BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  AB 938
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          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.








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          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, 








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          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 










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