---
type: "Bill"
title: "Sustainable Groundwater Management Act: groundwater sustainability plans."
description: "Existing law, the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, requires all groundwater basins designated as high- or medium-priority basins by the Department of Water Resources to be managed under a groundwater sustainability plan or coordinated groundwater sustainability plans, except as specified."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20252026"
identifier: "AB 709"
citation: "California AB 709 (20252026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["SustainableGroundwaterManagementAct", "groundwatersustainabilityplans"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Jeff Gonzalez"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 15
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2025-02-14"
last_action: "2025-10-07"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/df2c7a30-d7e5-4303-a902-8af6bdd5743d"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB709"
source_hash: "64fcf894bae1e83aa97375dffd86d8bcb0d9fb37e097c5c0a5011e79b94e9231"
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 709 (20252026) — Sustainable Groundwater Management Act: groundwater sustainability plans.

Existing law, the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, requires all groundwater basins designated as high- or medium-priority basins by the Department of Water Resources to be managed under a groundwater sustainability plan or coordinated groundwater sustainability plans, except as specified.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/14/25 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB709&version=20250AB70999INT)
2. **10/07/25 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB709&version=20250AB70997CHP)
3. **AB709** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB709)
4. **09/15/25 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB709&version=20250AB70998ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **13–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB709 Jeff Gonzalez By Seyarto — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 709 Jeff Gonzalez Consent Calendar Second Day — **69–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Jeff Gonzalez — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-02-14** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2025-02-15** From printer. May be heard in committee March 17.
- **2025-03-03** Referred to Com. on W. P., & W. `referral-committee`
- **2025-04-30** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 13. Noes 0.) (April 29). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-05-01** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2025-05-08** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 69. Noes 0. Page 1485.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2025-05-08** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2025-05-21** Referred to Com. on N.R. & W. `referral-committee`
- **2025-06-10** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (June 10). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-06-11** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2025-09-11** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 40. Noes 0. Page 2895.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2025-09-12** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2025-09-23** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
- **2025-10-07** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2025-10-07** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 439, Statutes of 2025. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/df2c7a30-d7e5-4303-a902-8af6bdd5743d`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).