BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 938 Page 1 Date of Hearing: April 26, 2011 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY AND TOXIC MATERIALS Bob Wieckowski, Chair AB 938 (V. Manuel Perez) - As Amended: April 14, 2011 SUBJECT : Public water systems. SUMMARY : Requires the written public notice of noncompliance with drinking water standards to include specified information in English, Spanish and other languages spoken by the impacted community, as specified. Specifically, this bill : 1)Requires, commencing July 1, 2012, a public water system's written public notice of noncompliance with drinking water standards to: a) Be provided in English, Spanish, and in the language spoken by any non-English-speaking group that exceeds 10 percent of persons served by the public water system; b) Contain a telephone number or address where residents may contact the public water system for assistance; and, c) For each group that speaks a language other than English or Spanish and that exceeds 1,000 residents but is less than 10 percent of the residents served by the public water system, contain information regarding the importance of the notice and a telephone number or address where those residents may contact the public water system to obtain either a translated copy of the notice or assistance in the appropriate language. 2)Establishes, after July 1, 2012, a presumption of compliance that the notice has been properly given, with respect to the language of notification, if the public water system utilized the data available through the American Community Survey of the United States Census Bureau and the county registrar. 3)Authorizes and encourages the public water system to, in addition to non-written notification provided for in the public water system's emergency notification plan, provide notice through foreign language media outlets. 4)Adds environmental documentation to the list of costs to be AB 938 Page 2 considered when determining affordability using Department of Public Health (DPH) criteria for Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund funding. EXISTING LAW : 1)Under the Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund Law of 1997: a) Sets a $500,000 cap on each planning grant for a public water system's planning, engineering studies, environmental documentation, and project design. Maximum amounts are also set for construction grants. b) Requires total funding for planning, engineering studies, project design, and construction costs, whether in the form of a loan or grant, to be determined by an assessment of affordability using criteria established by Department of Public Health (DPH). 2)Under the California Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), public water system operators are required to provide public notice to users under certain circumstances. Examples of such circumstances include when the water system fails to comply with any primary drinking water standard that represents an imminent danger to water system users, and when the local health department recommends notice for users to avoid internal consumption of the water supply and to use bottled water due to a chemical contamination problem that may pose a health risk. 3)Under California Code of Regulations, Title 22, Environmental Health Section 64465: a) Requires each public notice for a drinking water violation to contain information in Spanish regarding the importance of the notice, or contain a telephone number or address where Spanish-speaking residents may contact the water system to obtain a translated copy of the public notice or assistance in Spanish. b) Requires, for each non-English speaking group other than Spanish-speaking that exceeds 1,000 residents or 10 percent of the residents in the community served, whichever is less, the public notice to: i) Contain information in the appropriate language(s) regarding the importance of the notice, or ii) Contain a telephone number or address where such residents may contact the water system to obtain a AB 938 Page 3 translated copy of the notice or assistance in the appropriate language. FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown. COMMENTS : Need for the bill : According to the author, "Before 2006, ŬDPH] had the regulatory authority to determine when it was appropriate for a public notice pertaining to contaminated water to be multilingual. Revisions to the regulations in 2006, however, changed the notification requirements, thereby removing important public health protections for non-English speaking residents impacted by contaminated drinking water. Specifically, the new regulations allow community water systems the option to provide the notice only in English so long as the notice also contains a telephone number or address where the non-English speaking residents may obtain a translated copy of the notice?. Public notification to residents regarding contaminated drinking water is necessary to prevent illness and disease and protect public health. When a public water system sends a public notification only in English to non-English speakers, the risks to public health persist. If public notices are not provided in the language spoken by the impacted community, residents may not know that the water in their homes is unsafe and what precautions are necessary to protect the health and safety of their family." Clarifying amendment : AB 938 corrects a drafting error in AB 1438 (Conway) Chapter 531, Statutes of 2009, which set a limit, under the Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund, of $500,000 for planning, engineering studies, environmental documentation, and design of a single project. Current law also requires total funding for planning, engineering studies, project design, and construction costs, whether in the form of a loan or grant, to be determined by an assessment of affordability using criteria established by DPH. AB 1438 failed to include "environmental documentation" in the affordability assessment requirement. AB 938corrects this oversight. Inconsistencies with current regulations : California Code of AB 938 Page 4 Regulations (22 Cal. Code Regs. § 64465) currently requires each public notice for noncompliance provided by a water system to contain information in Spanish about the importance of the notice, or to contain contact information that Spanish-speaking residents may use to obtain a translated copy of the public notice or other assistance in Spanish. For each non-English speaking group other than Spanish-speaking that exceeds 1,000 residents or 10 percent of the residents in the community served, whichever is less, the public notice must contain information in the appropriate language(s) regarding the importance of the notice, or contain contact information that such residents may use to obtain a translated copy of the notice or assistance in the appropriate language. In contrast, this bill requires that for each group that speaks a language other than English or Spanish that exceeds 1,000 residents but is less than 10 percent of the persons served by the public water system, the public notice must contain information regarding the importance of the notice and a telephone number or address where the person may contact the public water system to obtain either a translated copy of the notice or assistance in the appropriate language. As a result, this bill does not require notice for those languages spoken by 10 percent of the population when that group contains fewer than 1,000 residents. Support : Community Water Center writes, "Water providers are currently required to know the language of their customer (CCR §64465). Yet, many water providers are still not complying with this basic right to know. A recent study by the Pacific Institute of drinking water systems in the Central Valley, found that "while most surveyed households perceive a problem with the safety of their tap water, less than half are aware of nitrate contamination, despite reporting that they had received notices in the mail?households whose preferred language was Spanish (are) less likely to know about nitrate contamination." AB 938 is addressing an urgent problem in some water systems where proper notification is not given to residents when their water is not safe to drink. It is important that all Californians have the right to know when it is not safe to drink their water." Opposition : California Municipal Utilities Association, AB 938 Page 5 Association of California Water Agencies, California Water Association write, "AB 938 would continue to be unworkable and expensive and could slow down the emergency (Tier 1) notifications, potentially putting all residents at greater risk?. ŬTranslation requirements] would be costly since translators for multiple languages would need to be hired.... Identifying which languages the water system would have to be ready to provide translation or assistance in would be difficult if not impossible.? Water service purveyor boundaries often stretch across city and suburban boundaries and do not necessarily correspond to the ACS census language information?. Finally, it is critical that if changes are made to this section of law, the process does not become so cumbersome as to slow down Tier 1 notifications to all residents." Similar legislation: AB 2669 (V.M. Perez, 2010) would have added "environmental documentation" to the costs of a single project that DPH is required to determine by an assessment of affordability under the California Safe Drinking Water Act. AB 2669 would have also specified similar language requirements for public water system notices to the requirements of AB 938 of this Legislative session. AB 2669 was held on the Senate floor. Proposed amendment(s) : 1)Conformation with current regulations : The author may wish to consider amending the bill to ensure that the language requirements in the bill are at least as stringent as those in current regulation for small populations served. This may be done by amending the bill, on page 4, line 23, to read "For each group that speaks a language other than English or Spanish and that exceeds 1,000 residentsbut is less thanor 10 percent of the persons served by the public water system, whichever is less . . ." 2)Clarifying amendment : The author may wish to consider clarifying that the water purveyor would have the option of providing a telephonic translation service or a translated copy of the notice. This can be achieved by amending the bill, on page 4, line 30 as follows, "?a telephone number or address wherethose residents may contact the public water system to obtainthe public water system will provide either a translated copy of the notice or assistance in the appropriate AB 938 Page 6 language." REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION : Support Asian Americans for Civil Rights & Equality Asociacion de Gente Unida por el AGUA CA Rural Legal Assistance Foundation (co-sponsor) California League of Conservation Voters California Pan-Ethnic Health Network California Resources Recovery Association Catholic Charities Diocese of Stockton Clean Water Action (co-sponsor) Committee for a Better Seville Community Water Center (co-sponsor) Environmental Justice Coalition for Water (co-sponsor) Food & Water Watch Having Our Say Coalition International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 569 Neighbors United (Vecinos Unidos Committee) Planning and Conservation League Several individuals Southern California Watershed Alliance The Utility Reform Network Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry Action Urban Semillas Winnemem Wintu Tribe Women's International League for Peace and Freedom Opposition (unless amended) Association of California Water Agencies California Municipal Utilities Association California Water Association California Water Service Company Analysis Prepared by : Shannon McKinney / E.S. & T.M. / (916) 319-3965