The Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act establishes a statewide program for the control of the quality of all the waters in the state and makes certain legislative findings and declarations. Existing law establishes the State Water Resources Control Board to exercise the adjudicatory and regulatory functions of the state in the field of water resources. Pursuant to its authority, the board adopted the Water Quality Control Plan for the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Estuary (Bay-Delta Plan) that, among other things, establishes objectives to protect the beneficial uses of the water and prevent nuisance within the waters specified in the Bay-Delta Plan.

Existing law, the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report (EIR) on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment. CEQA, except as provided, when a regulatory program of a state agency requires a plan or other written documentation containing environmental information, authorizes that plan or other information to be submitted in lieu of the EIR if the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency has certified that regulatory program, as specified.

This bill would require the board to adopt an update to the Bay-Delta Plan that addresses the Sacramento River and its tributaries, Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta) eastside tributaries, and the Delta no later than August 31, 2026. The bill would exempt the board from the requirements to prepare, provide for review, transmit to state agencies, and include written or oral responses to comments on a specified draft substitute environmental document, as provided.

(a) The Sacramento and San Joaquin River systems, including their tributaries, drain water from about 40 percent of California’s land area, supporting a variety of beneficial uses, including fish and wildlife, agricultural, municipal, and tribal tradition and culture.

(b) The San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Estuary (Bay-Delta) is one of the most important ecosystems in California and the hub of the state’s water supply system.

(c) The State Water Resources Control Board develops water quality control plans, which are enforceable standards designed to protect the water quality of lakes, rivers, and streams to ensure they can continue to be used for purposes like recreation, agriculture, and municipal uses.

(d) Water quality control plans specify beneficial uses, water quality objectives to protect those beneficial uses, and a program of implementation to achieve those objectives.

(e) The State Water Resources Control Board’s water quality control planning programs are certified as regulatory programs by the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency and are exempt from certain procedural requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act, including the preparation of an environmental impact report, and a draft staff report for a water quality control plan update includes functionally equivalent analyses as an environmental impact report that complies with the California Environmental Quality Act.

(f) The State Water Resources Control Board is considering updates to the Water Quality Control Plan for the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Estuary (Bay-Delta Plan) focused on the Sacramento River and its tributaries, Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta) eastside tributaries, interior Delta flows, and Delta outflows, including consideration of proposed voluntary agreements, and the Bay-Delta Plan update process has been underway since 2009.

(g) Over the past several years, significant public engagement has occurred relative to the Bay-Delta Plan update, including all of the following:

(1) At least 15 substantive reports and notices related to reports and plans have been issued for the Bay-Delta Plan update since 2009.

(2) At least 19 public workshops and working meetings have occurred for Bay-Delta Plan update engagement since 2023.

(3) At least 10 public comment periods have been noticed and have provided opportunity for public engagement and response to comments by the State Water Resources Control Board and its staff during the Bay-Delta Plan update process.

(4) At least five independent science reviews have been conducted on the scientific basis of the alternatives in the draft updated Bay-Delta Plan.

(h) It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would streamline and accelerate the procedural steps and internal processes to allow the State Water Resources Control Board to consider final approval of the Bay-Delta Plan update as expeditiously as possible.

13170.6.

(a) The board shall adopt an update to the Water Quality Control Plan for the San Francisco Bay/ Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Estuary that addresses the Sacramento River and its tributaries, Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta eastside tributaries, and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta no later than August 31, 2026.

(b) (1) Notwithstanding the requirements of subparagraph (D) of paragraph (2) of subdivision (d) of, and paragraph (1) of subdivision (e) of, Section 21080.5 of the Public Resources Code, and notwithstanding the requirements of subdivision (d) of Section 3779 of, and paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 3779.5 of, Title 23 of the California Code of Regulations, the board is exempt from the requirements to prepare, provide for review, transmit to state agencies, and include written or oral responses to comments on the draft substitute environmental document titled “Staff Report/Substitute Environmental Document in Support of Potential Updates to the Water Quality Control Plan for the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Estuary for the Sacramento River and its Tributaries, Delta Eastside Tributaries, and Delta,” as updated, released for public comment prior to December 31, 2025.

(2) The absence of written or oral responses to comments on the draft substitute environmental document titled “Staff Report/Substitute Environmental Document in Support of Potential Updates to the Water Quality Control Plan for the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Estuary for the Sacramento River and its Tributaries, Delta Eastside Tributaries, and Delta,” as updated, released for public comment prior to December 31, 2025, is not a basis for determining that the board acted unlawfully or for otherwise setting aside or enjoining a board action pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code).