BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 938 Page 1 ASSEMBLY THIRD READING AB 938 (V. Manuel Pérez) As Amended May 4, 2011 Majority vote ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY 6-3 APPROPRIATIONS 12-5 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Ayes:|Wieckowski, Campos, |Ayes:|Fuentes, Blumenfield, | | |Chesbro, Davis, Feuer, | |Bradford, Charles | | |Bonnie Lowenthal | |Calderon, Campos, Davis, | | | | |Gatto, Hall, Hill, Lara, | | | | |Mitchell, Solorio | | | | | | |-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------| |Nays:|Miller, Morrell, Valadao |Nays:|Harkey, Donnelly, | | | | |Nielsen, Smyth, Wagner | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY : Requires the written public notice of noncompliance with drinking water standards given by a public water system to include 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% 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) Contain information regarding the importance of the notice and a telephone number or address where the public water system will provide either a translated copy of the notice or assistance in the appropriate language for each group that speaks a language other than English or Spanish and that exceeds 1,000 residents or 10% of the persons served by the public water system, whichever is less. AB 938 Page 2 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 considered when determining affordability using Department of Public Health (DPH) criteria for Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (Revolving Fund) funding. FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, absorbable costs to DPH for reviewing notifications and for implementation, and unknown costs to public water systems, which can be public or private entities, to provide notice as required by this bill. 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, AB 938 Page 3 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." Current regulations . California Code of Regulations (22 Cal. Code Regs. Section 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% 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. This bill seeks to expand upon these existing regulations in order to better inform non-English speaking communities about their drinking water quality. Clarifying amendment . This bill corrects a drafting error in AB 1438 (Conway) Chapter 531, Statutes of 2009, which sets a limit, under the 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 (Conway) failed to include "environmental documentation" in the affordability assessment requirement. This bill corrects this oversight. Analysis Prepared by : Shannon McKinney / E.S. & T.M. / (916) 319-3965 AB 938 Page 4 FN: 0000737