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 








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            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 








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                 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
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          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, 








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          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 residents  but is less than   or  
            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 where  those residents may contact the public water 
            system to obtain   the public water system will provide  either a 
            translated copy of the notice or assistance in the appropriate 








                                                                  AB 938
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            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