Amended in Senate August 12, 2013

Amended in Senate July 11, 2013

Amended in Senate June 27, 2013

Amended in Senate June 19, 2013

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 69

Introduced by Assembly Member Perea

(Coauthor: Assembly Member Stone)

January 10, 2013

An act to add begin delete Section 13169.5 to end delete begin insert Article 6.5 (commencing with Section 14615) to Chapter 5 of Division 7 of the Food and Agricultural Code end insert , and to add and repeal begin delete Article 4 (commencing with Section 13444) of Chapter 6 of Division 7 of, the Water Code end delete begin insert Chapter 4.7 (commencing with Section 116765) of Part 12 of Division 104 of the Health and Safety Code end insert , relating to begin insert drinking end insert water, making an appropriation therefor, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 69, as amended, Perea. Groundwater: drinking water: Nitrate at Risk Fund.

begin delete

(1) Existing law establishes the State Water Resources Control Board, or state board, and 9 California regional water quality control boards, and authorizes the state board to adopt regulations to carry out its powers and duties. Under existing law, the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act, the state board is required to formulate and adopt state policy for water quality control. Under existing law the state board is further authorized to develop and implement a groundwater protection program consistent with federal law.

end delete begin delete

This bill would require the state board, in collaboration with the regional boards, and state and local agencies that collect water quality data or information, to develop a public information program on matters involving groundwater quality monitoring and assessment, as specified, and would also require the state board to develop and maintain on its Internet Web site, in a format accessible to the general public, an information file with specific information on groundwater quality.

end delete begin delete

(2)

end delete

begin insert (1) end insert  Existing law, the California Safe Drinking Water Act, requires the State Department of Public Health to administer provisions relating to the regulation of drinking water to protect public health, including, but not limited to, conducting research, studies, and demonstration programs relating to the provision of a dependable, safe supply of drinking water, enforcing the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, adopting enforcement regulations, and conducting studies and investigations to assess the quality of water in domestic water supplies.

This bill would establish the Nitrate at Risk Fund, to be administered by the department. This bill would continuously appropriate, without regard to fiscal years, the fund to the department for the purposes of loans, principal forgiveness loans, or grants to certain water systems operating in a high-nitrate at-risk area for specified purposes. begin delete This bill would require a person who purchases nitrogen fertilizer materials in California to pay a nitrogen fertilizer materials charge, until January 1, 2016, of $0.01 per dollar of materials, and on and after January 1, 2016, the department may increase the amount of the charge, as specified, to an amount no greater than $0.04 per dollar of materials if 80% of the moneys in the fund are committed. This bill would require a seller of nitrogen fertilizer materials to remit the nitrogen fertilizer materials charge to the department to be deposited in the fund. end delete This bill would require the state board, on or before January 1, 2022, to submit a report to the Legislature that includes specified information relating to the fund and contaminated drinking water. This bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2024.

begin insert

(2) Existing law requires every person who manufactures or distributes fertilizing materials to be licensed by the Secretary of Food and Agriculture and to pay a license fee that does not exceed $300. Existing law requires every lot, parcel, or package of fertilizing material to have a label attached to it, as required by the secretary. Existing law requires a licensee who sells or distributes bulk fertilizing materials to pay to the secretary an assessment not to exceed $0.002 per dollar of sales for all sales of fertilizing materials, as prescribed, for the purposes of the administration and enforcement of provisions relating to fertilizing materials. In addition to that assessment, existing law authorizes the secretary to impose an assessment in an amount not to exceed $0.001 per dollar of sales for all sales of fertilizing materials for the purpose of providing funding for research and education regarding the use of fertilizing materials.

end insert begin insert

This bill, with prescribed exceptions, would require a person who sells for use in this state fertilizer materials to pay to the secretary a fertilizer materials charge, until January 1, 2016, of $0.01 per dollar of materials. This bill, on and after January 1, 2016, would permit the department to increase the amount of the charge, as specified, to an amount no greater than $0.04 per dollar of materials if 80% of the moneys in the fund are committed, and would require the Fertilizer Inspection Advisory Board to discuss the charge and provide a recommendation to the department. This bill would prohibit the fertilizer materials charge from being imposed when the department determines that more than $60,000,000 of the moneys in the fund are uncommitted. This bill would require a seller of fertilizer materials to remit the charge to the secretary to be deposited in the fund.

end insert

(3) The bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Vote: ²⁄₃. Appropriation: yes. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

begin delete

SECTION 1.  

Section 13169.5 is added to the Water Code, to
read:

13169.5.  

(a) The state board, in collaboration with the regional
boards, and state and local agencies that collect water quality data
or information, shall develop a public information program on
matters involving groundwater quality monitoring and assessment
throughout the state by utilizing existing data, including
groundwater ambient monitoring and assessment results, along
with the collection of new information as needed.

(b) The state board shall develop and maintain on its Internet
Web site, in a format accessible to the general public, an
information file on groundwater quality monitoring, assessment,
research, standards, regulation, enforcement, and other pertinent
matters.

SEC. 2.  

Article 4 (commencing with Section 13444) is added
to Chapter 6 of Division 7 of the Water Code, to read:

 

Article 4.  Nitrate at Risk Fund

 

13444.  

The Nitrate at Risk Fund is hereby established in the
State Treasury, to be administered by the State Department of
Public Health. Notwithstanding Section 13340 of the Government
Code, moneys in the Nitrate at Risk Fund are continuously
appropriated, without regard to fiscal years, to the State Department
of Public Health for the purposes described in Section 13446.

13445.  

(a) For purposes of this section, “fertilizer materials
charge” means the charge imposed pursuant to subdivision (b).

(b) (1) A person who purchases fertilizer materials in California,
including, but not limited to, all commercial or retail sales of
fertilizer materials for agricultural or urban uses, shall pay a
fertilizer materials charge as follows:

(A) Until January 1, 2016, a charge of $0.01 per dollar of
materials.

(B) On and after January 1, 2016, the State Department of Public
Health may increase the amount of the charge to an amount no
greater than $0.04 per dollar of materials if 80 percent of the
moneys in the Nitrate at Risk Fund are committed. In determining
the amount of the charge, the State Department of Public Health
shall consider the demand for the moneys in the Nitrate at Risk
Fund. In determining the charge, the State Department of Public
Health shall allow stakeholder participation and make available
to the public the information upon which the State Department of
Public Health calculates, bases, or determines the charge.

(2) A seller of fertilizer materials shall remit the fertilizer
materials charge to the State Department of Public Health to be
deposited in the Nitrate at Risk Fund.

13446.  

(a) Moneys in the Nitrate at Risk Fund shall be used
for loans, principal forgiveness loans, or grants to a water system
operating in a high-nitrate at-risk area that is one of the following:

(1) A small community water system serving a disadvantaged
community.

(2) An unregulated system of 2 to 15, inclusive, service
connections.

(3) A nontransient noncommunity water system owned by a
public agency.

(b) Moneys in the Nitrate at Risk Fund may be used for any of
the following purposes:

(1) Preplanning drinking water projects.

(2) Planning drinking water projects.

(3) Interim water solutions.

(4) Constructing drinking water projects.

(5) Operating and maintaining drinking water systems. The
State Department of Public Health shall ensure that moneys used
for the purposes of this paragraph are for the operation and
maintenance of drinking water systems in communities that have
a substantial need and otherwise would not be able to afford to
operate or maintain their systems. The State Department of Public
Health shall ensure that moneys available for the operation and
maintenance of a particular drinking water system pursuant to this
paragraph shall not be permanent and shall be phased out over
time.

(c) Moneys in the Nitrate at Risk Fund shall not be used for
loans, principal forgiveness loans, or grants to a water system that
is a small community water system for the purposes of either
paragraph (2) or (4) of subdivision (b) unless no other funding
source is available to that system for that purpose.

13447.  

(a) On or before January 1, 2022, the state board, in
consultation with any other state entity or research institution as
appropriate, shall submit to the Legislature a report that includes
all of the following information:

(1) Communities that rely on contaminated drinking water as a
primary source of drinking water.

(2) The principal contaminants and other constituents of concern
affecting groundwater and contamination levels in the groundwater
sources for the communities described in paragraph (1).

(3) Potential solutions and funding sources to clean up or treat
groundwater or to provide alternative water supplies to ensure the
provision of safe drinking water to communities identified in
paragraph (1).

(4) The effect of the use of the moneys in the Nitrate at Risk
Fund for the purposes described in Section 13446 on nitrate
contaminated groundwater used as a source of drinking water.

(b) A report to be submitted pursuant to subdivision (a) shall
be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government
Code.

13448.  

If the responsibility for administering Chapter 4
(commencing with Section 116270) of Part 12 of Division 104 of
the Health and Safety Code is transferred to the state board, the
state board shall succeed to and is vested with all of the authority,
duties, powers, responsibilities, and jurisdiction of the State
Department of Public Health pursuant to this article.

13449.  

This article shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2024, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute,
that is enacted before January 1, 2024, deletes or extends that date.

end delete

begin insert

begin insert SECTION 1. end insert   

end insert

begin insert Article 6.5 (commencing with Section 14615) is
added to Chapter 5 of Division 7 of the end insert begin insert Food and Agricultural
Code end insert begin insert , to read: end insert

begin insert

 

Article begin insert 6.5. end insert   Nitrate at Risk Fund Charge

 

begin insert 14615. end insert   

(a) For the purposes of this section, “fund” means the
Nitrate at Risk Fund created by Section 116765 of the Health and
Safety Code.

(b) (1) Except as provided in subdivision (d), every person who
sells for use in this state fertilizer materials shall pay to the
secretary the applicable charge. Those sales expressly include all
sales made electronically, telephonically, or by any other means
that result in a fertilizer material being shipped to or used in the
state. There is a rebuttable presumption that fertilizer materials
that are sold or distributed into or within this state by any person
are sold or distributed for use in this state. A fertilizer materials
charge shall be paid at the following rates for sales of fertilizer
materials for use in this state:

(1) Until January 1, 2016, a charge of $0.01 per dollar of
materials sold.

(2) On and after January 1, 2016, the State Department of
Public Health may increase the amount of the charge to an amount
no greater than $0.04 per dollar of materials sold if 80 percent of
the moneys in the fund are committed. In determining the amount
of the charge, the State Department of Public Health shall consider
the demand for the moneys in the fund. In determining the charge,
the State Department of Public Health shall allow stakeholder
participation and make available to the public the information
upon which the State Department of Public Health calculates,
bases, or determines the charge. The Fertilizer Inspection Advisory
Board, described in Section 14581, shall discuss the charge and
provide a recommendation to the State Department of Public
Health.

(2) A seller of fertilizer materials shall remit the fertilizer
materials charge to the secretary to be deposited in the fund.

(c) The fertilizer materials charge shall not be imposed when
more than sixty million dollars ($60,000,000) of the moneys in the
fund are uncommitted.

(d) A person is not required to pay the charge provided for in
this section as follows:

(1) In those cases where the person did not first sell the fertilizer
material into or within this state or have actual knowledge, at the
time of its sale, that the fertilizer would be sold for use in this state.

(2) If the fertilizer material is for use in further manufacturing
or formulating of fertilizer material.

end insert

begin insert

begin insert SEC. 2. end insert   

end insert

begin insert Chapter 4.7 (commencing with Section 116765) is
added to Part 12 of Division 104 of the end insert begin insert Health and Safety Code end insert begin insert ,
to read: end insert

begin insert

 

Chapter   begin insert 4.7. end insert Nitrate at Risk Fund

 

begin insert 116765. end insert   

The Nitrate at Risk Fund is hereby established in the
State Treasury, to be administered by the State Department of
Public Health. Notwithstanding Section 13340 of the Government
Code, moneys in the Nitrate at Risk Fund are continuously
appropriated, without regard to fiscal years, to the State
Department of Public Health for the purposes described in Section
116766.

begin insert 116766. end insert   

(a) Moneys in the Nitrate at Risk Fund shall be used
for loans, principal forgiveness loans, or grants to a water system
operating in a high-nitrate at-risk area that is one of the following:

(1) A small community water system serving a disadvantaged
community.

(2) An unregulated system of 2 to 15, inclusive, service
connections.

(3) A nontransient noncommunity water system owned by a
public agency.

(b) Moneys in the Nitrate at Risk Fund may be used for any of
the following purposes:

(1) Preplanning drinking water projects.

(2) Planning drinking water projects.

(3) Interim water solutions.

(4) Constructing drinking water projects.

(5) Operating and maintaining drinking water systems. The
State Department of Public Health shall ensure that moneys used
for the purposes of this paragraph are for the operation and
maintenance of drinking water systems in communities that have
a substantial need and otherwise would not be able to afford to
operate or maintain their systems. The State Department of Public
Health shall ensure that moneys available for the operation and
maintenance of a particular drinking water system pursuant to
this paragraph shall not be permanent and shall be phased out
over time.

(c) Moneys in the Nitrate at Risk Fund shall not be used for
loans, principal forgiveness loans, or grants to a water system
that is a small community water system for the purposes of either
paragraph (2) or (4) of subdivision (b) unless no other funding
source is available to that system for that purpose.

begin insert 116767. end insert   

(a) On or before January 1, 2022, the state board, in
consultation with any other state entity or research institution as
appropriate, shall submit to the Legislature a report that includes
all of the following information:

(1) Communities that rely on contaminated drinking water as
a primary source of drinking water.

(2) The principal contaminants and other constituents of concern
affecting groundwater and contamination levels in the groundwater
sources for the communities described in paragraph (1).

(3) Potential solutions and funding sources to clean up or treat
groundwater or to provide alternative water supplies to ensure
the provision of safe drinking water to communities identified in
paragraph (1).

(4) The effect of the use of the moneys in the Nitrate at Risk
Fund for the purposes described in Section 116766 on nitrate
contaminated groundwater used as a source of drinking water.

(b) A report to be submitted pursuant to subdivision (a) shall
be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government
Code.

begin insert 116768. end insert   

If the responsibility for administering Chapter 4
(commencing with Section 116270) is transferred to the state
board, the state board shall succeed to and is vested with all of
the authority, duties, powers, responsibilities, and jurisdiction of
the State Department of Public Health pursuant to this article.

begin insert 116769. end insert   

This article shall remain in effect only until January
1, 2024, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2024, deletes or extends
that date.

end insert

SEC. 3.  

This act is an urgency statute necessary for the
immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within
the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into
immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:

To address the public health problem of nitrate contaminated
drinking water as soon as possible, it is necessary for this act to
take effect immediately.