Sustainable Groundwater Management Act: groundwater sustainability plans.

Assembly Member Jeff Gonzalez's groundwater management legislation clarifies the authority of local agencies to modify their coordination agreements after state review of their sustainability plans. The measure amends California's Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, which requires agencies overseeing high- and medium-priority basins to develop and implement groundwater sustainability plans.

Under current law, when multiple agencies manage different portions of a groundwater basin, they must jointly submit their sustainability plans along with coordination agreements detailing how they will work together. The Department of Water Resources then evaluates these submissions within two years and issues an assessment. The new legislation explicitly states that agencies may amend their coordination agreements after receiving the department's assessment, addressing uncertainty about whether such modifications were permitted under existing statute.

The measure maintains all current requirements for plan development, submission, and review while adding flexibility for agencies to adjust their collaborative approaches based on the department's feedback or changing basin conditions. This procedural clarification comes without new funding requirements or expanded regulatory obligations for either local agencies or state reviewers.