BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2488|
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CONSENT
Bill No: AB 2488
Author: Ruskin (D)
Amended: 4/8/10 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE : 4-0, 6/16/10
AYES: Aanestad, Kehoe, DeSaulnier, Price
NO VOTE RECORDED: Cox
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 74-0, 5/6/10 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT : City and County of San Francisco: regional
water system
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill makes various clarifying changes to
the San Francisco Bay Area Regional Water System Financing
Authority Act and the Bay Area Water Supply and
Conservation Agency Act.
ANALYSIS : Owned and operated by the City and County of
San Francisco, the Hetch Hetchy system is a regional asset
that delivers water to millions of Bay Area residents.
When the suburban water purveyors wanted to help finance
improvements to the Hetch Hetchy system, the Legislature
created the San Francisco Bay Area Regional Water System
Financing Authority (Authority) (SB 1870 [Speier], Chapter
846, Statutes of 2002). To coordinate the suburban
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purveyors' efforts, the Legislature created the Bay Area
Water Supply and Conservation Agency (Agency) (AB 2058
[Papan], Chapter 844, Statutes of 2002).
This bill:
I. Governance . The Authority's 28-member board of
directors is composed of representatives from the City and
County of San Francisco, 16 cities, nine water districts,
and two public members. The 27 members on the Agency's
board represent the suburban water purveyors: the 16
cities, nine water districts, and two private entities. On
some issues, the Agency's board members cast weighted votes
based on their historic water deliveries under a 1984
Master Water Sales Contract with San Francisco.
The Skyline County Water District sold its water system to
the California Water Service Company and then dissolved in
2009. Also in 2009, the water purveyors signed a new Water
Supply Agreement. Local officials want to update their
statutes to reflect these changed conditions.
This bill removes the Skyline County Water District from
the boards of the Bay Area Water Reliability Financing
Authority and the Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation
Agency. In the statutory table that assigns the Agency's
voting power based on water deliveries, this bill deletes
the Skyline County Water District and shifts its 266-acre
foot allotment to the California Water Service Company.
The bill declares that if an existing entity succeeds to
another entity's water rights and obligations, the
successor entity's quantity of water increases accordingly,
without the need for statutory changes. This bill also
substitutes the July 2009 Water Supply Agreement or any
subsequent water supply contract for the Master Water Sales
Agreement.
II. Water conservation . In 2008, the Legislature passed
the Integrated Water Management Planning Act (SB 1xx,
Perata, 2008). In 2009, the Legislature set water
conservation targets of 10 percent by 2015 and 20 percent
by 2020 (SB 7xxxxxxx, Steinberg, 2009). This bill allows
the Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency to help
its water purveyors meet these urban water use targets as
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an authorized regional water management group. If
requested by the water purveyors, this bill allows the
Agency to develop and administer a regional conservation
program and receive financial assistance for that purpose.
The bill also declares that the Agency is a local agency
for the purposes of the 2008 Integrated Water Management
Planning Act.
III. Water bonds . The Bay Area Water Supply and
Conservation Agency can apply for and receive state and
federal funds. The voters have approved water bonds that
make capital available for water supply and water quality
projects:
Proposition 204 (1996)
Proposition 13 (2000)
Proposition 50 (2002)
Proposition 84 (2006)
This bill creates a nonexclusive list of the state bonds
that the Agency may receive, including any future financing
for water management.
IV. Oaths of office . The directors of the Authority and
the Agency must take oaths of office in order to serve.
Because the directors' appointing authorities are
geographically spread out, officials say that it would be
easier to swear-in new members at their own meetings. This
bill allows the chairperson, vice chairperson, or secretary
of the San Francisco Bay Area Regional Water System
Financing Authority and the Bay Area Water Supply and
Conservation Agency to administer the oaths of office to
their respective board members.
Comments
This bill brings the statutes for the San Francisco Bay
Area Regional Water System Financing Authority and the Bay
Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency into line with
recent changes. With these amendments, the law reflects
the dissolution of the Skyline County Water District, the
challenges posed by water conservation targets, and the
availability of water bond funds.
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FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/16/10)
Association of California Water Agencies
Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Beall, Bill
Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Blumenfield,
Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Charles
Calderon, Carter, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De
Leon, DeVore, Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher,
Fong, Fuentes, Fuller, Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani,
Garrick, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill,
Huber, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Lieu, Logue,
Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Miller, Monning, Nava, Nestande,
Niello, Nielsen, Norby, V. Manuel Perez, Portantino,
Ruskin, Salas, Saldana, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio,
Audra Strickland, Swanson, Torlakson, Torres, Torrico,
Tran, Villines, Yamada, John A. Perez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bass, Block, De La Torre, Gilmore,
Mendoza, Vacancy
AGB:do 6/17/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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