BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 118
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CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 118 (Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee)
As Amended June 17, 2013
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |78-0 |(May 28, 2013) |SENATE: |38-0 |(September 12, |
| | | | | |2013) |
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Original Committee Reference: E.S. & T.M.
SUMMARY : Authorizes drinking water systems serving a severely
disadvantaged community to be eligible for a grant instead of a
loan from the State Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (SDWSRF)
and would allow loans from the SDWSRF to cover the full cost of
a project, instead of the current limit of $20 million per
project.
The Senate amendments remove the provision of the bill that
allowed the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) to
adopt interim guidelines in lieu of the regulation procedure
provided under the Administrative Procedure Act.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Authorizes, pursuant to the federal Safe Drinking Water
Revolving Fund, the United States Environmental Protection
Agency (US EPA) to set standards for drinking water quality
and to oversee the states, localities, and water suppliers who
implement those standards. Under the State Drinking Water Act
(SDWA) Amendments of 1996 (PL 104-182), establishes the SDWSRF
Program, which authorizes the US EPA to award capitalization
grants to states and authorizes the states to provide low-cost
loans and other types of assistance to public water systems to
finance the costs of infrastructure projects needed to achieve
or maintain compliance with federal SDWA requirements.
2)Establishes, pursuant to the Safe Drinking Water State
Revolving Fund (SDWSRF) Law of 1997 the SDWSRF and
continuously appropriates the SDWSRF to CDPH to provide grants
or revolving fund loans for the design and construction of
projects for public water systems that will enable suppliers
to meet safe drinking water standards.
AB 118
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AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill:
1)Authorized the CDPH, when implementing the SDWSRF, to adopt
interim regulations and take other actions to expedite the
process of providing funds for drinking water projects to
severely disadvantaged communities.
2)Limited the proportion of grants from the SDWSRF to no more
than 30% of the annual capitalization grant provided by the
federal government.
3)Authorized an applicant to receive up to the full cost of the
project in the form of a loan bearing interest, instead of the
current limit of $20 million per project.
4)Authorized CDPH to, as part of its annual Intended Use Plan,
to establish a reasonable schedule of administrative fees for
loans, which CDPH is authorized to levy under current law.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, the bill would result in unknown increased cost
pressures on the SDWSRF for assistance issued as grants instead
of loans and further increases exposure to potential loan
defaults in the millions of dollars to the SDWSRF by allowing
loans to be issued for the full cost of the project.
COMMENTS :
Need for the bill : According to the author, "This is a
technical bill which enables the CDPH to ease the process of
providing funds to correct small water system deficiencies,
particularly those serving severely disadvantaged communities.
Since the SDWSRF was implemented in 1997, changes have occurred
in federal and state laws that affect the administration of the
Safe Drinking Water Program. In addition, this bill would
provide CDPH with authority to increase the level of funding for
projects and thereby decreases the current backlog of funding
allocations."
Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (SDWSRF) : Congress
established the SDWSRF as part of the SDWA Amendments of 1996 to
better enable public water systems to comply with national
primary drinking water standards and to protect public health.
The SDWSRF provides financial assistance in the form of
capitalization grants to states to provide low interest loans
AB 118
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and other assistance to public water systems.
Analysis Prepared by : Bob Fredenburg/ E.S. & T.M. / (916)
319-3965
FN: 0002238