SB 1153, Which Offers Protections to Water Agencies, Becomes Law
With Gavin Newsom signing Senate Bill (SB) 1153 into law, California's water agencies now have a comprehensive legal shield from lawsuits targeting them when fire hydrants run dry during a wildfire. Brad Kuhn, chair of Nossaman's Eminent Domain & Inverse Condemnation Group, and Willis Hon, a partner in the Water Law Group, assisted their clients in drafting and securing passage of SB 1153.
The Bill, which was authored by California State Senator Anna Caballero, and passed in the state Legislature with both chambers voting unanimously, clarifies via state law that public water systems have no duty to be designed, built or maintained for wildfire defense or suppression—and that the inability to maintain water supply or pressure during a wildfire is not a substantial cause of wildfire damages. This is a huge legislative victory for water suppliers in California, as this development provides an increasingly well-defined defense to wildfire-related inverse condemnation claims against water providers.
The Association of California Water Agencies, which represents about 470 public agencies, sponsored the legislation and it was also supported by the California Water Association. The Los Angeles Times and a number of other media outlets have covered the potential impact of SB 1153.
