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The State Water Resources Control Board has appointed Nicole Kuenzi to direct the board’s Administrative Hearings Office as its new presiding officer.
Kuenzi succeeds Alan Lilly, who supervised the office since its inception in September 2019. She also is one of the unit’s original hearing officers.
The office functions as an independent entity within the State Water Board and was created to streamline water rights adjudications by conducting hearings for enforcement, permitting and other contested matters. Hearing officers conduct proceedings, consider evidence, prepare proposed orders, respond to public comments and submit final draft orders for board approval.
“Alan laid a great foundation, building this office from the ground up,” said Kuenzi, who holds a B.A. in philosophy and J.D. from Yale. “In a larger picture, I want to continue to shape the office into an institution that is respected within the water rights community, a place where disputes can be resolved fairly and efficiently, and where we bring orders to the board to address novel water rights issues that have never been addressed.”
A Bay Area native, Kuenzi brings a wealth of experience in water law from both the private and public sector. After a year as a law clerk for the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Salt Lake City, she worked on water rights, land use and public lands law at Petros & White in Denver before returning to California.
She joined the board’s Office of Chief Counsel in 2012, where among her responsibilities, she advised the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board about state and federal law, including the Clean Water Act and Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act.
