Assembly BillFailedWater
AB 1313: Water quality: permits.
What AB 1313 does, verified February 3, 2026
The state water resources control board and regional boards will regulate water quality and prescribe waste discharge requirements. The state board will establish a statewide commercial, industrial, and institutional permit for properties with 5 acres or more of impervious surface. A draft order of the statewide permit will be published for public comment, which must be completed by December 31, 2028. The draft order will include rules for offsite compliance agreements between permittees and local municipalities to capture and use stormwater. The permit will include multiple compliance options for discharges to select and comply with applicable water quality based effluent limitations.
Bill journey
✓IntroducedComplete
2In CommitteeCurrent
3First Chamber FloorPending
4Second ChamberPending
5GovernorPending
6ChapteredPending
Last action: Died on inactive file. (2026-02-02)Alert me
Author and sponsors
Full contact details, staff, and committees with Connect, $16/moUnlockRecent actions17 total · showing 5
| Feb. 02, 2026 | Died on inactive file. |
| Jun. 04, 2025 | Ordered to inactive file at the request of Assembly Member Papan. |
| May. 27, 2025 | Read third time and amended. Ordered to third reading. (Page 1744.) |
| May. 27, 2025 | Read third time and amended. Ordered to third reading. (Page 1744.) |
| May. 27, 2025 | Read second time. Ordered to third reading. |
Latest bill textAmended version, May 27, 2025 · 1,544 words
| Amended IN Assembly May 27, 2025 |
| Amended IN Assembly March 24, 2025 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION
Assembly Bill
No. 1313
| Introduced by Assembly Member Papan |
February 21, 2025 |
An act to add Section 13383.1 to the Water Code, relating to water quality.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1313, as amended, Papan. Water quality: permits.
Under existing law, the State Water Resources Control Board and the 9 California regional water quality control boards regulate water quality and prescribe waste discharge requirements in accordance with the federal national pollutant discharge elimination system (NPDES) permit program established by the federal Clean Water Act and the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act. Existing law requires each regional board to formulate and adopt water quality control plans for all areas within the region, as provided.
The bill would require the state board, after making the necessary residual designation authority findings, to establish a statewide commercial, industrial, and institutional NPDES order, order for properties of with 5 acres or more, regulating stormwater and authorized nonstormwater discharges from facilities with impervious surfaces that are significant contributors of pollutants to federally protected surface waters, as determined by the state board. more of impervious surface, as provided. The bill would require the state board to publish a draft order of the statewide order for public comment on or before December 31, 2028, or 18 months after the reissuance of a specified statewide permit, as specified. The bill would require the state board to contemporaneously develop a model memorandum of understanding establish rules for offsite compliance agreements to issue with the publication of the draft statewide order for public comment that details the necessary components of an agreement between commercial, industrial, and institutional permittees and local municipalities for achieving offsite stormwater capture and use within the adopted final statewide commercial, industrial, and institutional NPDES order. The bill would require the NPDES order to include multiple compliance options to achieve compliance with water quality standards, for discharges to select and comply with to be deemed in compliance with applicable water quality based effluent limitations, including, but not limited to, compliance options incentivizing green infrastructure onsite or offsite stormwater capture and use.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(a) According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in California, urban runoff is a leading source of water body impairment. Stormwater runoff is a contributor to water quality impairments across the country, particularly in developing and urbanized areas. That runoff may contain or mobilize high levels of contaminants, such as sediment, suspended solids, nutrients, including phosphorous and nitrogen, heavy metals and other toxic pollutants, pathogens, toxins, oxygen-demanding substances, and floatable materials. Individually and combined, these pollutants impair water quality, threatening designated beneficial uses and causing habitat alteration or destruction. Over 250 studies have shown that an impervious surface associated with urban development is a collection site for pollutants and increases in impervious surfaces generate greater quantities of contaminants.
(b) Stormwater discharges from impervious surfaces on commercial, industrial, and institutional sites consistently contain significant levels of pollutants, including lead, copper, zinc, sediments, phosphorous, and nitrogen, and turbidity and oxygen depletion. The EPA’s Nationwide Urban Runoff Program study provides information on elevated concentrations in pollutant discharges from commercial, industrial, and institutional sites. Impervious surfaces on commercial, industrial, and institutional sites, such as parking lots, shopping centers, industrial work areas, and onsite development for facility operations, discharge an annual pollutant load that consistently contains elevated levels of metals and sediment.
(c) The EPA has determined that it can be reasonably assumed that urban stormwater discharges, including those from commercial, industrial, and institutional sites, contain metals and nutrients at predicted average concentrations. Furthermore, the EPA has recommended the use of pollutant loading and assessment models based on well-established pollutant loading levels associated with commercial, industrial, and institutional land uses.
(d) Stormwater discharges from impervious surfaces from commercial, industrial, and institutional sites consistently contain elevated levels of harmful heavy metals, particularly lead, copper, and zinc. An EPA-sponsored analysis recognized that commercial and industrial land uses consistently have very significant pollutant loading for total suspended solids, total phosphorous, total nitrogen, and zinc.
(e) The National Stormwater Quality Database found median zinc concentrations to be 110 micrograms per liter from commercial sites, compared to 57 micrograms per liter from undeveloped open space. Median copper concentrations were found to be 17.9 micrograms per liter from commercial sites, compared to 9 micrograms per liter from undeveloped open space. The mean zinc concentration was 197 micrograms per liter for commercial sites, 382 micrograms per liter for industrial sites, and 210 micrograms per liter for institutional sites. For commercial sites, the mean copper concentration was 37 micrograms per liter, 36 micrograms per liter for industrial sites, and 21 micrograms per liter for institutional sites.
(f) The State Water Resources Control Board has been authorized by the EPA to administer the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program in California since 1973.
(g) Sections 122.26(a)(9)(i)(C) and 122.26(a)(9)(i)(D) of Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations contain a catch-all provision, commonly referred to as a residual designation of authority, requiring NPDES permits for any stormwater discharge or category of discharges within a geographical area that the EPA regional administrator, or in states with approved NPDES programs, either the state director or the EPA regional administrator, determines contributes to a violation of a water quality standard or determines to be a significant contributor of pollutants to waters of the United States. Categories of sources designated under the state’s residual designation authority may be geographically broad, and the term “within a geographic area” allows statewide or watershedwide designation within the meaning of the terms. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found that the designation of broad regional categories of sources is a reasonable exercise of statutory authority.
(h) Once a finding or determination has been made that a category of discharges meets the statutory criterion of contributing to a violation of a water quality standard, the category must be designated for regulation and those operators be required to obtain an NPDES permit. The state’s residual designation authority is not optional; designation is appropriate as soon as the adverse impacts from stormwater are recognized. The EPA has advised states with approved NPDES programs that it would be reasonable to require permits for discharges that contribute more than de minimis amounts of pollutants identified as the cause of impairment to a water body.
(i) The State of California has determined that the discharge of pollutants from commercial, industrial, and institutional properties with five acres or more of impervious surface contributes to violations of water quality standards, is a significant contributor of pollutants to waters of the United States, and needs stormwater controls to address applicable total daily maximum loads.
SECTION 1.SEC. 2.
13383.1.
(a) (1) The state board, after making the necessary residual designation authority findings, shall establish a statewide commercial, industrial, and institutional national pollutant discharge elimination system (NPDES) order, for properties(2) The state board shall contemporaneously develop a model memorandum of understanding establish rules for offsite compliance agreements to issue with the publication of the draft statewide order for public comment that details the necessary components of an agreement between commercial, industrial, and institutional permittees and local municipalities for achieving offsite stormwater capture and use within the adopted final statewide commercial, industrial, and institutional NPDES order.
(b) The NPDES order established pursuant to subdivision (a) shall include multiple compliance options to achieve compliance with water quality standards, for dischargers to select and comply with in order to be deemed in compliance with applicable water quality based effluent limitations, including, but not limited to, compliance options incentivizing green infrastructure onsite or offsite stormwater capture and use.
(c) Regulated stormwater permittees shall not be subject to more than one stormwater NPDES order for the same facility pursuant to Section 402(p) of the federal Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. Sec. 1342(p)) and Sections 122.26(a)(9)(i)(C) and 122.26(a)(9)(i)(D) of Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations. All effluent limitations applicable to stormwater discharges associated with industrial activities shall be incorporated into the statewide commercial, industrial, and institutional order established pursuant to subdivision (a). This subdivision does not apply to stormwater discharges associated with construction activities.
Text of AB 1313 as amended, from the official record. Connect Plus keeps every version and highlights what changed.Compare versions