Why did Kings River East GSA use statutory authority to form a new agency to act as a GSA?

The two principal reasons are: (i) the necessity to have production agriculture as a voting member of the GSA governing board; and (ii) to protect the assets of the public agencies forming the GSA from the risk of liability and litigation. Production agriculture has a major influence on groundwater impacts, i.e., pumping levels and water quality. The public agencies within the Kings River East GSA determined that the process would not be successful without the inclusion of production agriculture’s perspective and input. The public agencies, individually, were not  created to manage groundwater and have a concern with the litigious consequences of groundwater management. As a result, a special act district was formed by successfully introducing SB 37 (Vidak) and having such legislation signed into law in September 2016