---
type: "Bill"
title: "Groundwater management plans."
description: "(1) Existing law authorizes specified local agencies that provide water service to adopt and implement a groundwater management plan. Existing law requires a local agency that elects to develop a groundwater management plan to hold a hearing prior to adopting a resolution of intention to draft a plan and, after the plan is prepared, to hold a 2nd hearing to determine whether to adopt the plan. Existing law requires the local agency to publish a specified notice before each of these hearings. Existing law requires a local agency to prepare a groundwater management plan within 2 years of the date of the adoption of the resolution of intention."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20112012"
identifier: "AB 359"
citation: "California AB 359 (20112012)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Groundwater management plans."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Huffman"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 25
vote_count: 9
first_action: "2011-02-14"
last_action: "2011-10-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/1ef7dc47-4e74-4b84-9771-dccb8a827a31"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB359"
source_hash: "c0a26cb7f3ab078150aba56ed320d43f75fd2be4cfb70fbcae52dab7e9e9939c"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ca"]
---

# California AB 359 (20112012) — Groundwater management plans.

(1) Existing law authorizes specified local agencies that provide water service to adopt and implement a groundwater management plan. Existing law requires a local agency that elects to develop a groundwater management plan to hold a hearing prior to adopting a resolution of intention to draft a plan and, after the plan is prepared, to hold a 2nd hearing to determine whether to adopt the plan. Existing law requires the local agency to publish a specified notice before each of these hearings. Existing law requires a local agency to prepare a groundwater management plan within 2 years of the date of the adoption of the resolution of intention.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **02/14/11 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB359&version=20110AB35999INT)
2. **04/11/11 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB359&version=20110AB35998AMD)
3. **05/27/11 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB359&version=20110AB35997AMD)
4. **06/30/11 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB359&version=20110AB35996AMD)
5. **10/08/11 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB359&version=20110AB35994CHP)
6. **AB359** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB359)
7. **09/08/11 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB359&version=20110AB35995ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on Local Government. — **7–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB359 Huffman By Pavley — **26–10** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended. — **11–6** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **6–3** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on Appropriations. — **5–3** (pass) · lower
- AB 359 HUFFMAN Assembly Third Reading — **74–1** (pass) · lower
- AB 359 HUFFMAN Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **56–19** (pass) · lower
- Placed on Appropriations Suspense file. — **8–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended, and re-refer to the Committee on Appropriations. — **5–2** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Huffman — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2011-02-14** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2011-02-15** From printer. May be heard in committee March 17.
- **2011-02-24** Referred to Coms. on W., P. & W. and L. GOV. `referral-committee`
- **2011-03-22** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on L. GOV. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (March 22). Re-referred to Com. on L. GOV. `referral-committee, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-04-11** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on L. GOV. Read second time and amended. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2011-04-12** Re-referred to Com. on L. GOV. `referral-committee`
- **2011-04-28** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 3.) (April 27). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-05-11** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2011-05-27** From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 11. Noes 6.) (May 27). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-05-27** Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `reading-2, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2011-05-31** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2011-06-01** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 74. Noes 1. Page 1719.) `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2011-06-01** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2011-06-08** Referred to Com. on N.R. & W. `referral-committee`
- **2011-06-29** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (June 28). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-06-30** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `reading-2, reading-1, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2011-08-15** In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2011-08-25** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 6. Noes 3.) (August 25). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-08-29** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2011-08-30** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 26. Noes 10. Page 2164.). `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2011-08-31** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after September 2 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2011-09-02** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 56. Noes 19. Page 2852.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2011-09-16** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 11:30 a.m.
- **2011-10-08** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2011-10-08** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 572, Statutes of 2011.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/1ef7dc47-4e74-4b84-9771-dccb8a827a31`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).