BILL NUMBER: AB 1876 CHAPTERED 09/23/04 CHAPTER 709 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 23, 2004 APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 23, 2004 PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 19, 2004 PASSED THE ASSEMBLY MAY 25, 2004 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 27, 2004 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 18, 2004 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Chan (Coauthors: Assembly Members Hancock, Lieber, Mullin, Nakano, Nation, and Wiggins) FEBRUARY 3, 2004 An act to amend Sections 115875 and 115880 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to public beaches. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 1876, Chan. Public beach sanitation. Existing law sets forth sanitation requirements relating to the testing and posting of public beaches. Existing law declares that these provisions are not mandatory upon local public health officers in fiscal years when the Legislature does not appropriate sufficient funds. Existing law, the McAteer-Petris Act establishes the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission in order to protect the shoreline and body of the San Francisco Bay. This bill would provide that "public beach" for these purposes includes a public beach located within a coastal zone and a public beach located within the jurisdiction of the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission. To the extent that this bill would increase the duties of local health officers, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (a) More than 50 public beaches and recreation areas along the San Francisco Bay shoreline provide year-round water recreation opportunities for more than 7 million bay area residents. (b) Rains and storms carry bacteria and contaminants into San Francisco Bay, sometimes posing a serious public health threat to swimmers, windsurfers, and other bay area residents who recreate at these beaches. (c) A significant number of warnings have been posted at public beaches along the bay shoreline in recent years, demonstrating that there is a polluted runoff problem in the bay that can be harmful to people. (d) Protecting public health requires year-round, uniform, and consistent monitoring of bay beaches' water quality, and posting of easy-to-understand, multilingual health advisories when contaminants exceed safe levels. (e) Prior to enactment of this act, state law did not mandate regular water quality monitoring at beaches along San Francisco Bay as it did for coastal beaches in California. (f) It is imperative that counties along the San Francisco Bay monitor the water quality at their beaches effectively and consistently to protect the health of bay area residents who recreate on and in the bay. SEC. 2. Section 115875 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read: 115875. "Public beach," as used in this article, means any beach area used by the public for recreational purposes that is owned, operated, or controlled by the state, any state agency, any local agency, or any private person in this state, and is located in the coastal zone, as defined in Section 30103 of the Public Resources Code, or within the jurisdiction of the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, as set forth in Section 66610 of the Government Code. SEC. 3. Section 115880 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read: 115880. (a) The department shall by regulation, in consultation with local health officers and the public, establish minimum standards for the sanitation of public beaches, including, but not limited to, the removal of refuse, as it determines are reasonably necessary for the protection of the public health and safety. (b) Prior to final adoption by the department, the regulations and standards required by this section shall undergo an external comprehensive review process similar to the process set forth in Section 57004 of the Health and Safety Code. (c) The regulations shall, at a minimum, do all of the following, by December 31, 1998: (1) Require the testing of the waters adjacent to all public beaches for microbiological contaminants, including, but not limited to, total coliform, fecal coliform, and enterococci bacteria. The department may require the testing of waters adjacent to all public beaches for microbiological indicators other than those set forth in this paragraph, or a subset of those set forth in this paragraph, if the department affirmatively establishes, based on the best available scientific studies and the weight of the evidence, that the alternative indicators are as protective of the public health. (2) Establish protective minimum standards for total coliform, fecal coliform, and enterococci bacteria, or for other microbiological indicators that the department determines are appropriate for testing pursuant to paragraph (1). (3) Establish protocols for all of the following: (A) Determining monitoring site locations and monitoring frequency based on risks to public health. (B) Making decisions regarding public notification of health hazards, including, but not limited to the posting, closing, and reopening of public beaches. (4) Require that the waters adjacent to public beaches be tested for total coliform, fecal coliform, and enterococci bacteria, or for other microbiological indicators that the department determines are appropriate for testing pursuant to paragraph (1). Except as set forth in paragraph (5), testing shall be conducted on at least a weekly basis, from April 1 to October 31, inclusive, of each year, beginning in 1999, if all of the following apply: (A) The beach is visited by more than 50,000 people annually. (B) The beach is located on an area adjacent to a storm drain that flows in the summer. (5) The monitoring frequency and locations established pursuant to this subdivision and related regulations may only be reduced or altered after the testing required pursuant to paragraph (4) reveals levels of microbiological contaminants that do not exceed for a period of two years the minimum protective standards established pursuant to paragraph (2). (d) The local health officer shall be responsible for testing the waters adjacent to, and coordinating the testing of, all public beaches within his or her jurisdiction. (e) The local health officer may meet the testing requirements of this section by utilizing test results from other agencies conducting microbiological contamination testing of the waters under his or her jurisdiction. (f) Any city or county may adopt standards for the sanitation of public beaches within its jurisdiction that are stricter than the standards adopted by the state department pursuant to this section. (g) Any duty imposed upon a local public officer or agency pursuant to this section shall be mandatory only during a fiscal year in which the Legislature has appropriated sufficient funds, as determined by the State Director of Health Services, in the annual Budget Act or otherwise for local agencies to cover the costs to those agencies associated with the performance of these duties. The State Director of Health Services shall annually, within 15 days after enactment of the Budget Act, file a written statement with the Secretary of the Senate and with the Chief Clerk of the Assembly memorializing whether sufficient funds have been appropriated. SEC. 4. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because a local agency or school district has the authority to levy service charges, fees, or assessments sufficient to pay for the program or level of service mandated by this act, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code.