BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  AB 119
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   May 1, 201

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                  Mike Gatto, Chair

           AB 119 (Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials) - As Amended:  
                                    April 16, 2013

          Policy Committee:                              Environmental  
          Safety and Toxic Materials                    Vote: 7-0
                         Health                                      19-0

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          No     Reimbursable:              

           SUMMARY  

          This bill eliminates the requirement for in-home water treatment  
          devices to be certified by the Department of Public Health (DPH)  
          and provides an alternative process and annual fee.   
          Specifically, this bill:

          1)Requires DPH to approve for sale water treatment devices that  
            make health claims, provided that the manufacturer of the  
            device submits specified information to the department.  

          2)Requires submittal of the following information to DPH along  
            with an annual fee:

             a)   Manufacturer's name, contact information and website.

             b)   Name and model of each water treatment device.

             c)   The specific contaminant to be removed or reduced by the  
               device.

             d)   The name of the accredited third party testing  
               organization that tested the device, including information  
               regarding the protocol and standards used in the testing of  
               the device, test results, and any retest information.

          3)Allows DPH to charge an annual fee of up to $4,000 per water  
            treatment device manufacture. 

          4)Authorizes DPH to set and adjust the fee on the treatment  








                                                                  AB 119
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            device manufacturer by publishing the fee announcement on its  
            Internet web site.  The fee modification would not be subject  
            to the rule making procedure of the Administrative Procedures  
            Act. 

          5)Provides that the fees collected by DPH may be used to  
            maintain a web site of water treatment devices and for the  
            enforcement of the approval requirements by State or local  
            health officials.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          The $4,000 fee on manufacturers is sufficient to fund the  
          administrative costs to DPH.


          An estimated 35 manufacturers will pay the $4,000 fee annually  
          resulting in $140,000 revenue collected by DPH.  The current fee  
          is $1,200 for the initial approval, with a $400 renewal each  
          year for up to four years per device (rather than manufacturer).  
           The new fee will result in reduced revenues offset by a  
          corresponding decrease in workload.

           COMMENTS  

           1)Rationale.   The current certification program requires DPH to  
            independently certify each in-home water treatment device  
            before it can be sold in retail outlets in the state.    

             According to the author, the current DPH certification program  
            duplicates testing by third-party accrediting agencies and  
            delays the availability of state-of-the-art treatment devices  
            without adding any health or safety value.

            The adjustment of this fee is not subject to the rulemaking  
            procedures in the Administrative Procedures Act.

           2)Background.   There are currently hundreds of  
            California-certified drinking water treatment devices.   
            Certified devices include "point of use" and "point of entry"  
            systems, which range from pour-through pitchers and  
            faucet-mount, carbon-filter systems to reverse osmosis,  
            ultraviolet disinfection and household water softeners.  
           
            Contaminants removed by certified devices include organic  








                                                                  AB 119
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            chemicals such as MTBE, pesticides, herbicides and solvents;  
            inorganics such as lead, mercury, and perchlorate; and  
            waterborne pathogens, such as bacteria, virus and protozoan  
            cysts, such as Giardia and Cryptosporidium
           
               
           
          Analysis Prepared by  :    Jennifer Galehouse / APPR. / (916)  
          319-2081