AB 1390 expedites comprehensive groundwater adjudications to determine rights to extract groundwater in a basin. While AB 1390, a companion bill to the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act of 2014, streamlines several aspects of groundwater adjudications, this blog post focuses on the service of process to initiate a proceeding.

Typically, service of process of a water rights adjudication takes several years. Often, thousands of rights holders, property owners and relevant stakeholders must be personally served with the notice and complaint, in accordance with due process requirements.

Under AB 1390, plaintiffs must notify certain entities that they have initiated comprehensive adjudication proceedings, including the Attorney General’s office, cities or cities and counties overlying the groundwater basin, to parties who have asked be notified.

With the filing of the complaint, plaintiffs also must submit to the court drafts of the notice and form answer to be served on all rights holders in the basin. The law prescribes minimum requirements for these documents.

After the court has approved the draft notice and form of the answer, service must be effected. However, rather than having to attempt personal service on all water rights holders, which can take several years, under AB 1390, plaintiffs are required to identify the addresses of all holders of fee title, as well as their assessor parcel numbers, and mail to each the notice, complaint and form answer.

Finally, notice of the proceeding is published in one or more newspapers of general circulation.

Once the court holds that plaintiffs have taken these steps (notification of relevant stakeholders, mail service on fee title holders, publication of notice) then process of service will be deemed complete.