BILL NUMBER: AB 2342	CHAPTERED  09/22/04

	CHAPTER  678
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE  SEPTEMBER 22, 2004
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR  SEPTEMBER 22, 2004
	PASSED THE SENATE  AUGUST 19, 2004
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY  APRIL 29, 2004
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 12, 2004

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Jackson
   (Coauthors:  Assembly Members Chu, Laird, Lieber, Liu, and
Longville)
   (Coauthor:  Senator Vasconcellos)

                        FEBRUARY 19, 2004

   An act to add Section 116365.2 to the Health and Safety Code,
relating to drinking water.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2342, Jackson.  Drinking water:  public health goals.
   Existing law requires the Office of Environmental Health Hazard
Assessment to establish and revise recommended public health goals
for contaminants in drinking water and to prepare and publish an
assessment of public health risks posed by each contaminant for which
the State Department of Health Services proposes a primary drinking
water standard.  Under existing law, the office is periodically
required to review these goals and revise them as necessary based
upon new scientific data.
   This bill would authorize the office in conducting the revision of
the public health goals to give special consideration to
contaminants that cause or contribute to adverse health risks in
members of subgroups that constitute a meaningful portion of the
population.
   The bill would require the office, in preparing and publishing the
risk assessments, to assess exposure patterns and special
susceptibility on infants and children.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  Section 116365.2 is added to the Health and Safety
Code, to read:
   116365.2.  (a) In conducting the periodic review and revision of
public health goals pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (e) of
Section 116365, the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment
may give special consideration to those contaminants that, on the
basis of currently available data or scientific evidence, cause or
contribute to adverse health effects in members of subgroups that
comprise a meaningful portion of the general population, including,
but not limited to, infants, children, pregnant women, the elderly,
individuals with a history of serious illness, or other subgroups
that are identifiable as being at greater risk of adverse health
effects than the general population when exposed to the contaminant
in drinking water.
   (b) In preparing and publishing risk assessments pursuant to
subparagraph (C) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (c) of Section
116365 that involve infants and children, the office shall assess all
of the following, to the extent information is available:
   (1) Exposure patterns, including, but not limited to, patterns
determined by relevant data, among bottle-fed infants and children
that are likely to result in disproportionately high exposure to
contaminants in comparison to the general population.
   (2) Special susceptibility of infants and children to contaminants
in comparison to the general population.
   (3) The effects on infants and children of exposure to
contaminants and other substances that have a common mechanism of
toxicity.
   (4) The interaction of multiple contaminants on infants and
children.