BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1194
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Date of Hearing: April 26, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY AND TOXIC MATERIALS
Bob Wieckowski, Chair
AB 1194 (Block) - As Introduced: February 18, 2011
SUBJECT : Drinking water.
SUMMARY : Makes changes to the California Safe Drinking Water
Act (SDWA) to conform state drinking water law to federal law.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Revises the definition of "human consumption," as it relates
to the use of water, to include cooking, which includes, but
is not limited to, preparing food and washing dishes.
2)Exempts, from regulation, public water systems that sell water
to users through a sub-metered distribution system if the
water supply is obtained from a public water system only if
each user of the sub-metered system is not charged a higher
rate than the user would be charged by the public water
system.
3)Repeals the requirement for the California Department of
Public Health (DPH) to exempt from water quality requirements
any non-community water system serving a transient population
that provides restrooms for employees or the public, provided
that the water system demonstrates to DPH that it meets
specified criteria.
4)Revises penalty provisions, including authorizing DPH to levy
a penalty of up to a $1,000 per day per violation against
public water systems that are in violation of drinking water
standards, regulations, permits, citations or orders.
5)Makes other clarifying, technical changes.
EXISTING LAW, under the SDWA :
1)Defines "human consumption" as the use of water for drinking,
bathing or showering, hand washing, or oral hygiene.
2)Exempts, from regulation, public water systems that meet
specified conditions, including systems that sell water to
users through a sub-metered service system if the water supply
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is obtained from a regulated public water system.
3)Requires DPH to exempt from water quality requirements any
non-community water system serving a transient population that
provides restrooms for employees or the public provided that
the water system demonstrates that it meets all of the
following criteria:
a) The water system is in compliance with either of the
following:
i) No water is served by the water system for any
public human consumption other than for hand-washing; or,
ii) If water is served for public human consumption
other than for hand-washing, bottled water from a source
approved by DPH is provided for the consumption other
than hand-washing; and,
a) The water for hand-washing is bacteriologically safe, as
specified; and,
b) The non-community water system is not a business
regulated as a food facility.
5)Authorizes DPH to levy penalties against public water systems
of up to $1,000 per day for violation of a primary drinking
water standard and certain health-based secondary standards;
authorizes a penalty of $200 per day for other violations.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown.
COMMENTS :
Need for the bill : According to the author's office, AB 1194
would conform existing state statutes to federal laws and
regulations. The author asserts that, "Should California's laws
or regulations fail to conform to federal laws and regulations,
California could lose state primacy, which would result in the
loss of up to $132 million annually from the United States
Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA.) US EPA could reduce
or withhold CDPH's funding for implementing a drinking water
primacy program and for public water system infrastructure
improvements, which would hinder the systems' ability to provide
safe drinking water. Primacy is a condition of a state's
eligibility for such funding. In addition, the federal funds
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are used for CDPH's Drinking Water Program (DWP) activities and
a loss of funding would hinder DWP's ability to carry out its
regulatory activities."
Primacy : The federal Safe Drinking Water Act (federal SDWA)
includes a requirement that US EPA establish and enforce
standards (maximum contaminant levels, treatment techniques, and
monitoring) to which public drinking water systems must adhere.
States and Indian Tribes are given primary enforcement
responsibility, also known as primacy, for public water systems
in their jurisdiction if they meet certain requirements.
Since California is a primacy state, the US EPA delegates to
California its authority to implement a drinking water program,
which is administered by DPH. To retain this authority,
California must enact laws and regulations related to drinking
water that conform to, and are no less stringent than, the
federal SDWA and federal regulations. DPH contends that, from
time to time, it is necessary to amend the California SDWA to
ensure conformance with federal law.
Conformance with federal law : According to DPH, the sponsors of
the bill, the provisions of the bill are necessary to ensure
that California law conforms to federal law. Following are the
reasons for the provisions.
1)US EPA contends that California Health and Safety Code (HSC),
which defines "human consumption," is not broad enough to
conform to the federal provision because it omits cooking,
food preparation, and other such forms of human ingestion of
water.
2)The HSC currently exempts apartments and other multi-unit
dwellings from regulation as public water systems. US EPA
contends that the HSC section lacks clarity, may be
inconsistent with federal policy, and that it is more
appropriate to explicitly describe the criteria for the
exemption.
3)HSC authorizes DPH to exempt from most water quality
requirements any system that does not serve residents provided
that certain requirements are met, including that the system
either only serves water for hand-washing, or, if it serves
water for other purposes, makes bottled water available for
those purposes. Federal law provides no similar exemption;
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therefore, California law in this area is less stringent than
federal law.
4)HSC currently authorizes penalties against public water
systems of up to $1,000 per day for a violation of a primary
drinking water standard and certain health-based secondary
standards, but authorizes a penalty of only $200 per day for
other violations. In some instances, California's SDWA does
not authorize such penalties until DPH first issues a citation
with a deadline by which the system must come into compliance
and DPH finds that the system fails to meet that deadline.
Consequently, a public water system may avoid paying a penalty
for the days on which it violated applicable laws or
regulations by coming into compliance. Federal law, however,
authorizes a penalty of up to $1,000 per day per violation
that cannot be avoided by coming into compliance, as under
state law. Here, again, state law is less stringent than the
applicable federal requirements.
Double referral : This bill passed the Assembly Health Committee
on April 5, 2011, with a vote of 17-0.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support:
California Department of Public Health
Opposition:
None received.
Analysis Prepared by : Shannon McKinney / E.S. & T.M. / (916)
319-3965