REGULATORY DEVELOPMENTS

January 2008

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State Water Board Issues New Water Right Fees Payment Notices to Farmers

The State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) has sent out yet another batch of invoices to water rights holders, for fiscal year 2007-2008, seeking the payment of water rights fees. Many of those receiving the invoices are objecting to the fees because the California Supreme Court has agreed to hear a challenge to the statute that authorizes the fees and the way the fees are calculated. On January 17, 2007, the Third District Court of Appeal ruled that the SWRCB’s emergency regulations establishing regulatory fees for water rights permits were unconstitutional. (California Farm Bureau Federation v. California State Water Resources Control Board, 146 Cal. App.4th 1126 (2007).) That court upheld, however, the constitutionality of § 1525 of the California Water Code and other statutes which direct the SWRCB to develop fees for water rights permits. The decision was appealed to the State Supreme Court, with the Court likely to hear oral arguments and issue an opinion in 2008.