Ruling from the State Water Board’s Administrative Hearings Office:
On December 2, 2020, the Administrative Hearings Office (AHO) of the State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board or Board) issued a Notice of Public Hearing and Pre-Hearing Conference (Notice of Public Hearing) on two pending petitions to revoke or revise the Declaration of Fully Appropriated Stream Systems (FAS Declaration) with respect to the Kings River System and related issues raised in a complaint (Semitropic Complaint) filed by Semitropic Improvement District of Semitropic Water Storage District (Semitropic) against Kings River Water Association (KRWA) and its member units. …
On March 1, 2021, Semitropic issued two subpoenas duces tecum in this matter. Semitropic issued the first subpoena to “Tulare Lake Basin Water Storage District” and the second to “Kings River Water Association.”1 The subpoenas each attached an addendum with 22 requests for production of documents concerning certain topics. Some requests sought all documents on a certain topic from 1984 to the present, while others adopted a more recent timeframe. Each addendum included an affidavit in support of the subpoena. On March 12, Semitropic served deposition notices for Walter Bricker and Steven Haugen. On March 15 and 16, TLBWSD and KRWA, respectively, filed motions to quash Semitropic’s March 1 subpoenas. On March 19, Semitropic filed a joint opposition to the motions to quash.
Read/download ruling below:
2021-04-06 Hearing Officer's Ruling Letter (Kings River)
