BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  AB 1975
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   April 13, 2010

                   ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON WATER, PARKS AND WILDLIFE
                            Jared William Huffman, Chair
                     AB 1975 (Fong) - As Amended:  April 7, 2010
           
          SUBJECT  :   Water meters: multiunit structures

           SUMMARY  :   Requires water submetering on multiunit structures.   
          Specifically,  this bill  :  

          1)Requires multiunit residential structures or mixed use  
            residential and commercial structures that are permitted after  
            January 1, 2011, to add, as a condition of new service, water  
            meters or submeters that measure the water supplied to each  
            individual unit.

          2)Requires the owner or operator of a multiunit residential  
            structure to charge tenants for water and sewer based on  
            actual water usage.

          3)Limits the amount of administrative fees and late payment fees  
            the landowner may charge for reading meters or submeters and  
            collecting water and sewer service payments.

          4)Creates an exception to the metering requirement where  
            individual unit metering is infeasible.

           EXISTING LAW  :

          1)Requires urban water suppliers that do not get water from the  
            federal Central Valley Project to install water meters on all  
            municipal and industrial service connections and to charge  
            each customer based on actual volume of water delivered.

          2)Each water corporation with 500 or more service connections  
            that is not already subject to water metering requirements  
            under the existing Water Measurement Law must currently  
            install a water meter on each new service connection and must  
            retrofit each unmetered service connection by January 1, 2025.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :   Unknown

           COMMENTS :   As California attempts to manage its scarce water  
          supplies, the installation of water meters on multiunit  








                                                                  AB 1975
                                                                  Page  2

          residential and mixed use commercial buildings will encourage  
          increased conservation by making homeowners, business owners, or  
          renters aware of the amount of water they are utilizing.   
          Charging based on actual usage will reward those who conserve.

          A previous attempt to introduce submetering, AB 1173 (Keene),  
          failed because it included an "allocation formula" that  
          opponents felt would fall disproportionately on the poor.  This  
          bill limits the amounts landowners can charge in excess of the  
          actual cost of the water provided but does allow them to include  
          costs for sewer charges.




           REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  :   

           Support 
           
          Sierra Club (sponsor)
          Association of California Water Agencies
          Clean Water Action California
          Desert Water Agency
          El Dorado Irrigation District
          Friends of the River
          Green Plumbers USA
          Natural Resources Defense Council
          Planning and Conservation League
          Santa Clara Valley Water District

           Opposition 
           
          None on file.
           
          Analysis Prepared by  :    Tina Leahy / W., P. & W. / (916)  
          319-2096