republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20232024/sb-1304.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Underground injection control: aquifer exemption."
description: "The federal Safe Drinking Water Act regulates certain wells as Class II wells, as defined. Under existing federal law, the authority to regulate Class II wells in California is delegated to the Geologic Energy Management Division in the Department of Conservation. Under existing law, the division implements the Underground Injection Control Program pursuant to this federal delegation. The federal act prohibits certain well activities that affect underground sources of drinking water, unless those sources are located in an exempted aquifer. Existing federal law authorizes a state delegated with the responsibility of regulating Class II wells to propose that an aquifer or a portion of an aquifer be an exempted aquifer and authorizes the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) to approve the proposal if the aquifer or a portion of the aquifer meets certain criteria. Existing law requires the division, before proposing an aquifer or a portion of an aquifer for exemption, to consult with the State Water Resources Control Board and the appropriate regional water quality control board concerning conformity of the proposal with certain requirements. If the division and the state board concur that the exemption proposal may merit consideration by the USEPA, existing law requires those agencies to provide a public comment period on the proposal and to jointly conduct a public hearing. If, after the review of public comments, those agencies concur that the exemption proposal merits consideration by the USEPA, existing law requires the division to submit the exemption proposal to the USEPA."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20232024"
identifier: "SB 1304"
citation: "California SB 1304 (20232024)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Underground injection control", "aquifer exemption"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Limón"]
version_count: 8
action_count: 30
vote_count: 9
first_action: "2024-02-15"
last_action: "2024-09-22"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/e1ffd9f6-6f01-448b-99ba-aeb59c652605"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB1304"
source_hash: "be77b5a0e12794adb054c729dbd26482321bb43aa05d1c839e4cac42efa0db7f"
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 1304 (20232024) — Underground injection control: aquifer exemption.

The federal Safe Drinking Water Act regulates certain wells as Class II wells, as defined. Under existing federal law, the authority to regulate Class II wells in California is delegated to the Geologic Energy Management Division in the Department of Conservation. Under existing law, the division implements the Underground Injection Control Program pursuant to this federal delegation. The federal act prohibits certain well activities that affect underground sources of drinking water, unless those sources are located in an exempted aquifer. Existing federal law authorizes a state delegated with the responsibility of regulating Class II wells to propose that an aquifer or a portion of an aquifer be an exempted aquifer and authorizes the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) to approve the proposal if the aquifer or a portion of the aquifer meets certain criteria. Existing law requires the division, before proposing an aquifer or a portion of an aquifer for exemption, to consult with the State Water Resources Control Board and the appropriate regional water quality control board concerning conformity of the proposal with certain requirements. If the division and the state board concur that the exemption proposal may merit consideration by the USEPA, existing law requires those agencies to provide a public comment period on the proposal and to jointly conduct a public hearing. If, after the review of public comments, those agencies concur that the exemption proposal merits consideration by the USEPA, existing law requires the division to submit the exemption proposal to the USEPA.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/15/24 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB1304&version=20230SB130499INT)
2. **03/18/24 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB1304&version=20230SB130498AMD)
3. **04/10/24 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB1304&version=20230SB130497AMD)
4. **06/26/24 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB1304&version=20230SB130496AMD)
5. **08/19/24 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB1304&version=20230SB130495AMD)
6. **09/22/24 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB1304&version=20230SB130493CHP)
7. **SB1304** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB1304)
8. **09/04/24 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB1304&version=20230SB130494ENR)

## Votes

- Unfinished Business SB1304 Limón Concurrence — **29–10** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **4–3** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended. — **10–3** (pass) · lower
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **8–2** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Environmental Quality] — **7–3** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading — **28–10** (pass) · upper
- Do pass — **5–2** (pass) · upper
- SB 1304 Limón Senate Third Reading By Hart — **54–16** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Limón — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2024-02-15** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2024-02-16** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 17.
- **2024-02-29** Referred to Com. on RLS. `referral-committee`
- **2024-03-18** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on RLS. `amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2024-03-28** Set for hearing April 9 in N.R. & W. pending receipt.
- **2024-04-03** Re-referred to Coms. on N.R. & W. and E.Q. `referral-committee`
- **2024-04-09** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on E.Q. (Ayes 7. Noes 3. Page 3533.) (April 9). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2024-04-10** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on E.Q. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2024-04-12** Set for hearing April 24.
- **2024-04-25** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 4. Noes 3. Page 3754.) (April 24). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2024-05-03** Set for hearing May 13.
- **2024-05-13** May 13 hearing: Placed on APPR suspense file.
- **2024-05-14** Set for hearing May 16.
- **2024-05-16** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 5. Noes 2. Page 3979.) (May 16). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2024-05-16** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2024-05-21** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 28. Noes 10. Page 4070.) Ordered to the Assembly. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2024-05-22** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2024-06-03** Referred to Com. on NAT. RES. `referral-committee`
- **2024-06-25** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 8. Noes 2.) (June 24). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2024-06-26** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2024-08-07** August 7 set for first hearing. Placed on suspense file.
- **2024-08-15** From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 10. Noes 3.) (August 15). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2024-08-19** Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2024-08-20** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2024-08-29** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 54. Noes 16. Page 6885.) Ordered to the Senate. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2024-08-30** In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
- **2024-08-30** Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 29. Noes 10. Page 5732.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2024-09-10** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
- **2024-09-22** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2024-09-22** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 467, Statutes of 2024. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/e1ffd9f6-6f01-448b-99ba-aeb59c652605`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).