BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1975
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 1975 (Fong)
As Amended June 1, 2010
Majority vote
WATER, PARKS & WILDLIFE 13-0
APPROPRIATIONS 12-2
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|Ayes:|Huffman, Fuller, Bill |Ayes:|Fuentes, Ammiano, |
| |Berryhill, Arambula, Tom | |Bradford, |
| |Berryhill, Blumenfield, | |Charles Calderon, Coto, |
| |Caballero, Ruskin, | |Davis, Monning, Ruskin, |
| |Fletcher, Bonnie | |Skinner, Solorio, |
| |Lowenthal, Salas, Yamada, | |Torlakson, Torrico |
| |Fong | | |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | |Nays:|Nielsen, Norby |
| | | | |
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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, 2013, to add, as a condition of new service, water
meters or submeters that measure the water supplied to each
individual unit.
2)Suspends the requirement to install submeters if the
Department of Weights and Measures has not approved a
sufficient number of qualifying submeters.
3)Requires the owner or operator of a multiunit residential
structure with meters or submeters on each dwelling unit to
charge tenants for water and sewer based on actual water
usage. Disallows charges pursuant to this bill if the meter
or submeter is not of an approved type or installed or
operated in compliance with existing law.
4)Allows property owners to recover actual monthly cost from
each tenant for submeter monitoring and billing, but not more
than $2.
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5)Requires property owners to ensure that each submeter complies
with all laws and regulations governing the installation,
certification, maintenance, billing, and testing of water
submeters.
6)Prohibits a water purveyor from imposing a fee for water meter
installation when the water meter or submeter is installed by
the property owner or his or her agent.
7)Creates an exception to the metering requirement where a
structure is greater than four stories high and plumbed in a
configuration that makes individual unit metering 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 : Negligible state costs, if any. Costs to local
governments 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.
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
AB 1975
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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.)
COMMENTS : As California attempts to manage its scarce water
supplies, the installation of water meters on multiunit
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.
Conceptually, this legislation is similar to a draft ordinance
requiring submetering that was adopted by the City of San Diego
on April 5, 2010. San Diego adopted its ordinance after a
report from the City of San Diego Office of the Independent
Budget Analyst found that multifamily units currently comprise
44% of the total housing in San Diego, the trend is increasing,
and multifamily properties achieve a 15% to 39% water savings
when submetered.
An environmental justice group who supports this bill's goals
opposes its language empowering landlords to submeter and bill
tenants fearing this would lead to abuses. They state that
over-charging, failing to maintain systems, and denying access
to records are just a few of the problems currently being
experienced as a result of landlords taking on the role of
utilities in mobilehome parks, many of which are submetered.
They suggest amending the bill to require submetered tenants to
be the direct customers of the water utilities just as
single-family homeowners are.
One county advises this bill would likely encourage water
conservation and efficiency but opposes the provision requiring
submetering to be a condition of new water service to the
property. This county wants to eliminate water purveyor
responsibility for ensuring submetering and shift the
requirement to a construction permit condition of approval.
Analysis Prepared by: Tina Cannon Leahy / W., P. & W. / (916)
319-2096
AB 1975
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FN: 0004764