---
type: "Bill"
title: "Water rights: appropriation."
description: "Under existing law, the State Water Resources Control Board administers a water rights program pursuant to which the board grants permits and licenses to appropriate water. As a prerequisite to the issuance of a permit to appropriate water, existing law requires certain facts to exist, including that there is unappropriated water available to supply the applicant."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20212022"
identifier: "SB 1205"
citation: "California SB 1205 (20212022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Water rights: appropriation."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Allen"]
version_count: 8
action_count: 29
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2022-02-17"
last_action: "2022-09-16"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/b2315d2b-fee4-43d5-a2fc-86e1745382bc"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB1205"
source_hash: "98e6231416a15e0e21903dab05cf1f2bebca390f8e114df2ed725bdb8d7a8490"
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 SB 1205 (20212022) — Water rights: appropriation.

Under existing law, the State Water Resources Control Board administers a water rights program pursuant to which the board grants permits and licenses to appropriate water. As a prerequisite to the issuance of a permit to appropriate water, existing law requires certain facts to exist, including that there is unappropriated water available to supply the applicant.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/17/22 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB1205&version=20210SB120599INT)
2. **03/17/22 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB1205&version=20210SB120598AMD)
3. **04/27/22 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB1205&version=20210SB120597AMD)
4. **06/30/22 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB1205&version=20210SB120596AMD)
5. **08/24/22 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB1205&version=20210SB120595AMD)
6. **09/16/22 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB1205&version=20210SB120593CHP)
7. **SB1205** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB1205)
8. **09/09/22 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB1205&version=20210SB120594ENR)

## Votes

- SB 1205 Allen Senate Third Reading By Friedman — **65–1** (pass) · lower
- Do pass — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **8–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **12–0** (pass) · lower
- Unfinished Business SB1205 Allen et al. Concurrence — **33–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **10–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading SB1205 Allen et al. — **34–0** (pass) · upper
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Allen — primary (person)
- Hueso — coauthor (person)
- Stern — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2022-02-17** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2022-02-17** Article IV Section 8(a) of the Constitution and Joint Rule 55 dispensed with February 7, 2022, suspending the 30 calendar day requirement.
- **2022-02-18** From printer.
- **2022-03-02** Referred to Com. on N.R. & W. `referral-committee`
- **2022-03-17** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on N.R. & W. `amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2022-03-25** Set for hearing April 19.
- **2022-04-26** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 8. Noes 0. Page 3439.) (April 19). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-04-27** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2022-04-29** Set for hearing May 9.
- **2022-05-09** May 9 hearing: Placed on APPR suspense file.
- **2022-05-13** Set for hearing May 19.
- **2022-05-19** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 7. Noes 0. Page 3788.) (May 19). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-05-19** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2022-05-25** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 34. Noes 0. Page 3918.) Ordered to the Assembly. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2022-05-26** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2022-06-02** Referred to Com. on W.,P., & W. `referral-committee`
- **2022-06-29** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 10. Noes 0.) (June 28). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-06-30** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2022-08-03** August 3 set for first hearing. Placed on suspense file.
- **2022-08-11** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 12. Noes 0.) (August 11). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-08-15** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2022-08-24** Read third time and amended. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2022-08-24** Ordered to third reading.
- **2022-08-31** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2022-08-31** In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
- **2022-08-31** Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 33. Noes 0. Page 5395.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-09-13** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
- **2022-09-16** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2022-09-16** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 369, Statutes of 2022. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/b2315d2b-fee4-43d5-a2fc-86e1745382bc`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).