BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  AB 1200
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   May 18, 2011

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                       AB 1200 (Ma) - As Amended:  May 4, 2011 

          Policy Committee:                              Environmental 
          Safety and Toxic Materials                    Vote: 8-0

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program: 
          Yes    Reimbursable:              Yes         

           SUMMARY  

          This bill requires a local public agency operating a combined 
          sewer and stormwater system to implement a notification plan to 
          inform the public of a discharge from the system that occurs 
          near a recreational beach, which includes notification at the 
          recreational beach.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          Reimbursable state-mandated costs to local public agencies of an 
          unknown amount, likely in the tens of thousands to hundreds of 
          thousands of dollars, to implement the notification plan.  

           COMMENTS  

           1)Rationale  .  The author describes the heavy rains in December 
            of 2010 that resulted in San Francisco discharging hundreds of 
            millions of gallons of combined sewage and stormwater into the 
            bay and ocean.  She intends this bill to provide notice to 
            those who might be most directly affected by such a discharge.

           2)Background  .  Newer water systems keep waste water separate 
            from stormwater.  Older systems, like those built more than 
            100 years ago in San Francisco and Sacramento, combine waste 
            water and stormwater.  Under normal conditions, this combined 
            water is treated before release. However, in extreme wet 
            weather, these systems can overflow, allowing waste water and 
            stormwater to discharge directly into bodies of water.











                                                                  AB 1200
                                                                  Page  2

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Jay Dickenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081