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<ns0:Id>20250SB__087296AMD</ns0:Id>
<ns0:VersionNum>96</ns0:VersionNum>
<ns0:History>
<ns0:Action>
<ns0:ActionText>INTRODUCED</ns0:ActionText>
<ns0:ActionDate>2026-01-06</ns0:ActionDate>
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<ns0:Action>
<ns0:ActionText>AMENDED_SENATE</ns0:ActionText>
<ns0:ActionDate>2026-02-18</ns0:ActionDate>
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<ns0:Action>
<ns0:ActionText>AMENDED_SENATE</ns0:ActionText>
<ns0:ActionDate>2026-03-19</ns0:ActionDate>
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<ns0:Action>
<ns0:ActionText>AMENDED_SENATE</ns0:ActionText>
<ns0:ActionDate>2026-03-26</ns0:ActionDate>
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<ns0:SessionYear>2025</ns0:SessionYear>
<ns0:SessionNum>0</ns0:SessionNum>
<ns0:MeasureType>SB</ns0:MeasureType>
<ns0:MeasureNum>872</ns0:MeasureNum>
<ns0:MeasureState>AMD</ns0:MeasureState>
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<ns0:AuthorText authorType="LEAD_AUTHOR">Introduced by Senator McNerney</ns0:AuthorText>
<ns0:AuthorText authorType="PRINCIPAL_COAUTHOR_OPPOSITE">(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Ransom)</ns0:AuthorText>
<ns0:AuthorText authorType="COAUTHOR_ORIGINATING">(Coauthors: Senators Archuleta, Cortese, Grayson, Hurtado, Ochoa Bogh, Richardson, Stern, and Umberg)</ns0:AuthorText>
<ns0:AuthorText authorType="COAUTHOR_OPPOSITE">(Coauthors: Assembly Members Harabedian, Macedo, Blanca Rubio, and Wallis)</ns0:AuthorText>
<ns0:Authors>
<ns0:Legislator>
<ns0:Contribution>LEAD_AUTHOR</ns0:Contribution>
<ns0:House>SENATE</ns0:House>
<ns0:Name>McNerney</ns0:Name>
</ns0:Legislator>
<ns0:Legislator>
<ns0:Contribution>PRINCIPAL_COAUTHOR</ns0:Contribution>
<ns0:House>ASSEMBLY</ns0:House>
<ns0:Name>Ransom</ns0:Name>
</ns0:Legislator>
<ns0:Legislator>
<ns0:Contribution>COAUTHOR</ns0:Contribution>
<ns0:House>SENATE</ns0:House>
<ns0:Name>Archuleta</ns0:Name>
</ns0:Legislator>
<ns0:Legislator>
<ns0:Contribution>COAUTHOR</ns0:Contribution>
<ns0:House>SENATE</ns0:House>
<ns0:Name>Cortese</ns0:Name>
</ns0:Legislator>
<ns0:Legislator>
<ns0:Contribution>COAUTHOR</ns0:Contribution>
<ns0:House>SENATE</ns0:House>
<ns0:Name>Grayson</ns0:Name>
</ns0:Legislator>
<ns0:Legislator>
<ns0:Contribution>COAUTHOR</ns0:Contribution>
<ns0:House>SENATE</ns0:House>
<ns0:Name>Hurtado</ns0:Name>
</ns0:Legislator>
<ns0:Legislator>
<ns0:Contribution>COAUTHOR</ns0:Contribution>
<ns0:House>SENATE</ns0:House>
<ns0:Name>Ochoa Bogh</ns0:Name>
</ns0:Legislator>
<ns0:Legislator>
<ns0:Contribution>COAUTHOR</ns0:Contribution>
<ns0:House>SENATE</ns0:House>
<ns0:Name>Richardson</ns0:Name>
</ns0:Legislator>
<ns0:Legislator>
<ns0:Contribution>COAUTHOR</ns0:Contribution>
<ns0:House>SENATE</ns0:House>
<ns0:Name>Stern</ns0:Name>
</ns0:Legislator>
<ns0:Legislator>
<ns0:Contribution>COAUTHOR</ns0:Contribution>
<ns0:House>SENATE</ns0:House>
<ns0:Name>Umberg</ns0:Name>
</ns0:Legislator>
<ns0:Legislator>
<ns0:Contribution>COAUTHOR</ns0:Contribution>
<ns0:House>ASSEMBLY</ns0:House>
<ns0:Name>Harabedian</ns0:Name>
</ns0:Legislator>
<ns0:Legislator>
<ns0:Contribution>COAUTHOR</ns0:Contribution>
<ns0:House>ASSEMBLY</ns0:House>
<ns0:Name>Macedo</ns0:Name>
</ns0:Legislator>
<ns0:Legislator>
<ns0:Contribution>COAUTHOR</ns0:Contribution>
<ns0:House>ASSEMBLY</ns0:House>
<ns0:Name>Blanca Rubio</ns0:Name>
</ns0:Legislator>
<ns0:Legislator>
<ns0:Contribution>COAUTHOR</ns0:Contribution>
<ns0:House>ASSEMBLY</ns0:House>
<ns0:Name>Wallis</ns0:Name>
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<ns0:Title>An act to add Part 10 (commencing with Section 12996) to Division 6 of the Water Code, relating to water, and making an appropriation therefor.</ns0:Title>
<ns0:RelatingClause>water, and making an appropriation therefor</ns0:RelatingClause>
<ns0:GeneralSubject>
<ns0:Subject>Delta Levees and Canal Subsidence Fund.</ns0:Subject>
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<ns0:DigestText>
<html:p>Existing law, the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Reform Act of 2009, declares that the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta) is a critically important natural resource for California and the nation and it serves as both the hub of the California water system and the most valuable estuary and wetland ecosystem on the west coast of North and South America. Existing law establishes in the Natural Resources Agency the Department of Water Resources. Existing law requires the department and the Department of Fish and Wildlife to determine the principal options for the Delta and requires the department to evaluate and comparatively rate each option for its ability to do specified things, including, among others, to maintain Delta water quality for Delta users, and to preserve, protect, and improve Delta levees. Existing law establishes in the agency the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Conservancy.
Existing law requires the conservancy to act as a primary state agency to implement ecosystem restoration in the Delta and to support efforts that advance environmental protection and the economic well-being of Delta residents.</html:p>
<html:p>This bill would establish the Delta Levees and Canal Subsidence Fund in the State Treasury and, upon appropriation, would make the moneys in the fund available to the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency for expenditure consistent with the allocations described below. The bill would authorize the secretary to seek out, and the fund to accept, state moneys from, among other sources, any bond funds, the General Fund, or the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. The bill would authorize the fund to accept moneys from nonstate sources, including federal and private moneys, and would continuously appropriate those moneys without regard to fiscal year, for allocation as described below, thereby making an appropriation. The bill
would require the secretary to allocate moneys in the fund, through the 2046–47 fiscal year, subject to funding availability, as follows: (1) in the amount of $150,000,000, annually, to the Department of Water Resources for the purposes of supporting capital improvements to restore the original design water conveyance capacity for state water conveyance systems impacted operationally by land subsidence, and (2) in the amount of $150,000,000, annually, to the conservancy for projects in the Delta to improve existing levees, as specified. The bill would require the secretary to proportionally reduce the above-described amounts if there is insufficient moneys in the fund, as provided. The bill would prohibit these moneys from being expended to pay the costs of the design, construction, operation, mitigation, or maintenance of any additional Delta conveyance facilities, as provided. </html:p>
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<ns0:VoteRequired>MAJORITY</ns0:VoteRequired>
<ns0:Appropriation>YES</ns0:Appropriation>
<ns0:FiscalCommittee>YES</ns0:FiscalCommittee>
<ns0:LocalProgram>NO</ns0:LocalProgram>
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<ns0:ImmediateEffect>NO</ns0:ImmediateEffect>
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<ns0:Urgency>NO</ns0:Urgency>
<ns0:TaxLevy>NO</ns0:TaxLevy>
<ns0:Election>NO</ns0:Election>
<ns0:UsualCurrentExpenses>NO</ns0:UsualCurrentExpenses>
<ns0:BudgetBill>NO</ns0:BudgetBill>
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<ns0:Preamble>The people of the State of California do enact as follows:</ns0:Preamble>
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<ns0:Num>SECTION 1.</ns0:Num>
<ns0:Content>
<html:p>The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:</html:p>
<html:p>
(a)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Climate change continues to have an immense impact on California’s water systems and changing precipitation patterns, increasing flood and drought risks, sea level rise, and aging infrastructure are all combining to cause significant risks to our ability to protect water quality in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta), protect flood-vulnerable communities, maintain water deliveries, and ensure climate-responsive water operations.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(b)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Before passage of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (Part 2.74 (commencing with
Section 10720) of Division 6 of the Water Code), groundwater pumping and other factors resulted in significant land subsidence in the San Joaquin Valley. According to the State Water Project Adaptation Strategy, this subsidence threatens to reduce the water carrying capacity of the State Water Project by 87 percent by 2040 if not repaired, putting drinking water for 27,000,000 residents and 750,000 acres of farmland in California at risk.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(c)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
The State Water Project is the single largest energy user in state, using about 3 percent of total statewide consumption, and with subsided canals increasing the energy it takes to move water, if these subsidence impacts to the State Water Project are not addressed, there will be unnecessary increased energy usage and associated costs.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(d)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Each public water agency contracted with the Department of Water Resources is obligated to pay the capital and operation and management costs of the State Water Project in order to participate in the State Water Project, and the Department of Water Resources is authorized to issue bonds for the capital costs under the Central Valley Project (Part 3 (commencing with Section 11100) of Division 6 of the Water Code) that each state water contractor repays along with other expenses billed by the Department of Water Resources, including annual operation and maintenance costs.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(e)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Damage to the State Water Project due to subsided canals is largely caused by groundwater pumping actions done outside of the public water agencies’ service areas. Obligations to pay the costs of repair of the canals would significantly increase annual costs
to public water agencies and their ratepayers.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(f)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
The Delta supports local communities, businesses, and more than 400,000 acres of farmland, 80 percent of which is considered United States Department of Agriculture prime farmland, and it is also a national heritage site, a site of critical cultural importance to several indigenous tribes, and a thriving ecosystem supporting several native species of plants and animals.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(g)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
The Delta is also experiencing the impacts of climate change, including, but not limited to, increasing droughts, more extreme precipitation events, earlier snowmelt, and sea level rise that all create concerns for how to manage the dynamic ecosystem in a way that continues to support human life and natural ecosystems.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(h)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
The Delta is supported by 1,100 miles of levees that provide protection to residences, businesses, agricultural lands, tribal cultural sites, and infrastructure and help ensure fresh drinking water supply to millions of Californians. However, many levees date back to the 19th century and no longer meet the United States Army Corps of Engineers’ standards. If levees are breached, human life and property in the Delta would be at risk, and saltwater intrusion into the fresh water that feeds the state and federal water projects could threaten the drinking water sources for over one-half of the people in the state.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(i)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Reform
Act of 2009 required, among other things, that the Delta Stewardship Council establish a plan to reduce flood risk and guide prioritization of state investments in the Delta. The resulting Delta Levees Investment Strategy (DLIS) is a risk-based prioritization for levee investments in the Delta adopted by the Delta Stewardship Council as part of the Delta Plan on January 1, 2024. The goal is to maximize flood protection for people, property, water supply, the delta ecosystem, and infrastructure, for the benefit of all Californians. While the strategy provides a risk-based prioritization of levee repairs in the Delta, it does not currently have funding sources to meet its goals.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(j)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Reform Act of 2009 also established that it is state policy to reduce reliance on the Delta in meeting the state’s future
water supply needs by investing in improved water use efficiency, water recycling, advanced water technologies, and other regional water supply projects. These alternative water supplies will continue to be critical to protecting and preserving the overall health of the Delta, and critical to the protection of a diverse clean water supply for the people of California.
</html:p>
</ns0:Content>
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<ns0:BillSection id="id_01B10E2B-04BC-471E-BB74-2E3EB727BC91">
<ns0:Num>SEC. 2.</ns0:Num>
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Part 10 (commencing with Section 12996) is added to Division 6 of the
<ns0:DocName>Water Code</ns0:DocName>
, to read:
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<ns0:LawHeading id="id_D74F6E68-BF3E-42A1-B962-DCAE883A3862" type="PART">
<ns0:Num>10.</ns0:Num>
<ns0:LawHeadingVersion id="id_71E9EA1D-0946-4220-8822-0E7BC7FB8AA4">
<ns0:LawHeadingText>Delta Levees and Canal Subsidence Fund</ns0:LawHeadingText>
</ns0:LawHeadingVersion>
<ns0:LawSection id="id_6F612D96-B5EE-414D-A501-F955369F8E51">
<ns0:Num>12996.</ns0:Num>
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<ns0:Content>
<html:p>Unless the context otherwise requires, the definitions below govern the construction of this part:</html:p>
<html:p>
(a)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
“Conservancy” means the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Conservancy, established pursuant to Division 22.3 (commencing with Section 32300) of the Public Resources Code.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(b)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
“Department” means the Department of Water Resources.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(c)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
“Fund” means the Delta Levees and Canal Subsidence Fund created pursuant to Section 12997.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(d)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
“Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta” has the same meaning as described in Section 12220 of
the Water Code.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(e)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
“Secretary” means the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency.
</html:p>
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<ns0:LawSection id="id_F83BCB78-15E1-4045-A20E-379045A683A9">
<ns0:Num>12997.</ns0:Num>
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<html:p>
(a)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
The Delta Levees and Canal Subsidence Fund is hereby created in the State Treasury. Upon appropriation by the Legislature, moneys deposited into the fund shall be available to the secretary for expenditure consistent with this part.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(b)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
(1)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
The secretary may seek out, and the fund may accept, state moneys, including, but not limited to, from the General Fund, special funds, the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund created pursuant to Section 16428.8 of the Government Code, or any bond funds, for purposes of this part.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(2)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
The fund may accept moneys from nonstate sources, including, but
not limited to, federal and private moneys, for purposes of this part.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(3)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
The secretary may establish accounts within the fund.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(4)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Notwithstanding subdivision (a), and Section 13340 of the Government Code, any nonstate funds, including, but not limited to, federal and private funds, in the fund are continuously appropriated without regard to fiscal year to the secretary for expenditure consistent with this part.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(c)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
The secretary shall allocate moneys in the fund in the following manner:
</html:p>
<html:p>
(1)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
(A)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
The sum of one hundred fifty million dollars ($150,000,000) annually through the 2046-47 fiscal year, subject to funding availability, to the
department for the purpose of supporting capital improvements to restore the original design water conveyance capacity for state water conveyance systems
impacted operationally by land subsidence.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(B)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
The department shall prioritize projects based on the volume of water capacity they can restore to the state water system, and shall provide priority to projects where the surrounding groundwater basin is implementing best management practices aligned with the goals of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (Part 2.74 (commencing with Section 10720)), or the equivalent as determined by the department, to manage land subsidence, as determined by the department.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(C)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
The department may adopt guidelines to implement this paragraph. The Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code) does not apply to the adoption of the guidelines
by the department to implement this paragraph. Before adopting or revising the guidelines or other standards, the
department shall provide an opportunity for public comment and at least one public workshop.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(2)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
(A)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
The sum of one hundred fifty million dollars ($150,000,000) annually through the 2046-47 fiscal year, subject to funding availability, to the conservancy for projects in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to improve existing levees, including multibenefit levee projects that protect, enhance, or restore habitat, and improve water quality.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(B)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
The conservancy shall prioritize projects that improve the sustainability of local or state water supplies, and projects that improve instream, riparian, flood plain, and wetland habitat.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(C)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
The conservancy may adopt guidelines to implement this paragraph.
The Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code) does not apply to the adoption of the guidelines by the conservancy to implement this paragraph. Before adopting or revising the guidelines or other standards, the conservancy shall provide an opportunity for public comment and at least one public workshop.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(d)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
If there are insufficient moneys in the fund to fully provide for the allocations specified in subdivision (c), the amounts shall be proportionally reduced as determined by the secretary.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(e)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Moneys provided by this part shall not be expended to pay the costs of the design, construction, operation, mitigation, or maintenance of any additional Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta conveyance
facilities. Those costs shall be the responsibility of the water agencies that benefit from the design, construction, operation, mitigation, or maintenance of those facilities.
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