republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20172018/ab-1944.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Sustainable groundwater management: San Luis Rey Valley Groundwater Basin."
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 that are designated as basins subject to critical conditions of overdraft to be managed under a groundwater sustainability plan or coordinated groundwater sustainability plans by January 31, 2020, and requires all other groundwater basins designated as high- or medium-priority basins to be managed under a groundwater sustainability plan or coordinated groundwater sustainability plans by January 31, 2022, except as specified. The act requires the boundaries of a basin to be as identified in a specified report of the department, unless other basin boundaries are established, as prescribed."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20172018"
identifier: "AB 1944"
citation: "California AB 1944 (20172018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Sustainable groundwater management: San Luis Rey Valley Groundwater Basin."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Eduardo Garcia"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 22
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2018-01-29"
last_action: "2018-09-05"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/d7eaef75-9a7c-480a-bebf-5027a852b389"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1944"
source_hash: "2fc7c4b97d54d4317ac067faf93405086f1641640ddb81bf54051b5382ad1362"
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 1944 (20172018) — Sustainable groundwater management: San Luis Rey Valley Groundwater Basin.

Existing law, the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, requires all groundwater basins designated as high- or medium-priority basins by the Department of Water Resources that are designated as basins subject to critical conditions of overdraft to be managed under a groundwater sustainability plan or coordinated groundwater sustainability plans by January 31, 2020, and requires all other groundwater basins designated as high- or medium-priority basins to be managed under a groundwater sustainability plan or coordinated groundwater sustainability plans by January 31, 2022, except as specified. The act requires the boundaries of a basin to be as identified in a specified report of the department, unless other basin boundaries are established, as prescribed.

## Version chain

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

1. **01/29/18 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1944&version=20170AB194499INT)
2. **04/11/18 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1944&version=20170AB194498AMD)
3. **06/13/18 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1944&version=20170AB194497AMD)
4. **09/05/18 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1944&version=20170AB194495CHP)
5. **AB1944** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1944)
6. **08/22/18 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1944&version=20170AB194496ENR)

## Votes

- AB 1944 GARCIA, E. Consent Calendar Second Day — **71–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 1944 GARCIA, E. Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **80–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **12–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB1944 Eduardo Garcia et al. By Hueso — **36–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **17–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **9–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Eduardo Garcia — primary (person)
- Hueso — principal coauthor (person)
- Waldron — author (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2018-01-29** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2018-01-30** From printer. May be heard in committee March 1.
- **2018-02-08** Referred to Com. on W.,P., & W. `referral-committee`
- **2018-03-21** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2018-04-10** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 12. Noes 0.) (April 10). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2018-04-11** Read second time and amended. `reading-1, amendment-passage, reading-2`
- **2018-04-12** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2018-04-25** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 17. Noes 0.) (April 25). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2018-04-26** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2018-05-03** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 71. Noes 0. Page 5004.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2018-05-03** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2018-05-17** Referred to Com. on N.R. & W. `referral-committee`
- **2018-06-12** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (June 12). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2018-06-13** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `amendment-passage, reading-2, referral-committee, reading-1`
- **2018-07-02** From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. `committee-passage, reading-2`
- **2018-07-03** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2018-08-13** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 36. Noes 0. Page 5266.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2018-08-14** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after August 16 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2018-08-20** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 80. Noes 0. Page 6368.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2018-08-24** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4:30 p.m.
- **2018-09-05** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2018-09-05** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 255, Statutes of 2018.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/d7eaef75-9a7c-480a-bebf-5027a852b389`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).