Relating to: authorizing additional circuit court and criminal justice system positions. (FE)

2025-2026 Regular Session Introduced by Scott Allen and 17 co-sponsors

AB 514 encourages local/regional water suppliers to develop emergency water supplies for drought resilience, but imposes no mandates or funding and merely signals state policy.

Failed to concur in pursuant to Senate Joint Resolution 1

Purpose / Intent

AB 514 declares a state policy to encourage — but not require — local and regional water suppliers to develop and make use of emergency water supplies to improve resilience during droughts or unplanned service/supply disruptions. The bill frames emergency supply development as a complement to water‑use efficiency and broader resilience planning in the face of climate change.

Key provisions

Adds Section 106.6 to the Water Code establishing state policy that:

Encourages (but does not mandate) development of emergency water supplies by local and regional water suppliers.
Supports the use of those supplies during droughts or unplanned supply/service disruptions.

Definitions:

“Emergency water supplies” — water supplies to which a water supplier has an established legal right, developed and identified in a water shortage contingency plan or drought plan, intended to increase the supplier’s reliability during drought or unplanned disruptions; these are supplies in addition to baseline (non‑shortage) sources.
“Water supplier” — any public or privately owned supplier providing water for municipal or agricultural purposes.

Limitations and clarifications:

The section does not require a water supplier to add or modify operational or demand‑management plans.
It does not authorize interference with water rights, contractual rights, or statutory obligations related to exchange, conveyance, or storage.
It does not obligate suppliers to modify existing water shortage contingency or drought plans.

Who is affected

Primary subjects: public and private water suppliers that provide water for municipal or agricultural uses.

Secondary effects: local/regional planners, regional water coordination efforts, and entities that fund or incentivize resilience projects (e.g., grant programs), since the policy could shape priorities even though it creates no funding or mandate.

Procedural / timeline notes

Author: Assemblymember C. Petrie‑Norris.

Legislative Counsel’s Digest indicates: majority vote, no appropriation, fiscal committee review required.

Key actions:

Introduced and read first time: 02/10/2025
Referred to Assembly Water, Parks & Wildlife Committee: 02/24/2025
Amended in committee and re‑referred; passed out of committee (Ayes 13, Noes 0) and re‑referred to Appropriations: 04/30/2025
Set for first hearing and placed on suspense file: 05/14/2025
Re‑referred to Appropriations and held under submission: 05/23/2025

Practical impact

AB 514 is predominantly declaratory: it signals state support for locally and regionally developed emergency supplies and may encourage investment, planning, and regional collaboration.

Because it imposes no new mandates, funding, or regulatory changes and preserves existing water‑rights and contractual protections, its immediate legal effect is limited to policy guidance rather than enforceable requirements.

If adopted, it could influence grant programs, regional planning priorities, and supplier decisions by providing an explicit state policy endorsement of emergency supply development.

Bill