and then hundreds of bills will be introduced. For now, District staff nor does its legislative consultant know what the priority bills of interest will be, but will assess them as they are introduced and monitor those
bills/issues that may affect the District throughout the year. Staff will report to the Board as necessary throughout the year to provide an update on legislative issues affecting the District and if the District is taking a position on specific issues.
District staff continues to proactively work with the Water Authority’s government relations staff, the District’s legislative consultant, the Association of California Water Agencies, California Special Districts Association, California Water Efficiency Partnership, and other related coalitions, associations or
organizations to monitor legislative issues that affect the District and its ratepayers. It is critical that staff remains engaged in these issues as they could have an impact on how the District conducts day-to-day operations and maintains its facilities, thus affecting our ratepayers. FISCAL IMPACT: Joe Beachem, Chief Financial Officer
None. STRATEGIC GOAL:
Execute and deliver services that meet or exceed customer
expectations, and increase customer engagement in order to improve District Services.
Enhance and build awareness and engagement among the District’s customers and stakeholders and within the San Diego Region about the
District’s strategies, policies, projects, programs, and legislative/regulatory issues. LEGAL IMPACT:
None.
Attachments:
A) Committee Action B) 2019 Otay Water District Legislative Program Policy Guidelines C) 2019 Otay Water District Legislative Program Policy Guidelines (Redlined) D) Top 10 Legislative Issues for 2019 (Prior to Bill Introduction)
ATTACHMENT A
SUBJECT/PROJECT:
2019 Legislative Program Guidelines and Priorities
COMMITTEE ACTION:
The Public Relations, Legal and Legislative Committee is scheduled to review these items at the monthly Board meeting to be held on Jan. 23, 2019. The attachment will be updated with
notes from the committee’s discussion.
Otay Water District Legislative Program 2019
1 | Page
Effective Date: 02/06/2019
Legislative Policy Guidelines
Purpose
The Otay Water District’s legislative policy guidelines reflect policy positions adopted by the Board of Directors through 2018. The guidelines provide direction to staff and the legislative advocates when they evaluate proposed legislation that may affect the District, other local water agencies, or
regional water management and use. Legislation that meets or fails to meet, the principles set forth in
the guidelines may be supported or opposed accordingly. The guidelines permit the General Manager,
District staff, and the District’s legislative advocates to act in a timely fashion between Board meetings on issues that are clearly within the guidelines.
While the title of this document suggests these policy guidelines are applicable solely to state and
federal legislative issues reviewed by the San Diego County Water Authority (Water Authority), the
District and other state and local water agencies, increasingly state and federal regulatory and administrative bodies are developing rules, guidelines, white papers, and regulations that can significantly affect the District, its wholesale supplier, and other local agencies. Otay District staff,
including the District’s legislative team, often utilize these Legislative Policy Guidelines to provide
guidance on emerging and active regulatory and administrative issues.
Legislation that does not meet the principles set forth in the guidelines or that has potentially complicated or varied implications will not be acted upon by staff or the legislative advocates in
between Board meetings and will instead be presented to the Board directly for guidance in advance
of any position being taken.
The Water Authority has its own set of legislative guidelines that is a comprehensive program at a wholesale and regional level. District staff has evaluated and selected policies and issues from the
Water Authority’s guidelines that may have a direct impact on the District. These policies and issues
have been incorporated into the District’s guidelines. Although the District is a retail agency and is
focused on its local service area, if there are issues or polices contained in the Water Authority’s Legislative Policy Guidelines that could benefit or impact the District, the General Manager, District staff, and the District’s legislative advocates may act on those issues respectively.
Attachment B
Otay Water District Legislative Program 2019
2 | Page
Table of Contents
The Otay Water Legislative Policy Guidelines for the 2019 Legislative Session includes the
following categories: I. Binational Issues…………………………………………....……………... Page 3
II. Drought Response………………………………………………………… Page 3
III. Energy……………………………………………………………………… Page 4
IV. Financial Issues…………………………………………………………… Page 5
A. Fees, Taxes, and Charges………………………….......................... Page 5
B. Funding…………………………………………………………….. Page 7 C. Rates………………………………………………………………... Page 9
D. Water Bonds……………………………………………………….. Page 9
V. Governance and Local Autonomy……………………………………….. Page 10
VI. Imported Water Issues……………………………………………………. Page 11 A. Bay-Delta……………………………………………………………… Page 11
i. Co-equal Goals……………………………………………………. Page 11
ii. Water Fix………………………………………………………….. Page 12
B. Metropolitan Water District…………………………………………… Page 12 C. Colorado River………………………………………………………… Page 13
D. State Water Project…………………………………………………….. Page 13
VII. Optimize District Effectiveness……………………...…………....………. Page 13
VIII. Water Recycling and Potable Reuse……………………………………… Page 14
IX. Safety, Security, and Information Technology……………....................... Page 15
X. Water Service and Facilities……………………………………………… Page 16 XI. Water-Use Efficiency……………………………………………………… Page 19
Otay Water District Legislative Program 2019
3 | Page
I. Binational Issues
Support initiatives that:
1. Promote and provide funding for cross-border water supply and infrastructure development such as water pipelines, desalination plants or water treatment facilities to serve the San
Diego/Baja California border region while protecting local interests.
2. Encourage enhanced cooperation between entities in San Diego and Baja California in
development of supply and infrastructure projects that will benefit the entire border region.
3. Develop and enhance communications and understanding of the interdependence of communities on both sides of the border with the goal of improved cross-border cooperation.
Oppose initiatives that:
1. Would usurp local control over the financing and construction of water supply and
infrastructure projects in the San Diego/Baja California region.
II. Drought Response
Support initiatives that:
1. Ensure the District and other local agencies including the Water Authority and San Diego
County water agencies receive the water supply benefits of its investment in local water
supply sources.
2. Allow local agencies to achieve compliance with emergency or non-emergency drought
regulations or objectives through a combination of water conservation measures and
development and implementation of local water supply sources that are not derived from the
Delta.
3. Allow for local agencies to account for all water supplies available during droughts and other
events when calculating the water supply shortage level.
4. Create a process for development and implementation of emergency drought declarations and
regulations that recognizes variations among communities, regions, and counties with respect
to their abilities to withstand the impacts and effects of drought.
5. Recognize variations among communities, regions, and counties with respect to their abilities
to withstand the impacts and effects of droughts, and ensure that any temporary or permanent
statutory or regulatory direction for improving water-use efficiency to meet statutory or
regulatory goals or standards is focused on regional achievement of objectives rather than a
one-size -fits -all approach.
Oppose initiatives that:
1. Disincentivize or impede water agencies from making investments to maximize the potential
for recycled water, potable reuse, desalination and other drought-resilient local water supplies.
2. Create a “one-size -fits -all” approach to emergency drought declarations and regulations that
ignores variations among communities, regions, and counties with respect to their ability to
withstand the impacts and effects of drought.
Otay Water District Legislative Program 2019
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III. Energy
Support initiatives that:
1. Provide opportunities for reduced energy rates under tariff schedules for the District.
2. Provide protection to the District from energy rate increases and provides rate relief for
member agencies.
3. Provide funding, including state and federal grants, for in-line hydro-electric, solar, wind,
battery storage, biogas, cogeneration, nanogrids, microgrids, closed-loop pumped storage
facilities and other renewable energy generation or storage technology as means of reducing
greenhouse gas emissions.
4. Promote funding for use of renewable energy in the operation of District facilities.
5. Prohibit investor-owned utilities from implementing rate changes that undercut the financial
viability of renewable energy facilities obligated under long-term Power Purchase
Agreements.
6. Provide greater flexibility in the utilization of the District’s facilities for generation and
acquisition of electrical and natural gas power.
7. Provide the District with greater flexibility in the licensing, permitting, interconnection,
construction, and the operation of its existing and potential in-line hydroelectric, solar, wind,
battery, nanogrid, microgrid, closed-loop pumped-storage projects, and other renewable
generation or storage technology.
8. Make SWP power available for all water projects.
9. Promote the classification of electricity generated by in-line hydroelectric and closed-loop
pumped storage facilities as a clean, environmentally sound, and renewable energy resource.
10. Promote the expansion of closed-loop pumped storage facilities to provide clean and
environmentally sound energy resource.
11. Promote the expansion of in-line hydroelectric energy recovery systems at treatment facility
discharge systems.
12. Promote the production, purchase, delivery, and use of alternative sources of energy on a
wholesale basis.
13. Promote large-scale (greater than 50 MW) pumped storage as counting toward energy storage
procurement targets.
14. Provide clear statutory, regulatory, or administrative authority for the San Diego County
Water Authority to wheel acquired or produced power to itself, the District or entities with
which the Water Authority is under contract for the purchase, treatment, transport, or
production of water.
15. Recognize all grid services that energy storage provides, and supports fair compensation in
the wholesale energy market for such services.
16. Provides timely, efficient, and cost effective interconnection of new energy resources such as
solar, inline hydroelectric, pumped storage, and other renewable energy generation or storage
technologies to the electric distribution and transmission grid.
Otay Water District Legislative Program 2019
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17. Recognize the value of large-scale hydropower and pumped hydropower facilities in assisting
the state to meet its renewable and zero-carbon emission goals of 100 percent by 2045.
Oppose initiatives that:
1. Adversely affect the cost of energy needed to operate MWD’s facilities, SWP facilities, or the
facilities of the Water Authority and the District.
2. Impose greenhouse gas reduction obligations on a public water agency for electricity
purchased or produced for the sole purpose of operating its system.
3. Adversely affect the ability of the District or other water agencies in the county to own,
operate, and/or construct work for supplying its member public agencies, or its own facilities
with natural gas and electricity.
4. Impede the District or other water agencies in the county, the ability to contract for, deliver,
and use the purchase of natural gas and electricity from the United States, the State of
California, and any other public agency or private entity and sell the gas and electricity to any
public agency or private entity engaged in retail sales of electricity and gas.
5. Reduce the District’s ability to maintain high operational efficiency at all times.
6. Restrict the District’s ability to expand or improve infrastructure or facilities.
7. Restrict or caps future energy demands needed for possible expansion of recycled water,
potable reuse, and desalination projects.
8. Adversely affect the District’s ability to expand cogeneration or polygeneration at planned or
existing facilities.
9. Inhibit the scientific advancement of energy and water efficient/conserving technologies that
may be implemented at the District or other agency facilities.
10. Prevent the District from enhancing energy reliability and independence for their facilities.
11. Do not count or credit qualified renewable energy projects toward accomplishment and
satisfaction of the California Renewables Portfolio Standard objectives.
12. Prohibit the Water Authority from wheeling - or securing statutory, regulatory, or
administrative authority necessary to wheel - acquired or produced power to itself, or the
District.
13. Result in a lengthy, more complicated, or more costly interconnection of new energy
resources, such as solar, inline hydroelectric, pumped storage, and other renewable energy
generation or storage technologies to the electric distribution and transmission grid.
IV. Financial Issues
A. Fees, Taxes, and Charges
Support initiatives that:
1. Require the federal government and State of California to reimburse special districts for
all mandated costs or regulatory actions.
2. Give special districts the discretion to cease performance of unfunded mandates.
Otay Water District Legislative Program 2019
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3. Provide for fiscal reform to enhance the equity, reliability, and certainty of special district
funding.
4. Provide incentives for local agencies to work cooperatively, share costs or resources.
5. Provide for the stable, equitable and reliable allocation of property taxes. 6. Continue to reform workers compensation.
7. Promote competition in insurance underwriting for public agencies.
8. Produce tangible results, such as water supply reliability or water quality improvement.
9. Require the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) to refund or credit
to its member agencies revenues collected from them that result in reserve balances greater than the maximum reserve levels established pursuant to state legislation.
Oppose initiatives that:
1. Impose mandated costs or regulatory constraints on local agencies and their customers
without providing subventions to reimburse local agencies for such costs. 2. Pre-empt the Water Authority’s or its member agencies’ ability to impose or change rates,
charges, fees, or assessments.
3. Weaken the protections afforded the Water Authority or its member agencies under
California’s Proposition 1A (November 2, 2004).
4. Reallocate special districts reserves in an effort to balance the state budget. 5. Reallocate special district revenues or reserves to fund infrastructure improvements or
other activities in cities or counties.
6. Establish funding mechanisms that put undue burdens on local agencies or make local
agencies de facto tax collectors for the state.
7. Adversely affect the cost of gas and electricity or reduce an organization’s flexibility to take advantage of low peak cost periods.
8. Add new reporting criteria, burdensome, unnecessary or costly reporting mandates to
Urban Water Management Plans.
9. Add new mandates to the Department of Water Resources (DWR) to review and approve
Urban Water Management Plans beyond those already addressed in DWR guidelines. 10. Mandate that water agencies include an embedded energy calculation for their water
supply sources in Urban Water Management Plans or any other water resources planning
or master-planning document.
11. Weaken existing project retention and withholding provisions that limit the ability of
public agencies to drive contractor performance. 12. Establish change order requirements that place an unreasonable burden on local agencies,
or raise financial risk associated with public works contracts.
13. Impair the San Diego County Water Authority or its member agencies’ ability to provide
reasonable service at reasonable costs to member agencies or to charge all member
agencies the same rate for each class of service consistent with cost-of-service requirements of the law.
14. Impair the local water agencies’ ability to maintain reasonable reserve funds and obtain
and retain reasonable rates of return on its reserve accounts.
15. Mandate a specific rate structure for retail water agencies.
16. Impose a water user fee on water agencies or water users that does not provide a commensurate and directly linked benefit in the local area or region from which the water
user fee is collected.
Otay Water District Legislative Program 2019
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17. Impose a water user fee for statewide projects or programs, for which the projects or
programs are not clearly defined, the beneficiaries identified, and reasonable costs
identified.
18. Impose a water user fee in order to create a state fund that can be used to finance undefined future projects and programs.
19. Allow the state to retain more than five percent of water user fees for administrative costs.
20. Do not restrict the use of water user fees to only the specific purposes for which they are
imposed, without any possibility of diversion to meet other fiscal needs of the state.
21. Impose a “public goods charge” or “water tax” on public water agencies or their ratepayers.
22. Impose a fee on water users to repay the principal and interest on a statewide general
obligation bond.
23. Establish regulatory or permit fees that lack a nexus to the costs of oversight.
24. Establish a broad-based user fee that does not support a specific program activity; any fee must provide a clear nexus to the benefit the fee would provide.
B. Funding
Support initiatives that:
1. Require the federal and state governments to provide subvention to reimburse local governments for all mandated costs or regulatory actions.
2. Provide the Water Authority and its member agencies with additional forms of cost-
effective financing for public facilities.
3. Revitalize the Title XVI federal funding program by converting new authorizations to a
competitive grant program with congressional oversight while protecting existing Title
XVI authorizations for the San Diego region.
4. Provide the Water Authority and its member agencies with grant funding for public
facilities.
5. Authorize financing of water quality, water security, and water supply infrastructure
improvement programs.
6. Establish spending caps on State of California overhead when administering voter
approved grant and disbursement programs.
7. Require disbursement decisions in a manner appropriate to the service in question.
8. Encourage funding infrastructure programs that are currently in place and that have been
proven effective.
9. Provide financial incentives for energy projects that increase reliability, diversity, and
reduce greenhouse gasses.
10. Continue energy rate incentives for the utilization of electricity during low-peak periods.
11. Provide loan or grant programs that encourage water conservation for water users who are least able to pay for capital projects. 12. Provide for population-based distribution of funds to ensure adequate distribution of grant
funding throughout the state.
Otay Water District Legislative Program 2019
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13. Provide for the use of state grant funds for binational projects where the projects benefit
water supply or water quality in the San Diego region.
14. Improve and streamline the state’s reimbursement process to ensure timely remittance of
IRWM funds. 15. Promote the ability of the Regional Water Management Group to more directly administer
state grant funds specifically identified for IRWM Programs.
16. Require the state to rely on the local process for selection and ranking of projects included
in an approved IRWM plan.
17. Provide funding or other incentives for conservation, peak management programs, water recycling, potable reuse, groundwater recovery and recharge, surface water development
and management projects, including reservoir management, source water protection and
watershed planning studies and facilities that sustain long-term reliable water resources.
18. Provide financial incentives to assist in the disposal of concentrate, sludge, and other
byproducts created in the water treatment process. 19. Authorize, promote, and provide incentives or credits for development of local drought-
resilient water supply projects such as desalination, non-potable recycling and potable
reuse projects.
20. Provide funding for potable reuse demonstration projects and studies.
21. Authorize federal and state funding to develop and implement regional or subregional conservation programs, including but not limited to property acquisition, revegetation
programs, and watershed plans.
22. Provide state and/or federal funding for the restoration of the Salton Sea.
23. Provide federal and/or state funding to implement actions that address the ecological and
water supply management issues of the Lower Colorado River from Lee's Ferry to the southerly international border with Mexico.
24. Provide federal and/or state funding to implement actions that address the ecological and
water supply management issues of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.
Oppose initiatives that: 1. Impose additional administrative requirements and/or restricts the Water Authority’s or its
member agencies’ ability to finance public facilities through the issuance of long-term
debt.
2. Interfere with the responsibility of a region, operating under an Integrated Regional Water
Management Plan, for setting priorities and generating projects to be paid from any IRWM accounts and grants.
3. Interfere with the control exercised by the San Diego funding subregion over the use and
expenditure of any water-user fee revenues that may be dedicated to the region.
4. Establish IRWM funding criteria that limits local discretion in project selection.
5. Provide for after-the-fact reduction in quantity or quality of a public water supply due to new restrictions on the operation or use of water supply facilities unless funding for
alternate sources of water is provided.
6. Impose a "utility user fee" or "surcharge" on water for the purposes of financing open
space/habitat preservation, restoration, or creation.
Otay Water District Legislative Program 2019
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C. Rates
Support initiatives that:
1. Maintain the authority of water agencies to establish water rates locally, consistent with cost-of-service requirements of the law.
2. Maximize the ability of water agencies to design rate structures to meet local water supply
goals and that conform to cost-of-service requirements of the law.
Oppose initiatives that: 1. Impair the Water Authority’s or its member agencies’ ability to provide reasonable service
at reasonable costs to member agencies or to charge all member agencies the same rate for
each class of service consistent with cost-of-service requirements of the law.
2. Undermine or weaken cost-of-service rate-making requirements in existing law.
3. Impair the District’s ability to maintain reasonable reserve funds and obtain and retain reasonable rates of return on its reserve accounts.
4. Mandate a specific rate structure for retail water agencies.
5. Prescribe mandatory conservation-based rate structures that override the authority of the
boards of directors of local water agencies to set rate structures according to the specific
needs of the water agencies. 6. Usurp special district funds, reserves, or other state actions that force special districts to
raise rates, fees or charges
D. Water Bonds
Support initiatives that:
1. Provide an equitable share of funding to San Diego County, with major funding categories
being divided by county and funded on a per-capita basis to ensure bond proceeds are
distributed throughout the state in proportion to taxpayers’ payments on the bonds.
2. Focus on statewide priorities, including restoration of fish and wildlife habitat, construction of an improved method of conveyance of water through or around the Delta
that provides water supply reliability to Delta water users, promotion of greater regional
and local self-sufficiency, surface storage, and promotion of water-use efficiency.
3. Ensures funding from various propositions for local and regional water-related projects.
4. Include within IRWM funding money that a region may use over time to develop and refine its plan and to develop institutional structures necessary to establish and implement
the plan.
5. Give primary consideration to funding priorities established by local and regional entities
through their IRWM planning process.
6. Ensure the application process for funding is not unnecessarily burdensome and costly, with an emphasis on streamlining the process.
7. Limit state overhead to no more than five percent of bond funding amounts.
8. Place as much emphasis and provides at least as much funding for surface storage as for
groundwater storage.
Otay Water District Legislative Program 2019
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9. Define the “San Diego sub-region” and “San Diego county watersheds” as “those portions
of the westward-flowing watershed of the South Coast hydrologic region situated within
the boundaries of San Diego County.”
10. Fund emergency and carryover storage projects including those in San Diego County. 11. Consolidate administration of all voter-approved water-related bond funding in one place,
preserves existing expertise within the state bureaucracy to manage bond-funding
processes, and provide consistent application and evaluation of bond funding applications.
12. Provide the state’s share of funding for projects that advance the achievement of the co-
equal goals of water supply reliability and Delta ecosystem restoration. 13. Provide funding for water infrastructure that resolve conflicts in the state’s water system
and provide long-term benefits to statewide issues including water supply, reliability,
water quality, and ecosystem restoration.
Oppose initiatives that: 1. Do not provide an equitable share of funding to San Diego County based on the San
Diego County taxpayers’ proportional contribution to repayment of the bonds.
2. Do not provide funding for infrastructure that resolves statewide or regional conflicts of
water supplies.
3. Do not provide funding that result in net increases in real water supply and water supply reliability.
4. Commit a significant portion of bond funding to projects that do not result in net increases
in real water supply or water supply reliability.
V. Governance/Local Autonomy
Support initiatives that:
1. Expand local autonomy in governing special district affairs.
2. Promote comprehensive long-range planning.
3. Assist local agencies in the logical and efficient extension of services and facilities to promote efficiency and avoid duplication of services.
4. Streamline the Municipal Service Review Process or set limits on how long services reviews
can take or cost.
5. Establish clear and reasonable guidelines for appropriate community sponsorship activities.
6. Reaffirm the existing “all-in” financial structure, or protect the San Diego County Water Authority voting structure based on population.
7. Promote measures that increase broader community and water industry
representation/appointments on State decision making bodies
Oppose initiatives that: 1. Assume the state legislature is better able to make local decisions that affect special district
governance.
2. Create one-size-fits-all approaches to special district reform.
3. Unfairly target one group of local elected officials.
4. Usurp local control from special districts regarding decisions involving local special district finance, operations or governance.
5. Diminish the power or rights of the District’s governing body to govern the District’s affairs.
Otay Water District Legislative Program 2019
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6. Modify the committee or board voting structure or member agency board representation on
the San Diego County Water Authority Board of Directors unless such changes have been
expressly authorized by the District’s Board.
7. Create unfunded local government mandates. 8. Create costly, unnecessary or duplicative oversight roles for the state government of special
district affairs.
9. Create new oversight roles or responsibility for monitoring special district affairs.
10. Change the San Diego County Water Authority Act regarding voting structure, unless it is
based on population. 11. Shift the liability to the public entity and relieve private entities of reasonable due diligence in
their review of plans and specifications for errors, omissions and other issues.
12. Place a significant and unreasonable burden on public agencies, resulting in increased cost for
public works construction or their operation.
13. Impair the ability of water districts to acquire property or property interests required for essential capital improvement projects.
14. Increase the cost of property and right-of-way acquisition, or restricts the use of right-of-
ways.
15. Work to silence the voices of special districts and other local government associations on
statewide ballot measures impacting local government policies and practices, including actions that could prohibit special districts and associations from advocating for positions on
ballot measures by severely restricting the private resources used to fund those activities.
16. Prescribe mandatory conservation-based or other rate structures that override the authority of
the board of directors to set its rate structure.
17. Circumvent the legislative committee process, such as the use of budget trailer bills, to advance policy issues including impacting special districts without full disclosure,
transparency, or public involvement.
VI. Imported Water Issues
A. Bay-Delta i. Co-Equal Goals
Support initiatives that:
1. Require the Delta Stewardship Council or DWR to provide periodic analyses of the cost of the
proposed Delta improvements to the Legislature and the public. 2. Provides conveyance and storage facilities that are cost-effective for the San Diego region’s
ratepayers, improve the reliability and quality of the San Diego region’s water supplies, and
protect the Bay-Delta’s ecosystem.
3. Continue to support the co-equal goals of water supply reliability and environmental
restoration embodied in the 2009 Delta bill package 4. Improve the ability of water-users to divert water from the Delta during wet periods, when
impacts on fish and ecosystem are lower and water quality is higher.
5. Encourage the development of a statewide water transfer market that will improve water
management.
6. Support improved coordination of Central Valley Project and State Water Project (SWP) operations.
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7. Support continued state ownership and operation of the SWP, including WaterFix facilities, as
a public resource.
8. Ensure that any reorganization of the State Water Project, including operations and
management, preserves the ability for non-State Water Project contractors to access the facility for transportation of water to a non-State Water Project contractor.
9. Authorize and appropriate the federal share of funding for the long-term Bay-Delta solution,
including for the EcoRestore Program.
10. Provide the ongoing state share of funding for the EcoRestore Program.
11. Provide state funding for aquatic toxicity monitoring in the Bay-Delta. Such legislation should not place a surcharge on water supply exports nor should it substantively reduce funding for
other measures that protect the environment and public health.
Oppose efforts that:
1. Impose water user fees to fund ecosystem restoration and other public purpose, nonwater-supply improvements in the Delta that benefit the public at large.
2. Transfer operational control of the State Water Project or any of its facilities to the
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD), the State Water Contractors, the
Central Valley Project Contractors, the State and Federal Contractors Water Agency, or any
entity comprised of MWD or other water project contractors, or any other special interest group.
ii. WaterFix
Support initiatives that: 1. Are consistent with the Water Authority’s Board of Directors’ Aug. 9, 2018 adopted Bay-
Delta and WaterFix project policy principles, including the following:
a. The Water Authority’s Board supports the WaterFix project, as currently proposed,
conditioned upon MWD properly allocating the costs of the project as conservation, or
supply charges, as similar facilities historically have been defined in MWD’s SWP contract with DWR.
b. As reflected in Table 2 of DWR’s Appendix B to Bulletin 132-17, Data and
Computation Used to Determine Water Charges, and for which costs are recovered in
Article 22(a) of Delta Water Charge of the Current MWD SWP Contract; allow for the
exemption of north-of-Delta SWP contractors. 2. Support the establishment of an independent oversight function to monitor and provide
regular updates on the WaterFix project implementation progress, including expenditure
tracking, construction progress, project participants’ contributions, and all other relevant
activities and developments.
3. Allow access to all SWP facilities, including WaterFix facilities, to facilitate water transfers.
B. Metropolitan Water District
Support initiatives that:
1. Require MWD to refund or credit to its member agencies revenues collected from them that result in reserve balances greater than the maximum reserve levels established pursuant to
state legislation.
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2. Require MWD to implement actions that advance and support its long-term financial stability,
fiscal sustainability, and that moderate fluctuations in rates and charges for its member
agencies from year to year, in a publicly transparent manner.
3. Amend the Metropolitans Water District Act to change voting allocation on its Board of Directors based on a member agency’s total financial contribution to MWD, and in a manner
similar to the voting allocation method of the County Water Authority Act.
C. Colorado River Support initiatives that:
1. Supports implementation and funding of the California Colorado River Water Use Plan,
including the Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program
2. Provide funding for Colorado River salinity control projects and other water quality
management efforts. 3. Provide for state and federal authorizations and appropriations of non-fee-based funds to
implement Salton Sea mitigation and restoration solutions, consistent with its obligations
under Chapters 611, 612, and 613 of the Statutes of 2003.
4. Revise the Quantification Settlement Agreement mitigation measures for the Salton Sea to
limit the costs imposed on the funding parties to the amount committed in accordance with the QSA legislation.
5. Provide a governing structure and/or specified managing office over the state's Salton Sea
Management Program to provide guidance and oversight of restoration activities.
6. Allow for the option to create an alternate conveyance route, when technically and financially
feasible, for reliable delivery of the Water Authority’s Independent Colorado River water supplies.
7. Preserve the California Colorado River Board
8. Ensure the interests of the members of the California Colorado River Board continue to be
addressed in any state government reorganization.
9. Eliminate the California Colorado River Board without providing a comparable structure or forum that ensures the Water Authority's interests in the Colorado River are preserved.
Oppose initiatives that:
1. Impose additional mitigation costs or obligations for the Salton Sea on the non-state parties to
the Quantification Settlement Agreement. D. State Water Project
Support initiatives that:
1. Provide for development of a comprehensive state water plan that balances California's competing water needs and results in a reliable and affordable supply of high-quality water
for the San Diego region.
Oppose initiatives that:
1. Make urban water supplies less reliable or substantially increases the cost of imported water without also improving the reliability and/or quality of the water.
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2. Revise the Central Valley Project Improvement Act to Jeopardize the Act's environmental
integrity, compromise State Water Project supply reliability a n d/or limit the ability of urban
agencies to transfer and/or bank CVP water for use both within and outside the CVP service
area.
3. Transfer operational control of the State Water Project or any of its facilities to MWD, the
State Water Project contractors, Central Valley Project contractors, the State and Federal
Contractors Water Agency, any entity comprised of MWD or other water project contractors,
or any other special interest group.
VI. Optimize District Effectiveness
Support initiatives that: 1. Give utilities the ability to avoid critical peak energy pricing or negotiate energy contracts that
save ratepayers money.
2. Develop reasonable Air Pollution Control District engine permitting requirements.
3. Reimburse or reduce local government mandates. 4. Allow public agencies to continue offering defined benefit plans. 5. Result in predictable costs and benefits for employees and taxpayers.
6. Eliminate abuses.
7. Retain local control of pension systems.
8. Be constitutional, federally legal and technically possible. Oppose initiatives that:
1. Restrict the use of, or reallocate, district property tax revenues to the detriment of special
districts.
2. Create unrealistic ergonomic protocol. 3. Micromanage special district operations. 4. Balance the state budget by allowing regulatory agencies to increase permitting fees.
5. Tax dependent benefits.
6. Require new reporting criteria on energy intensity involved in water supply.
VII. Water Recycling and Potable Reuse
Support initiatives that:
1. Reduce restrictions on recycled water usage or promote consistent regulation of recycled
water projects to reduce impediments to the increased use of recycled water. 2. Reduce restrictions on injecting recycled water into basins where there is no direct potable
use.
3. Provide financial incentives for recharge of groundwater aquifers using recycled water.
4. Make recycled water regulations clear, consolidated, and understandable to expedite related
project permitting. 5. Promote recycled water as a sustainable supplemental source of water.
6. Allow the safe use of recycled water.
7. Facilitate development of technology aimed at improving water recycling.
8. Increasing funding for water recycling projects.
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9. Support continued funding of the Title XVI Water Reclamation and Reuse Program including
Water Reclamation and Reuse Projects, the WaterSMART Program, and the Desalination and
Water Purification Research Program.
10. Increase awareness of the ways recycled water can help address the region’s water supply challenges.
11. Create federal and state incentives to promote recycled water use and production.
12. Establish federal tax incentives to support U.S. companies in the development of new water
technologies that can lower productions costs, address by products such as concentrates, and
enhance public acceptance of recycled water. 13. Establish a comprehensive national research and development, and technology demonstration,
program to advance the public and scientific understanding of water recycling technologies to
encourage reuse as an alternative source of water supply.
14. Provide incentives for local agencies to work cooperatively, share costs or resources to
promote or expand the use of recycled water. 15. Further refine emergency regulations to reward local suppliers that have invested in using
recycled water for landscape irrigation to maintain an incentive to continue expanding areas
served by recycled water.
16. Encourage the use of recycled water in commercial, industrial, institutional, and residential
settings. 17. Recognize and support the development of potable reuse as a critical new water supply.
18. Define purified recycled water as a source of water supply and not as waste.
19. Mandate the reduction of wastewater discharges to the ocean absent inclusion of funding to
offset the significant costs of implementation.
20. Authorize local governmental agencies to regulate the discharge of contaminants to the sewer collection system that may adversely affect water recycling and reuse.
21. Authorize and facilitate expanded use of local water resources including water recycling,
potable reuse, graywater, and rainwater harvesting (e.g., cisterns and rain barrels), and
brackish groundwater.
22. Streamline regulatory processes and requirements to encourage and support the development of potable reuse and non-potable reuse as a municipal water supply.
23. Recognize the entire interconnected urban water cycle, as well as public health and safety,
must be taken into consideration in long-term water use efficiency policies, particularly
including the unintended consequences of declining flows on water, wastewater, potable reuse
and recycled water systems.
Oppose initiatives that:
1. Restrict use of recycled water for groundwater recharge.
2. Establish new water or recycled water fees solely to recover State costs without also
providing some benefit. 3. Limit the ability of local governmental agencies to regulate the discharge of contaminants to
the sewer collection system that may adversely affect water recycling and reuse.
4. Establish unreasonable regulatory requirements or fees to the safe use of recycled water,
which may unreasonably impede or create a disincentive to its further development.
5. Mandate the reduction of wastewater discharges to the ocean absent inclusion of funding to offset the significant costs of implementation.
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VIII. Safety, Security and Information Technology
Support initiatives that:
1. Provide funding for information security upgrades to include integrated alarms, access/egress, and surveillance technology.
2. Provide incentives for utilities and other local agencies to work cooperatively, share costs or
resources.
3. Provide funding for communication enhancements, wireless communications, GIS or other
technological enhancements. 4. Encourage or promote compatible software systems.
5. Fund infrastructure and facility security improvements that include facility roadway access,
remote gate access, and physical security upgrades.
6. Protect state, local and regional drinking water systems from terrorist attack or deliberate acts
of destruction, contamination or degradation. 7. Provide funds to support training or joint training exercises to include contingency funding for
emergencies and emergency preparedness.
8. Equitably allocate security funding based on need, threats and/or population.
9. Encourage or promote compatible communication systems.
10. Encourage and promote funding of Department of Homeland Security Risk Mitigation programs.
11. Recognizes water agencies as emergency responders in the event of a sudden, unexpected
occurrence that poses a clear and imminent danger, requiring immediate action to prevent and
mitigate loss or impairment of life, health, property or essential public services due to natural
disasters (e.g., wildfires, earthquakes), power outages as well as terrorist and other criminal activities.
12. Provide state grant or other funding opportunities to support seismic risk assessment and
mitigation plans, or to mitigate vulnerabilities.
13. Provide funding for projects that enhance security against terrorist acts or other criminal
threats to water operation, services, facilities, or supplies.
Oppose initiatives that:
1. Create unnecessary, costly, or duplicative security or safety mandates.
2. Require expanded water system descriptions or additional public disclosure of public water
systems details for large water suppliers in Urban Water Management Planning documents, potentially compromising public water systems and creating a conflict with the Department of
Homeland Security’s recommendation to avoid reference to water system details in plans
available to the general public.
IX. Water Services and Facilities
Support initiatives that:
1. Provide funding to implement actions identified in the California Water Action Plan to lay a
solid fiscal foundation for implementing near-term actions, including funding for water
efficiency projects, wetland and watershed restoration, groundwater programs, conservation, flood control, and integrated water management and result in a reliable supply of high-quality
water for the San Diego region.
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2. Provide financial support to projects designed to mitigate the potential negative impacts of
Global Climate Change on water supply reliability.
3. Promote the coordination and integration of local, state and federal climate change policies
and practices to the greatest extent feasible. 4. Fund or otherwise facilitate ongoing implementation of the Quantification Settlement
Agreement.
5. Provide reliable water supplies to meet California’s short and long-term needs.
6. Promote desalination pilot studies and projects.
7. Encourage feasibility studies of water resource initiatives. 8. Increase funding for infrastructure and grant programs for construction, modernization or
expansion of water, wastewater treatment, reclamation facilities and sewer systems including
water recycling, groundwater recovery and recharge, surface water development projects and
seawater desalination.
9. Fund enhancements to water treatment, recycling, and other facilities to meet increased regulations.
10. Mandate uniform or similar regulations and procedures by state agencies in the processing
and administering of grants and programs.
11. Streamline grant application procedures.
12. Reduce regulations and other impediments for willing sellers and buyers to engage in water transfer agreements.
13. Promote or assist voluntary water transfers between willing buyers and willing sellers and
move those transactions through without delay.
14. Streamline the permitting and approval process for desalination and other water-related
facilities and implementing water transfers. 15. Establish reasonable statewide approaches to sewer reporting standards.
16. Generate greater efficiencies, better coordinate program delivery, and eliminate duplication in
programs for source water protection without lessening the focus on public health of the
state’s Drinking Water Program.
17. Target efforts to fix specific issues with water supplies within the state’s Drinking Water Program.
18. Establish federal tax incentives to support U.S. companies in the development of new
desalination technologies that can lower productions costs, eliminate or reduce impingement
or entrainment, reduce energy use, and enhance public acceptance of desalinated water.
19. Establish a comprehensive national research and development, and technology demonstration program to advance the scientific understanding of desalination to expand its use as an
alternative source of water supply.
20. Require the State Water Resources Control Board to exercise its authority, ensure robust
funding, and implement the Salton Sea mitigation and restoration plan, meet state obligations,
and work with QSA stakeholders to find workable solutions to ensure the continuation of IID water transfers.
21. Support solutions to water supply issues that address common challenges, provide a
comprehensive approach that is fair to all users, balance the needs of urban and rural
communities, and take into consideration the interests of all stakeholders as well as the impact
to the environment. 22. Further refine emergency drought regulations to eliminate a cap on credits and adjustments so
as not to impose undue burden, financial or otherwise, on communities that have already
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invested in water conservation, development of new water sources, storage, or loss
prevention.
23. Provide funding for water infrastructure development, infrastructure security, and
rehabilitation and replacement projects that benefit ratepayers. 24. Provide funding for habitat preservation programs that address impacts resulting from
construction or operation of water system facilities.
25. Provide funding for projects that enhance security against terrorist acts or other criminal
threats to water operation, services, facilities, or supplies.
26. Provide incentives that encourage contractors to recycle or reduce waste associated with construction of water facilities.
27. Improve the local agencies’ efforts to maintain and protect its property, rights of way,
easements, pipelines, and related facilities and minimizes liability to local agencies and the
District.
28. Protect the local agencies’ properties from restrictions when surrounding properties are incorporated into preservation areas.
Oppose initiatives that:
1. Make urban water supplies less reliable or substantially increase the cost of imported water
without also improving the reliability and/or quality of the water. 2. Create unrealistic or costly water testing or reporting protocol.
3. Disproportionately apportion the cost of water.
4. Create undo hurtles for seawater desalination projects.
5. Create unreasonable or confusing sewer reporting standards.
6. Create administrative or other barriers to sales between willing buyers and willing sellers that delay water transfers.
7. Create a broad-based user fee that does not support a specific local program activity or
benefit; any fee must provide a clear nexus to the benefit local ratepayers or local water
supplies from the establishment that charge or fee would provide.
8. Create unrealistic or costly to obtain water quality standards for potable water, recycled water or storm water runoff.
9. Change the focus of the state’s Drinking Water Program or weaken the parts of the program
that work well.
10. Lessen the focus on public health of the state’s Drinking Water Program.
11. Create one-size-fit-all approaches to emergency drought regulations that ignore variations among communities, regions, and counties with respect to their ability to withstand the impact
and effects of drought.
12. Impose undue burden, financial or otherwise, on communities that have already invested in
water conservation, development of new water sources, storage, or loss prevention.
13. Impose additional mitigation costs or obligations for the Salton Sea on the non-state parties to the Quantification Settlement Agreement.
14. Impairs local agencies’ ability to provide and operate the necessary facilities for a safe,
reliable and operational flexible water system.
15. Limits local agencies’ sole jurisdiction over planning, design, routing, approval, construction,
operation, or maintenance of water facilities.
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16. Restricts local agencies’ ability to respond swiftly and decisively to an emergency that
threatens to disrupt water deliveries or restricts the draining of pipelines or other facilities in
emergencies for repairs or preventive maintenance.
17. Authorizes state and federal wildlife agencies to control, prevent, or eradicate invasive species in a way that excessively interferes with the operations of water supplies.
18. Prohibit or in any way limit the ability of local agencies from making full beneficial use of
any water, wastewater, or recycling facility and resource investments.
19. Prohibit the use of alternative contract procurement methods that can be utilized in the
construction of water facilities. 20. Shift the risks of indemnity for damages and defense of claims from contractors to the
District.
21. Impair the local agencies’ efforts to acquire property or property interests required for
essential capital improvement projects or acquisition of property to meet pipeline water drain-
down needs for existing facilities. 22. Increase the cost of property and right of way acquisition.
23. Restrict the local agencies’ use of public rights of way or increase the cost of using public
rights of way.
24. Restrict the transfer of property acquired for purposes of environmental mitigation or
environmental mitigation credits to other public or private entities for long-term management. 25. Establish prescriptive leak loss control requirements for the operation, maintenance, and asset
management of water conveyance and distribution systems, that fail to consider full life-cycle
costing.
26. Establish meter testing requirements for source water meters that fail to consider industry
standards and cost-effectiveness.
X. Water-Use Efficiency
Support initiatives that:
1. Provide funding for water-use efficiency and water conservation programs including water-efficient devices, practices and demonstration projects and studies.
2. Encourage the installation of water-efficient fixtures in new and existing buildings.
3. Promote the environmental benefits of water-use efficiency and water conservation.
4. Enhance efforts to promote water-use efficiency awareness.
5. Offer incentives for landscape water-efficient devices including, but not limited to ET controllers and soil moisture sensors.
6. Develop landscape retrofit incentive programs and/or irrigation retrofit incentive programs.
7. Permit or require local agencies to adopt ordinances that require or promote water-efficient
landscapes for commercial and residential developments.
8. Create tax incentives for citizens or developers who install water-efficient landscapes. 9. Create tax incentives for citizens who purchase high-efficiency clothes washers, dual-flush
and high-efficiency toilets and irrigation controllers above the state standards.
10. Expand community-based water-use efficiency and education programs.
11. Develop incentives for developers and existing customers to install water-efficient landscape
in existing developments or new construction. 12. Encourage large state users to save water by implementing water-efficient technologies in all
facilities both new and retrofit.
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13. Encourage large state water users to save water outdoors.
14. Educate all Californians on the importance of water, and the need to conserve, manage, and
plan for the future needs.
15. Encourage technological research targeted to more efficient water use. 16. Give local agencies maximum discretion in selecting water-use efficiency and conservation
programs that work for their customers and the communities they serve.
17. Require the Department of Water Resources to implement a uniform statewide turf rebate
subsidy or incentive program.
18. Restrict Property Owners Associations from forbidding the use of California native plants, other low water use plants, mulch, artificial turf, or semi-permeable materials in well-
maintained landscapes.
19. Provides for federal tax-exempt status for water-use efficiency rebates, consistent with
income tax treatment at the state level.
20. Encourage the use of graywater where it complies with local guidelines and regulations and is cost-effective.
21. Provide incentives, funding, and assistance to water agencies so that they can meet the water
demand management measure requirements in the Urban Water Management Planning Act.
22. Provide incentives, funding, and other assistance to facilitate water-use efficiency
partnerships with the energy efficiency sector. 23. Recognize local control in determining water use efficiency criteria, such as impact of
recycled water salinity on irrigation use and efficiency for the application of non-potable
recycled water.
24. Recognize local control in determining how to meet an overall efficient water-use goal, based
on the combined efficient indoor use, outdoor use, and leak loss, as established under the criteria provided for in statute.
25. Encourage reasonable tracking of water use and improved efficiency in the Commercial,
Industrial, and Institutional (CII) sector.
26. Recognize local control in determining how to meet an overall efficient water use goal, based
on the combined efficient indoor use, outdoor use, and leak loss, as established under the criteria provided for in statute.
27. Further the statewide goal of a 20 percent reduction in per capita water use by 2020 as set
forth in SBX7-7, enacted in November 2009, and preserves water agency discretion and
options for achieving this objective.
Oppose efforts that:
1. Weaken federal or state water-efficiency standards.
2. Introduce additional analytical and reporting requirements that are time-consuming for local
agencies to perform and result in additional costs to consumers, yet yield no water savings.
3. Permit Property Owners Associations to restrict low water use plants, mulch, artificial turf, or semi-permeable materials in landscaping.
4. Repeal cost-effective efficiency standards for water-using devices.
5. Repeal cost-effective efficiency standards for water-using devices.
6. Create stranded assets by establishing long-term demand management water-use efficiency
and water supply requirements that are inconsistent with the Urban Water Management Planning Act.
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7. Prescribe statewide mandatory urban and agricultural water-use efficiency practices,
including, but not limited to, methods, measures, programs, budget allocation, and designation
of staff dedicated to water conservation programs, that override the authority of the boards of
directors of local water agencies to adopt management practices that are most appropriate for the specific needs of their water agencies.
8. Mandate regulation of the CII Sector in a manner that is discriminatory, or sets unachievable
Best Management Practices or compliance targets, or would otherwise impair economic
activity or the viability of the CII sector.
9. Mandate that water agencies include an embedded energy calculation for their water supply sources in the Urban Water Management Plan or any other water resource planning or master
planning document.
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Effective Date: 02/076/20189
Legislative Policy Guidelines
Purpose
The Otay Water District’s legislative policy guidelines reflect policy positions adopted by the Board of Directors through 20172018. The guidelines provide direction to staff and the legislative advocates when they evaluate proposed legislation that may affect the District, other local water agencies, or
regional water management and use. Legislation that meets or fails to meet, the principles set forth in
the guidelines may be supported or opposed accordingly. The guidelines permit the General Manager,
District staff, and the District’s legislative advocates to act in a timely fashion between Board meetings on issues that are clearly within the guidelines.
While the title of this document suggests these policy guidelines are applicable solely to state and
federal legislative issues reviewed by the San Diego County Water Authority (Water Authority), the
District and other state and local water agencies, increasingly state and federal regulatory and administrative bodies are developing rules, guidelines, white papers, and regulations that can significantly affect the District, its wholesale supplier, and other local agencies. Otay District staff,
including the District’s legislative team, often utilize these Legislative Policy Guidelines to provide
guidance on emerging and active regulatory and administrative issues.
Legislation that does not meet the principles set forth in the guidelines or that has potentially complicated or varied implications will not be acted upon by staff or the legislative advocates in
between Board meetings and will instead be presented to the Board directly for guidance in advance
of any position being taken.
The San Diego County Water Authority has its own set of legislative guidelines that is a
comprehensive program at a wholesale and regional level. District staff has evaluated and selected
policies and issues from the Water Authority’s guidelines that may have a direct impact on the
District. These policies and issues have been incorporated into the District’s guidelines. Although the
District is a retail agency and is focused on its local service area, if there are issues or polices contained in the Water Authority’s Legislative Policy Guidelines and theythat could benefit or impact
the District, the General Manager, District staff, and the District’s legislative advocates may act on
those issues respectively.
Attachment C
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Table of Contents
The Otay Water Legislative Policy Guidelines for the 20189 Legislative Session includes the following categories:
Bay-Delta…………………………………………………………………... Page 3
I. Binational Issues…………………………………………....……………... Page 5 II. Drought Response………………………………………………………… Page 5
II.III. Energy……………………………………………………………………..Page
III.IV. Financial Issues…………………………………………………………… Page 6 A. Fees, Taxes, and Charges………………………….......................... Page 6
B. Funding…………………………………………………………….. Page 7
C. Rates………………………………………………………………... Page 8
D. Water Bonds……………………………………………………….. Page 9
IV.V. Governance and Local Autonomy……………………………………….. Page 10
VI. Imported Water Issues
A. Bay-Delta…………………………………………………………………... Page i. Co-equal Goals
ii. Water Fix
B. Metropolitan Water District
C. Colorado Riever
D. State Water Project
V.VII. Optimizeation of District Effectiveness……………………...………….... Page 11
VI.VIII. Water Recyclinged and Potable Water
Reuse…………………………………………………………… Page 11 VII.IX. Safety, Security and Information Technology……………....................... Page 13
VIII.X. Water Service and Facilities……………………………………………… Page 13
IX.XI. Water-Use Efficiency……………………………………………………… Page 16
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A. Bay-Delta Support efforts to:
1. Require the Delta Stewardship Council or DWR to provide periodic analyses of the cost of the
proposed Delta improvements to the Legislature and the public. 2. Provides conveyance and storage facilities that are cost-effective for the San Diego region’s
ratepayers, improve the reliability and quality of the San Diego region’s water supplies, and
protect the Bay-Delta’s ecosystem.
3. Require water agencies and other entities that contract to pay the costs of improvements in the
Delta to obtain take-or-pay contracts with their member agencies to pay the fixed costs of the improvements.
4. Finalize and evaluate the Bay-Delta Conservation Plan the California Water Fix, or other
conveyance proposals to address Bay-Delta environmental and water quality issues and to
ensure the solution is cost effective.
5. Finalize Bay-Delta planning work and ongoing studies of new water storage facilities, and support efforts to promote additional surface and underground water storage infrastructure
that are cost effective ensure water availability and quality.
6. Resolve conflicts between urban and rural water users, water management and the
environment in the Bay-Delta.
7. Fast-track design, permits and construction for pilot projects in the Bay-Delta to create barriers to keep fish away from Bay-Delta water pumps, improve water quality and supply
reliability.
8. Implements a long-term, comprehensive solution for the Bay-Delta that:
i. Achieves the co-equal goals of water supply reliability and environmental
restoration embodied in the 2009 Delta bill package. ii. Provides deliberative processes that are designed to ensure a meaningful dialogue
with all stakeholders in order to reduce future conflicts and challenges to
implementation of a Bay-Delta solution.
iii. Provides regulatory certainty and predictable supplies to help meet California’s
water needs in the long-term. iv. Provides a Bay-Delta solution that acknowledges, integrates and supports the
development of water resources at the local level including water use efficiency,
seawater and brackish water desalination, groundwater storage and conjunctive use,
and recycled water including direct and indirect potable reuse.
v. Improves the ability of water-users to divert water from the Delta during wet periods, when impacts on fish and ecosystem are lower and water quality is higher.
vi. Develops a statewide water transfer market that will improve water management.
vii. Improves coordination of Central Valley Project and State Water Project operations.
viii. Restores the Bay-Delta ecosystem to a point where species listed under the state and
federal Endangered Species Acts are no longer threatened or endangered, taking into account all factors that have degraded Bay-Delta habitat and wildlife.
ix. Ensures a meaningful dialogue with all stakeholders and that ecosystem restoration
issues are addressed in an open and transparent process.
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x. Provides a Bay-Delta solution and facilities that are cost-effective when compared
with other water supply development options for meeting Southern California’s
water needs.
xi. Identifies the total cost of any Bay-Delta solution before financing and funding decisions are made, which must include the cost of facilities, mitigation and required
or negotiated ecosystem restoration.
xii. Allocates costs of the Bay-Delta solution to stakeholders in proportion to benefits
they receive.
xiii. Requires a firm commitment and funding stream by all parties to pay for the proportional benefits they will receive from a Bay-Delta solution, through take-or-
pay contracts or the legal equivalent.
xiv. Conditions financial support on provisions allowing access to any water conveyance
or storage facilities that are included in the Bay-Delta solution.
xv. Uses public funds to support specific projects and actions with identified costs that protect and restore the environment and provide broad-based public benefits.
xvi. Provides “right-sized” facilities to match firm commitments to pay for the Bay-Delta
solution.
xvii. Provides SWP contractors and their member agencies access to all SWP facilities to
facilitate water transfers. xviii. Continues state ownership and operation of the SWP as a public resource.
xix. Improves efficiency and transparency of all SWP operations.
9. Provide the State Water Project (SWP) with more flexibility to operate their systems to
maximize water deliveries while avoiding unacceptable impacts to third parties, habitat or the
environment. 10. Focus on statewide priorities, including construction of an approved method of conveyance of
water through or around the Delta that provides water supply reliability to the Delta water
uses.
11. Provides for the state’s share of funding for Bay-Delta conveyance projects.
12. Consider complementary investments in local water supply sources, regional coordination, and south of Delta storage as part of an overall comprehensive Bay-Delta solution.
13. Protects and safeguards San Diego region’s Preferential Rights on the Metropolitan Water
District Act.
14. Authorize and appropriate the federal share of funding for the long-term Bay-Delta solution.
15. Provide the ongoing state share of funding for the long-term Bay-Delta solution. 16. Provide state funding for aquatic toxicity monitoring in the Bay-Delta. Such legislation should
not place a surcharge on water supply exports nor should it substantively reduce funding for
other measures that protect the environment and public health.
Oppose efforts that: 1. Impose water user fees to fund ecosystem restoration and other public purpose, nonwater-
supply improvements in the Delta that benefit the public at large.
2. Require additional reviews or approvals of Delta conveyance options beyond those provided
by SBX7-1 (2009).
Transfer operational control of the State Water Project or any of its facilities to the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD), the State Water Contractors, the Central Valley
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Project Contractors, the State and Federal Contractors Water Agency, or any entity comprised of
MWD or other water project contractors, or any other special interest group.
I. B. Binational Issues Support efforts toinitiatives that:
1. Promote and provide funding for finance cross-border water supply and infrastructure
development such as water pipelines, desalination plants or water treatment facilities to serve
the San Diego/Baja California border region while protecting local interests.
2. Encourage enhanced cooperation between entities in San Diego and Baja California in development of supply and infrastructure projects that will benefit the entire border region.
3. Develop and enhance communications and understanding of the interdependence of
communities on both sides of the border with the goal of improved cross-border cooperation.
Oppose efforts initiatives that: 1. Would usurp local control over the financing and construction of water supply and
infrastructure projects in the San Diego/Baja California region.
II. C. Drought Response
Support efforts toinitiatives that:
1. Ensure the District and other local agencies including the Water Authority and San Diego
County water agencies receive the water supply benefits of its investment in local water
supply sources.
2. Allow local agencies to achieve compliance with emergency or non-emergency drought
regulations or objectives through a combination of water conservation measures and
development and implementation of local water supply sources that are not derived from the
Delta.
3. Allow for local agencies to account for all water supplies available during droughts and other
events when calculating the water supply shortage level.
4. Create a process for development and implementation of emergency drought declarations and
regulations that recognizes variations among communities, regions, and counties with respect
to their abilities to withstand the impacts and effects of drought.
5. Recognize variations among communities, regions, and counties with respect to their abilities
to withstand the impacts and effects of droughts, and ensure that any temporary or permanent
statutory or regulatory direction for improving water-use efficiency to meet statutory or
regulatory goals or standards is focused on regional achievement of objectives rather than a
one-size -fits -all approach.
Oppose efforts initiatives that: 1. Disincentivize or impede water agencies from making investments to maximize the potential
for recycled water, potable reuse, desalination and other drought-resilient local water supplies.
2. Create a “one-size -fits -all” approach to emergency drought declarations and regulations that
ignores variations among communities, regions, and counties with respect to their ability to
withstand the impacts and effects of drought.
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III. Energy
Support initiatives that:
1. Provide opportunities for reduced energy rates under tariff schedules for the District.
2. Provide protection to the District from energy rate increases and provides rate relief for
member agencies.
3. Provide funding, including state and federal grants, for in-line hydro-electric, solar, wind,
battery storage, biogas, cogeneration, nanogrids, microgrids, closed-loop pumped storage
facilities and other renewable energy generation or storage technology as means of reducing
greenhouse gas emissions.
4. Promote funding for use of renewable energy in the operation of District facilities.
5. Prohibit investor-owned utilities from implementing rate changes that undercut the financial
viability of renewable energy facilities obligated under long-term Power Purchase
Agreements.
6. Provide greater flexibility in the utilization of the District’s facilities for generation and
acquisition of electrical and natural gas power.
7. Provide the District with greater flexibility in the licensing, permitting, interconnection,
construction, and the operation of its existing and potential in-line hydroelectric, solar, wind,
battery, nanogrid, microgrid, closed-loop pumped-storage projects, and other renewable
generation or storage technology.
8. Make SWP power available for all water projects.
9. Promote the classification of electricity generated by in-line hydroelectric and closed-loop
pumped storage facilities as a clean, environmentally sound, and renewable energy resource.
10. Promote the expansion of closed-loop pumped storage facilities to provide clean and
environmentally sound energy resource.
11. Promote the expansion of in-line hydroelectric energy recovery systems at treatment facility
discharge systems.
12. Promote the production, purchase, delivery, and use of alternative sources of energy on a
wholesale basis.
13. Promote large-scale (greater than 50 MW) pumped storage as counting toward energy storage
procurement targets.
14. Provide clear statutory, regulatory, or administrative authority for the San Diego County
Water Authority to wheel acquired or produced power to itself, the District or entities with
which the Water Authority is under contract for the purchase, treatment, transport, or
production of water.
15. Recognize all grid services that energy storage provides, and supports fair compensation in
the wholesale energy market for such services.
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16. Provides timely, efficient, and cost effective interconnection of new energy resources such as
solar, inline hydroelectric, pumped storage, and other renewable energy generation or storage
technologies to the electric distribution and transmission grid.
17. Recognize the value of large-scale hydropower and pumped hydropower facilities in assisting
the state to meet its renewable and zero-carbon emission goals of 100 percent by 2045.
Oppose initiatives that:
1. Adversely affect the cost of energy needed to operate MWD’s facilities, SWP facilities, or the
facilities of the Water Authority and the District.
2. Impose greenhouse gas reduction obligations on a public water agency for electricity
purchased or produced for the sole purpose of operating its system.
3. Adversely affect the ability of the District or other water agencies in the county to own,
operate, and/or construct work for supplying its member public agencies, or its own facilities
with natural gas and electricity.
4. Impede the District or other water agencies in the county, the ability to contract for, deliver,
and use the purchase of natural gas and electricity from the United States, the State of
California, and any other public agency or private entity and sell the gas and electricity to any
public agency or private entity engaged in retail sales of electricity and gas.
5. Reduce the District’s ability to maintain high operational efficiency at all times.
6. Restrict the District’s ability to expand or improve infrastructure or facilities.
7. Restrict or caps future energy demands needed for possible expansion of recycled water,
potable reuse, and desalination projects.
8. Adversely affect the District’s ability to expand cogeneration or polygeneration at planned or
existing facilities.
9. Inhibit the scientific advancement of energy and water efficient/conserving technologies that
may be implemented at the District or other agency facilities.
10. Prevent the District from enhancing energy reliability and independence for their facilities.
11. Do not count or credit qualified renewable energy projects toward accomplishment and
satisfaction of the California Renewables Portfolio Standard objectives.
12. Prohibit the Water Authority from wheeling - or securing statutory, regulatory, or
administrative authority necessary to wheel - acquired or produced power to itself, or the
District.
13. Result in a lengthy, more complicated, or more costly interconnection of new energy
resources, such as solar, inline hydroelectric, pumped storage, and other renewable energy
generation or storage technologies to the electric distribution and transmission grid.
III.IV. D. Financial Issues
A. Fees, Taxes, and Charges
B. Funding
C. Rates
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D. Water Bonds
E.
A. Fees, Taxes, and Charges
Support efforts toinitiatives that:
1. Require the federal government and State of California to reimburse special districts for all mandated costs or regulatory actions. 2. Give special districts the discretion to cease performance of unfunded mandates.
3. Provide for fiscal reform to enhance the equity, reliability, and certainty of special district
funding.
4. Provide incentives for local agencies to work cooperatively, share costs or resources. 5. Provide for the stable, equitable and reliable allocation of property taxes. 6. Continue to reform workers compensation.
7. Promote competition in insurance underwriting for public agencies.
8. Produce tangible results, such as water supply reliability or water quality improvement.
9. Require the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) to refund or credit to its member agencies revenues collected from them that result in reserve balances greater than the maximum reserve levels established pursuant to state legislation.
Oppose efforts initiatives that:
1. Impose mandated costs or regulatory constraints on local agencies and their customers without providing subventions to reimburse local agencies for such costs. 2. Pre-empt the Water Authority’s or its member agencies’ ability to impose or change rates,
charges, fees, or assessments.
3. Weaken the protections afforded the Water Authority or its member agencies under
California’s Proposition 1A (November 2, 2004). 4. Reallocate special districts reserves in an effort to balance the state budget. 5. Reallocate special district revenues or reserves to fund infrastructure improvements or
other activities in cities or counties.
6. Establish funding mechanisms that put undue burdens on local agencies or make local
agencies de facto tax collectors for the state. 7. Adversely affect the cost of gas and electricity or reduce an organization’s flexibility to take advantage of low peak cost periods.
8. Add new reporting criteria, burdensome, unnecessary or costly reporting mandates to
Urban Water Management Plans.
9. Add new mandates to the Department of Water Resources (DWR) to review and approve Urban Water Management Plans beyond those already addressed in DWR guidelines. 10. Mandate that water agencies include an embedded energy calculation for their water
supply sources in Urban Water Management Plans or any other water resources planning
or master-planning document.
11. Weaken existing project retention and withholding provisions that limit the ability of public agencies to drive contractor performance. 12. Establish change order requirements that place an unreasonable burd en on local
agencies, or raise financial risk associated with public works contracts.
13. Impair the San Diego County Water Authority or its member agencies’ ability to provide
reasonable service at reasonable costs to member agencies or to charge all member
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agencies the same rate for each class of service consistent with cost-of-service
requirements of the law.
14. Impair the local water agencies’ ability to maintain reasonable reserve funds and obtain
and retain reasonable rates of return on its reserve accounts. 15. Mandate a specific rate structure for retail water agencies.
16. Impose a water user fee on water agencies or water users that does not provide a
commensurate and directly linked benefit in the local area or region from which the water
user fee is collected.
17. Impose a water user fee for statewide projects or programs, for which the projects or programs are not clearly defined, the beneficiaries identified, and reasonable costs
identified.
18. Impose a water user fee in order to create a state fund that can be used to finance
undefined future projects and programs.
19. Allow the state to retain more than five percent of water user fees for administrative costs. 20. Do not restrict the use of water user fees to only the specific purposes for which they are
imposed, without any possibility of diversion to meet other fiscal needs of the state.
21. Impose a “public goods charge” or “water tax” on public water agencies or their
ratepayers.
22. Impose a fee on water users to repay the principal and interest on a statewide general obligation bond.
23. Establish regulatory or permit fees that lack a nexus to the costs of oversight.
24. Establish a broad-.based user fee that does not support a specific program activity; any fee
must provide a clear nexus to the benefit the fee would provide.
B. Funding
Support efforts initiatives thatto:
1. Require the federal and state governments to provide subvention to reimburse local
governments for all mandated costs or regulatory actions.
2. Provide the Water Authority and its member agencies with additional forms of cost-
effective financing for public facilities.
3. Revitalize the Title XVI federal funding program by converting new authorizations to a
competitive grant program with congressional oversight while protecting existing Title
XVI authorizations for the San Diego region.
4. Provide the Water Authority and its member agencies with grant funding for public
facilities.
5. Authorize financing of water quality, water security, and water supply infrastructure
improvement programs.
6. Establish spending caps on State of California overhead when administering voter
approved grant and disbursement programs.
7. Require disbursement decisions in a manner appropriate to the service in question.
8. Encourage funding infrastructure programs that are currently in place and that have been
proven effective.
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9. Provide financial incentives for energy projects that increase reliability, diversity, and
reduce greenhouse gasses.
10. Continue energy rate incentives for the utilization of electricity during low-peak periods.
11. Provide loan or grant programs that encourage water conservation for water users who are least able to pay for capital projects.
12. Provide for population-based distribution of funds to ensure adequate distribution of grant
funding throughout the state.
13. Provide for the use of state grant funds for binational projects where the projects benefit
water supply or water quality in the San Diego region. 14. Improve and streamline the state’s reimbursement process to ensure timely remittance of
IRWM funds.
15. Promote the ability of the Regional Water Management Group to more directly administer
state grant funds specifically identified for IRWM Programs.
16. Require the state to rely on the local process for selection and ranking of projects included in an approved IRWM plan.
17. Provide funding or other incentives for conservation, peak management programs, water
recycling, potable reuse, groundwater recovery and recharge, surface water development
and management projects, including reservoir management, source water protection and
watershed planning studies and facilities that sustain long-term reliable water resources. 18. Provide financial incentives to assist in the disposal of concentrate, sludge, and other
byproducts created in the water treatment process.
19. Authorize, promote, and provide incentives or credits for development of local drought-
resilient water supply projects such as desalination, non-potable recycling and potable
reuse projects. 20. Provide funding for potable reuse demonstration projects and studies.
21. Authorize federal and state funding to develop and implement regional or subregional
conservation programs, including but not limited to property acquisition, revegetation
programs, and watershed plans.
22. Provide state and/or federal funding for the restoration of the Salton Sea. 23. Provide federal and/or state funding to implement actions that address the ecological and
water supply management issues of the Lower Colorado River from Lee's Ferry to the
southerly international border with Mexico.
16.24. Provide federal and/or state funding to implement actions that address the ecological
and water supply management issues of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.
Oppose efforts initiatives that:
1. Impose additional administrative requirements and/or restricts the Water Authority’s or its
member agencies’ ability to finance public facilities through the issuance of long-term
debt. 2. Interfere with the responsibility of a region, operating under an Integrated Regional Water
Management Plan, for setting priorities and generating projects to be paid from any
IRWM accounts and grants.
3. Interfere with the control exercised by the San Diego funding subregion over the use and
expenditure of any water-user fee revenues that may be dedicated to the region. 4. Establish IRWM funding criteria that limits local discretion in project selection.
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5. Provide for after-the-fact reduction in quantity or quality of a public water supply due to
new restrictions on the operation or use of water supply facilities unless funding for
alternate sources of water is provided.
4.6.Impose a "utility user fee" or "surcharge" on water for the purposes of financing open space/habitat preservation, restoration, or creation.
C. Rates
Support efforts initiatives thatto:
1. Maintain the authority of water agencies to establish water rates locally, consistent with
cost-of-service requirements of the law. 2. Maximize the ability of water agencies to design rate structures to meet local water supply
goals and that conform to cost-of-service requirements of the law.
Oppose efforts initiatives that:
1. Impair the Water Authority’s or its member agencies’ ability to provide reasonable service at reasonable costs to member agencies or to charge all member agencies the same rate for
each class of service consistent with cost-of-service requirements of the law.
2. Undermine or weaken cost-of-service rate-making requirements in existing law.
3. Impair the District’s ability to maintain reasonable reserve funds and obtain and retain
reasonable rates of return on its reserve accounts. 4. Mandate a specific rate structure for retail water agencies.
5. Prescribe mandatory conservation-based rate structures that override the authority of the
boards of directors of local water agencies to set rate structures according to the specific
needs of the water agencies.
6. Usurp special district funds, reserves, or other state actions that force special districts to raise rates, fees or charges
D. Water Bonds
Support efforts initiatives tothat:
1. Ensure Provide an equitable share of funding to San Diego County, with major funding categories being divided by county and funded on a per-capita basis to ensure bond
proceeds are distributed throughout the state in proportion to taxpayers’ payments on the
bonds.
2. Ensure a focusFocus on statewide priorities, including restoration of fish and wildlife
habitat, construction of an improved method of conveyance of water through or around the Delta that provides water supply reliability to Delta water users, promotion of greater
regional and local self-sufficiency, surface storage, and promotion of water- use
efficiency.
3. Ensures funding from various propositions for local and regional water-related projects.
4. Include within IRWM funding money that a region may use over time to develop and refine its plan and to develop institutional structures necessary to establish and implement
the plan.
5. Ensure Give primary consideration is given to funding priorities established by local and
regional entities through their IRWM planning process.
6. Ensure that the application process for funding is not unnecessarily burdensome and costly, with an emphasis on streamlining the process.
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7. Limit state overhead to no more than five percent of bond funding amounts.
8. Place as much emphasis and provides at least as much funding for surface storage as for
groundwater storage.
9. Define the “San Diego sub-region” and “San Diego county watersheds” as “those portions of the westward-flowing watershed of the South Coast hydrologic region situated within
the boundaries of San Diego County.”
10. Fund emergency and carryover storage projects including those in San Diego County.
11. Consolidate administration of all voter-approved water-related bond funding in one place,
preserves existing expertise within the state bureaucracy to manage bond-funding processes, and provide consistent application and evaluation of bond funding applications.
Ensure funding for water infrastructure projects help to resolve conflicts in the state’s
water system and provide long-term benefits to statewide issues including water supply,
reliability, water quality, and ecosystem restoration.
12. Provide and expedite the state’s share of funding for projects that advance the achievement of the co-equal goals of water supply reliability and Delta ecosystem
restoration.
12.13. Provide funding for water infrastructure that resolve conflicts in the state’s water
system and provide long-term benefits to statewide issues including water supply,
reliability, water quality, and ecosystem restoration.
Oppose efforts initiatives that:
1. Changes or dDo not provide an equitable share of funding to San Diego County based on
the San Diego County taxpayers’ proportional contribution to repayment of the bonds.
2. Do not provide funding for infrastructure that resolves statewide or regional conflicts of water supplies.
3. Do not provide funding that result in net increases in real water supply and water supply
reliability.
4. Commit a significant portion of bond funding to projects that do not result in net increases
in real water supply or water supply reliability. IV.V. E. Governance/Local Autonomy
Support efforts initiatives tothat:
1. Expand local autonomy in governing special district affairs.
2. Promote comprehensive long-range planning. 3. Assist local agencies in the logical and efficient extension of services and facilities to promote
efficiency and avoid duplication of services.
4. Streamline the Municipal Service Review Process or set limits on how long services reviews
can take or cost.
5. Establish clear and reasonable guidelines for appropriate community sponsorship activities. 6. Reaffirm the existing “all-in” financial structure, or protect the San Diego County Water
Authority voting structure based on population.
7. Promote measures that increase broader community and water industry
representation/appointments on State decision making bodies
Oppose efforts initiatives that:
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1. Assume the state legislature is better able to make local decisions that affect special district
governance.
2. Create one-size-fits-all approaches to special district reform.
3. Unfairly target one group of local elected officials. 4. Usurp local control from special districts regarding decisions involving local special district
finance, operations or governance.
5. Limit or dDiminish the power or rights of the District’s governing body the board of
directors’ ability to govern the District’s affairs.
6. Modify the committee or board voting structure or member agency board representation on the San Diego County Water Authority Board of Directors unless the such changes board of
directors hashave been expressly authorized such changesby the District’s Board.
7. Create unfunded local government mandates.
7.8.Create costly, unnecessary or duplicative oversight roles for the state government of special district affairs.
8.9.Create new oversight roles or responsibility for monitoring special district affairs.
9.10. Change the San Diego County Water Authority Act regarding voting structure, unless
it is based on population.
10.11. Shift the liability to the public entity and relieve private entities of reasonable due diligence in their review of plans and specifications for errors, omissions and other issues.
11.12. Place a significant and unreasonable burden on public agencies, resulting in increased
cost for public works construction or their operation.
12.13. Impair the ability of water districts to acquire property or property interests required
for essential capital improvement projects. 13.14. Increase the cost of property and right-of-way acquisition, or restricts the use of right-
of-ways.
14.15. Work to silence the voices of special districts and other local government associations
on statewide ballot measures impacting local government policies and practices, including
actions that could prohibit special districts and associations from advocating for positions on ballot measures by severely restricting the private resources used to fund those activities.
15.16. Prescribe mandatory conservation-based or other rate structures that override the
authority of the board of directors to set its rate structure.
16.17. Circumvent the legislative committee process, such as the use of budget trailer bills, to
advance policy issues including impacting special districts without full disclosure, transparency, or public involvement.
VI. Imported Water Issues
A. Bay-Delta
i. Co-Equal Goals Support initiatives that:
1. Require the Delta Stewardship Council or DWR to provide periodic analyses of the cost of the
proposed Delta improvements to the Legislature and the public.
2. Provides conveyance and storage facilities that are cost-effective for the San Diego region’s
ratepayers, improve the reliability and quality of the San Diego region’s water supplies, and protect the Bay-Delta’s ecosystem.
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3. Continue to support the co-equal goals of water supply reliability and environmental
restoration embodied in the 2009 Delta bill package
4. Improve the ability of water-users to divert water from the Delta during wet periods, when
impacts on fish and ecosystem are lower and water quality is higher. 5. Encourage the development of a statewide water transfer market that will improve water
management.
6. Support improved coordination of Central Valley Project and State Water Project (SWP)
operations.
7. Support continued state ownership and operation of the SWP, including WaterFix facilities, as a public resource.
8. Ensure that any reorganization of the State Water Project, including operations and
management, preserves the ability for non-State Water Project contractors to access the
facility for transportation of water to a non-State Water Project contractor.
9. Authorize and appropriate the federal share of funding for the long-term Bay-Delta solution, including for the EcoRestore Program.
10. Provide the ongoing state share of funding for the EcoRestore Program.
11. Provide state funding for aquatic toxicity monitoring in the Bay-Delta. Such legislation should
not place a surcharge on water supply exports nor should it substantively reduce funding for
other measures that protect the environment and public health.
Oppose efforts that:
1. Impose water user fees to fund ecosystem restoration and other public purpose, nonwater-
supply improvements in the Delta that benefit the public at large.
2. Transfer operational control of the State Water Project or any of its facilities to the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD), the State Water Contractors, the
Central Valley Project Contractors, the State and Federal Contractors Water Agency, or any
entity comprised of MWD or other water project contractors, or any other special interest
group.
ii. WaterFix
Support initiatives that:
1. Are consistent with the Water Authority’s Board of Directors’ Aug. 9, 2018 adopted Bay-
Delta and WaterFix project policy principles, including the following:
a. The Water Authority’s Board supports the WaterFix project, as currently proposed, conditioned upon MWD properly allocating the costs of the project as conservation, or
supply charges, as similar facilities historically have been defined in MWD’s SWP
contract with DWR.
b. As reflected in Table 2 of DWR’s Appendix B to Bulletin 132-17, Data and
Computation Used to Determine Water Charges, and for which costs are recovered in Article 22(a) of Delta Water Charge of the Current MWD SWP Contract; allow for the
exemption of north-of-Delta SWP contractors.
2. Support the establishment of an independent oversight function to monitor and provide
regular updates on the WaterFix project implementation progress, including expenditure
tracking, construction progress, project participants’ contributions, and all other relevant activities and developments.
3. Allow access to all SWP facilities, including WaterFix facilities, to facilitate water transfers.
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B. Metropolitan Water District
Support initiatives that:
1. Require MWD to refund or credit to its member agencies revenues collected from them that result in reserve balances greater than the maximum reserve levels established pursuant to
state legislation.
2. Require MWD to implement actions that advance and support its long-term financial stability,
fiscal sustainability, and that moderate fluctuations in rates and charges for its member
agencies from year to year, in a publicly transparent manner. 3. Amend the Metropolitans Water District Act to change voting allocation on its Board of
Directors based on a member agency’s total financial contribution to MWD, and in a manner
similar to the voting allocation method of the County Water Authority Act.
C. Colorado River Support initiatives that:
1. Supports implementation and funding of the California Colorado River Water Use Plan,
including the Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program
2. Provide funding for Colorado River salinity control projects and other water quality
management efforts. 3. Provide for state and federal authorizations and appropriations of non-fee-based funds to
implement Salton Sea mitigation and restoration solutions, consistent with its obligations
under Chapters 611, 612, and 613 of the Statutes of 2003.
4. Revise the Quantification Settlement Agreement mitigation measures for the Salton Sea to
limit the costs imposed on the funding parties to the amount committed in accordance with the QSA legislation.
5. Provide a governing structure and/or specified managing office over the state's Salton Sea
Management Program to provide guidance and oversight of restoration activities.
6. Allow for the option to create an alternate conveyance route, when technically and financially
feasible, for reliable delivery of the Water Authority’s Independent Colorado River water supplies.
7. Preserve the California Colorado River Board
8. Ensure the interests of the members of the California Colorado River Board continue to be
addressed in any state government reorganization.
9. Eliminate the California Colorado River Board without providing a comparable structure or forum that ensures the Water Authority's interests in the Colorado River are preserved.
Oppose initiatives that:
1. Impose additional mitigation costs or obligations for the Salton Sea on the non-state parties to
the Quantification Settlement Agreement. D. State Water Project
Support initiatives that:
1. Provide for development of a comprehensive state water plan that balances California's
competing water needs and results in a reliable and affordable supply of high-quality water for the San Diego region.
Oppose initiatives that:
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1. Make urban water supplies less reliable or substantially increases the cost of imported water
without also improving the reliability and/or quality of the water.
2. Revise the Central Valley Project Improvement Act to Jeopardize the Act's environmental
integrity, compromise State Water Project supply reliability a n d/or limit the ability of urban agencies to transfer and/or bank CVP water for use both within and outside the CVP service
area.
3. Transfer operational control of the State Water Project or any of its facilities to MWD, the
State Water Project contractors, Central Valley Project contractors, the State and Federal
Contractors Water Agency, any entity comprised of MWD or other water project contractors,
or any other special interest group.
VI.F. Optimize District Effectiveness Support efforts initiatives thatto:
1. Give utilities the ability to avoid critical peak energy pricing or negotiate energy contracts that
save ratepayers money. 2. Develop reasonable Air Pollution Control District engine permitting requirements. 3. Reimburse or reduce local government mandates.
4. Allow public agencies to continue offering defined benefit plans.
5. Result in predictable costs and benefits for employees and taxpayers.
6. Eliminate abuses. 7. Retain local control of pension systems. 8. Be constitutional, federally legal and technically possible.
Oppose efforts initiatives that:
1. Restrict the use of, or reallocate, district property tax revenues to the detriment of special districts. 2. Create unrealistic ergonomic protocol.
3. Micromanage special district operations.
4. Balance the state budget by allowing regulatory agencies to increase permitting fees.
5. Tax dependent benefits. 6. Require new reporting criteria on energy intensity involved in water supply.
VIIG. Recycled WaterWater Recycling and Potable Reuse
Support efforts initiatives thatto:
1. Reduce restrictions on recycled water usage or promote consistent regulation of recycled water projects to reduce impediments to the increased use of recycled water.
2. Reduce restrictions on injecting recycled water into basins where there is no direct potable
use.
3. Provide financial incentives for recharge of groundwater aquifers using recycled water.
4. Make recycled water regulations clear, consolidated, and understandable to expedite related project permitting.
5. Promote recycled water as a sustainable supplemental source of water.
6. Allow the safe use of recycled water.
7. Facilitate development of technology aimed at improving water recycling.
8. Increasing funding for water recycling projects.
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9. Support continued funding of the Title XVI Water Reclamation and Reuse Program including
Water Reclamation and Reuse Projects, the WaterSMART Program, and the Desalination and
Water Purification Research Program.
10. Increase awareness of the ways recycled water can help address the region’s water supply challenges.
11. Create federal and state incentives to promote recycled water use and production.
12. Establish federal tax incentives to support U.S. companies in the development of new water
technologies that can lower productions costs, address by products such as concentrates, and
enhance public acceptance of recycled water. 13. Establish a comprehensive national research and development, and technology demonstration,
program to advance the public and scientific understanding of water recycling technologies to
encourage reuse as an alternative source of water supply.
14. Provide incentives for local agencies to work cooperatively, share costs or resources to
promote or expand the use of recycled water. 15. Further refine emergency regulations to reward local suppliers that have invested in using
recycled water for landscape irrigation to maintain an incentive to continue expanding areas
served by recycled water.
16. Encourage the use of recycled water in commercial, industrial, institutional, and residential
settings. 17. Recognizes and supports the development of potable reuse as a critical new water supply.
18. Define purified recycled water as a source of water supply and not as waste.
19. Mandate the reduction of wastewater discharges to the ocean absent inclusion of funding to
offset the significant costs of implementation.
20. Authorize local governmental agencies to regulate the discharge of contaminants to the sewer collection system that may adversely affect water recycling and reuse.
21. Authorize and facilitate expanded use of local water resources including water recycling,
potable reuse, graywater, and rainwater harvesting (e.g., cisterns and rain barrels), and
brackish groundwater.
22. Streamline regulatory processes and requirements to encourage and support the development of potable reuse and non-potable reuse as a municipal water supply.
23. Recognize the entire interconnected urban water cycle, as well as public health and safety,
must be taken into consideration in long-term water use efficiency policies, particularly
including the unintended consequences of declining flows on water, wastewater, potable reuse
and recycled water systems.
Oppose efforts initiatives that:
1. Restrict use of recycled water for groundwater recharge.
2. Establish new water or recycled water fees solely to recover State costs without also
providing some benefit. 3. Limit the ability of local governmental agencies to regulate the discharge of contaminants to
the sewer collection system that may adversely affect water recycling and reuse.
4. Establish unreasonable regulatory requirements or fees to the safe use of recycled water,
which may unreasonably impede or create a disincentive to its further development.
5. Mandate the reduction of wastewater discharges to the ocean absent inclusion of funding to offset the significant costs of implementation.
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VIIIH. Safety, Security, and Information Technology Support efforts initiatives thatto:
1. Provide funding for information security upgrades to include integrated alarms, access/egress,
and surveillance technology. 2. Provide incentives for utilities and other local agencies to work cooperatively, share costs or
resources.
3. Provide funding for communication enhancements, wireless communications, GIS or other
technological enhancements.
4. Encourage or promote compatible software systems. 5. Fund infrastructure and facility security improvements that include facility roadway access,
remote gate access, and physical security upgrades.
6. Protect state, local and regional drinking water systems from terrorist attack or deliberate acts
of destruction, contamination or degradation.
7. Provide funds to support training or joint training exercises to include contingency funding for emergencies and emergency preparedness.
8. Equitably allocate security funding based on need, threats and/or population.
9. Encourage or promote compatible communication systems.
10. Encourage and promote funding of Department of Homeland Security Risk Mitigation
programs. 11. Recognizes water agencies as emergency responders to damage and challenges caused by
wildfires, earthquakes, and other natural disasters, as well as terrorist and other criminal
activities that threaten water operations, facilities and supplies.in the event of a sudden,
unexpected occurrence that poses a clear and imminent danger, requiring immediate action to
prevent and mitigate loss or impairment of life, health, property or essential public services due to natural disasters (e.g., wildfires, earthquakes), power outages as well as terrorist and
other criminal activities.
12. Provide state grant or other funding opportunities to support seismic risk assessment and
mitigation plans, or to mitigate vulnerabilities.
13. Provide funding for projects that enhance security against terrorist acts or other criminal threats to water operation, services, facilities, or supplies.
Oppose efforts initiatives that:
1. Create unnecessary, costly, or duplicative security or safety mandates.
2. Require expanded water system descriptions or additional public disclosure of public water systems details for large water suppliers in Urban Water Management Planning documents,
potentially compromising public water systems and creating a conflict with the Department of
Homeland Security’s recommendation to avoid reference to water system details in plans
available to the general public.
IX. Water Services and Facilities Support efforts initiatives thatto:
1. Provide funding to implement actions identified in the California Water Action Plan to lay a
solid fiscal foundation for implementing near-term actions, including funding for water
efficiency projects, wetland and watershed restoration, groundwater programs, conservation, flood control, and integrated water management and result in a reliable supply of high-quality
water for the San Diego region.
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2. Provide financial support to projects designed to mitigate the potential negative impacts of
Global Climate Change on water supply reliability.
3. Promote the coordination and integration of local, state and federal climate change policies
and practices to the greatest extent feasible. 4. Fund or otherwise facilitate ongoing implementation of the Quantification Settlement
Agreement.
5. Provide reliable water supplies to meet California’s short and long-term needs.
6. Promote desalination pilot studies and projects.
7. Encourage feasibility studies of water resource initiatives. 8. Increase funding for infrastructure and grant programs for construction, modernization or
expansion of water, wastewater treatment, reclamation facilities and sewer systems including
water recycling, groundwater recovery and recharge, surface water development projects and
seawater desalination.
9. Fund enhancements to water treatment, recycling, and other facilities to meet increased regulations.
10. Mandate uniform or similar regulations and procedures by state agencies in the processing
and administering of grants and programs.
11. Streamline grant application procedures.
12. Reduce regulations and other impediments for willing sellers and buyers to engage in water transfer agreements.
13. Promote or assist voluntary water transfers between willing buyers and willing sellers and
move those transactions through without delay.
14. Streamline the permitting and approval process for desalination and other water-related
facilities and implementing water transfers. 15. Establish reasonable statewide approaches to sewer reporting standards.
16. Generate greater efficiencies, better coordinate program delivery, and eliminate duplication in
programs for source water protection without lessening the focus on public health of the
state’s Drinking Water Program.
17. Target efforts to fix specific issues with water supplies within the state’s Drinking Water Program.
18. Establish federal tax incentives to support U.S. companies in the development of new
desalination technologies that can lower productions costs, eliminate or reduce impingement
or entrainment, reduce energy use, and enhance public acceptance of desalinated water.
19. Establish a comprehensive national research and development, and technology demonstration program to advance the scientific understanding of desalination to expand its use as an
alternative source of water supply.
20. Require the State Water Resources Control Board to exercise its authority, ensure robust
funding, and implement the Salton Sea mitigation and restoration plan, meet state obligations,
and work with QSA stakeholders to find workable solutions to ensure the continuation of IID water transfers.
21. Support solutions to water supply issues that address common challenges, provide a
comprehensive approach that is fair to all users, balance the needs of urban and rural
communities, and take into consideration the interests of all stakeholders as well as the impact
to the environment. 22. Further refine emergency drought regulations to eliminate a cap on credits and adjustments so
as not to impose undue burden, financial or otherwise, on communities that have already
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invested in water conservation, development of new water sources, storage, or loss
prevention.
23. Provide funding for water infrastructure development, infrastructure security, and
rehabilitation and replacement projects that benefit ratepayers. 24. Provide funding for habitat preservation programs that address impacts resulting from
construction or operation of water system facilities.
25. Provide funding for projects that enhance security against terrorist acts or other criminal
threats to water operation, services, facilities, or supplies.
26. Provide incentives that encourage contractors to recycle or reduce waste associated with construction of water facilities.
27. Improve the local agencies’ efforts to maintain and protect its property, rights of way,
easements, pipelines, and related facilities and minimizes liability to local agencies and the
District.
28. Protect the local agencies’ properties from restrictions when surrounding properties are incorporated into preservation areas.
Oppose efforts initiatives that:
1. Make urban water supplies less reliable or substantially increase the cost of imported water
without also improving the reliability and/or quality of the water. 2. Create unrealistic or costly water testing or reporting protocol.
3. Disproportionately apportion the cost of water.
4. Create undo hurtles for seawater desalination projects.
5. Create unreasonable or confusing sewer reporting standards.
6. Create administrative or other barriers to sales between willing buyers and willing sellers that delay water transfers.
7. Create a broad-based user fee that does not support a specific local program activity or
benefit; any fee must provide a clear nexus to the benefit local ratepayers or local water
supplies from the establishment that charge or fee would provide.
8. Create unrealistic or costly to obtain water quality standards for potable water, recycled water or storm water runoff.
9. Change the focus of the state’s Drinking Water Program or weaken the parts of the program
that work well.
10. Lessen the focus on public health of the state’s Drinking Water Program.
11. Create one-size-fit-all approaches to emergency drought regulations that ignore variations among communities, regions, and counties with respect to their ability to withstand the impact
and effects of drought.
12. Impose undue burden, financial or otherwise, on communities that have already invested in
water conservation, development of new water sources, storage, or loss prevention.
13. Impose additional mitigation costs or obligations for the Salton Sea on the non-state parties to the Quantification Settlement Agreement.
14. Impairs local agencies’ ability to provide and operate the necessary facilities for a safe,
reliable and operational flexible water system.
15. Limits local agencies’ sole jurisdiction over planning, design, routing, approval, construction,
operation, or maintenance of water facilities.
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16. Restricts local agencies’ ability to respond swiftly and decisively to an emergency that
threatens to disrupt water deliveries or restricts the draining of pipelines or other facilities in
emergencies for repairs or preventive maintenance.
17. Authorizes state and federal wildlife agencies to control, prevent, or eradicate invasive species in a way that excessively interferes with the operations of water supplies.
18. Prohibit or in any way limit the ability of local agencies from making full beneficial use of
any water, wastewater, or recycling facility and resource investments.
19. Prohibit the use of alternative contract procurement methods that can be utilized in the
construction of water facilities. 20. Shift the risks of indemnity for damages and defense of claims from contractors to the
District.
19.21. Impair the local agencies’ efforts to acquire property or property interests required for
essential capital improvement projects or acquisition of property to meet pipeline water drain-
down needs for existing facilities. 20.22. Increase the cost of property and right of way acquisition.
21.23. Restrict the local agencies’ use of public rights of way or increases the cost of using
public rights of way.
24. Restrict the transfer of property acquired for purposes of environmental mitigation or
environmental mitigation credits to other public or private entities for long-term management. 25. Establish prescriptive leak loss control requirements for the operation, maintenance, and asset
management of water conveyance and distribution systems, that fail to consider full life-cycle
costing.
22.26. Establish meter testing requirements for source water meters that fail to consider
industry standards and cost-effectiveness.
JX. Water-Use Efficiency
Support efforts initiatives thatto:
1. Provide funding for water-use efficiency and water conservation programs including water-
efficient devices, practices and demonstration projects and studies. 2. Encourage the installation of water-efficient fixtures in new and existing buildings.
3. Promote the environmental benefits of water-use efficiency and water conservation.
4. Enhance efforts to promote water-use efficiency awareness.
5. Offer incentives for landscape water-efficient devices including, but not limited to ET
controllers and soil moisture sensors. 6. Develop landscape retrofit incentive programs and/or irrigation retrofit incentive programs.
7. Permit or require local agencies to adopt ordinances that require or promote water-efficient
landscapes for commercial and residential developments.
8. Create tax incentives for citizens or developers who install water-efficient landscapes.
9. Create tax incentives for citizens who purchase high-efficiency clothes washers, dual-flush and high-efficiency toilets and irrigation controllers above the state standards.
10. Expand community-based water-use efficiency and education programs.
11. Develop incentives for developers and existing customers to install water-efficient landscape
in existing developments or new construction.
12. Encourage large state users to save water by implementing water-efficient technologies in all facilities both new and retrofit.
13. Encourage large state water users to save water outdoors.
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14. Educate all Californians on the importance of water, and the need to conserve, manage, and
plan for the future needs.
15. Encourage technological research targeted to more efficient water use.
16. Give local agencies maximum discretion in selecting water-use efficiency and conservation programs that work for their customers and the communities they serve.
17. Require the Department of Water Resources to implement a uniform statewide turf rebate
subsidy or incentive program.
18. Restrict Property Owners Associations from forbidding the use of California native plants,
other low water use plants, mulch, artificial turf, or semi-permeable materials in well-maintained landscapes.
19. Provides for federal tax-exempt status for water-use efficiency rebates, consistent with
income tax treatment at the state level.
20. Encourage the use of graywater where it complies with local guidelines and regulations and is
cost-effective. 21. Provide incentives, funding, and assistance to water agencies so that they can meet the water
demand management measure requirements in the Urban Water Management Planning Act.
22. Provide incentives, funding, and other assistance to facilitate water-use efficiency
partnerships with the energy efficiency sector.
23. Recognize local control in determining water use efficiency criteria, such as impact of recycled water salinity on irrigation use and efficiency for the application of non-potable
recycled water.
23.24. Recognize local control in determining how to meet an overall efficient water-use
goal, based on the combined efficient indoor use, outdoor use, and leak loss, as established
under the criteria provided for in statute. 25. Encourage reasonable tracking of water use and improved efficiency in the Commercial,
Industrial, and Institutional (CII) sector.
26. Recognize local control in determining how to meet an overall efficient water use goal, based
on the combined efficient indoor use, outdoor use, and leak loss, as established under the
criteria provided for in statute. 24. Further the statewide goal of a 20 percent reduction in per capita water use by 2020 as set
forth in SBX7-7, enacted in November 2009, and preserves water agency discretion and
options for achieving this objective.
Oppose efforts that: 1. Weaken federal or state water-efficiency standards.
2. Introduce additional analytical and reporting requirements that are time-consuming for local
agencies to perform and result in additional costs to consumers, yet yield no water savings.
3. Permit Property Owners Associations to restrict low water use plants, mulch, artificial turf, or
semi-permeable materials in landscaping. 4. Repeal cost-effective efficiency standards for water-using devices.
5. Repeal cost-effective efficiency standards for water-using devices.
6. Create stranded assets by establishing long-term demand management water-use efficiency
and water supply requirements that are inconsistent with the Urban Water Management
Planning Act. 7. Prescribe statewide mandatory urban and agricultural water-use efficiency practices,
including, but not limited to, methods, measures, programs, budget allocation, and designation
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of staff dedicated to water conservation programs, that override the authority of the boards of
directors of local water agencies to adopt management practices that are most appropriate for
the specific needs of their water agencies.
8. Mandate regulation of the CII Sector in a manner that is discriminatory, or sets unachievable Best Management Practices or compliance targets, or would otherwise impair economic
activity or the viability of the CII sector.
9. Mandate that water agencies include an embedded energy calculation for their water supply
sources in the Urban Water Management Plan or any other water resource planning or master
planning document.
Anticipated Top 10 Legislative Issues for 2019 – Prior to Bill Introduction Deadline
1.Military Veterans – Reciprocity – In 2019, Otay Water District will cosponsor, with the
San Diego County Water Authority, legislation that will provide a path of reciprocity tomilitary veterans to apply their advanced skills and experience toward state and industry-
supplied certification, or a position within the public or private sectors that specify
certifications, within the water and wastewater treatment and distribution operator fields.
Additionally, this legislation will ensure that advanced water treatment operators of potable
reuse and recycled water facilities and recycled water distribution system operators haveclear career advancement paths. As you are aware, the projections of demand for water
operators is at an all-time high, particularly due to the high level of requirements placed on
this workforce and the continued increase in demand for water in California. Despite the
abundance of state resources available, there continues to be missed opportunities to find,
educate, certify, and employ veterans transitioning to civilian employment, especially in thewater and wastewater operator field.
2.Safe and Affordable Drinking Water (Water Tax) – There have been numerous attempts
to establish a Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund in California over the past few years.
In 2017, Senator Monning’s SB 623, which would have established a statewide water tax,carried over to 2018 and ultimately did not move forward. Additionally, Governor Brown
proposed a budget trailer bill modeled after SB 623, which also did not move forward. Near
the end of the 2018 Legislative Session the Administration divided up the aforementioned
proposal into two separate bills: 1) a mandatory water tax on agriculture, including fertilizer
sales and dairy and 2) a tax on water users, with an opt-out available, thus, avoiding therequirement of a two-thirds vote of the Legislature on the water tax. These proposals failed to
move forward, as well. On the last day of the 2017-18 Legislative Session, Assembly
Speaker Anthony Rendon noted the importance of California’s ongoing commitment to safe
and affordable drinking water, but cautioned that more work needs to be done, signaling that
the bills would not move forward in 2018.
A robust water tax proposal in the 2019-2020 Legislative Session is expected. Governor
Newsom’s January Budget, released last week, calls for the establishment of a Safe and
Affordable Drinking Water Fund, with a dedicated funding source from new water, fertilizer
and dairy fees, modeled after SB 623 and includes $4.9 million General Fund to assist theState Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) and the Department of Food and
Agriculture with the implementation of a Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Program. We
also expect an alternative to be presented by ACWA and other opponents of a statewide
water tax.
The day after he introduced his budget, Governor Newsom took his cabinet on a surprise
expedition to Stanislaus County – all in his first week in office. The Governor and his senior
staff met with residents to discuss the community’s drinking water concerns. This visit, in
addition to the funding proposed in his January Budget, send a strong signal that Governor
Newsom has committed fully to ensuring communities have clean sources of water.
Attachment D
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3. State Water Project Oversight – At the end of the last Legislative Session, a bill was gutted
and amended to change the procedures for the Department of Water Resources (DWR)
presenting State Water Project (SWP) contract amendments to the Legislature. This bill was
aimed at authorizing more legislative oversight of SWP contract amendments made by DWR. While the bill failed to move forward in 2018, we can expect to see legislation on this issue in the 2019-2020 Legislative Session. We may also see changes in the funding structure
of the SWP. Currently, the SWP receives a continuous appropriation that provides the
Legislature with little oversight, something that many legislators are unhappy about. We may
also see legislation to address this by moving the SWP under the purview of the annual budget process.
4. California WaterFix – The California WaterFix was a major priority for the Brown
Administration. Incoming Governor Gavin Newsom has been left with the task of seeing the
project to fruition and it is unclear what his position is on the project. Last week, when presenting his January Budget, Governor Newsom eluded to a potential scaled back version of the project, something he has done previously, as well. However, there are still many
unknowns. Needless to say, this will be one of the most pressing water issues for the new
Administration to tackle. We can expect to see more detail on the California WaterFix in the
Governor’s release of a 5-year Infrastructure Plan later this year. 5. Bay-Delta Plan and Stream Flows – In late 2018, Governor Brown and Governor-elect
Newsom issued a letter to the SWRCB asking the board to postpone acting on a proposed
amendment to the Bay-Delta Plan. The hearing finally took place on December 12, at which
time the board approved an amendment to the plan which requires specific flows to be diverted to the Delta in order to improve the Bay-Delta ecosystem. This decision, as approved, will ultimately result in a reduction of water available for water users in the lower
San Joaquin Watershed. However, the board made clear that it encourages ongoing
collaboration and that the amendment does not prevent further voluntary agreements to be
made. In January 2019 Governor Newsom will decide whether to reappoint SWRCB Chair Felicia Marcus. His decision may be telling as to what direction Governor Newsom wants to go with this highly controversial flow plan.
6. Water Plan Update 2018 – On December 20, in the last few days of the Brown
Administration, DWR released the 2018 Water Plan Update public review draft, as promised. DWR will be accepting public comments on the draft through January 21. The plan recommends significant investments in infrastructure and ecosystem improvements,
recommends actions to address the state’s systemic and institutional issues that act as a
barrier to the state’s water sustainability, and also describes how the state can leverage
existing funding for water management. This document signals some of the key water priorities for the state heading into 2019 and we will have to wait and see whether the Newsom Administration and newly appointed Natural Resources Secretary, Wade Crowfoot,
make drastic changes to the draft update or finalize it quickly without many substantive
changes. If the latter is chosen we will continue to have very little information on the
Newsom Administration’s water policies.
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7. Open and Transparent Water Data – The Open and Transparent Water Data Act
established by AB 1755 (Dodd) requires DWR to create, operate, and maintain a statewide
integrated water data platform and to develop protocols for data sharing, documentation,
quality control, public access, and promotion of open-source platforms and decision support tools related to water data. The Act requires the new data platform to be operational by September 2019. Efforts are underway to implement AB 1755 and we believe that water data
will remain a topic of consideration in the Legislature in 2019-20, as California focuses its
attention on a reliable water supply and water quality in years to come. A related piece of
legislation, SB 19 (Dodd), has been introduced which would require DWR to draft a plan to deploy a network of stream gages to better understand the state’s water flows, and would be integrated into the AB 1755 plan.
8. Water Bonds – Proposition 68 was passed by 56 percent of California voters in the June 5,
2018 Primary Election. The measure authorizes $4 billion in general obligation bonds for the creation and rehabilitation of state and local parks, natural resources protection projects, climate adaptation projects, water quality and supply projects, and flood protection projects,
among other things. There was a subsequent, much larger, water bond on the November 2018
ballot, but this measure failed. It is likely that an additional water bond will be pursued
whether through legislation or via the initiative process. 9. Wildfire Prevention and Utility Liability – Following massive wildfires that devastated
Northern and Southern California in 2018, the Legislature and Governor have signaled that
addressing wildfire prevention and the liability of the public utilities in question will remain a
priority in 2019. In late 2018, the State Insurance Commissioner announced that insurance claims from the Camp Fire, Woolsey and Hill fires total upwards of $9 billion – $7 billion of which is from the Camp Fire alone. Senator Allen introduced SB 45, which would place on
the ballot a bond measure primarily to address wildfire prevention and recovery – however,
the bond will likely include some funding for water supply and water quality. The issue of
wildfire liability will also need to be addressed. Wildfires pose a serious threat to water quality, infrastructure and water supply in California. It remains to be seen whether utilities found to be liable for the fires will pass on expenses to rate payers, increasing the cost of
using energy, including energy used for pumping and treating water and wastewater.
10. Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) – In 2019, we expect legislation to be introduced which would require the SWRCB, when adopting new primary drinking water standards for contaminants in drinking water, otherwise known as MCLs, to allow water providers a
reasonable period of time to complete work required to comply with the new MCL, without
being found in violation. All drinking water agencies impacted by a new state MCL could
potentially be impacted by such a proposal, but would vary by region, as not all contaminants are distributed evenly throughout the state. As noted above, the state will focus its attention once again on providing safe and affordable drinking water for all Californians in 2019. If
this proposal moves forward, it will likely be opposed by environmental groups and safe
drinking water advocates, especially given the current dialogue.