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 Page 2 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 Page 3 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