Meeting Procedures

The mission of the Central Valley Water Board is to preserve, protect, enhance, and restore water quality within the Central Valley of California.  The Board conducts much of its business at public meetings.  

These rules apply at the Board’s public meetings:

• Any person wishing to address the Board or provide comments on an agenda item must register their name and other information prior to or on the day of the Board Meeting. Registration links for Board Meetings will be published 10 days in advance of the Meeting.
• The Board will require that anyone who testifies in permit and enforcement actions complete the registration form and take an oath affirming that their testimony is the truth prior to addressing the Board.
• If the Board lacks a quorum, the Board may conduct a Panel Hearing. The Board will not take final action until a quorum of the Board is present.

For each meeting, the Board compiles an Agenda that describes the business the Board will conduct at its meeting.  At least ten days before the meeting, the Board will post this Agenda online on the Board Meeting Calendar page.

Items in the Agenda are numbered for identification purposes only.  The Board may consider Agenda items out of order.  The Board may move items from an earlier day to a later day, or vice versa.  The Board may also remove items from the Agenda without notice.

Any person planning to make a presentation to the Board that will include visual aids (such as overheads, posters, or PowerPoint presentations) should contact Board Clerk at agenda5@waterboards.ca.gov or (916) 464-4839, as well as provide the visual aids a minimum of 48 hours prior to the meeting in order to avoid delays during the meeting.

The Board issues item-specific Notices and/or Hearing Procedures along with tentative Orders and Amendments.  If there is a conflict between an item-specific Notice or Hearing Procedure and this webpage or the Meeting Procedures in the Agenda, the item-specific Notice or Hearing Procedure will control.  Please contact Board staff if you do not know if there is a Notice or Hearing Procedure for a specific item.

Notices and Hearing Procedures set submittal deadlines.  The Board will generally not accept late written materials.  Any person that wants to submit late materials must demonstrate good cause, and the Chair must find that admitting the late materials will not prejudice the Central Valley Water Board or any Designated Party.  The Chair may modify this rule to avoid severe hardship.

You can find the statutes and regulations that govern the Board’s meetings on our Laws and Regulations page.

Anyone may speak at a Board meeting.  The Board expects speakers to orally summarize their written submittals.  The Board Chair will place time limits on oral presentations.  When speakers can be grouped by affiliation or interest, such groups are expected to select a spokesperson and to not be repetitive.  The Board will accommodate spokespersons by granting additional time if other group members will not be speaking.

The Board meeting will be conducted at a facility accessible to people with disabilities. Individuals who require special accommodations should contact Mindy Maxwell at (916) 464-4839 or agenda5@waterboards.ca.gov at least 10 working days prior to the meeting.  TTY users may contact the California Relay Service at 1-800-735-2929 or voice line at 1-800-735-2922.

The Board conducts adjudicative hearings when it issues waste discharge requirements, NPDES permits, conditional waivers, and certain enforcement orders.

The regulations for adjudicative proceedings are found in California Code of Regulations, title 23, sections 648 et seq.  At an adjudicative hearing, the Board receives evidence for the determination of facts pursuant to which the Board formulates and issues a decision.

Designated Parties are the primary participants in the hearing.  These include any persons named in a tentative order, anyone the Board designates as a designated party, and, for prosecutorial matters, the Board’s Prosecution Team.  Designated Parties may submit evidence, offer witnesses to testify at the hearing, and cross-examine adverse witnesses, and are subject to cross-examination.

Interested Persons are those persons that have an interest in the outcome of the hearing, but who are not the primary participants in the hearing.  Interested persons typically include members of the public as well as advocacy groups.  Interested persons may present policy statements to the Board, but may not generally present evidence (photographs, eyewitness testimony, etc.).  Interested persons are not subject to cross-examination.

At the hearing, both Designated Parties and Interested Persons may be asked to respond to questions from the Board, staff, or others, at the discretion of the Board Chair.

Adjudicative hearings will generally be conducted in the following order:

• Testimony and cross-examination of Board staff, then testimony and cross-examination of the Designated Parties named in the tentative Order or Permit, followed by testimony and cross-examination of other Designated Parties
• Statements of Interested Persons
• Closing statement by Designated Parties other than those named in the tentative Order or Permit, then closing statement by Designated Parties named in the tentative Order or Permit, followed by closing statement by Board staff
• Recommendation by the Board’s Executive Officer (as appropriate)
• Close of the Hearing, followed by deliberation and voting by the Board

Designated Parties may not introduce new evidence or testimony in their closing statements. Persons who offer exhibits (i.e., maps, charts, photographs) for the Board’s consideration must leave them with the Board.

“Uncontested” or “consent” agenda items are those items where there appears to be no controversy and where the Board can act without discussion.  The Board Chair will recognize late revisions submitted by staff, and will then call for a motion and vote by the Board.

If any Board Member or member of the public raises a question or issue that requires discussion, the Board may remove the item from the consent calendar and consider it as determined by the Board Chair. The Board expects anyone who wishes to contest a consent item to appear in person at the Board meeting to explain to the Board the reason why they are contesting the item.

The Board’s procedure for rulemaking and information proceedings is different from the procedure for adjudicative hearings.  The regulations for rulemaking and informational proceedings are found in California Code of Regulations, title 23, sections 649 et seq.

Rulemaking proceedings include hearings for the adoption, amendment, or repeal of any rule, regulation, or standard.  Informational proceedings include hearings designed to gather and assess facts, opinions, and other information relevant to any matters within the jurisdiction of the Board.  The primary purpose of informational proceedings is to assist the Board in formulating policy or guidelines.

For rulemaking and informational proceedings, the Board does not distinguish between Designated Parties and Interested Persons.

Rulemaking and informational proceedings will generally be conducted in the following order:

• Opening statement by the Board summarizing the subject matter and purpose of the proceeding
• Presentation by Board staff
• Presentations by all other persons
• Recommendation by the Board’s Executive Officer (as appropriate)

Close of the Hearing, followed by deliberation and voting by the Board (as appropriate)

Any person aggrieved by an action of the Central Valley Water Board may petition the State Water Board to review the action in accordance with Water Code section 13320 and California Code of Regulations, title 23, sections 2050 and following. The State Water Board must receive the petition by 5:00 p.m., 30 days after the date of the issuance of the Order, except that if the thirtieth day following the issuance of the Order falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or state holiday, the petition must be received by the State Water Board by 5:00 p.m. on the next business day. Law and regulations applicable to filing petitions may be found on the State Boards' Water Quality Petitions page.

or will be provided upon request.