BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                SB 482
                                                                       

                       SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
                          Senator S. Joseph Simitian, Chairman
                               2011-2012 Regular Session
                                            
           BILL NO:    SB 482
           AUTHOR:     Kehoe
           AMENDED:    April 25, 2011
           FISCAL:     Yes               HEARING DATE:     May 2, 2011
           URGENCY:    No                                  CONSULTANT:       
            Rachel Machi                                     Wagoner
            
           SUBJECT  :    PUBLIC BEACH CONTAMINATION: STANDARDS: TESTING: 
                          CLOSURE

            SUMMARY  :    
           
            Existing federal law  :

           Pursuant to the Clean Water Act, requires all municipal, 
           industrial, and commercial facilities that discharge wastewater 
           or stormwater directly from a point source into waters of the 
           United States (such as a lake, river or ocean) to obtain a 
           National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit.

            Existing California law  :

             1)  Requires California Department of Public Health (DPH) to 
               adopt regulations establishing minimum standards for the 
               sanitation of public beaches for the protection of the 
               public's health and safety including requirements for 
               testing, monitoring, inspection, notification, posting and 
               beach closures.

             2)  Authorizes the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) 
               and the regional water quality control boards to establish 
               waste discharge requirements for the discharge of stormwater 
               by municipalities and industries in accordance with the 
               federal Clean Water Act.

             3)  Requires local environmental health agencies to implement 
               and enforce the beach monitoring program when funding is 
               provided by the state and to report to SWRCB prescribed 
               information regarding beach posting and closures.









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              4)   Requires SWRCB to post beach closure information on its 
                website.

            This bill:  

             1)  Transfers beach water quality monitoring and reporting 
               requirements from the DPH to the SWRCB.  

             2)  Allows SWRCB to determine options for modifying wastewater 
               and stormwater discharge monitoring requirements. 

            COMMENTS  :

              1)  Purpose of Bill  . The author believes that protecting the 
               public's health is of the utmost importance and should be 
               prioritized by the state of California.  According to the 
               author, recreating in waters with increased bacteria 
               concentrations has been directly linked to human health 
               impacts, ranging from nausea and skin rashes to pinkeye, 
               respiratory infections, meningitis and hepatitis. The author 
               contends that poor beach water quality in Los Angeles and 
               Orange Counties alone is associated with as many as 1.5 
               million excess cases of gastrointestinal illness a year, 
               which equates to an economic loss of $21 to $51 million per 
               year (Pendleton et al. 2006).  California depends heavily on 
               coastal tourism revenue, which the author claims could be 
               jeopardized by a lack of routine monitoring.  With between 
               150 million and nearly 400 million visits made to California 
               beaches each year, the author believes that clean beaches are 
               a vital source of tourism and livelihood for the state and 
               that beach water quality monitoring keeps millions of 
               beachgoers in California safe. 

              2)  Background  .  California has some of the most popular 
               beaches in the country.  Over 150 million day visits are 
               generated by tourists and residents who use them annually to 
               swim, wade, surf, and dive.  Beach visitors spend over $10 
               billion each year in California.  Beach water quality 
               monitoring and strong pollution prevention measures are 
               critical for protecting beach goers from waterborne diseases. 
                California has the most extensive and comprehensive 
               monitoring and regulatory program for beaches in the nation.  









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               Monitoring is performed by county health agencies in 
               seventeen different coastal and San Francisco Bay Area 
               counties, publicly owned sewage treatment plants, other 
               dischargers along the coastal zone, environmental groups and 
               numerous citizen-monitoring groups.

               The last available data from SWRCB website from 2005 shows 
               that there were 486 days of total closures and 1,142 events 
               where posting was required on California monitored beaches.

               DPH used General Fund dollars to provide funding to the 
               counties to implement the beach monitoring program through 
               June 30, 2008.  However, Governor Schwarzenegger used his 
               line item veto authority to strike the funding in the 
               2008/2009 fiscal year.  Since 2008, SWRCB has provided 
               short-term, temporary funding grants from both the 
               Costa-Machado Water Act of 2000 (Proposition 13) and the 
               Water Security, Clean Drinking Water, Coastal and Beach 
               Protection Act of 2002 (Proposition 50) while long-term 
               funding solutions are explored.

               By transferring the primary responsibility for the 
               administration of the beach monitoring program to SWRCB this 
               bill would give the board the flexibility needed to find 
               appropriate funding for this program.

            SOURCE  :        California Association of Environmental Health 
                          Administrators  

           SUPPORT  :       Alameda County, Department of Environmental Health
                          CalCoast
                          California Coastal Coalition
                          California Coastkeeper Alliance
                          Center for Oceanic Awareness Research and 
                          Education
                          Humboldt County, Department of Public Health
                          Los Angeles County, Department of Public Health
                          Marin County, Department of Environmental Health 
                          Services
                          Natural Resources Defense Council
                          San Diego County
                          San Luis Obispo COASTKEEPER
                          Save Our Shores









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                          Sierra Club California
            
           OPPOSITION  :    None on file