BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1975
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 28, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 1975 (Fong) - As Amended: April 29, 2010
Policy Committee: Water, Parks and
Wildlife Vote: 13-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
As proposed to be amended, this bill requires water submetering
on multi-unit structures, with exception. Specifically, this
bill:
1)Requires multi-unit residential structures or mixed-use
residential and commercial structures that are permitted after
January 1, 2012, to add, as a condition of new service from a
water purveyor, water meters or submeters that measure the
water supplied to each individual unit.
2)Requires the owner (or his or her agent) of a multi-unit
residential structure to charge tenants for water and sewer
use based on actual water usage, as measured by the meter or
submeter, provided the meter in question is of a type approved
for use by and installed according to applicable legal and
regulatory standards.
3)Specifies that the owner is to ensure each submeter installed
complies with all laws and regulations for installation,
certification, maintenance, billing, testing and plumbing and
explicitly states that this bill does not require a water
purveyor to assume responsibility to ensure compliance with
those laws and regulations.
4)Creates an exception to the metering requirement where the
building owner demonstrates to the water purveyor's
satisfaction that individual unit metering is infeasible
either because of building height or because of the complexity
of plumbing configuration.
AB 1975
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FISCAL EFFECT
1)Negligible state costs, if any.
(AB 1173 (Keene, 2007) was similar to this bill in that it,
too, would have required a building owner or operator to
charge for water and sewage an individual unit in a multi-unit
building based on that unit's water use. However, AB 1173,
unlike this bill, would have allowed an alternative method of
determining an individual unit's water charge based upon the
relative square-foot area of the unit. This alternative
method was controversial because some feared it would lead to
water charges disproportionate to water use and be especially
harmful to low-income residents. Because of this controversy,
the Division of Measurement Standards at the Department of
Food and Agriculture (CDFA) assumed it would need to resolve
disputes about meters and submeters. CDFA indicates it
anticipates no such costs associated with this bill.)
2)Cost to local government of an unknown amount to ensure
installation of meters in affected new units and for county
sealers to periodically calibrate meters and submeters. These
local costs will be fully covered by fees paid by building
owners and operators.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale . The author and sponsor contend the installation of
water meters on multi-unit residential and mixed-use
commercial buildings will encourage increased conservation by
making homeowners, business owners, and renters aware of the
amount of water they use. Charging based on actual usage will
reward those who conserve.
2)Background .
a) Water Metering Requirements . Currently, urban water
suppliers that do not get water from the federal Central
Valley Project must install water meters on all municipal
and industrial service connections and charge each customer
based on the volume of water delivered. In addition, each
water corporation with 500 or more service connections not
already subject to water metering requirements must install
a meter on each new service connection and retrofit each
unmetered service connection by January 1, 2025. Generally
AB 1975
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speaking, individual units in multi-unit buildings pay for
water and sewage based on the average water use of all the
units, not based on the actual water used by a given unit.
b) County Sealers . County weights and measures officials
serve as the local regulatory authority to enforce the
California Business & Professions Code and the California
Code of Regulations pertaining to issues of "Equity in the
Marketplace." Sealers are county employees who inspect
commercial devices, check packages for net content, review
weighmaster records for accuracy, and provide training and
education.
3)Local Concerns . Some stakeholders express concern that this
bill might require county officials to ensure the functioning
and accuracy of submeters, thereby saddling the locals with
costs they might not be able to recoup through fees. The
proposed amendments are designed to address those concerns by
explicitly stating that the bill does not require a water
purveyor, which includes public and private entities, to
ensure each submeter installed complies with all laws and
regulations for installation, certification, maintenance,
billing, testing and plumbing.
4)High Costs, Low Incomes . Some express concern for the effect
this bill might have on the cost of low-income housing. For
this reason, the California Coalition for Rural Housing
recommends amendments to eliminate or offset the costs of this
bill on affordable rental mulit-family housing developments.
5)Support . This bill is supported by the Sierra Club (sponsor),
the Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA), numerous
conservation groups and some other water agencies.
6)Opposition . This bill is opposed by the California Apartment
Association, who is concerned the bill will impose costs on
apartment owners and tenants, as well as the California
Coalition for Rural Housing, who is trouble by the possible
cost to low-income housing.
Analysis Prepared by : Jay Dickenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081