A state bill that aims to address inequities in groundwater adjudications is sitting on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk awaiting his signature.  

Adrianne Davies, Owen McAleer and Gabi Rosenfeld are 3L UCLA Law students who worked on Assembly Bill 779 by Assemblymember Lori Wilson. The bill was also recently highlighted by the Los Angeles Times. 

Groundwater adjudications are the legal process for settling a dispute over water rights. These proceedings often take years and cost millions of dollars. This puts historically marginalized groundwater users at a disadvantage when it comes to equitable access to clean and safe water sources. 

In a recent Legal Planet post, the three students explain how AB 779 would change the groundwater adjudication process through four major improvements. 

Firstly, AB 779 will ensure courts have considered “the water use of and accessibility of water for small farmers and disadvantaged communities” while making a judgement. Secondly, it ensures the groundwater sustainability agency (GSA) in their basin receives all pleading and briefing materials from involved parties. The bill will also allow the court to refer groundwater adjudications to the State Water Resources Control Board, helping courts to better scientifically understand groundwater use in a basin. Lastly, AB 779 creates precautionary measures to prevent the over-pumping of groundwater amidst an adjudication ruling. 

As students in UCLA Law’s California Environmental Legislation and Policy Clinic for the 2022-2023 academic year, Davies, McAleer, and Rosenfeld provided several rounds of research memos before settling on a final proposal with Assemblymember Wilson’s office. In March of 2023, the law students travelled to Sacramento to supply expert witness testimony in support of AB 779.  

The Los Angeles Times mentioned the bill—as well as Adrianne Davies, Owen McAleer and Gabi Rosenfeld by name—in a September 20 story about the threat of California groundwater wells drying up before the landmark Sustainable Groundwater Management Act takes full effect. The Times quotes Davies, McAleer, and Rosenfeld from a March 2023 blog post they wrote explaining AB 779, stating that the bill will “level the playing field for all groundwater users, particularly small farmers and farmers of color, and would align the adjudication process more closely with the goals of SGMA.” 

AB 779 was one of many environmental bills that cleared the Legislature in the last days of the 2023 legislative session, but it is one of the only bills dealing with groundwater management. Davies, McAleer and Rosenfeld look to the future in their recent Legal Planet post stating, “While there is still much to be done to ensure sustainable and equitable management of our state’s precious groundwater resources, these provisions would make meaningful progress, and we hope they will soon be enshrined in state law.”