BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 1200 Page 1 ASSEMBLY THIRD READING AB 1200 (Ma) As Amended May 4, 2011 Majority vote ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY 8-0 APPROPRIATIONS 17-0 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Ayes:|Wieckowski, Miller, |Ayes:|Fuentes, Harkey, | | |Campos, Davis, Feuer, | |Blumenfield, Bradford, | | |Bonnie Lowenthal, | |Charles Calderon, Campos, | | |Morrell, Valadao | |Davis, Donnelly, Gatto, | | | | |Hall, Hill, Lara, | | | | |Mitchell, Nielsen, Norby, | | | | |Solorio, Wagner | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY : Requires a local public agency operating a combined sewer and stormwater system (CSS) 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. EXISTING LAW : 1)Requires, under the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act, any person who causes or permits any hazardous substance or sewage to be discharged in or on any state waters to immediately notify the California Emergency Management Agency (CalEMA). Requires CalEMA to immediately notify the appropriate regional water quality control board (RWQCB), local health officer, and administrator of environment health. SWRCB must adopt regulations establishing reportable quantities of sewage for purposes of this requirement. 2)Requires, under Community Facilities Law (general provisions with respect to sewers), requires the State Department of Public Health (DPH) or any local health officer to order contamination to be abated. When DPH finds that a pollution or nuisance exists, the condition must be referred by DPH to the RWQCB with any recommendations for correction. 3)Requires local sanitary system owners and operators to report AB 1200 Page 2 sewer system overflows to the RWQCB and include detailed information about the overflow, including location, cause, and environmental effects. FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, costs to local public agencies of an unknown amount, in the tens of thousands of dollars at the most, to implement the notification plan. Should the Commission on State Mandates determine these costs are a reimbursable state mandate, the state would need to pay for them General Fund (GF.) COMMENTS : Need for the bill: According to the author, "Assembly Bill 1200 was introduced in the midst of a wet rain year that led to 226 million gallons of combined sewage and stormwater discharged by San Francisco in the month of December, 2010. AB 1200 closes a loophole in current law that exempts combined systems from timely public notification and disclosure procedures. "AB 1200 ensures that San Francisco lives up to its historic leadership role of environmental stewardship," said Assemblywoman Ma. "This bill will make us lead by example. We've been flushing our toilets into the bay and ocean and people have a right to know when the water is polluted as soon as possible." San Francisco's combined sewer system : According to the SWRCB, conventional storm water is managed using a centralized approach; storm water is funneled through various catchments (i.e., storm drains) and conveyance systems. In older cities, combined sewer and storm systems may be routed to a waste water treatment plant for treatment; however, in most California cities and towns storm water is discharged directly into streams, bays, estuaries, and other local bodies of water though storm water outlets. Combined sewer and storm systems were very common prior to the early 1900s, (e.g., older parts of Sacramento and San Francisco have combined sewer and storm systems). These combined sewer and storm water systems can overflow during storm events causing untreated sewage and storm water to flow directly into nearby water bodies, thus resulting in violations of municipal National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits and causing harm to aquatic life and humans. Separate sanitary sewer systems also have the AB 1200 Page 3 potential to overflow during high storm events due to system leaks and groundwater infiltration. Both combined storm and sewer, and separate sewer overflows are regulated under Municipal NPDES Permits. Analysis Prepared by : Bob Fredenburg / E.S. & T.M. / (916) 319-3965 FN: 0000978