AB929 - Abandoned endowment care cemeteries: County of Marin.

Amended IN Senate August 26, 2026 Amended IN Senate June 26, 2025 Amended IN Assembly May 01, 2025 Amended IN Assembly March 24, 2025 CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION Assembly Bill No. 929 Introduced by Assembly Member Connolly February 19, 2025 An act to amend Section 10721 of, and to amend, repeal, and add Sections 10726.4, 10727.4, and 10730.2 of, the Water Code, relating to water. add and repeal Section 8834 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to cemeteries. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 929, as amended, Connolly. Sustainable groundwater management: managed wetlands. Abandoned endowment care cemeteries: County of Marin. Existing law, the Cemetery and Funeral Act, establishes the Cemetery and Funeral Bureau within the Department of Consumer Affairs and sets forth its powers and duties relating to the licensure and regulation of, among others, cemeteries and cemetery authorities. This bill, if the County of Marin acquires title to the Mount Tamalpais Mortuary and Cemetery pursuant to specified provisions, would authorize the county to transfer its ownership, care, and management to a California nonprofit organization in good standing or a cemetery authority, as specified. The bill would provide that a successor that acquires ownership of, or assumes responsibility for the care and management of, the Mount Tamalpais Mortuary and Cemetery is not liable for any debts, obligations, taxes, fines, judgments, or recordkeeping failures of a prior owner or cemetery authority arising before the date the successor acquires ownership or assumes responsibility for the Mount Tamalpais Mortuary and Cemetery. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2029. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of Marin. This bill would also make its provisions operative contingent on the enactment of SB 1312 of the 2025–26 Regular Session. (1) 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. Existing law defines various terms for purposes of the act. This bill would add various defined terms for purposes of the act, including the terms “managed wetland” and “small community water system.” (2) Existing law authorizes any local agency or combination of local agencies overlying a groundwater basin to decide to become a groundwater sustainability agency for that basin and imposes specified duties upon that agency or combination of agencies, as provided. Existing law grants a groundwater sustainability agency specified authority and authorizes a groundwater sustainability agency to regulate groundwater extraction using that authority. This bill would prohibit a groundwater sustainability agency from using that authority regarding the establishment of groundwater extraction allocations for small community water systems serving disadvantaged communities from permitted public water supply wells and to managed wetland extractors, except as specified. The bill would repeal this provision on January 1, 2029. (3) Existing law requires a groundwater sustainability plan, where appropriate and in collaboration with the appropriate local agencies, to contain certain information, including control of saline water intrusion, wellhead protection areas and recharge areas, a well abandonment and well destruction program, well construction policies, and impacts on groundwater-dependent ecosystems. This bill would additionally require the information regarding a groundwater sustainability plan to include, among other things, the plan’s water supply and economic impacts on managed wetlands, managed wetland extractors, and small community water systems serving disadvantaged communities. The bill would repeal this provision on January 1, 2029. (4) Existing law authorizes a groundwater sustainability agency that adopts a groundwater sustainability plan to impose fees on the extraction of groundwater from the basin to fund costs of groundwater management, as specified. This bill would prohibit a groundwater sustainability agency from imposing a fee upon a small community water system serving a disadvantaged community or imposing a fee for managed wetland purposes, provided the water use for each user does not increase above what was historically required to support the small community water system or the managed wetland. If a small community water system or a managed wetland extractor increases its extraction of groundwater above what was historically required to support the small community water system or annually flood the managed wetland, the bill would authorize a groundwater sustainability agency to impose a fee for the usage above the historical amount. The bill would repeal this provision on January 1, 2029. Digest Key Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES NO Local Program: NO Bill Text The people of the State of California do enact as follows: SECTION 1. Section 8834 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read: 8834. (a) Notwithstanding Section 8833, if the County of Marin acquires title to the Mount Tamalpais Mortuary and Cemetery pursuant to this chapter, the county may subsequently transfer its ownership, care, and management to either of the following: (1) A California nonprofit organization in good standing. (2) A cemetery authority licensed under the Cemetery and Funeral Act (Chapter 12 (commencing with Section 7600) of Division 3 of the Business and Professions Code). (b) A successor described in subdivision (a) that acquires ownership of, or assumes responsibility for the care and management of, the Mount Tamalpais Mortuary and Cemetery shall not be liable for any debts, obligations, taxes, fines, judgments, or recordkeeping failures of a prior owner or cemetery authority arising before the date the successor acquires ownership or assumes responsibility for the care and management of the Mount Tamalpais Mortuary and Cemetery. Nothing in this subdivision relieves the successor of the obligation to honor valid burial rights or prepaid burial contracts. (c) The protections provided by subdivision (b) shall apply to any transfer described in subdivision (a), regardless of when the County of Marin acquired title to the Mount Tamalpais Mortuary and Cemetery and regardless of whether the transfer to the successor occurs before, on, or after the effective date of this section. (d) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2029, and as of that date is repealed. SEC. 2. The Legislature finds and declares that a special statute is necessary and that a general statute cannot be made applicable within the meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California Constitution because the Mount Tamalpais Mortuary and Cemetery in the County of Marin presents unique circumstances resulting from prolonged regulatory, financial, maintenance, and public health and safety concerns, and narrowly tailored provisions are necessary to facilitate its transfer to a responsible successor capable of providing for its long-term care and maintenance and honoring existing burial rights. SEC. 3. This act shall take effect only if Senate Bill 1312 of the 2025–26 Regular Session is enacted and becomes operative. SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (a) The Legislature recognized the human right to water in 2012 with the passage of AB 685. A decade later, communities still struggle to access safe and affordable drinking water. (b) More than 85 percent of California’s community water systems are dependent upon groundwater for drinking water and sanitation. For hundreds of small water systems, groundwater is their only water source. (c) Disadvantaged communities served by domestic wells and small community water systems are negatively and disproportionately impacted by unsustainable groundwater use and resulting dry wells and worsening water quality. (d) Many groundwater sustainability plans fail to adequately consider or address the impacts of their plans on domestic well users and households served by small community water systems. (e) Managed wetlands are an important public trust resource and beneficial user of groundwater because they provide significant habitat for migratory waterfowl of the Pacific Flyway, for endangered species, and for many other resident wildlife and fish populations. Wetlands provide additional public benefits, including water quality improvement, groundwater recharge, flood protection, streambank stabilization, wildlife-dependent recreation, and opportunities for scientific research. (f) Approximately 5 percent of historic wetlands remain in California. Consistent with Executive Order No. W-59-93, in 2024, the Legislature recognized with the passage of AB 2875 that it is the policy of the state to ensure no net loss and long-term gain in the quantity, quality, and permanence of wetlands acreage and values in California. Accordingly, it is the policy of the state to ensure that no net loss of managed wetland acreage or habitat values results from implementation of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. (g) Populations of migratory ducks, geese, shorebirds, and other migratory birds have significantly declined since 1850 due to loss of habitat, including wetland habitat. Continued loss of wetland and managed wetland habitats in California will contribute to continuing declines in some migratory bird populations. (h) Protecting managed wetlands that are subject to the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act will avoid a net loss of wetlands and allow groundwater sustainability agencies to prioritize groundwater sustainability for agricultural, municipal, and industrial water users. SEC. 2. Section 10721 of the Water Code is amended to read: 10721. Unless the context otherwise requires, the following definitions govern the construction of this part: (a) “Adjudication action” means an action filed in the superior or federal district court to determine the rights to extract groundwater from a basin or store water within a basin, including, but not limited to, actions to quiet title respecting rights to extract or store groundwater or an action brought to impose a physical solution on a basin. (b) “Basin” means a groundwater basin or subbasin identified and defined in Bulletin 118 or as modified pursuant to Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 10722). (c) “Bulletin 118” means the department’s report entitled “California’s Groundwater: Bulletin 118” updated in 2003, as it may be subsequently updated or revised in accordance with Section 12924. (d) “Coordination agreement” means a legal agreement adopted between two or more groundwater sustainability agencies that provides the basis for coordinating multiple agencies or groundwater sustainability plans within a basin pursuant to this part. (e) “De minimis extractor” means a person who extracts, for domestic purposes, two acre-feet or less per year. (f) “Disadvantaged community” has the same meaning as defined in Section 79505.5. (g) “Governing body” means the legislative body of a groundwater sustainability agency. (h) “Groundwater” means water beneath the surface of the earth within the zone below the water table in which the soil is completely saturated with water, but does not include water that flows in known and definite channels unless included pursuant to Section 10722.5. (i) “Groundwater extraction facility” means a device or method for extracting groundwater from within a basin. (j) “Groundwater recharge” or “recharge” means the augmentation of groundwater, by natural or artificial means. (k) “Groundwater sustainability agency” means one or more local agencies that implement the provisions of this part. For purposes of imposing fees pursuant to Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 10730) or taking action to enforce a groundwater sustainability plan, “groundwater sustainability agency” also means each local agency comprising the groundwater sustainability agency if the plan authorizes separate agency action. (l) “Groundwater sustainability plan” or “plan” means a plan of a groundwater sustainability agency proposed or adopted pursuant to this part. (m) “Groundwater sustainability program” means a coordinated and ongoing activity undertaken to benefit a basin, pursuant to a groundwater sustainability plan. (n) “In-lieu use” means the use of surface water by persons that could otherwise extract groundwater in order to leave groundwater in the basin. (o) “Local agency” means a local public agency that has water supply, water management, or land use responsibilities within a groundwater basin. (p) (1) “Managed wetland” means the portion of a publicly or privately owned property that receives seasonal, semipermanent, or permanent flooding that is supplemental to natural rainfall or runoff to simulate natural processes that promote food production, habitat for the benefit of wetland-dependent species, and is designated as, or administered as, any of the following: (A) State wildlife area or ecological reserve. (B) National wildlife refuge. (C) Central Valley Project Improvement Act wetland habitat area. (D) Conservation easement held by a federal or state resource agency, a local agency whose primary function is managing land or water for wetland habitat purposes, or a nongovernmental conservation organization. (E) Wildlife habitat contract or other conservation agreement of no less than 10 years in duration administered by the Department of Fish and Wildlife, Wildlife Conservation Board, United States Fish and Wildlife Service, or Natural Resources Conservation Service. (2) The term “managed wetland” does not include land managed for commercial crop production, or an artificial wetland constructed primarily as a groundwater bank or recharge basin, tailwater recirculation or sedimentation pond, evaporation pond, irrigation or stock watering pond, area that filters urban or industrial stormwater runoff, or wastewater treatment pond, even if the land is part of a conservation easement, or any federally reserved water rights. (q) “Managed wetland extractor” means a person who extracts groundwater for managed wetland purposes. (r) “Operator” means a person operating a groundwater extraction facility. The owner of a groundwater extraction facility shall be conclusively presumed to be the operator unless a satisfactory showing is made to the governing body of the groundwater sustainability agency that the groundwater extraction facility actually is operated by some other person. (s) “Owner” means a person owning a groundwater extraction facility or an interest in a groundwater extraction facility other than a lien to secure the payment of a debt or other obligation. (t) “Personal information” has the same mean [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]