State Water Resources Control Board: Administrative Hearings Office: Water Rights Hearings Office Fund.

Existing law, operative July 1, 2019, creates within the State Water Resources Control Board an Administrative Hearings Office composed of attorneys qualified to act as hearing officers in adjudicative proceedings involving water rights matters. Existing law establishes the Water Rights Fund and provides that moneys in the fund are available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for, among other things, the administration of the board's water rights program. This bill would require the board to assess filing fees for the filing of briefing papers or motions in a hearing conducted by the office, as specified. The bill would require filing fees related to hearings conducted by the office and any fine or monetary penalty imposed as a result of a hearing conducted by the office to be deposited in the Water Rights Hearings Office Fund, which the bill would establish. Under the bill, moneys in the Water Rights Hearings Office Fund are available to the board, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for expenditure in the administration of the office and would require moneys deposited in the Water Rights Hearings Office Fund to directly reduce the funding used from the Water Rights Fund to support the office.