Water quality: waste discharge requirements: infill housing projects.

The Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act (act) designates the State Water Resources Control Board and the California regional water quality control boards as the principal state agencies with authority over matters relating to water quality. The act requires the state board and the regional boards to, among other things, coordinate their respective activities to achieve a unified and effective water quality control program in the state. Under existing law, the state board and the 9 California regional water quality control boards regulate water quality and prescribe waste discharge requirements in accordance with the federal National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program established by the federal Clean Water Act and the act. This bill would require the regional water board, defined to mean the regional water board with geographic boundaries for the San Francisco Bay region, to, by July 1, 2025, initiate modifications to its waste discharge requirements, as specified. The bill would require these modifications to be completed within 6 months of initiation. Before finalizing the modifications, the bill would require the regional water board to make specified findings, including, among other things, that concerns regarding the potential impacts of the draft NPDES permit requirements on the development of housing on infill sites have been adequately addressed. The bill would make these provisions inoperative on July 1, 2028, and would repeal them on January 1, 2029. This bill would require, before modification, reissuance, or issuance of NPDES permits for stormwater discharges, the regional water board to consult with, and fully consider input from, the Association of Bay Area Governments and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission on any draft NPDES permit provision for a new development and redevelopment that may impact infill housing or implementation of infill proposals established in the sustainable communities strategy for the San Francisco Bay area. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the San Francisco Bay area.