BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  AB 938
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          CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
          AB 938 (V. Manuel Pérez)
          As Amended  August 23, 2011
          Majority vote
           
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          |ASSEMBLY:  |53-26|(May 31, 2011)  |SENATE: |29-8 |(August 30,    |
          |           |     |                |        |     |2011)          |
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           Original Committee Reference:    E.S. & T.M.  

           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.  Makes technical 
          changes to the Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund 
          affordability assessment requirements.

           The Senate amendments  specify that the notice requirement 
          provisions affect a written Tier 1 drinking water violation 
          public notice given by a public water system.  The amendments 
          change the community to receive a specified notice to be a 
          non-English-speaking group that speaks a language other than 
          Spanish that exceeds 1,000 residents but is less than 10% of the 
          persons served by the public water system.  The amendments also 
          expand the presumption of compliance provisions.

           AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY,  this bill required a public water 
          system's written public notice of noncompliance with drinking 
          water standards to contain specified information 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.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :  According to the Assembly Appropriations 
          Committee, enactment of this bill could result in 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] 








                                                                  AB 938
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          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."

           

          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.


           Analysis Prepared by  :    Shannon McKinney / E.S. & T.M. / (916) 








                                                                  AB 938
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          319-3965 

                                                              FN:  0002298