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Wat. Code, § 8704 · Article 6. Enforcement of Unauthorized Activities and Encroachments

Wat. Code, § 8704

Verbatim from the official edition

Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)

(a) Civil penalties may be imposed by a court of competent jurisdiction against any person or public agency that undertakes an activity, flood system improvement, or encroachment that is in violation of this part or that is inconsistent with any permit, cease and desist order, or enforcement order previously issued by the board or executive officer in an amount not less than five hundred dollars ($500) and not greater than thirty thousand dollars ($30,000).

(b) In addition to any other penalties, civil penalties may be imposed by a court of competent jurisdiction against any person or public agency that intentionally and knowingly undertakes an activity, flood system improvement, or encroachment that is in violation of this part or that is inconsistent with any permit, cease and desist order, or enforcement order previously issued by the board or executive officer in an amount that shall not be less than one thousand dollars ($1,000) or more than fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000) per day for each day in which the violation persists.

(c) In determining the amount of liability pursuant to subdivisions (a) and (b), the following factors shall be considered:

(1) The nature, circumstance, extent, and gravity of the violation.

(2) Whether the violation is susceptible to removal, modification, abatement, restoration, or other remedial measures.

(3) Whether the function of the levee, channel, or other flood control work is affected by the violation.

(4) The cost to the state of bringing the action.

(5) With respect to the person or public agency responsible for the violation, any voluntary remedial measures undertaken, any prior history of violations, the degree of culpability, economic profits, if any, resulting from, or expected to result as a consequence of, the violation, and other matters deemed relevant.

(d) Civil penalties may be imposed by a court of competent jurisdiction against any person or public agency that intentionally or negligently violates any cease and desist order issued, reissued, or amended by the board, or any enforcement order issued, reissued, or amended by the board in an amount that shall not exceed six thousand dollars ($6,000) for each day in which that violation persists. Any actual penalty imposed shall be reasonably proportionate to the damage suffered as a consequence of the violation.

Notes and commentary — not statutory text

History

Repealed and added by Stats. 2013, Ch. 639, Sec. 3. (SB 753) Effective January 1, 2014.

Source of truth

Edition
As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
Official file
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=WAT&sectionNum=8704.
Text hash
sha256 c9b6f41bcb2616495adf5020b78e3865d34d72cc1588726c722f74e0031b9dae
Composed by
compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section

Cited by 3 provisions

Provisions in this library whose text cites Wat. Code, § 8704. Each shows the citation as that text prints it.

Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.