BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 30| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- THIRD READING Bill No: AB 30 Author: Perea (D) Amended: 5/24/13 in Assembly Vote: 21 SENATE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE : 9-0, 6/12/13 AYES: Hill, Gaines, Calderon, Corbett, Fuller, Hancock, Jackson, Leno, Pavley SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 7-0, 8/30/13 AYES: De León, Walters, Gaines, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 77-0, 5/29/13 - See last page for vote SUBJECT : Water quality SOURCE : Clean Water Action Community Water Center DIGEST : This bill removes the sunset date for the Small Community Grant (SCG) Fund, which provides grants to small communities for the construction of wastewater collection, treatment, or disposal projects. ANALYSIS : Existing law: 1.Authorizes the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) to assess a surcharge on loans issued from the Clean Water State CONTINUED AB 30 Page 2 Revolving Fund (CWSRF), in lieu of interest on the loans. 2.Requires revenue from the surcharge to be deposited into the SCG Fund for the purpose of providing grants to small communities for the construction of wastewater collection, treatment, or disposal projects. This bill: 1.Removes the sunset date for the SCG Fund, which provides grants to small communities for the construction of wastewater collection, treatment, or disposal projects. 2.Eliminates the sunset date of December 31, 2013, from SWRCB's authorization to collect a charge on specified loans in lieu of interest that provides revenue to the SCG Fund. 3.Removes the current $50 million limitation on the total revenue that can be allocated to the SCG Fund. 4.Requires that funds in the SCG be spent within four years of the time the funds are encumbered. Background The CWSRF is created under the federal Clean Water Act to provide funding for water quality protection projects for wastewater treatment, nonpoint source pollution control, and watershed and estuary management. The California Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act authorizes the SWRCB to administer the CWSRF. Until January 1, 2014, the SWRCB is authorized to assess an annual surcharge on loans issued from the CWSRF in lieu of interest on the loans. This surcharge is required to be deposited into the SCG Fund for the purpose of providing grants to small communities for the construction of wastewater collection, treatment, or disposal projects. No more than $50 million in surcharges may be collected. Projects that serve severely disadvantaged communities have priority for grants from the SCG Fund. The surcharge may be authorized at any time during the loan repayment schedule, but once the surcharge is applied, it must remain unchanged unless the SWRCB is ceasing collection of the surcharge. CONTINUED AB 30 Page 3 Prior Legislation AB 2208 (Perea, 2012) extended the sunset date, from 2014 to 2019, of SWRCB's authorization to collect a charge on specified loans that provides revenue to the State Water Pollution Control Revolving Fund SCG Fund. The bill was held in the Senate Rules Committee. AB 2356 (Arambula, Chapter 609, Statutes of 2008), authorized SWRCB to assess an annual charge in connection with financial assistance made under the revolving loan program in lieu of interest that would otherwise be charged, with proceeds to be deposited in the State Water Pollution Control Revolving Fund SCG Fund. The fee in lieu of interest authorized pursuant to the bill sunsets January 1, 2014. FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: No According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, ongoing costs in the tens of millions of dollars to the CWSRF (special) for lost interest payments that are instead deposited into the SCG Fund. SUPPORT : (Verified 8/31/13) Clean Water Action (co-source) Community Water Center (co-source) California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation City of Salinas Environmental Justice Coalition for Water Environmental Working Group Pesticide Action Network, North America Policy Link Sierra Club California Western Growers Winnemem Wintu Tribe ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office, many disadvantaged communities are in dire need of new wastewater CONTINUED AB 30 Page 4 facilities to protect drinking water and deal with an aging wastewater system. These small communities lack sufficient funds needed to independently finance wastewater projects and are dependent upon the timely disbursement of approved state and federal grant and loan funds to improve and replace inadequate wastewater systems. The author's office argues that unfortunately there is little funding available to assist these communities. The author's office asserts that the CWSRF has historically been a loan-only program and therefore has been inaccessible to low-income communities. To address those community needs, SWRCB administered the SCG Fund. Bond funds have been made available to fund projects. However, the author's office notes that there has been no new bond funding made available for this fund since the passage of Proposition 50 in 2002 and there are more than $1 billion worth of wastewater projects that are currently in need of funding in California. ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 77-0, 5/29/13 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom, Blumenfield, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray, Grove, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hernández, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Mansoor, Medina, Melendez, Mitchell, Morrell, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, V. Manuel Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez NO VOTE RECORDED: Donnelly, Holden, Vacancy RM:ej 9/1/13 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END **** CONTINUED