By Monserrat Solis, SJV Water
More than 30 people gathered recently in Hanford to hear about the progress of the Kings County Farm Bureau’s lawsuit to hold off state-ordered groundwater pumping fees, reporting requirements and other sanctions.
The April 30 event was the Farm Bureau’s second Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) informational meeting to discuss its lawsuit against the state Water Resources Control Board.
Executive Director Dusty Ference briefly explained the basic tenets of SGMA, which aims to have local entities bring aquifers into balance by 2040. Under SGMA, local agencies are mandated to form groundwater sustainability agencies (GSAs) in order to regulate pumping.
If those GSAs can’t come up with plans deemed adequate by the state, the Water Board can put entire regions on probation, which happened in 2024 in the Tulare Lake subbasin, which covers most of Kings County. Under probation, farmers are ordered to meter and register their wells paying a $350 annual fee, report extractions and pay $20-per-acre-foot pumped. That’s on top of fees farmers already pay to their GSAs.
The Farm Bureau sued, claiming the state overreached its authority.
Ference was confident the Farm Bureau would win after Kings County Superior Judge Kathy Cuiffini issued a preliminary injunction pausing the probationary sanctions and stating the state’s actions were not transparent.
“We will prevail,” Ference said.
The state has appealed the injunction, which is still in process at the Fifth District Court of Appeal. A trial date for the underlying lawsuit will be set once the appellate court rules on the injunction.
Ference and other growers felt the lawsuit has been beneficial.
“We’re buying time,” he said. “This time has benefited everyone in the subbasin.”
Even though the state sanctions have been paused, GSAs within the Tulare Lake subbasin have been instituting many of the same measures that would be required under probation, including registering well locations and reporting extractions.
Some of the five GSAs in the region have approved pumping policies and are enforcing penalties for ignoring those rules.
“I’m hopeful that the appellate court will rule in our favor,” Helen Sullivan said at the meeting April 30.
Sullivan is Farm Bureau Board Member and Mid-Kings River GSA advisory group alternate. She was one of two Farm Bureau members named in the suit.
“It’s more than just agriculture, it’s going to affect everyone. It’s more than the Tulare Lake subbasin. It’s all of California.”
Bryon Fox, a farmer in the Kaweah subbasin who has fallowed 300 acres due to water scarcity, was curious about the lack of involvement in the lawsuit by neighboring GSAs.
“I’m scratching my head as to why other GSAs haven’t joined the fight,” Fox said. “Right now they’re staying out of the battle.”
GSAs in the Tulare Lake and Tule subbasin, the only two subbasin to be placed on probation, so far, have publicly stayed neutral on the lawsuit.
Last year, the Tulare County Farm Bureau contributed $10,000 to its counterpart, calling it a “strong message” to the Water Board.
Though GSAs aren’t helping fund the fight, growers and businesses in the area have raised about $500,000 to fuel the lawsuit against the state.
Still, about $1 million is still needed to take the case to trial, Ference said.
