The California Water Law Journal is sponsored by the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law. The Journal provides an opportunity for students, practitioners, academics and others to engage on California water law issues.
The Journal is proud to feature the winning article each year from the annual student writing competition, the California Water Law Writing Prize. The Writing Prize is sponsored by the California Water Law Symposium Board of Directors and McGeorge School of Law.
To submit other articles, please click the “About” link.
Upgrading Conservation Pricing Proposition 218, Smart Meters, And The Step Beyond Tiered Rates
Proposition 218 is pushing California's conservation-pricing programs to evolve. Conservation-pricing programs use price signals to discourage the waste of water. Currently, such programs commonly rely on tiered rates. Customers pay a flat fee for a "basic use allocation," which "provides a reasonable amount of water for [each] customer's needs and property characteristics."1 Once the basic use allocation is exhausted, a higher rate is charged for each additional unit of water consumed.2 Tiered-rate programs have proven effective even when per-unit price increases are small. Historically, both California's Legislature and its courts have favored such programs, finding them consistent with Section 2 of Article X of the State's Constitution, which states that "the conservation of [the State's] waters is to be exercised with a view to the reasonable and beneficial use thereof."3
California Wastewater Rates — Life after Bighorn v. Verjil
In California, voters passed Proposition 218 in 1996, which added articles XIII C and XIII D to the state Constitution. These articles set limits on property-based revenues (taxes, assessments, fees, and charges), and require voter approval for most increases. Particularly pertinent to wastewater rates is the inherent friction between Article XIII C Section 3, which affirms the right of voters to reduce their local property-related bills, including their wastewater rates, and Article XIII D Section 6, which allows local governing bodies to raise wastewater rates without voter approval.1 This paper discusses that friction as set forth in Bighorn-Desert View Water Agency v. Verjil, 39 Cal.4th 205 (2006), and explores relevant jurisprudence supporting a compromise between rate reductions and statutorily mandated rates.