Paeter E. Garcia

Partner

Paeter E. Garcia's practice areas include water rights, water supply planning, and related fields of environmental and natural resources law. Mr. Garcia represents both public agency and private clients on a broad range of water law and policy matters, such as surface and groundwater right issues, water transactions and conveyance, and groundwater management and storage arrangements. Water supply planning and sufficiency analyses are a significant component of Mr. Garcia’s practice. He routinely counsels clients, speaks at conferences, and authors publications regarding the legal requirements of preparing Written Verifications and Water Supply Assessments under SB 221 and SB 610, water supply analyses under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), and Urban Water Management Plans.

In representing the public sector, Mr. Garcia serves in a special counsel role to agencies such as Castaic Lake Water Agency, Western Municipal Water District, Lake Hemet Municipal Water District, Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District, San Gorgonio Pass Water Agency, and the Hi-Desert Water District on a variety of water rights, water supply planning and resource management issues. Mr. Garcia currently advises the Hi-Desert Water District in its role as the Watermaster of the Warren Valley Basin, as well as the Lake Hemet Municipal Water District as a key participating agency in the development of a stipulated judgment, physical solution and operating rules and regulations for the Hemet/San Jacinto Groundwater Management Area.

Mr. Garcia is vice-chair of the Southern California Water Committee’s Urban Water Planning Task Force. He has served as an adjunct professor at California State University, San Bernardino and currently teaches at the University of California, Riverside Extension regarding California water law and policy. Mr. Garcia joined Best Best & Krieger in 2006 from the United States Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection. Prior to that position, Mr. Garcia worked with an environmental law firm in downtown Los Angeles, where he advised public agency and private clients regarding significant water law, environmental and land use matters.

Education

• Syracuse University, J.D. (1998)
• California State Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo, B.S.

Bar Admissions

• California (1998)

Court Admissions

• United States District Court, Central District of California (1998)
• United States District Court, Eastern District of California (2000)
• United States Court of International Trade (2006)
• United States Court of Federal Claims (2006)

Awards

• New York State IOLA Grant

Memberships

• State Bar of California , member
• Los Angeles County Bar Association, member
• Riverside County Bar Association, member

Paeter E. Garcia

Partner

• "Relationships Between Planning Under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act and Other Planning," Law Seminar International's "Groundwater Regulation in California," Oct. 29, 2015
• "Today's Water Wars - Water Rights and Water Quality: From East to West Coast," 2015 IMLA Annual Conference, Oct. 4, 2015
• “The Nuts and Bolts of SGMA,” ACWA Conference, May 6, 2015
• “CEQA and the Big Drought,” Association of Environmental Professionals Conference, March 22-25, 2015
• “Relationship Between AB 3030 Planning and Other Planning Requirements and Processes,” Law Seminars International’s “Groundwater Regulation and Management in California: Updates on Legal and Policy Developments; Practical Tips and Strategies,” March 3, 2015
• “The Perfect Non-Storm: Permitting Development in Drought Conditions,” The Seminar Group’s “Dealing in Drought: Development, Legislation and Litigation,” Oct. 30, 2014 (presentation available here)
• "Urban Water Management Plans: Where Are We and Where Are We Going?" panelist, ACWA Fall Conference, Dec. 1, 2010
• "California's Liquid Gold: Water Supply and Conservation Issues," CLE's Municipal Law Conference, June 24, 2010
• "Further Impacts of the New State Water Legislation: Water Supply Management, Conservation and Groundwater Monitoring," Argent Communications' California Water Law & Policy Conference, April, 22, 2010
• "Show Me the Water! Water Supply Analysis in a Water Scarce California," AEP State Conference, March 15, 2010
• "Twenty-First Century Challenges to Supplying Water," BB&K Workshop, Feb. 24, 2010
• "Duck, Duck, Goose: The Empty Chair in California's Water Supply Game," Los Angeles County Bar Association, Dec. 11, 2008
• "Legally Defensible UWMP's and WSA's in the Light of Vineyard and Global Warming Requirements," ACWA Fall Conference, Nov. 27, 2007

Paeter E. Garcia

Partner

• “Alert: 2015 Urban Water Management Plan," Best Best & Krieger LLP Information Sheet, 2015
• "The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act," Best Best & Krieger LLP Information Sheet, 2015
• "California's State Water Resources Control Board Renews and Imposes Stricter Emergency Water Conservation Regulations," BB&K Legal Alert, March 17, 2015
• “Swing, Pendulum, Swing: California’s Historic Drought and Unprecedented Responses,” State Bar of California’s Environmental Law News, Fall 2014
• "Swing, Pendulum, Swing: California's Historic Drought and Unprecedented Responses," BB&K Legal Alert, Dec. 1, 2014
• "Governor Signs New Laws Amending California's Urban Water Management Planning Act," BB&K Legal Alert, Sept. 24, 2014
• "Legislature Adopts Historic Sustainable Groundwater Management Act," BB&K Legal Alert, Aug. 29, 2014
• "State Water Resources Control Board to Consider Emergency Water Conservation Regulations in Response to Drought," BB&K Legal Alerts, July 9, 2014
• "Department of Water Resouces Releases Report on State of Groundwater Resources," BB&K Legal Alert, May 6, 2014
• "CEQA Exemptions Granted for Certain State Agency Actions by Gov. Brown Proclamation," BB&K Legal Alert, May 1, 2014
• "Governor's Office of Planning & Research Seeks Input to Improve California's Groundwater Management," BB&K Legal Alert, April 9, 2014
• "Legislature Exempts Certain Renewable Energy Projects From Water Supply Assessment Requirements," BB&K Legal Alerts, Oct. 10, 2011
• "Court of Appeal Rejects Water Supply Analysis for Proposed Development Project," BB&K Legal Alert, Sept. 14, 2011
• "Court Upholds Water Supply Assessment and Criticizes Last-Minute CEQA Tactic," BB&K Legal Alert, June 13, 2011
• "Court Holds That Deference Must Be Given to Water Agency's Preparation of an Urban Water Management Plan," BB&K Legal Alert, Oct. 11, 2010
• "Department of Water Resources Issues Technical Methodologies for Use by Retail Urban Water Suppliers," BB&K Legal Alert, Oct. 1, 2010
• "Urban Wholesale Water Suppliers Granted Extension to Prepare 2010 Urban Water Management Plans," BB&K Legal Alert, Sept. 27, 2010
• "Shawdowing Gives Students a Vision of Legal Jobs," The Press Enterprise, Feb. 10, 2010
• "New Requirements for Urban Water Suppliers Enacted as Part of Comprehensive Water Legislation," BB&K Legal Alert, Nov. 24, 2009