California court pauses SGMA probation for two Tulare Lake agencies but upholds the $20 per acre foot fee
A Kings County judge temporarily blocked the State Water Board from enforcing probation against two of five Tulare Lake Subbasin agencies on a good-actor theory, while rejecting the challenge to the $20 per acre foot pumping fee. The merits hearing is October 6, 2026.
- Probation fee (upheld)
- $20/AF + $300/well
- Agencies paused
- 2 of 5
- Merits hearing
- October 6, 2026
- Probationary since
- April 16, 2024
What happened
On August 12, 2026 Kings County Superior Court Judge R. Shane Burns temporarily blocked the State Water Resources Control Board from enforcing SGMA probation against two of the Tulare Lake Subbasin’s five groundwater sustainability agencies, Tri-County Water Authority GSA and Southwest Kings GSA, finding them highly likely to succeed on a good actor claim. The other three agencies remain subject to enforcement and probationary fees.
The court rejected the challenge to the $20 per acre foot pumping fee, set bond at $1, and scheduled a merits hearing for October 6, 2026. The subbasin has been probationary since April 16, 2024; a Fifth District Court of Appeal ruling in December 2025 had reversed an earlier injunction and let the Board resume collecting extraction reports and fees.
What it means if you own water here
The fee survived, which is the part that moves markets. Twenty dollars per acre foot plus $300 per well on groundwater, stacked against $550 to $800 per acre foot for supplemental surface water in a district like Westlands, is the arithmetic pushing San Joaquin Valley growers toward leased surface supply.
The good-actor carve-out matters too: it rewards agencies whose plans hold up, which means where your well sits, and which GSA governs it, now has a dollar value. October 6 is a dated event to watch.
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