AB 460 (Bauer-Kahan) State Water Resources Control Board: Water Rights and Usage: Interim Relief: Procedures Apr 12, 2023 Comment Letters To: Members, Assembly Water, Parks, and Wildlife Committee Subject: AB 460 (BAUER-KAHAN) STATE WATER RESOURCES CONTROL BOARD: WATER RIGHTS AND USAGE: INTERIM RELIEF: PROCEDURES Position: OPPOSE – AS AMENDED MARCH 30, 2023 Letter excerpt: The undersigned organizations must respectfully OPPOSE AB 460, which would provide expansive new authority for the State Water Resources Control Board to issue “interim relief orders,” on its own motion or upon petition of an interested party, to apply or enforce such things as the Reasonable Use and Public Trust Doctrine. The bill would also eliminate and weaken constitutionally protected rights to judicial review of State Water Board actions. While our organizations believe that illegal diversions are serious and should not be sanctioned, AB 460 goes far beyond what is needed for the State Water Board to enforce and discourage illegal water diversions. AB 460 is not only contrary to both the State and Federal constitutions, and in conflict with California’s Administrative Procedures Act, but it portends ill-conceived and uninformed water management actions that will, in all likelihood, result in worse outcomes for the fish and wildlife resources that the bill purports to protect. Download the Letter
