Welcome to the Ventura County Public Works Agency, Water and Sanitation Department’s Legislation page. Here you can learn about California water legislation and the laws, bills, and public records relevant to the Agency’s water and sanitation services.
California water legislation establishes the legal framework for managing, protecting, and using the state’s water resources. Proposed laws are introduced as Senate Bills (SB) or Assembly Bills (AB), considered by the California Legislature, and enacted through the legislative process. This page highlights selected legislation relevant to the Department’s services and provides information on accessing public records. Rules and Regulations implementing these laws, program-specific plans, technical documents, and regulatory compliance materials are available on the Publications and Regulatory Compliance webpage.
AB 1572 – Nonfunctional Turf Bill
AB 1572 prohibits the use of potable water for the irrigation of nonfunctional turf-lawns that serve no recreational or community purpose-located on most commercial, industrial, and institutional (CII) properties, including common areas managed by Home Owner Associations (HOAs), subject to statutory exceptions and phased implementation requirements. The law also establishes requirements for public water systems and certain property owners. For further information please visit the AB 1572 webpage.
SB 427 – Water Theft
SB 427 authorizes local agencies that provide water services to adopt ordinances prohibiting water theft and establishing administrative penalties, subject to applicable statutory requirements. It also requires procedures for administering and reviewing penalties and a process for hardship waivers. For further information please visit the https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB427.
SB 606 – Water Conservation and Drought Planning
SB 606, together with AB 1668 (2018), established a framework for long-term water conservation, efficient water use, and drought planning. The legislation includes requirements affecting urban water suppliers and provisions addressing water supply reliability and drought preparedness. For further information please visit the https://resources.ca.gov/Initiatives/Building-Water-Resilience/portfolio.
SB 998 – Water Shutoff Protection Act
SB 998 established protections for residential customers of specified water systems facing discontinuation of water service due to nonpayment. The law addresses water shutoff policies, customer notifications, payment arrangements, and related protections. Subsequent legislation, including SB 3 (2023), expanded the Act’s requirements. For further information please visit the SB 998 webpage.
Public Records Request
The California Public Records Act (Government Code § 7920.000 et seq.) provides the public with a right to access identifiable records maintained by state and local agencies, subject to applicable disclosure requirements and exemptions. Requests should reasonably describe the records being sought. The Department is not required to create records that do not already exist.
To submit your public record request please visit the https://ventura.nextrequest.com/.
After receiving a request for water and sewer records, the Department will notify the requester within 10 calendar days if it has disclosable records in its possession or whether it will need an additional 14 days to make such determination. Requests are reviewed between 8:00 A.M. and 5:00 P.M. on Monday through Friday, excluding holidays. The Department’s response will depend on the scope of the request and the Department’s need to search and review records.
If you request physical hard copies of records, you will be charged the actual cost of making a hard copy which will usually be at the rate of $0.20 per page, or a statutory fee if applicable. For records requiring computer programming/services in order to extract data from a computer database, you will be charged for the Department’s staff time necessary to produce the records. Physical hard copies of records will not be copied and produced until payment has been received by the Department. If you request records in electronic form and the requested records are stored by the Department in electronic form, the Department will provide the records to you at no charge in the electronic format (such as PDF) in which the records are being stored by the Department.
