republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20132014/ab-426.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Water: water transfers: water right decrees."
description: "Existing law regulates water transfers and, among other things, allows a permittee or licensee to temporarily change the point of diversion, place of use, or purpose of use due to a transfer or exchange of water or water rights if the transfer would only involve the amount of water that would have been consumptively used or stored by the permittee or licensee in the absence of the proposed temporary change, would not injure any legal user of the water, and would not unreasonably affect fish, wildlife, or other instream beneficial uses. Under existing law, any water right determined under a court decree issued after January 1, 1981, is transferable, as specified."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20132014"
identifier: "AB 426"
citation: "California AB 426 (20132014)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Water: water transfers: water right decrees."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Salas"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 22
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2013-02-15"
last_action: "2013-10-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/5cd1deeb-f75f-49f0-b2d3-92e1b9518c0e"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB426"
source_hash: "010d1138e3a3e61524deb6943f7825adf7d7955770c90ebd1b990e91155585c9"
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 426 (20132014) — Water: water transfers: water right decrees.

Existing law regulates water transfers and, among other things, allows a permittee or licensee to temporarily change the point of diversion, place of use, or purpose of use due to a transfer or exchange of water or water rights if the transfer would only involve the amount of water that would have been consumptively used or stored by the permittee or licensee in the absence of the proposed temporary change, would not injure any legal user of the water, and would not unreasonably affect fish, wildlife, or other instream beneficial uses. Under existing law, any water right determined under a court decree issued after January 1, 1981, is transferable, as specified.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/15/13 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB426&version=20130AB42699INT)
2. **03/19/13 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB426&version=20130AB42698AMD)
3. **04/23/13 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB426&version=20130AB42697AMD)
4. **10/08/13 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB426&version=20130AB42695CHP)
5. **AB426** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB426)
6. **09/12/13 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB426&version=20130AB42696ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass. — **12–5** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on Appropriations. — **10–5** (pass) · lower
- AB 426 SALAS Assembly Third Reading — **51–23** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB426 Salas By Gaines — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but re-refer to the Committee on Appropriations. — **9–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Salas — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2013-02-15** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2013-02-19** From printer. May be heard in committee March 21.
- **2013-03-19** Referred to Com. on W.,P. & W. `referral-committee`
- **2013-03-19** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on W.,P. & W. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2013-03-20** Re-referred to Com. on W.,P. & W. `referral-committee`
- **2013-04-16** In committee: Set, first hearing. Further hearing to be set.
- **2013-04-23** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on W.,P. & W. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2013-04-24** Re-referred to Com. on W.,P. & W. `referral-committee`
- **2013-04-30** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 10. Noes 5.) (April 30). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee, committee-passage`
- **2013-05-16** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 12. Noes 5.) (May 15). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2013-05-20** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2013-05-23** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 51. Noes 23. Page 1566.) `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2013-05-23** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2013-06-06** Referred to Com. on N.R. & W. `referral-committee`
- **2013-06-25** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (June 25). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee, committee-passage`
- **2013-07-11** From committee: Be placed on second reading file pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. `committee-passage`
- **2013-08-12** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2013-09-06** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 38. Noes 0. Page 2178.). `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2013-09-06** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2013-09-24** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
- **2013-10-08** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2013-10-08** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 634, Statutes of 2013.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/5cd1deeb-f75f-49f0-b2d3-92e1b9518c0e`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).